Individual Entry
The Failures of Game Retailers
In my eyes, there are four key factors that are hampering the mainstream acceptance of this hobby that I love: the content of the games themselves, the lack of any quality mainstream cultural writing about games (this is improving), bad marketing, and horrible retailers. Retail is the one that baffles me the most.
You'd think that dedicated game retailers would be knowledgeable, well stocked with the proper releases, and, uh, dedicated. But no. They're a hormonal wasteland of pandering Xtreme Gamerness™, managed by clueless dumbwits and higher-ups with questionable business practices.
Not just questionable, but baffling too.
In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, we have the biggest game of 2004 (perhaps debatable, but the install base of the PS2 is far greater than that of the XBox and Halo 2). Game retailers should thrive on releases like this. Sales should be through the roof. So why does the following happen?
Hi, you got Outrun 2?
*checks* We should have it in two days.
(more on this aside later).
Ok, can I get San Andreas then?
Preorders only.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? Here's a game expected to sell 15 million copies and is expected to gross over $200 million in revenues over the first week, and Microplay has the brilliant foresight to get just enough copies to sell to the people that already paid for a part of it. I'm sure Rockstar pressed enough copies; it's all thanks to the brilliant planning by retailers. Nevermind the lost sales to people coming into the store off the street. Like I did.
These retailers are stringing together a nice pattern of incompetence and shortsightedness, which was even more visibly apparent with Katamari Damacy.
To paraphrase. The biggest game of the year and... Microplay? Preorders only. EBGames? Preorders only. GameShack? Sold out. Selling games is the only thing they do, and they can't do it right. Fuck em.
I headed down to Futureshop (an electronics chain with a modest gaming section) and -- surprise, surprise -- they had STACKS of them.
Why the hell are dedicated game retailers the worst kind of game sellers around?
(The aside. Here's another -1 for Microplay -- they must be at -38 by now: that Outrun 2 that they won't get for two days? Well, guess what I bought at the much smaller and non-major chain backed GameShack? Score two lost sales for Microplay today! Keep it up and you'll be even more irrelevant.)
Also, talk about pulling the company line... by its dick. I quote: How can IGN give a game that has NO online component a review score of 9.9 ?
Yes, because sticking an ethernet cable into a pile of shit automatically makes it not stink. Sluuuuuuuuurp.
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Fake Snow < Previous Entry. Most Recent Entries. Next Entry > Invisible Walls and Magical Sound Showers.Comments (3)
I forget what the hell that computer store is in the basement of the Eaton Centre, but that's usually where I go a day after a game ships to pick it up. Ironically, the one game I've ever pre-ordered they didn't even call me about. I went down there yesterday because I was sure they would have it. They did. Future Shop is always a good fall-back.
I don't like supporting chains, but game markup is so shitty that mom-and-pop shops don't make much off of them anyway.
October 29, 2004 10:28 AM. Posted by: Tony Walsh.Compucentre?
October 30, 2004 03:20 PM. Posted by: nowak.
Haha, commendable bile.
Seriously though, the major retailers just need to be taught with pain. I avoid buying from brick and mortar chain stores whenever possible, either buying online or supporting local indie places - few though there are, you'll probably never get the preorder run-around (which often involves outright *lying* to non-preordering customers about availability) from one.
I find the concept of preordering distasteful in general, it just encourages people to make underinformed buying decisions based entirely on hype and/or the few early payola reviews.
- from Jeremy "toastyfrog" Parish's site yesterday.
October 27, 2004 03:26 PM. Posted by: JP.