Is Gamestop Evil? The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

[GSZX1337]

[quote="Limewater"And you could stick "The Good and the Bad" on most topics here. "Role-Playing Beat-Em-Ups? The Good and the Bad." "10 Unreleased Video Game Consoles. The Good and the Bad." "Bradygames/Prima. The Good and the Bad." Et Cetera.[/quote]
I don't think "The Good and the Bad" works for that thread title.

I liked GS better when it was Babbage's.

Babbage's kicked ass.

[Inazuma]

It sucks how all of the game stores became GameStop one way or another. I thought we were supposed to have laws protecting from monopolies like this.

I've seen many videos of game stores in Japan and they are about 1 million times better than GameStop.

[noiseredux]

It sucks how all of the game stores became GameStop one way or another. I thought we were supposed to have laws protecting from monopolies like this.

how do they have a monopoly?

[brunoafh]

Babbages definitely kicked ass. Software Etc wasn't too bad either.

[Inazuma]

It sucks how all of the game stores became GameStop one way or another. I thought we were supposed to have laws protecting from monopolies like this.

how do they have a monopoly?

GameStop went around and bought out all of their competitors. I am talking about physical stores that specialize in video games. Of course there are stores like Walmart and Best Buy that also sell games.

[noiseredux]

that's not a monopoly, though.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Babbages is older than the 'late 90s' though. My copy of Gradius III came from a Babbage's next to Baybrook mall in 91 or 92 after it had been reduced to $20. I had also purchased C64 and DOS games from that same Babbage's.

Hmm, maybe that's just when they brought it to NJ as I know their stuff up there was all Funco until like 1998-ish when they changed over after a lot of store shootings.

I do know the whole chain started in the NJ/PA area and then migrated down to Grapevine,TX for the ease of distribution on a national scale.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

that's not a monopoly, though.

^This.

They hold a large share of the specialty market, but as a whole there are a lot less GameStops than there are HH-Greggs, Electronic FRY's, Best Buys, K-Marts, Wal-Marts, Targets, Toys 'R Us, Kay-Bee Toys, Sears, movie rental places that sell and rent games, grocery stores that sell shitty shovelware, etc... etc...

Not to mention the infinite number of online marketplaces which exist.

It feels like a monopoly to us as we're always on the hunt for specific games and use it as a reference, a resource or our local game shop. But, when you look at it on a grand scale they're not worth all that much and have heavy competition that continues choking the lifeblood out of them.

Oh, and don't even get me started on how much Digital Distribution scares GameStop. Give them a year or so and you won't see any more Steam enabled or Valve made games in their stores thanks to them buying some third rate digital distributor and trying to pass it off as better than steam but making Sony's mistake with the PSP GO and pricing.

[noiseredux]

that's not a monopoly, though.

^This.

They hold a large share of the specialty market, but as a whole there are a lot less GameStops than there are HH-Greggs, Electronic FRY's, Best Buys, K-Marts, Wal-Marts, Targets, Toys 'R Us, Kay-Bee Toys, Sears, movie rental places that sell and rent games, grocery stores that sell shitty shovelware, etc... etc...

Not to mention the infinite number of online marketplaces which exist.

It feels like a monopoly to us as we're always on the hunt for specific games and use it as a reference, a resource or our local game shop. But, when you look at it on a grand scale they're not worth all that much and have heavy competition that continues choking the lifeblood out of them.

Oh, and don't even get me started on how much Digital Distribution scares GameStop. Give them a year or so and you won't see any more Steam enabled or Valve made games in their stores thanks to them buying some third rate digital distributor and trying to pass it off as better than steam but making Sony's mistake with the PSP GO and pricing.

yeah... it's only a monopoly if you make up yr own definition of a monopoly which means something other than y'know, "monopoly."

[YoshiEgg25]

My definition of monopoly: