Topic: C'mon, Blockbuster and Sears...are GC sales really that low?

[Ninja X]

A couple days ago, I decided to go to the local blockbuster and see if I could rent a game, only to find that the PS2 mostly dominates the video game section. Anyway, the Xbox and GCN each get only one shelf.  Well, at least the GCN is on par with the X-box here, right?  Nope.  The X-box gets the shelf in a nice-well-lit space.  The GCN shelf happens to be in a dark corner, and it doesn't even have the whole shelf to itself.  One part of the shelf actually belongs to the PSX section...

Then yesterday, I decide to head to Sears.  After I scope out the electronics department, I decide to pay the video game section a visit...

Well, when I get there, I see an abundant amount of PS2 and X-box games up on display.  It turns out that's all they have.  I looked hard and even in the bin of old games and they still don't have GCN games.  

I don't get it...why are GCN games doing so bad in certain stores and rental chains?  Honestly, from the looks of it, it would seem like the N64 was doing better than this...  

[Ian Sane]

Well I never go into Sears anymore so I wouldn't know about their games section but I've noticed that with most rental places like Blockbuster it's as if they just decided that the Gamecube was going to be a failure from the get go and as a result never gave it the shelf space it was entitled to.  Naturally this led to lower Cube rentals because if you have no games to rent obviously your Cube rentals are going to be pretty low.  It was basically a self fulfilling prophesy.  Any video store I ever visit that claims that no one rents Cube games has always had a sh!tty Cube selection.  However one rental place I frequently visit has always had a good Cube selection and (surprise) they don't have a problem with low Cube rentals.

I imagine it's a similar situation with some stores.  For example you never hear about Wal-Mart or Toys 'R' Us having really bad Cube sales because, guess what, they've always had a decent selection.

[Grey Ninja]

Ian Sane, you da man.  I don't have anything else to add.  You said it all.

[thecubedcanuck]

Ian

Sadly, that isnt the case here.

My local Microplay had a huge selection of cube games, I mean they literally had every game out there. It was the only place I went to rent games. The problem was I think I was the only guy who ever rented them. Honestly I never had a problem getting the game I wanted. As of a month ago they began clearing out their gamecube section (I got a few really good deals, Burnout2 for 10 bucks) and as of now no longer carry any gamecube stuff either to rent or buy. The reason they gave me was horrible sales. I asked them how bad could they really have been, and their reply was that they rent and sell twice as much PS1 stuff as they did gamecube, and simply cant afford the wasted space.

[ThePerm]

in my sears you see a big classic nintendo glass case...fileld with ps2 and xbox games. Ima call my Nintenod representative and make them take the shelf away ...then wherew are they goign to put their games

[Greedy8899]

Well at my local Blockbuster the shelves for the games are all equa except for ps2. The ps2 has 2 shelves front and back. X-Box and GC each have a shelf back and front.

I heard Microplay got bought out by a different company a few months back.

I notice though that Coconuts(a place like Suncoast, FYE, etc) doesnt care much about the GC. They have one little section which is messy and the X-Box/PS2 sections are big and nice looking.

Normally though if your looking for a first party title, Blockbuster normally gets them in before the 3rd party titles.

In conclusion, if your looking for a place to get games. Go to Gamestop or EB Games.

[Oblivious]

I hate that kind of tyranny. GCN is a great system and it definately shouldn't be excluded. As far as I'm concerned those stores know nothing of video games and just buy whatever is big. ALL GAMES ARE CREATED EQUAL! Come on! EB Games is a very good store though.

[Ymeegod]

What worse--

One of my local Blockbuster (the one that I have a membership for) just changed management.  

They used to be pretty good about picking what games to stock and how much.  But lately it's been like this.

No Ghost Recon for the Xbox or GC (even though the Xbox supports Xbox Live).  Or the fact that it's listed under PS2's Online games even though it's not.  Not only that but they listed it as Co-op as well.  Idiots.  PS2 version has Zero online MP and is only limited to One-on-one DM for offline MP.

Second, SWRoTR is a smash hit yet they only bought two copies, same for Mario Golf.  But the bought freaking 12 titles of The Great Escape for the xbox a game that averages a 3/10.

I filed a complaint against the new management already (keep charging me for movies that was already checked back in (even rented back out 50% of the time).

There's actually a Microplay a few miles away and I think I'll get an account there.  They also have alot of anime compared to anyplace else.

[NintendoFanGirl]

Our Sears doesn't carry ANY Nintendo products, including the GBA.  I even wrote them a letter which they never responded to.  I don't shop Sears anyway so it doesn't really matter, but I wonder why they don't carry GC or GBA.

[The Omen]

Quote
It was basically a self fulfilling prophesy. Any video store I ever visit that claims that no one rents Cube games has always had a sh!tty Cube selection.

I agree totally.  And this is why-at launch, i went to return some movies to my local video store.  I saw they had Xbox signs all over, so i inquired about GC.  To my surprise, the response was  "Industry people are saying Nintendo is going to go out of business with GC, and we're not going to stock it."  Just typical.  Blockbuster is no better.  There are 4 shelves of GC games along one wall.  There are 6 shelves of Xbox along 2 walls and there are 5 long lanes of Ps2 .  And they dont have any of the good games like ED or Metroid, and no new games at all.

[Doerr]

Sears doen't carry Nintendo products anymore because they arn't a licenced seller anymore.
who care I alway look at thier stuff every year in The Wish Book and it always $15 to 30 more then any where else.

[KDR_11k]

I noticed that most large stores here generally file consoles under toys (this was normal with the SNES and similar), while they started mirroring their PS2 and XB sections in the computer games section. I thought Kaufhof didn't carry GC until I searched for GBA and found the GC is there. They just got me confused with the mirrored sections. And honestly, I think they should either keep all video games together or keep the consoles out of the PC section!

[Michael8983]

I think we'll at least see things get better at Blockbuster.
Nintendo's 4P multiplayer games have always been popular rentals and there are a TON of them coming out this year.
My local Blockbuster had over a dozen copies of Mario Golf and all but two were rented out and I rented one of those last two myself.

But, yeah, the retail store thing does suck.
You just know that, even if the XBox were doing worse than the GCN in the US, it wouldn't get the same unfair treatment from retailers. In fact, it would probably still have more shelve space. That's the problem with Nintendo going up against companies as huge as Sony and MS. It just doesn't have the kind of power over retailers that they do. There's no doubt both Sony and MS have taken steps to hurt Nintendo's relationships with retailers too.  

[Rob91883]

 Most gamers have more than one system now.  Microsoft pays 3rd party developers to make games look better, or to have extras of some sort.  The majority of casual gamers just wanting to rent a game own a PS2.  I can see why GCN games rent in low numbers compared to PS2 and XBox( I dont think Xbox is doing that much better).  But theres a lot of people outhere that are comfortabole with their GCN, and would want to rent 3rd party games for it, but  chains that are ignorant in the Videogame scene neglect that.  first party GCN games always rent well, its the 3rd party games that need to be looked at.

[mouse_clicker]

Well, Blockbuster's Gamecube section is deplorable- they hardly ever have any good games and when they do they're a month or two late. Sears just plain doesn't carry Nintendo products for some reason. I could understand that sentiment to a point regarding the Gamecube, but the GBA is the top selling system worldwide- you'd have to be crazy not to carry it. Sears also doesn't carry M rated games, either. After how well both GTA's sold, I hope they've come to their senses.

[darknight06]

Didn't Sears have somekind of fallout with Nintendo or vice versa a few years back?  I could've swore I've heard something around those lines which in turn stopped all Nintendo products from going over to that store.  

[egman]

I think Ian Sane hit it on the nail. As much as Nintendo has contributed to some of the issues it has now, the media itself has done far worse by buying into the hype and speading bad infomation like nothing is wrong. There are problems with GC, but they have been exaggerated to unfair proportions. And the result is the GC userbase gets shafted by the uninformed such as the idiots at BlockBuster.

All in all, there are lot of assumptions that have been and are being made about the GC that are way off base. Just look at the "Is the Xbox more powerful?" thread in the Other Systems board for an example of an assumption that has been made since the beginning that has not and cannot be proved to this day.

[ThePerm]

millions of people all over North America all complain about this problem. It really is Pathetic. And this isn't the first Blockbuster sucks thread. These have been popping up through every iteration of the forums. Why because Blockbuster sucks.

[joshnickerson]

Blame Pokemon.
No, not really. I LOVE the little critters myself, but going through this thread, I found myself wondering when relations between Nintendo and Blockbuster & Sears went downhill. It was only a few years ago that Blockbuster was the only place you could go to print out stickers of your pictures from your Pokemon Snap and Stadium games. And Sears had a huge section devoted to Pokemon merchandise. Of course, as we all know, the Pokemon frenzy declined, as all things do. I figure Sears and Blockbuster, figuring the fad was over, as was Nintendo, decided to jump ship.
It's just a theory. But I do remember that around the time they took down what was left of the "Poke-Center" section at Sears, the N64 display they had mysteriously"disappeared"...

[ShanD]

The Blockbuster where I'm near seems quite up to date ... they had at least 10 copies of Mario Golf (5 boxes on the shelf) they were all up to date, but back at home the Blockbuster doesn't even carry Gamecube games ... it makes me sad.