Topic: BestBuy to price match used games from GameStop & GameCrazy

[BlackNMild2k1]

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/?f=1387

CAG xxDOYLExx snapped this photo at his local Best Buy in West Jordan, Utah. This is probably only available in select markets and the promotion likely has restrictions, but it's certainly noteworthy.

No more getting ripped off at Gamestop for a used game with no case or no manual.
Publishers can finally count every copy of a game sold and the money can go to their rightful place (developers)
BestBuy gets more gaming traffic and eliminates 2 of its competitors in one fell swoop.

BestBuy has cast the first stone....

p.s. this is not a nationwide thing yet and is only being test marketed at this time.
Look for this at a BestBuy near you.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

THE END OF DAYS IS NEAR

INDUSTRY CRASH COMETH

[KDR_11k]

So 5$ off then?

[BlackNMild2k1]

So 5$ off then?

But $5 off Brand New & unopened.

[TJ Spyke]

Hmm, too bad most games will have very little discount since Best Buy tends to only sell games that get very little discount at other stores. I also won't get excited since BB tends to be super slow in expanding test programs (they started selling used games at select stores as a test in 2005 and still haven't expanded it nationwide).

This will not hurt GameStop that much, Best Buy tends to have very small gaming sections and almost never have older games.

[stevey]

Awesome, I'll check it out when I get my free laptop

BestBuy

[vudu]

You're missing the bigger point--hopefully this will force GameStop to lower the price of used games.

[TJ Spyke]

How would this cause that? Best Buy would still match it, so GameStop would lose even more money.

[UltimatePartyBear]

How would this cause that? Best Buy would still match it, so GameStop would lose even more money.

They could lower their used game prices enough so that Best Buy could no longer match them without losing money.  Best Buy would likely stop price matching, but the pressure would still be there to keep GameStop's prices down.

In an ideal world.

[Stogi]

This is damn near a checkmate move by Best Buy.

The only thing that GameSpot can counter with is selling NEW games at a lower price.

[Ian Sane]

This is pretty damn cool.  Though I wonder how long or even IF this will come to Canada.

How do you actually get the discount though?  Does Best Buy just keep track of the price cut on their own?  It's not like Gamestop has a flyer with all their used games listed that I can bring with me to Best Buy.

I hope it works though.  I only use Gamestop (though here most stores are still EB) for old games that are no longer in stock.  For more current titles half the time I can find some place selling a game new for a comparable price to EB's used.

Here in the BC Lower Mainland there's a small chain called Willow Videogames.  Unlike EB they actually have good prices for used games and they lower the price if the manual is missing.  If the local Best Buy matched THEM I would fear that could put them out of business.  Best Buy probably wouldn't bother though.

[BlackNMild2k1]

You're missing the bigger point--hopefully this will force GameStop to lower the price of used games.

At risk of stating the obvious

If Gamestop lowers the price of their used games, then the would be lowering their profit margin.
Lowering the profit margin would cause them lower the price at which they buy used games (to increase profit margin)
Lower used game buy prices cause less used games to be sold to Gamestop, which is how GS makes most of their money.

There are also speculation that this may even be a publisher subsidized deal to kill off the majority of used "new" game sales.
That would allow publishers to accurately track the sale of the games and for developers to properly recoup invested cost.
Gamestop could counter, but used games is the bread and butter. All Best Buy has to do is sit back and wait.

Either way its a Win Win situation for us consumers. So let the price/match wars begin.

[Plugabugz]

If they said they would match the used prices of online retailers before delivery... THEN it becomes worthwhile.

[broodwars]

This is pretty damn cool.  Though I wonder how long or even IF this will come to Canada.

How do you actually get the discount though?  Does Best Buy just keep track of the price cut on their own?  It's not like Gamestop has a flyer with all their used games listed that I can bring with me to Best Buy.

I hope it works though.  I only use Gamestop (though here most stores are still EB) for old games that are no longer in stock.  For more current titles half the time I can find some place selling a game new for a comparable price to EB's used.

Here in the BC Lower Mainland there's a small chain called Willow Videogames.  Unlike EB they actually have good prices for used games and they lower the price if the manual is missing.  If the local Best Buy matched THEM I would fear that could put them out of business.  Best Buy probably wouldn't bother though.

My guess is that they would require a copy of the Gamestop.com used game entry for the given title.  All their used games have them, and it's pretty handy for knowing what games are where when you're looking for a specific title.

Frankly, this sounds like posturing to me.  Most of the games that Gamestop has used that I would want Best Buy doesn't carry new (ex. I still need to pick up Fatal Frames 1 and 3 when I finally discover a new source of income.  I highly doubt any Best buy anywhere has those games anymore.), and the games that Best Buy does still carry are probably so new that they're barely discounted even used at Gamestop.  Yeah, this could be a bold challenge by Best Buy, but I don't think that has much of a chance of going anywhere.  All Gamestop has to do is price their used games down to a point where it would be prohibitively expensive for Best Buy to match.  Then when Best Buy stops their matching program, Gamestop just raises the prices again and calls it a "temporary price cut", something they've done before for select months (like in April when they priced Valkyria Chronicles down to $30...literally a week after I purchased it new for $60..ouch, though it was a great game anyway).  Gamestop has pockets deep enough to waste money punishing Best Buy for even thinking they could interfere in their biggest source of profit.  This won't go anywhere.

[TJ Spyke]

(like in April when they priced Valkyria Chronicles down to $30...literally a week after I purchased it new for $60..ouch, though it was a great game anyway). 

]

This reminds me of when I bought F-Zero GX for $50, less than a week later Nintendo added it to the Player's Choice lineup and dropped the price to $20.

[that Baby guy]

I was momentarily excited for this.  Then, a trek to GameStop's website revealed that all of the used games I wanted were valued a whopping $5 off their retail price.  Shocking.

They've seriously grown worse with their pricing models, it's just a terrible value for most people involved in almost every case.

Though Best Buy has intrigued me, with this idea, and competing with GameStop at this level is something I've been waiting for... from anyone!

[Djunknown]

Unlike EB they actually have good prices for used games and they lower the price if the manual is missing.

For the love of looneys, keep shopping there! All the local shops in my area were crushed years ago when GS/EB merged.

Either way its a Win Win situation for us consumers. So let the price/match wars begin.

Yay for free markets working the way they should!

[Mop it up]

What I find interesting is that they also chose GameCrazy. What are the used prices like at that store?

[BwrJim!]

considering most game get a store from $1.30 USD up to about $5.0 USD.   So Best Buy is kissing profit earned and even some getting some red ink in order to shut em down..   Who I wonder, is sponsering this?

[Bboy]

Maybe Best Buy has a deal with somebody who is losing a lot of profit because of used game sales. It would have to be someone huge in the industry though.
Anyway, awesome if it comes here, I always like to have my games in good condition.