Gamestop, Impulse, Stardock

corporate shells, (and disguised shrills) and SOP now... sadly

Well ain't that just a kick in the head?

LOL

LOL

Talk about giving GameStop a kick in the nuts.

Never thought of that strip like that until now.

Would be fun to see what Brad thinks of it.

I'm absolutely certain that someone at Stardock checks Penny Arcade and just laughed out loud and sent the link around like crazy.

Really curious to how he reacted

oh I'm sure he's seen it

GameStop is actually one of the successful retailers in the US and it already got the trust and interest of its customers but we can never deny the fact that there are still individuals who are unsatisfied with the company's services and has doubts with the retailer company, yet, the GameStop doesn't mind them. What concerns the latter is its continues improvements and innovations with its services to the trusting public. In fact, it has been confirmed just recently that there's a scheme for the GameStop to offer Android gaming tablet for the holidays. Video game shop GameStop is getting ready to surf the mobile device wave this year, reports the Wall Street Journal. The retailer has been selling the iPhone and iPad for a couple of months, and now GameStop will fill the space by offering Android tablets. The re-branded Android tablets will be enhanced for gameplay in an effort to entice gamers away from the iPad. While cost and whether GameStop’s Android Tablets will be running Honeycomb or Ice Cream Sandwich are currently unclear, GameStop did announce that its Android tablets will be available beginning Friday, Nov. 4. It has been noted by the TechCrunch that the sticker price will most likely be competitive with other Android tablets on the market.

... you do realize that GameStop has and largely continues to STILL take a dump on the PC Gaming market right?

I read that block as someone who works for them trying to sell stuff for Christmas.

Gamestop's well known in the console market, especially if you want used games. At this point Gamestop varies in the PC market between totally irrelevant (because their retail stores don't stock PC games) and loathed (because they haven't given a damn about the market for years and PC gamers have grown hostile). They have a serious uphill battle if they want to take on Steam.

To quote a gamestop store manager (from 1 year ago) in my area, when asked if they would be carrying any additional PC games other than StarCraft 2 and WOW, this is the answer I got back.

"Why would we carry computer crap? It's all junk anyways. Just buy a console game."

I have never gone back since.

If I heard that I'd be like: ....   Ääh....

Yeah that sounds about right. I've also had them tell me I was a bad person for not pre-ordering a month in advance when I wanted a new game.

So I just walked across the street to a big box store that somehow manages to stock games more successfully then a so-called "games store". I can't think of a company more deserving of bankrupcy then Gamestop.

It would be so easy to picket. The signs would read "Stop Gamestop!." But I think they will die of their own volition. 

I've always met neat and intelligent people working at ours, except for one guy.  No problems whatsoever.

And usually they have decent stock of PC titles here, though it's not 100% obviously.  I was told the copies they get in depends a lot on how many people preorder it, so if I need something PC on launch day thats a better bet.

Yeah, that would be why we don't shop there, either you pre-order it, or they typically don't have it.

It's just how they operate.  If a lot of people preordered something, there's an assumption of a lot of people buying it down the road as well, therefore they order more copies than they need.  If noone preordered it, noone's going to want it later on either.  Considering how long the PC stuff hangs around on the shelves here without selling, I'm not surprised it's gone down the tubes elsewhere.

It saves them from wasting inventory space, for the most part.

On a lightly related note I laughed when I saw the gigantic box full of Gears of War 3 copies when I picked mine up...hee

If there are no PC games on their shelves for sale, no one will come into the store looking to buy PC games. Simple economics if you ask me.

My grocery store does the same thing. If I don't preorder milk and eggs, how would they be able to stock them? They have a really short shelf life afterall. 

A business need to have the products available at the store. That is how capitalism works in America. Sorry Gamestop. 

They do. Bear in mind that they're a dealer of used games who just happen to have a small selection new games on hand as well.

Stocking the bare minimum of new product (which has a very small retail margin) just makes it easier to point people at used product, which is usually available in plentiful supply shortly after releases.

The used PC game market dried up pretty quickly once games started requiring key registration and online accounts, and their interest in retail PC games naturally followed. A product that can't be reliably resold isn't of much interest to a used product shop.

I hope they die. I also hate play it again sports. Sold me smelly cleats and the wrong-handed mitt. As a consumer, I hope they die. 

Good points, Kryo. When the console game makers require key registration and an online account, their used games business goes down the tubes. Impulse provides them with that safety net so they don't go belly up when this happens.