It was only a matter of time, but popular US retailer GameStop has confirmed during its earnings report conference call that it will no longer stock console bundles that include digital download game codes. As I’m sure the majority of you are aware most bundles theses days are digital and it’s a rare occurrence when the bundle has a physical disc complete with box. The company will only stock physical game bundles whether that’s from console manufacturers or creating their own third-party bundles.
GameStop Won’t Sell Console Bundles That Include Digital Game Codes
I hate when consoles come pre loaded with games tho. Just give me a fucking plastic case it, the paper and the CD costs almost nothing to print. Yeah I’ll gladly pay those extra 5 bucks it costs.
Now this is something that makes sense and that I can agree with. If I buy a bundle, I want a physical copy of said game(s) or the bundle feels incomplete.
I feel the same way. Having digital copies of a game feels like not having the game at all.
guess everyones preorders for animal crossing bundle are not gonna get it
i am wondering the same. just pre-ordered yesterday in a local Gamestop. I really rather have the physical game. Then i can try i, and if i don’t like it, then i can sell it.
I can’t even remember the last time I bought a retail copy of a game, let alone gone to a Gamestop. I’ve been buying digital copies for maybe 2-3 years now.
Eeww go back to your PC digital peasant.
Excuse me, but some people like the convenience of having their library on the hdd. Calling them names just cements the bad reputation this site gets. Just because someone has a different preference than you doesn’t mean you have to attack him. Half these games now a days have several gigs worth of updates and patches anyway. There’s less need for optical media than there was 20 years ago.
This can only make them less money, it really makes no sense from a business perspective.
No, it keeps physical disks in the retail market which nets them $$ and is essentially what drives their business. They get no $$ on a digital encode and can’t buy that ecode on the cheap from a customer and sell it for a markup. GameStop is losing business with e-downloads and while normally I’d say fuck em, the fact is the consumers are being screwed without receiving physical disks for full retail even though there isn’t manufacturing/packaging costs.
Well I agree that GameStop is just protecting their business model, but to say “he fact is the consumers are being screwed without receiving physical disks for full retail even though there isn’t manufacturing/packaging costs” is actually completely out of line and a little in the entitlement realm. We have not seen an increase in the cost of games in over 13 years and this would be a way to satisfy all parties without actually increasing the cost of purchasing a game. We would just basically eliminate the middleman GameStop which actually causes a markup on the game itself. Games have become a lot more expensive and to create than the 16-32 bit creation of 15-20 years ago and the teams are enormous that create some of the blockbusters. I’m willing to forgo the physical copy and convenience of selling games back for a couple extra bucks if it controls costs in the long run.
When they sell a console they actually lose money so I agree with their decision to not sell pre-downloaded games.
Can’t believe five ignorant lazy asses liked this lazy argument.
Well, I agree with this very much. I can’t stand digital downloads with my bundles. I always end up having to buy a separate copy of a game. Which of course it is a lot of money but I love to have physical copies better. For this Animal Crossing bundle I preordered a physical copy of the game as well.
Why was it only a matter of time?
They’re a physical store, that depends on physical copies. So selling digital doesn’t benefit them in any way.
Its their own damn fault for making trade in value of NEW 3ds more valuable than buying the system. Traded in my MM edition the day it came out for 245 and bought the last one they had in stick for 219. Moronic company.
Really? Maybe I should try getting rid of my MM version now before next year’s NX news.
Happy trails Gamestop, let you continue to lower yourself 6 feet under!
Oh great one more reason never to shop at GameStop
Awesome. I hate preinstalled games. Give me a physical cartridge/disc with my gaming device.
Yes!!!
Let’s draw business away from our store!
I don’t get the point. How does the bundled game being digital rather than physical change anything for Gamestop? It’s not like they’re boxing up those bundles themselves with their already existing stock, making extra profit, or anything like that.
It just seems contraproductive from a business standpoint, as they’ll just end up having less bundles to sell. I don’t understand.
Feel free to enlighten me if I’m missing something.
Just to prevent misunderstandings: When I said “they don’t box up the bundles themselves”, I was referring to the original bundles they get from the manufacturers.
Them wanting to actually start doing their “self-made” bundles just suggests they’ll sell them at a higher price point than the original bundles are going for.
not really since digital costs the same than physical games.
That’s not what I meant. The article suggests that Gamestop is going to start making their own bundles, including physical copies of games, rather than digital ones. That sounds like they’ll just use the discs they already have in stock, to get rid of them while still making money. But knowing Gamestop, I really don’t think they would include those games for a lower price, which they would need to do if they want to compete with the original bundles made by the manufacturers themselves, as those are known to be sold at a slightly lower price than what you’d need to pay when buying the console + game seperately, to attract buyers. Basically, they would be selling those discs for, let’s say, $50 instead of $60, and I think we all know that’s not very likely to happen, considering how overpriced games at Gamestop are sometimes.
How are they suppose to buy those used games and resell them for three ties the amount?
I never even thought about that! It all makes even more sense now!
Lol CONTRAproductive. ⬆️⬆️⬇️⬇️⬅️➡️⬅️➡️🅱🅰➖➖
LMAO, didn’t even notice I wrote that. However, you gave me the very best reply one could possibly give to that mistake, so thanks! :)
I haven’t bought a game from GS in… a loooooooong time. I actually prefer digital games. My 3DS has a large enough micro SD card to last me for a long time and I have a 2TB HD for my Wii U. I’m set for any game I want to get for the lifetimes of these devices.
I think this is a great thing because if you buy a bundle far from its release date that means that there is potential that the digital code no longer works. This would prevent that.
gamestop is still alive?
And thriving.
Growing like some delicious Golden Cap Mushrooms.
Good. I never buy digital aside from budget eShop/XBLA titles, because digital has no resale value. If I were to amass an all-digital collection, when I go to trade-in/sell at the end of the generation, the hardware would be the only thing of value.
And then they usually format the system to factory defaults anyway…
exactly!
I fucking love you GameStop. Power to the real player’s.
As someone who loves physical over holding air, this is very good news. : )
This is likely to do with returns I bet.
I know someone who bought a PS4 and he didn’t realize he needed internet to get his Last of Us and also you need to update once to even play DVD or Blu-ray and he didn’t have internet…
Doesn’t bother me. I buy physical whenever possible.
Nice! I’m all for physical medium.
But discs… even Blu-ray… are dead…. they can only hold so much, memory cartridges are actually the future of physical and digital.
That’s why the NX will have games on cards like the 3DS, but obviously with a much bigger capacity, then all DLC can be downloaded directly to the game.
This way they save money on no giant harddrive and no optical drive.
I wish Gamestop would make their stores bigger, and start selling retro games again. Damn I miss the days when they sold Gamecube, N64, NES and SNES games. Or bring back Play N’ Trade. My former favorite game store. They might still be around somewhere. But there’s none within a 200+ mile radius from where I live anymore. (- _ -)
Recently there was loose talk that GameStop would get back into older systems and games again. Places like Gameovervideogames are getting good stocks going. I miss the old stuff too.
Sure would be cool if Gamestop DID get retro games again. VERY cool!
This works well for Nintendo my oh my.
The majority of gamestop revenue comes from used games sales so it makes sense that they’re just trying to protect their business. Not only does it eliminate a potential used game from the marketplace, its also encouraging digital games downloads which obviously gamestop doesn’t want.
Of course they want physical copies, how else will the GameSlop employees take the games home to play them before selling them to you as “New”.
Some of the bundles don’t cost more than the system itself, so to me it doesn’t really matter if it’s digital in that case. But for instances where you pay more to get a special edition system and the game you should be getting physical. Sometimes it’s just an added bonus, like most Wii U consoles, so it really doesn’t matter I just imagine this won’t last long as most Nintendo systems are packaged with digital games and the other systems don’t have anything most of the time. In other words, Game Stop only wants to sell the consoles by themselves so they get money for selling you the game that you wanted but couldn’t get because they don’t carry the bundle.
I like this because I like having physical copies of anything (digital feels weird to me)
But I hate this because I KNOW that the main reason Gamestop is doing this is because they wanna make sure they can buy pre-owned games for well… really low and then reselling it for like $2 less than the full retail sales price.
But I don’t shop at Gamestop anymore anyway so it doesn’t really matter to me anymore.