A former GameStop employee and Consumerist reader wrote in to share her story of why she decided to quit her gig as a “Game Advisor” after learning that her store was knowingly reselling video games heisted from the local Best Buy store. [More]
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Walmart And Best Buy Bail From Video Game Trade-in Market
By 2.2.10
Best Buy and Walmart have backed off on their challenges to GameStop’s used game racket, both shelving their short-lived tests of trade-in kiosks, Industry Gamers reports: [More]
GameStop Tells Me It Doesn't Care It's Violating Merchant Agreement
By 12.21.09
Adam tried to buy some games at GameStop by using his credit card, but balked when the clerk demanded he show his ID. He alerted the higher-ups that the denial was a violation of the MasterCard merchant agreement, but the complaint fell on deaf ears. He writes: [More]
Crazy Customer Makes Death Threat In GameStop, Gets Hauled Off By Police
By 12.3.09
A man in Michigan grew so angry that GameStop wouldn’t take back his Xbox without a receipt that he threatened to kill someone and went to get something from his vehicle. The GameStop clerk called 911, and “Four Troy police officers, armed with rifles, stormed into [the] Oakland Mall store” and subdued him. He had an illegal stun gun on him but no firearm. [More]
Read Disclaimer Before Taking GameStop Offer
By 11.16.09
Jeremiah is happy he double-checked a strange GameStop ad that lists games eligible for an offer that lets you trade two games in to get certain new releases for $20 or New Super Mario Bros. Wii for $10.
Rumor: Game Crazy To Close 200 Locations
By 9.29.09
Joystiq reported last night that Game Crazy “plans to close 200 of its approximately 680 locations at the end of October.” There’s no official list of which stores are closing yet, so feel free to ask your local Game Crazy employees and see if you can scare them.
Toys R Us Muscles In On The Games Trading Racket
By 9.10.09
Kotaku reports that Toys R Us has gone nationwide with its video game trade-in initiative today. Now the chain is stepping on GameStop’s turf. The site’s Mike Fahey quotes a Toys R Us bigwig:
A Dagger For Blu-Ray: GameStop Deems Discs Un-Tradeworthy
By 6.30.09
Blu-ray sales may be on the uptick, with sales up 72 percent so far over what they were last year at this point, but apparently the format isn’t so hot at GameStop, which is apparently phasing out accepting the high-definition movie discs in return for cash or store credit.
Backyard Baseball Bonus Codes Hit A Foul At GameStop
By 6.25.09
Dan’s son is learning an important consumer life lesson, which is that sometimes companies promise really fun things that just don’t happen. GameStop sent out a promotional e-mail about a really cool contest involving Backyard Baseball ’10. Except the contest isn’t working, and no one knows who can help Dan straighten it out.
GameStop Jacks Up Wii Accessory Price By 25 Percent
By 6.15.09
Last week Nintendo released the Wii Motion Plus, a box you stick on to the bottom of a Wii remote to make the cute little video game system’s motion controls spaz out less and start obeying to your precise motion commands. Motion Plus only works with new games specifically made for the add-on, including Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 and Grand Slam Tennis.
Angry Bees Attack New York GameStop
By 5.24.09
A swarm of bees gathered yesterday outside the GameStop in Union Square, possibly to demand a higher trade-in value for their games. Store employees were trapped inside for hours and eventually hung a sign reading: “Look! … closed due to bee infestation.”
How Do You Stay Entertained In A Recession? Used Video Games.
By 5.21.09
Video games are up, and books are down. GameStop says sales of used games jumped 32%, as the retailer posted a 13% rise in fiscal first-quarter earnings. Why is GameStop doing so well while other retailers suffer? Its used video game program has excellent profit margins.
Gamestop Decides To Charge The Higher Of Two Sticker Prices, Won't Refund Difference
By 5.20.09
Matt bought a used game from Gamestop, and there were two prices on the case. Instead of being charged the lower $14.99 price, the cashier charged him $19.99. Matt only noticed this after he left the store, so he returned and asked for an adjustment. The cashier refused, then tried to remove the cheaper tag in front of Matt. Update: Matt spoke with a District Manager and got a full refund.
Gamestop Ruins Yet Another Customer Experience
By 5.12.09
Sometimes we think Gamestop is run by some sort of secret cabal of anti-videogame fanatics, and they use the store as a front to spread hatred of games and game purchasing across America.
Amazon Announces Game Trade-In Program To Compete With GameStop
By 3.6.09
If you don’t like GameStop, how about Amazon? On Thursday, they announced their new “Video Games Trade-In” program (www.amazon.com/tradeingames), where you send in your used games for Amazon gift card credit. What we like about this is you don’t have to spend the money on more games if you don’t want to, so you can convert old games into anything Amazon accepts gift cards for. What we don’t like is you can’t just get cash back—but hey, if you hate GameStop, here’s an option for you.
Internal Gamestop Video Teaches How To Sell To Women
By 2.25.09
The conceit in this internal Gamestop training video is that you’re watching a sort of nature video with a British anthropologist investigating a strange and mysterious species: woman— and how to sell to them. Offensive – or just a low-budget industrial video team trying to get its audience to pay attention? Take our poll inside and you be the judge, but either way, you can be pretty sure Gamestop never intended any customer to see this video.
When The Economy Gets Tough, The Tough Play Video Games
By 2.19.09
As pretty much every retailer imaginable aside from Walmart loses money — one chain is not only doing fine, it’s actually growing — GameStop. It seems that when the going gets tough — people just want to play video games.
