GameStop Acquires EB Games

[wankerjr]

Well those of you who hate Gamestop or EB Games now only have to deal with one out of the two (or choose Game Crazy/Game Rush).

http://www.latimes.com/business/investing/wire/sns-ap-gamestop-electronics-boutique,1,797245.story?coll=sns-ap-investing-headlines&ctrack=2&cset=true

[Devil]

Hmmm...

[AgtFox]

I'm fine with this as long as they don't change EB Games stores into Gamestop stores like they did with Funcoland and Babbages.

This means EB Games becomes part of the Barnes and Noble family (since Gamestop is owned by B&N).

[Fuzzballx]

I don't like this at all unless EB remains its own seperate Business unit.  I can't stand Gamestops but love my EB very much.

Of course it probably has more to do with individual store management than anything else but...meh.  It's the only reliable and decently honest and good game store anywhere in Houston IMHO.

[ATB]

It's a monopoly!

[Gratch]

I don't like this at all unless EB remains its own seperate Business unit.  I can't stand Gamestops but love my EB very much.

Of course it probably has more to do with individual store management than anything else but...meh.  It's the only reliable and decently honest and good game store anywhere in Houston IMHO.

Around here it's the exact opposite.  Most of the Gamestop stores are great, and the two EB locations are absolutely horrible.

[-Lord Ebonstone-]

Wow, if the hawking of replacement plans and insurances and membership cards and ripoff game trade-ins wasn't already awful, it sure as hell is about to get alot worse.

[JCC]

This is a sad day for gamers. No matter what you think of either store today, you are better off having two options instead of just one.

[Driver]

I think this is great -- it moves games more into the mainstrean with the B&N ownership and get rid of EB Games, who overcharged, sell used items as new, and genrally suck.

[Knightshade Dragon]

Ouch, now they don't need to compete though. :/

[Dimmona]

Oh snap, this sucks.  EB Games is bad, but Gamestop has always treated me much, much worse.  I guess maybe we will see those $65-75 games next generation...

[Arkon]

I think this is great -- it moves games more into the mainstrean with the B&N ownership and get rid of EB Games, who overcharged, sell used items as new, and genrally suck.

So lets see, Eb will now overcharge just like gamestop does, (at least in my area), sell used games as new just like gamestop also does, and generally suck as all the local gamestops do.  In addition they will most likely get rid of a majority of PC games like the local gamestops have already done.

In my area this is a step in the wrong direction for gamers.

[AgtFox]

I think this is great -- it moves games more into the mainstrean with the B&N ownership and get rid of EB Games, who overcharged, sell used items as new, and genrally suck.

Obviously as you're seeing...in a lot of places the reverse is true with Gamestop.

[Daehawk]

now they can be

Consoles R Us
Fuck the PC Gamers

[Rob_Merritt]

I said most of this on qt3 but it bears repeating. For the past 5 or so years, EB and Gamestop have been in this war opening locations everywhere in an attept to drown each other out. Since this will no longer be required, I bet you'll see mass closing of both stores. For example, where I live in a 20 minute drive there are 18 EBs and 20 Game stops. Except for 2 each at busy locations, they are mini ghost towns. I can't see a company looking at 38 locations and only seeing 4 really making money and keeping all of them open.

[Zarkon]

This will also have a lot of jobs being lost.  One of the thinsg I was considering was seeing if becoming an Asst. Manager or Manager at an EB or Gamestop would be financially worth it to me as a possible job.  With a Gamestop and an EB in the same town 40 miles away, if one closes, that kills it for me.

Oh.  BTW, of those two stores, the only real difference in selection is that the EB has -used- PC games, the Gamestop dosen't.  About the same selection of PC titles (poor) at each.

[Fuzzballx]

I think it all depends on the individual store management whether each place is good or bad.

I know my EB has always seemed very honest and the employees and managers have been top notch cool.  If my local EB closes it'll be a true loss to the gamers in the area.  It's never a ghost town either, place is always busy with anywhere from 2 to 10 customers no matter when you go.  They're almost constantly checking people out.

But then, there's only 1 EB and 2 gamestops within 20 miles of me in a very high population area so it's not like the market is overcrowded here.

CompUSA and BestBuy are pretty much the ass end hell these days for game shopping for consoles or pc games either one.  Can never find what i want and they're always late getting new games, especially in this area.

If EB closes that means i have to shop gogamer and I hate having to mail order games.

[AgtFox]

This will also have a lot of jobs being lost.  One of the thinsg I was considering was seeing if becoming an Asst. Manager or Manager at an EB or Gamestop would be financially worth it to me as a possible job.  With a Gamestop and an EB in the same town 40 miles away, if one closes, that kills it for me.

Oh well, generally they don't care if you know anything about gaming or not.  In fact, knowing gaming seems to preclude you from getting a job at either store.  I've tried picking up a part-time position (in addition to my full-time one) at both places with no success.

[Zarkon]

Well, it's less a "I know about gaming, hire me" and more a "I have slight management experience, I want more, hire me" in a job where I'd enjoy what I'm selling some.

[AgtFox]

Well, it's less a "I know about gaming, hire me" and more a "I have slight management experience, I want more, hire me" in a job where I'd enjoy what I'm selling some.

Been down that road...

[Zarkon]

Well, I just know that Wal-Mart, at least the store I'm in right now, is depressing the hell out of me, and I either have to get out of the store or get out of the company.  I can't get out of the store for another month or so.

[Tebunker]

Also, remember this guys THIS ISN'T SET IN STONE. Once the Gov't and SEC realize that this would hurt the competitive market too much they'll disallow such a deal to happen.

They did it when Officemax tried to buy Staples, and I have a gut feeling they'll do that in this situation as well.

My experiences with Gamestop is that they hire lower-quality employees. They pay less money than the competition and so they get what they can afford. I have only been to one Gamestop and not been completely turned off by the employees, be it from the lack of politeness or the comple mis-understanding of customer service to the fact that every single Gamestop in Richmond Virginia is staffed by your a-typical video-game geek loser anti social loser. I honestly feel dirty after leaving there sometimes, the guys and gals in there smell and look that dirty. I'm geeky, but at the least I understand that there's way more to life than videogaming.

If this does go down, a lot of people will quit more than get axed. Eb pays almost twice as much as Gamestop does, and they don't jerk their employees around nearly as much. Stores will get closed and people will lose their jobs, and overall it will be very bad for us gamers.

I however won't worry too much because the SEC and Federal Govt won't let it happen. I think about the amount of scrutiny my company got when we bought Duron, and Duron is only a small regionall paint company. This is two huge specialty retail chains that can have a big affect on the game market in America.

[Gratch]

My experiences with Gamestop is that they hire lower-quality employees. They pay less money than the competition and so they get what they can afford. I have only been to one Gamestop and not been completely turned off by the employees, be it from the lack of politeness or the comple mis-understanding of customer service to the fact that every single Gamestop in Richmond Virginia is staffed by your a-typical video-game geek loser anti social loser. I honestly feel dirty after leaving there sometimes, the guys and gals in there smell and look that dirty. I'm geeky, but at the least I understand that there's way more to life than videogaming.

Funny how it can differ so much from region to region.  Around here, the description you just gave of Gamestop employees fits every EB employee to a T.  Every one of them is rude, haughty, and doesn't know nearly as much as they think they do.  Mention anything less than the top A-list titles, and they will practically ignore you.  It's gotten to the point that I will travel any amount of extra time to find a Gamestop rather than go into an EB store.  So, in a sense, I think the change may be good.

However, I think we can all agree that the lack of competition would be very, very bad.

[Chaz]

I doubt the SEC is going to disallow the merger.  If EB and GS were the only, or even the major, game retailer, then it might not happen.  However, I think those of us in the "hardcore" market lose sight of how big a force the big box retailers are in sales.  Walmart, Best Buy, CompUSA, etc all provide competition for the new EBStop.

[Big Jake]

Today, more than ever, I'm glad a Fry's opened up a few months ago in Chi-town.  The five mintues further down the road is no problem, seing as I haven't seen anything good out of a Gamestop/EB in five years.

[Tebunker]

Yeah I understand that there's a ton of competition in terms of the videogame market, but in the Paint market you can name just as many retailers and big box stores and the SEC flipped the shit out of our books and records and business plans and went through SW with a fine toothed comb to keep us from having too much control in our market and we were buying a relatively small player when you consider that Duron's gross revenue barely reached Sherwin Williams total net profit for 2003. So this will get a lot of scrutiny considering that these ARE the major players.


Personally, this only makes me want Blockbuster to amp up it's Gamerush stores. They give better credit and generally have better deals. I'd take all my business to them if I had one in Richmond, almost regardless of the employees.

[Sarkus]

Personally, this only makes me want Blockbuster to amp up it's Gamerush stores.

You just mentioned the reason why the SEC won't block a GameStop/EB merger.  While the combination of GameStop/EB will control about 25% of the market, that's only slightly larger than WalMart does right now.  On top of that, GameRush and GameCrazy are both now entering the market as national players.  So, it's not as if there isn't competition.  And I'm not even mentioning all the big box and regional stores that compete on video games as well.

[Turtle]

Thankfully, I have not one, but three locally owned video game shops that are doing quite well in the business department despite several big chain stores surrounding them.

Unfortunately, they only carry console games, so I have to buy corporate for my PC games. *sigh*

[stiffler]

Thankfully, I have not one, but three locally owned video game shops that are doing quite well in the business department despite several big chain stores surrounding them.

Unfortunately, they only carry console games, so I have to buy corporate for my PC games. *sigh*

I wish that were the case here.  Sadly it is only EB and GameStop.  Still no sign of GameRush/GameCrazy, let alone an indy.

I would LOVE to have an independent game shop nearby.  Even if they didn't have the best prices they could make it up to me with good customer service.

As for PC games, it seems that the big box stores have great prices on PC games, especially release week.  I do admit their selections can be lacking, but for the big releases EB and GameStop couldn't touch their prices.

[-Lord Ebonstone-]

I used to have a fantastic indie PC-only store in my area that actually accepted trade-ins.  The place was heaven for old games -- I got a fully complete, boxed Daggerfall for $5 and a Might and Magic: World of Xeen + Official Guide for $7, just to name a couple deals.  Had I known more about gaming back then, I probably would have noticed alot more 'cool' old games in the store -- if memory serves, they had a complete copy of the original System Shock.  Of course, at the time, I'd never heard of the game and passed over it to get Daggerfall/Might and Magic: Xeen instead.

About three months after I discovered the place, it closed.  The rumor was they were running a piracy operation out the back.  I also learned the store had been around for years before I finally had discovered it.