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Gamestop released a rather interesting tidbit about their policy in carrying consoles with a digital title. In fact, they flat out said they refuse to carry them anymore. Here's the breakdown:

During a recent earnings report conference call, GameStop executives outlined their decision to move away from "digital" bundles and highlighted their recent effort to provide "physical" bundles instead. This new strategy went into effect just last month, with the release of Madden NFL 16. While other stores sold Xbox One and Playstation 4 bundles featuring digital copies of the football game, GameStop "worked with Sony, Microsoft, and EA" to reach an arrangement for the retailer to provide a physical copy with any new console purchased. This isn't just a little experiment either. GameStop COO Tony Bartel explained that if Sony and Microsoft continue to release digital bundles, GameStop will turn to "third party" physical-bundles. This could mean that they'll work out a deal with a major publisher like EA or Ubisoft to include a free physical copy of a recent release.

The obvious stance here is, Gamestop's only continued profitability and business model relies on used game sales. Controversy has always stemmed from the pay out of a used game that will eventually be resold to another consumer for a $50 price tag, but in the end it is what drives Gamestop's overall cash flow.

It is rather interesting to see the trend of Digital games continue to rise against the physical copies of games. Early NX rumors have begun circulating that the new Nintendo console may be intending to go full digital for the future, and i'm sure most 1st and 3rd parties would love to cash in on the market of digital sales.

As a purveyor of digital games, I find the stance understandable but a little silly. How do you feel about this move? And what is your stance on the timeless Physical vs Digital argument?

 

[TecXero]

You wont use the most successful and streamlined gaming service ever created?
Get outta here you fuckin' hispster.

I have some on there, but I'm a bit paranoid about DRM, especially when tied to a service that might not be around in twenty years.

 

[HaloEffect17]

The thing I hate about GameStop (EB Games, if you're Canadian like me), is that fact that they put a damn "NEW" sticker on a box on the shelf, and they sell you the supposed "brand new" game with no shrinkwrap and you can see them physically plop the disk in there behind the counter and put one of those circular tape things where the game case opens when you purchase it.

Now, don't get me wrong -- if you preorder a game there, they give you the game in its original shrinkwrap. But I can confirm that they do the above because when I went to buy Kirby's Epic Yarn there a few weeks after its original release, they did just that, and quite frankly, it sucks. I never buy new games there now; it's only a source for used games.

 

[Pluupy]

I really like it when consoles come with games. Makes it a lot cooler to have a game come with the console ready for playing at all times. (even if you have to download it initially, I suppose)

I bought my 3DS XL with Mario Kart 7 (from Best Buy). No regrets here.

 

[Langin]

Digital copy isn't cheaper. It could be cheaper if the physical copy sale is way higher than the digital copy. If digital copy becomes the standard, then the digital copy pricing will be same as the physical copy was.

Look at the production costs, including a voucher with a code IS cheaper than a disc with case, etc. That's what I meant. ^~^

 

[Tigran]

I seem to remember this same argument about books just a few years ago.. How E-readers would never catch on........

 

[FAST6191]

I seem to remember this same argument about books just a few years ago.. How E-readers would never catch on........

They kind of did not and got supplanted by more general purpose devices but yeah ebooks as a thing did catch on in the general populace. We also saw a massive rise in DRM free ebooks, some third party trading markets and most of the negatives people are worried about if current thoughts on downloadable games are used as the model if not gone then readily able to be avoided.
We also saw some of the downsides http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/18/amazon_removes_1984_from_kindle/

 

[JoostinOnline]

I feel GameStop should go out of business.

We know which guy you are

Spoiler

 

[driverdis]

As someone who like the have a physical collection I'm rather glad they did this. Its always bugged me when theres an exclusive version of a console based on a game I like, but the game is installed digitally, forcing me to choose the look of the console or the game on my shelf.

The way Gamestop puts it, they would turn to a 3rd party bundle if no physical option was available, which would mean that any digital bundle with a custom console paint job will would be sold as a normal console plus physical game game.

 

[Zeriel]

We know which guy you are

Spoiler

Hey Im not on this list!! "The guy who browses for 2 hours just to buy a 6$ game" XD

 

[driverdis]

The thing I hate about GameStop (EB Games, if you're Canadian like me), is that fact that they put a damn "NEW" sticker on a box on the shelf, and they sell you the supposed "brand new" game with no shrinkwrap and you can see them physically plop the disk in there behind the counter and put one of those circular tape things where the game case opens when you purchase it.

Now, don't get me wrong -- if you preorder a game there, they give you the game in its original shrinkwrap. But I can confirm that they do the above because when I went to buy Kirby's Epic Yarn there a few weeks after its original release, they did just that, and quite frankly, it sucks. I never buy new games there now; it's only a source for used games.

This ^
I have had them give me "new" games that had circle scratches on them (Halo 3 was one of them)
Gamestop exchanged it with a sealed (I asked them specifically for a sealed copy) of Halo 3 and they gave me a sealed Halo 3 Not For Resale one that was pulled from legendary edition bundle
Here is a pic of what I got (not taken by me, I found it via google)

 

[JoostinOnline]

Amazon always beats their prices. I only get stuff there when they have a pre-order bonus.

 

[RemixDeluxe]

We know which guy you are

Spoiler

Yeah I see myself waiting outside of GameStop to get some exclusive preorder bonus. I'm that guy.

 

[Armadillo]

As for your price complaint, two little words: sales and PSPlus. You can find good bargains on the PSN store, especially during holidays, and PSPlus should keep you busy with discounts and IGC.

You mean the sales where 9/10 times, retail is still cheaper?

Just looking at the summer sale

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2015/07/29/playstation-store-summer-sale-starts-today/

Bloodborne. £34.99. £30 at retail.
Dying light £34.99. £25 at retail.
Evolve £19.99 . £17 at retail.

Sure you get the occasional that is cheaper on sale, than retail. Like borderlands the handsome collection, but for the most part. Retail is still cheaper than digital, even during sales. So your solution is ,don't complain about the price, because if you wait months, you might get for the same price as retail at launch?

As for psplus. Yeah, great idea. Let me pay Sony even more money to get a 10% discount off games, and still likely not match retail. The IGC has been a joke since ps4. A handfull of retail games and that's it. Mostly indie, my price complaints are over retail games.

At the very least on launch, it should be the same as it is in NA, where the digital and retail are the same. Not £10-15 premium on digital.

 

[tbb043]

The thing I hate about GameStop (EB Games, if you're Canadian like me), is that fact that they put a damn "NEW" sticker on a box on the shelf, and they sell you the supposed "brand new" game with no shrinkwrap and you can see them physically plop the disk in there behind the counter and put one of those circular tape things where the game case opens when you purchase it.

Of all the 8 or 9 Gamestops in my area, NONE have ever done that UNLESS it's the last copy of the game that they used for the display copy.

And no, I don't preorder.

 

[Monado_III]

Gamestop, you do that, and console makers, ship every single console with any digital game you want so Gamestop can go out of business.

 

[codezer0]

On the one hand, it's scummy that none of the console makers will cut a break on the price of digital vs. a physical copy.

But what's also bad are those companies that choose to offer a physical release option of their game in one region, but go digital only with everywhere else (looking at you, Capcom).

Still, any business decision on the part of Gamestop has to be met with skepticism. They can try to play it up as it being "for the gamers", but we all know that they invariably have some ulterior motive, always. This is the same company that has dumped the dreamcast not even 24 hours from Sega's announcement of planning to exit the hardware market, and this is also the same retailer that has surreptitiously abused legal loopholes in certain cities and communities, by being able to make it illegal for regular pawn shops to buy and sell gaming merchandise, but then they can plant as many Gamestops in the same borough and do their business willy-nilly. For years, Gamestop has actively ignored anything but whatever the current gen products were from the respective console makers, but is only NOW attempting (much, much too late and much too cynically) to cash in on the retro revival, after they themselves likely destroyed much of the viable stock that would have been worth premium. Let's not also forget the categorical disdain if not outright hatred from Gamestop toward anything for PC's.

I don't beleive for a second that this business decision was done with anything resembling some kind of defense to look out for consumers any more than it is to look out for their bottom line.

 

[Zeriel]

On the one hand, it's scummy that none of the console makers will cut a break on the price of digital vs. a physical copy.

But what's also bad are those companies that choose to offer a physical release option of their game in one region, but go digital only with everywhere else (looking at you, Capcom).

Still, any business decision on the part of Gamestop has to be met with skepticism. They can try to play it up as it being "for the gamers", but we all know that they invariably have some ulterior motive, always. This is the same company that has dumped the dreamcast not even 24 hours from Sega's announcement of planning to exit the hardware market, and this is also the same retailer that has surreptitiously abused legal loopholes in certain cities and communities, by being able to make it illegal for regular pawn shops to buy and sell gaming merchandise, but then they can plant as many Gamestops in the same borough and do their business willy-nilly. For years, Gamestop has actively ignored anything but whatever the current gen products were from the respective console makers, but is only NOW attempting (much, much too late and much too cynically) to cash in on the retro revival, after they themselves likely destroyed much of the viable stock that would have been worth premium. Let's not also forget the categorical disdain if not outright hatred from Gamestop toward anything for PC's.

I don't beleive for a second that this business decision was done with anything resembling some kind of defense to look out for consumers any more than it is to look out for their bottom line.

Gamestop is shit sometimes but at least they get us cheaper prices and used games. What does PSN get us? Digital games that are more expensive than retail. The day Gamestop dies, gamers will loose. Less competition means companies can rip us off as much as they want! Just like the Internet and Cable companies

 

[sneef]

i have some digital games that also exist on physical media, but only because i was very impatient with a couple of titles I just HAD to have right away (and of course digital distribution is often the quickest way to own a title).. other than that, I have TONS of digital games (well over $1000 of eshop titles... i'm scared to even calculate the value) which only exist as digital. So, I have nothing against the downloadable format of game distribution. HOWEVER, if a game DOES exist in a physical format like bluray, cart, etc, I am going to buy the physical media (exceptions being those few titles i mentioned above). I do NOT like the idea of a console that only has downloadable games. I am not rich.. I have a good job etc, but I don't throw money away, and I feel that digital distribution (such a funny name, since the carts and discs are all digital too. It's silly, really) is not a sound way to spend my money. I want to OWN something i pay that much cash for, and most downloadable content, in one way or another, isn't really OWNED by the downloader. check out the fine print in most licensing agreements, such as music you "buy" on itunes, for example. there is almost always some caveat, some situation in which your rights are NOT the same as someone who purchased the physical media of the same release. Whether its something to the effect of "this title is bound to this device.. if you break the device or lose it, tough shit, your games are gone" (yes, i know you can moan and cry to a nintendo customer service rep, and they often enable redownloading the titles to your new device, but i'm talking about official policy, because they don't have to do that, and they don't always do it, either) or even "this title is the property of _____ publishing. by paying the $2.00 download fee, you are licensing a copy of this title, and may use it for the duration of the licensing agreement blah blahblah".. i'm not a lawyer, and these aren't real excerpts from licensing agreements. I'm just giving approximate examples.

bottom line: i don't like "leasing" access to games etc.. i hate the idea of office 365. i hate the whole music library subscription idea (beats, apple music, etc, though i'm enjoying a free trial of apple music right now, I don't like the idea that it's not my music, and without a subscription, and internet access, i can't listen to any of it. sure, in the short term they're affordable and convenient.. but they only benefit the publisher, or why the hell would they be so hell bent on pushing that model on all of us? microsoft in 2013: people pay us $130 for office home &student (or something like that).. lets think of a way to make more than that per user, before the next office version comes out. I know! we'll make it subscription based! sure, $3.99 a month (i think it may be more than that, but we'll give them more credit than they deserve) is a small amount, but in 3 years, they will have paid us $144, and many will have upgraded to different tiers and paid more..

and so on.. plus, with subscriptions, the publisher KNOWS that people who are subscribed are likely to stay that way.. call it what you want: inertia? laziness? complacency? settling into their comfort zone? Newton's first law of motion, or the law of inertia? (objects at rest tend to stay at rest... etc.) and forget to unsubscribe, or just stay subscribed cause they can't be bothered to change.. sorry for the long diatribe..

 

[Hells Malice]

The thing I hate about GameStop (EB Games, if you're Canadian like me), is that fact that they put a damn "NEW" sticker on a box on the shelf, and they sell you the supposed "brand new" game with no shrinkwrap and you can see them physically plop the disk in there behind the counter and put one of those circular tape things where the game case opens when you purchase it.

Now, don't get me wrong -- if you preorder a game there, they give you the game in its original shrinkwrap. But I can confirm that they do the above because when I went to buy Kirby's Epic Yarn there a few weeks after its original release, they did just that, and quite frankly, it sucks. I never buy new games there now; it's only a source for used games.

I had the complete opposite happen several times.
I picked up a used copy of Crisis Core, it had a cracked case but I thought "meh, cheaper"
Dude goes into the back, comes out with a brand new sealed copy and charges me for the used price. He wasn't new either, i'd been there enough to know he was a veteran staffmember.
Had it happen again with a different game but I can't remember what...i think it was Armored Core 4.

Gamestop/Ebgames like literally every chain on the planet has shit stores and good stores. The day people realize this is (probably the day hell freezes over) when people will finally stop embarrassing themselves blindly insulting a CHAIN of stores that are all operated wildly differently. But of course, where would our entertainment be if stupid people didn't exist to provide it.
Oh and i'm not targeting this specifically at you. It's just a blanket statement towards the bulk of the tards on the gamestop hatewagon.

 

[FAST6191]

and this is also the same retailer that has surreptitiously abused legal loopholes in certain cities and communities, by being able to make it illegal for regular pawn shops to buy and sell gaming merchandise, but then they can plant as many Gamestops in the same borough and do their business willy-nilly.

Have you got links to that one? I thought I was aware of most of the bigger underhanded moves in that world but all searching is bring back is pawn shop laws turning around to bite gamestop.