Gamestop stores will not exist as a physical location by 2017-2018

[Solo]

How cool would it be, to pre-purchase a game and it'll download when it goes live. So while you're at school or work, you come home and just play it.

Don't worry, I buy a lot of stuff off the PS Store. Anyway, that does sound sweet. Isn't it the same as pre-ordering the game from Amazon, Walmart, or something. -_-

The idea in general is cool, but I'm very skeptical as well.

 

[Faded Dreams V]

The topic of games being solely purchased through digital distribution has been going on for several years. It's true, in the future, retailers like Gamestop will become obsolete, much like Blockbuster. And frankly, many developers not only cannot wait till that happens, as revenue from resales (used games) only goes to the retailers, but they strongly support services like Steam.

Now, will stores like Gamestop die and digital distribution become the standard in 2017-2018, specifically? I doubt it. I'd estimate around the early to mid 2020s.

 

[DownfouralitY]

Gamestop kinda sucks anyways. I go there like twice a year maybe max.

 

[Pakman]

Although I don't agree with their re-sale practices (buy it pre-owned for 1 dollar less than RRP!) I do feel for the employees who's livelihood depended on it (regardless of how you personally viewed them, they were still working and making some kind of livelihood) IMO it's not cool when someone loses a job.

And I will miss the actual purchase of a physical object. See I grew up with a Nintendo and we loved the manuals that came with the games almost as much as the games themselves and who could forget the friggin' awesome artwork that came printed on the box and sometimes in the manual itself.

So we kept as much of that stuff safe and held on to it tight. And there were no scratches - no cracked cartridges nothing. If that cartridge stopped working for some reason, we breathed air into it like a mother fucker and bought it back to life!

Then about 10-12 years ago, discs came out and slowly manuals essentially died out (cost cutting exercise they called it...even though games were just as expensive if not more...) and I've missed them since. You'd get a box, you'd get a disc but there was a sleeve section for the manual but no (or very little of a) manual in sight.

Approx 5-6 years ago, they started minimising the content on the back of the box. Apparently the new generation of gamers didn't like reading (and didn't seem to like a lot of things it seemed [these graphics suxorz! OH MA GAWD NO AA OPTION] including the game itself after seemingly only 10 hours of play...hell, some people even complained games were too long)

Now they're getting rid of the box itself as well as the game?

I'll miss those things for sure. I'll miss that excited feeling when you first unwrap the game, preciously take it out and carefully load it up not knowing the wonders it has in store for you. Then when you're done, you put it carefully back into the box, carefully stack it on your pile o games, and it's ready for next play through. I'll miss that experience for sure.

On the plus side, the developers do get their money (which they actually need you friggin' holier than thou hipster ass holes) - and I can fully appreciate that and I'm very much pro developer in this case - they provide us with a service (games) the least we can do is show support by actually buying it.

And I save a tonne of space on storage - I've got a boxes full of games collected over the years.

I guess sometimes I just get taken aback by all this downsizing and quote unquote modernization of the things I basically grew up with - it's happened too quickly for my liking - and I don't like it! But maybe that's part of growing up...

/oldman/foreveralone/1stworldproblems/handovertheworthersoriginalgrandad (that last one is for the UK folk)

 

[CrimsonShadow]

That post was less about traveling and was more about actually purchasing a physical copy to use in everyday life situations I mentioned.

I do buy CDs from Amazon.. But most people that buy CDs import them and keep the CDs around for collection. It's basically like collecting anything else in life.

 

[BlackBryan]

I work in a record/movie/game store. Lots of people still enjoy physical copies. Myself included. Mp3's lose to much quality for me, and downloading games is much less satisfying than holding one in your hand. Not to mention all the special editions with arcade sticks, figurines, etc... Gamestop can go all digital if they want. I won't shop there. And I'm sure i'm not the only one.

 

[xSMoKEx]

Dear god this. We bought our house in November and were shocked to find out the only "high speed" service in our area was and get this: 1.5mb down, and .5 mb up.

Re-read that.

Lol it really depends on your area. I'm in Southern Ontario and up until about 2 years ago i had 10-20 D/L and 0.5 U/L (This was their second best plan at the time, the other was unavailable in my area) now my company has upgraded their plans and we're at 40 D/L and 2 U/L which is a bit better. Canada is always a bit behind in terms of technology it seems, I don't even think we have much LTE access for phones :\

 

[NRF CharlieMurphy]

As far as games go, I think going digital was always inevitable. The only problem is that the hard drives are going to have to be able to store A LOT more memory.

only if they don't allow you to re-download.
Digitally... they can track if you bought it...... run out of HD space? delete a game you don't play, prosper.

 

[Juggs]

only if they don't allow you to re-download.
Digitally... they can track if you bought it...... run out of HD space? delete a game you don't play, prosper.

True, but re-downloading games isn't something that you want to be doing a lot. It takes some time to download, like at least 30 minutes.

 

[NRF CharlieMurphy]

True, but re-downloading games isn't something that you want to be doing a lot. It takes some time to download, like at least 30 minutes.

I agree.

I'm under the assumptino that something like Google Fiber is basically in every home.
Not the overpriced Dial up people have now.

 

[Deleted member 9158]

pfft Steam will be the only Steam. XBL & PSN will be rough drafts

True. But those stupid online passes will cease to exist. I hate those

 

[MKF30]

Hey , I still prefer CD's when listening to music. Even have portable CD players which I still listen to with headphones. I get funny looks sometimes. Call me archaic but when I spend money on something I like to physically own it. The only upside I see that benefits us gamers is that they cut out the middle man and the whole disk process so the prices for games will drop. That is, unless they get greedy.

True. There's just something genuine and nostalgic about holding a CD then popping it in and listening to it, same with DVD's, VHS's, reading a comic book etc. Everything is electronic, digital now. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing but if you're going to buy something, I'd prefer to see it, touch it, examine it first. Online you can't really do that and thus is a gamble with certain things you know?

As for the GS closing down by 2017, if it happens...there's always a Best Buy right across the street from my local GS anyway lol so I'll just go there. I highly doubt BB will shut down given the crazy amount of business they make daily not to mention various other things they sell besides just games that sell big, especially around the holidays. The one where I live literally put Circuit City out of business and it was few miles away.

 

[nwo]

True. There's just something genuine and nostalgic about holding a CD then popping it in and listening to it, same with DVD's, VHS's, reading a comic book etc. Everything is electronic, digital now. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing but if you're going to buy something, I'd prefer to see it, touch it, examine it first. Online you can't really do that and thus is a gamble with certain things you know?

As for the GS closing down by 2017, if it happens...there's always a Best Buy right across the street from my local GS anyway lol so I'll just go there. I highly doubt BB will shut down given the crazy amount of business they make daily not to mention various other things they sell besides just games that sell big, especially around the holidays. The one where I live literally put Circuit City out of business and it was few miles away.

Buying games online definitely was weird at first, but its something PC gamers have been doing for almost a decade. It's nice being able to pre-download a game before its released, then have it unlocked and being able to play it the minute the clock strikes midnight on the release date.

I doubt Best Buy will go completely out of business anytime soon, but last I heard, they weren't doing so good and were shutting down quite a few stores.

 

[Goku]

Yes I did, try to comprehend it first at what I am saying. You can recover your iTunes info if your device or program ever crashes, you can recover NOW, this GEN of consoles, all your download history if your Xbox ever crashes.

No you did not because the truth is there is no "real" answer here . It was a trick question, I thought it would be fun to add to the thread

 

[Goku]

He answered your question with a question of something similar. Your answer of a computer crash probably works for a PS4 hard drive crash as well.

See my post below...

 

[MKF30]

Buying games online definitely was weird at first, but its something PC gamers have been doing for almost a decade. It's nice being able to pre-download a game before its released, then have it unlocked and being able to play it the minute the clock strikes midnight on the release date.

I doubt Best Buy will go completely out of business anytime soon, but last I heard, they weren't doing so good and were shutting down quite a few stores.

Yeah, some BB's were closing but I also think that depends on the area too. Where I live, it's ALWAYS packed every weekend and decent on even the dead days(I used to work near there so I'd go there often) still do on the weekends or tuesdays when new movies come out, that's another big reason I really hope they don't shut down because I get my movies there. Since my local mall closed down literally every music store, every movie store that's really my only option at this point(plus since I mentioned earlier CC closed down too) so Best Buy is the only option I hve for now, in a year they are opening up a new Target near there which should provide BB with good comp no doubt.

You know who also closed down a lot, Block Buster Video all of them close down...netflix killed them...and F.Y.E.'s/coconuts, I used to work at one both of them closed down too...but personally since I worked there, I think they were overpriced. I remember being a fan of Smallville and when the show was on, new seasons FYE sold for like 65-70 bucks...meanwhile across the street Best Buy sold it for 40 bucks...lol

 

[Compbros]

Also, no one ever said the PS4, or any other console, would be digital only, just that this particular retailer may go outta business. You can always just buy the disc if you don't wanna download.

 

[Euphoric]

No you did not because the truth is there is no "real" answer here . It was a trick question, I thought it would be fun to add to the thread

Alright, I don't see any trick part about it, you asked a simple question that already has a precaution built into it during this generation of digital services from various providers, including gaming.

 

[elegie]

i agree w the CDs being better cause we grew up on it, I have over 350 CDs and a guitar student asked me honestly and almost in an offended way...."Whats the purpose of having that shit" she owned me bad cause i realized i had no good answer in 2012

Times always be a changing

I think there are several reasons CDs are better, other than pure nostalgia.
As other people have already pointed out CDs do have superior sound, and the drop in quality is noticeable.
I also have a fairly large collection (4,000 +) and find organizing a physical collection much easier than a digital collection. If I want to listen to a few CDs it only takes me a few minutes to find them and load the CD player. Making sure everything I want is on my MP3 player, then making a playlist so I can listen without interruption is to me a much greater hassle. I have never had an MP3 player that has enough memory, and downloading all my music and organizing it on my computer or player is time consuming and irritating.
Even if you can download your collection again if you lose it, if you have a large enough collection that would be a huge pain. Short of something catastrophic like my house burning down I don't think my music library is going anywhere, and I am very careful with handling them so scratched CDs has never been a problem for me.

I also don't want to deal with constantly rearranging the content on my game systems due to memory restrictions, it is already extremely annoying with the ps3.

And going digital will hurt more than Gamestop employees, what about all the people that manufacture the game discs, packaging, the people that take care of the distribution?

 

[Tofer Booboo]

How did a discussion about GameStop and video games branch off to CD's?

I like where it is going, it gives me more of a reason to stay in and play video games.

 

[LesMore]

Has anyone considered the amount of jobs and money that are tied up in the creation of discs?
From the petroleum it comes from
to the creation of the disc itself, to the printing of it... the distribution of the product...
Thats a shit load of people becoming obsolete in the next ten years...
What are we going to do with all those people who are out of a job...
They are probably going to be pretty salty...
and hungry!

 

[Wildabeast]

just watch this stuff....

And seriously wtf is up with this!!??

i don't want adds for fuggin pizza hut playin in the middle of my damn games!!!

and i do understand the concept, if they keep both options i'd be fine, but i don't wanna be restricted to just only being able to download games :/

The adds thing probably won't happen, atleast not the way he's describing it. Although that sure would be obnoxious, especailly when you think about stuff like Fighting game tournaments that already never run anywhere near on time.

As far as the download only thing I find it very hard to believe the X Box 720 won't have any form of physical media, the USA just isn't ready yet. Make no mistake though, digital distribution phasing out physical media entirely WILL happen eventually.

 

[McNasty]

A sad thing to think about is gamestop employees will in essence be up selling their own jobs away. They will be the ones pushing more hard drive space and DLC up until they are gone.

 

[Syknis]

We might see PS4 sell better because you don't have to pay to play online.

UNLESS Sony decides to make it like Microsoft's Silver Memberships and/or Silver Memberships gets more features like the ability to play online for free.

This is coming from an ex-xbox fanboy. I haven't touched my xbox in almost a year.

Dude I heard that sony is going to incorporate Micros model of pay to play for the new generation.

 

[LesMore]

A sad thing to think about is gamestop employees will in essence be up selling their own jobs away. They will be the ones pushing more hard drive space and DLC up until they are gone.

Isn't that kind of sick in a way?
WTF Future...