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VAMatt on 08 September 2019
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The_Liquid_Laser said:
Shadow1980 said:

If GameStop ever went out of business I would most likely go to Best Buy for new titles since they do have them, but for older games I haven't gotten around to I'd buy them off of Amazon. Older games usually go for really good prices on there.

I think Target also keeps their games under lock and key, but I'm not sure. I rarely go in there. Best Buy opts to put their games into these anti-theft cases that have to be removed at the register.

I am appreciating this Walmart/Gamestop discussion the two of you are having, and I just want to inject one more idea.  The biggest reason that Walmart sells so many video games is because there is a Walmart in almost every little town in the USA.  There are plenty of small towns that don't have population enough for many stores, but it is very common to have a Walmart still.  

That means in many small towns people only have one retail option to buying video games: Walmart.  Since they have a small town monopoly, they end up selling a ton of video games nation wide.  On the other hand if a town has a Gamestop, then it immediately becomes a better option over Walmart.  The second hand market immediately makes the effective price of games lower, which means people will end up playing more games, and that means the hardware is also more valuable.  Basically Gamestop makes video games in general a lot more consumer friendly than Walmart alone does.  (And of course a Gamestop store is much more welcoming to gamers than a Walmart is, which was already mentioned.)

Of course there is always Amazon as a competitor to Walmart, even in small town USA.  The fact that Walmart still sells so many games is an indicator that there are still a lot of people who want to stick with the brick-and-mortar retail model.  In fact, people in rural areas have the most incentive to shop online, because they have the fewest retail options.  And I know Amazon is eating into Walmart's market share, and yet Walmart is still in no danger of going bankrupt any time soon.

Basically, what I'm saying is that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with Gamestop's retail model.  On the gaming side it is far superior to Walmart, and yet Walmart is still doing fine.  If Gamestop has any significant problems it would be because of poor management, and not with a flawed or outdated business model.

Walmart has lowered the price of essentially every game to $49.88.  I've noticed it for a few months now.  Sometimes there will be like one or two licensed titles (like FIFA or Madden) at $59.88, but everything else is under $50, even at launch.