Let’s fix game retail
If you’re following me on twitter, you will have seen that this morning I indulged in a hobby of mine: moaning about things on the internet. GameStop, the massive games retailer from the US, has recently launched a UK based site. Annoyingly they were charging £2 delivery per item, which is more than their shipping from GameStop.ie to England is.
I let them know what I thought, and to my astonishment, they responded by changing this policy, and making standard shipping free. Good on them.
This got me thinking, I bet there are dozens of things other retailers with policies or rules which are either annoying, or harmful to their customers. I’d love to hear from you lot about what you’d like to see changed. We probably have to pick our battles here, it’s easiest to change the world a little bit at a time.
If you lot all let me know which particular policies retailers have that you are not happy about, I will pick what I think are the most worthy and realistic causes, and initiate a dialogue with the retailers in question to see if I can get anything done about it.
Please share any ideas in the comments.
Who knows, maybe control over GameStop is the extent of my powers, but I think it’s worth a try.
Can we just say well done to Gamestop for receiving a comment then realising that what they were doing was harmful to their customers and sales, then ending that practice. It would’ve been very easy to dismiss your tweet, but they didn’t.
(Being optimistic and assuming that they hadn’t already decided on this policy and were just able to time the announcement perfectly to coincide with your tweet).
Well done, Gamestop, you have gained a friend. I promise to purchase my next game from you*.
*Provided you’re the cheapest retailer of said game. Hey, you just got £2 closer.
Dear Game,
Please let me spend my gift vouchers on your website.
Cheers,
Tam.
I’ve had this issue in the past. It is really annoying.
This!
Oh god, how convenient this would be.
I have heard that Gamestation are thinking about doing this. You can already spend credit from your reward card online, and I think they have plans to merge the store credit and the reward card.
Our fear is not that we are powerless, but that we are powerful beyond our imagination!
Dear Game,
Stop charging £34.99 for SSIV 3D as well as many other games when I could easily get them for £12 elsewhere.
How about making Zavvi mega mondays a genuine sale rather than having no noticeable difference from a regular day, I guess goes to the Hut and Play as well their sales rarely do more than make their prices come in line with other online retailers.
I think that the Hut group are just broken all together, but here are some other specific suggestions for them:
1) Send me a product once I have ordered it
2) Actually send the product that I ordered, rather than the same game for a system I don’t own
3) Make your stock status reflect reality, rather than what your customers would like reality to be
Can we politely ask Game to stick their anti-Steam agenda where the sun doesn’t shine? (http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/11/11/retailers-say-steam-is-killing-the-pc-market-threaten-steam-ban/ and http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/forums/showthread.php?547-Space-Marine-removed-from-UK-Steam-Store.)
And for EA to sort out EA’s Origin/Steam problem. They never set up their own physical store and only sold and updated games through that. Why so different in the digital realm?
The PC game selection at my local game is RIDICULOUS. They don’t even have a PC games chart now – just some mixed stuff with a considerable focus on Sims titles. At least Gamestation have a pre-owned section where you can potentially grab a classic and/or a bargain.
How can they claim it’s hurting sales? What’s actually hurting sales is there rapidly diminishing stock of PC games…
Origin is WAY too expensive. They want you to pay 35 pounds for Crysis 2 that is 10 pounds elsewhere. I have no problem buying games from Origin, provided they’re the cheapest.
Dear Retailer
Please do not try and rip me off every-time I step into a store. To be perfectly honest, I’ve not stepped into a store in a long time, because I know you will be charging full retail price, and I can easily get it for less from your own website!
All gamers will be internet savy and therefore are unlikely to pay retail price on any games, so why push your core customer base away?
Retail is an outdated practice that relies on luring foot traffic into impulse purchases where they cannot easily compare prices with competitors. Their core customer base is NOT internet savvy savygamers, it is less informed gamers and people who buy presents for gamers.
Dear Steam,
Could you please stop pausing downloads when I start playing a game? Maybe this makes sense if it’s a multiplayer game. Otherwise maybe I want to be playing something else while my new game downloads? I know I can alt-tab and resume, but why force me to?
This is a problem with the client, iirc they’d need to do a whole redesign to “fix” it.
Little trick I use. Suspend the download yourself, start whatever game you want to play, resume download manually. Profit.
This is in the works by Valve for a future update. Last paragraph: http://deltagamer.com/9984/steam-upgrades-content-delivery-system
Nice. Cheers for that.
Can we pretend that this was due to this thread? Go this thread! Success!
Dear Game,
Please let me view trade in prices online. Please let me pick up and collect with all your items, not just 3. Please expand your PC gaming section (your collection of UMD disks is nearly as big as your collection of PC games ffs!) and please accept trade ins of PC games that don’t use CD-Keys!
Can we get game.co.uk to revise the shipping countries ? I find it bizarre that they don’t service Romania (part of European Union) but they provide service to further away countries. Okay, gives us a bigger shipping charge, but at least allow us to use your website. I’ve always had a softspot for thehut group, because it’s the only website where we are allowed to shop. Given the fact that most of the times video games are VERY expensive here compared to UK, i really think we would have a win-win situation.
Dear Game group,
Please let me spend my credit and points at both of your shops, rather than being tied into one. You will still be getting my money either way.
Eurgh. Just recently got one of those Elite cards. I’d hoped for Gamestation to do loyalty points, but I’d mainly hoped for it to combine with my pre-existing GAME card.
I do have a few suggestions;
1) Play.com can you please ship items in the order of people who have pre-ordered the item first. I cannot fathom how frustrating it is to pre-order a game 3 months in advance only to have it not arrive until a week after release. To further infuriate is to see friends order the game as soon as its in stock to have the item turn up before those that have pre-ordered.
2) Tesco online/ASDA online- to not bother with these so called ‘mis-priced’ items on their website. Its happened far too often to see games suddenly pop up at amazing prices for it not to be a blatant attempt to drive up web traffic.
3) I believe its time to improve customer service for many of these online retailers. Too often consumers are just getting place-card answers without any substance to genuine problems with the website/missing orders payment problems.
Finally its a bit of a biggie but why does it take seconds for an online retailer to take money out of you’re account however it can take 2-3 weeks for them to refund you?
Gamestop UK need to not take payment on pre-order, they need to follow suit of most other retailers and only take the money on dispatch. I think this matters to alot of people.
Aye, I’d already planned to ask them about that.
1. Try to get companies, like Game etc to have more confidence in release date deliveries. The ONLY retailer I know is shopto.net, who credit you £3 if the pre-ordered game is not delivered on the day of release.
2. Stop Store specific DLC, it means if a store gets good DLC from the Publisher, then they have no need to try and compete on the prices and service.
Thanks for your time on this Lewie.
I do think the responsibility for the retailer exclusive DLC stuff lies with the publishers really.
Why would any retailer turn it down?
They wouldn’t. It just annoys me, and it means the Indie retailers etc have to work even harder to compete.
Not sure if this is within your powers, but can you have a good old winge at Impulse for still listing things in their store that I can’t buy due to region-locks? It’s downright insulting when a bestseller listed on the front page advertises itself to me, and I can’t even get it.
Otherwise, keep doing what you’re doing Lewie!
I have already done that multiple times actually, although not since the GameSpot takeover. Hmm.
It’s even more irritating that I get their marketing e-mails with these games in. BUY THIS GAME FOR NOT MANY DOLLARS NOW oh actually no never mind I changed my mind.
Agree 100%. All game orders include a billing address, so they know where i live. If a deal is not available in my country, why offer it?
Well I get annoyed about the varied pricing, it’s not competitive necessarily, it’s more erratic. Like one site will have a better price on one game than another site, but that site will have better pricing on a certain game to the first site.
Also there’s getting the game on release date, you can only really ensure you get it day one with game and shopto.net.
And lastly there’s exclusives, it seems every site has their own exclusives and you have to look around all the shops to find out who has what, or where to even get a particular exclusive you want. For example, with Battlefield 3, I just wanna get the Karkand map preorder exclusive but I don’t even know who has what preorder exclusives.
#whitemanproblems…
The map pack is not an exclusive to anyone, if you pre-ordered it you’ll get it. It’s the Physical Warfare pack that is exclusive.
It’s not pricing related, I know. And, it’s unlikely. But if GAME could possibly make their pre-owned section look even half as tidy as Oxfam do, that would be wonderful.
I wish I could buy used PC games in a b&m retail shop. I understand the issues with multi-player or Steam keys being used up, but I feel if a retailer put some effort into the problem, it could categorize games based on which copy protection or DRM service it uses. Games that are useless of course they wouldn’t give credit for or sell, ones with activations left or with no DRM they could probably re-sell in some way. I know most games do use DRM of varying degrees nowadays, but it’s entirely possible to get some sort of secondhand PC game inventory going with a bit of work put into the problem. I want a lot of older PC games, but they’re often overpriced, and I’m not willing to pirate. I still pick up used games from the thrift store and Amazon, but it’d be nice to flip through old PC games at the vidyagame store again.
Something small that a bit of pressure might actually fix is the fact that you cannot subscribe to even the DIGITAL edition of GameInformer from outside the US, seemingly because GameSpot’s checkout system thinks it is going to need to ship some physical item to you and won’t do that to a non-US address.
GameInformer gets the exclusive on pretty much every big game reveal; it would be nice for people outside the US to have a chance at the digital version at least.
I just wish that Game & Gamestation published the value of trade-ins on their websites… Same with HMV – not everyone has an access to android-based smartphone…
Also… Anytime I try to pay using paypal on gamestation.co.uk the website crashes. Does anyone else get that too?
Dear retailers (who won’t be named),
Can you fit sprinklers on the doors to your store that spray staff and customers with deodorant as they enter?
Thanks
Amazon, Play and other mail order retainers. For PC games that are activated on Steam, (or other service:Impulse, Origin etc) can you please send out the activation key in your confirmation email, appropriately encrypted if necessary, so I can play straight away rather than waiting 3-4 days for the post.
Tesco Entertainment:
Pre-ordered Skyrim with them for the fabulous price of £20. The game is due out in Novemeber, yet they have ALREADY reserved the money from my bank account. Completely baffling behavior, and I am now effectively £20 worse off for the next 3 months.
Dear Steam
1 EUR does not equal 1 USD.
‘Nuff said.
Almost everyone in the entire industry is guilty of regional pricing bollocks.
I suppose GOG should be singled out for praise here.
I think Gamersgate is actually adjusting prices abit depending on currency exchange rates, but I’m not sure.
Best example of regional pricing shite like this is the PSVita. What was it again? $249 and 249 Euros? This is disgraceful.
I believe that’s due to the higher taxes in EU
Here’s a good one, which Doctorow reminded me about:
Dear Internet Retailer
Don’t make me register on your site before letting me buy something!
By all means, let me volunteer to save my details and create an account automatically after buying. Don’t force me to join your site and receive your spam.
You’ll annoy customers less and make more money. Do it today.
Dear Origin,
I have no problem with buying from your site. I am willing to ignore the whole fiasco with Steam on ONE condition – You are cheaper than not only them, but than retail. I’m not going to buy anything from Origin because it’s Origin, Origin offers me nothing. All I want is to pay the smallest amount of money as possible. Thank you.
Gamestop UK just started following SavyGamer on Twitter. This could mean good things.
Dear Steam,
Please stop finding excuses to refuse to start in offline mode. I don’t understand how you could be trying to update while I’m offline. I mean, if you knew there was an update, why didn’t you do it the last time I was online. And if you didn’t, how do you know it now while I’m offline.
I’m serious, you’re ruining my plane trips, which I happen to have more often than you think.
1. Please bring online and store prices in-line with one another, cos it’s bloody irritating knowing you could pick a game up 5 minutes form work but have to wait 3 days for the crap shipping.
2. Set a decent second hand policy that doesn’t rely on subterfuge. I got into trouble in my local game, as a woman in front of me was offered BFBC2 for 2 quid less than full price at the counter, after taking the full price one to the counter. She was about to accept, until I made the staff tell her that she would have had to pay 8 quid to play the game online – she chose not to buy it at all and thanked me profusely.The sales guy called his manager who took my money but wasn’t impressed. Either make 2nd hand games good value (maximum 50% of RRP) or don’t bother.
3. Stop some online companies selling PC versions of games that have used Steam codes – it’s just robbery.
4. Stop the DLC crap we are all subjected to – once you have bought a game, the only content you should have to pay for should be a significant expansion. As in, minimum 4 to 6 hours of extra gaming for a fair 5 quid. NOT 5 maps for £12, 3 of which are recycled from an older version of the game (COD again).
Make EA and Sony’s online pass burn to the ground. DO EET!
GameStop are charging £2 postage on orders again (if under £30).
>_>