So we have these people always complaining about how GS is hurting their business and how they push used game sales over new game sales.

If they have so many problems with GS then why do they constantly keep on doing all these exclusive pre-order incentives for GS where you get extra weapons, outfit, story elements, etc? Plus publishers rely heavily on GS to promote/market their games when they launch.

Aren't these practices counter-intuitive to the whole issue here? Publishers are giving more and more incentives to people to make purchases with GS through exclusive content and marketing. Then why is it that when they push people to GS that they later complain when people become heavily invested with GS's business model of trading in your games and getting credit to make a new purchase?

If there is something wrong about GS's business practices, shouldn't publishers be trying to move people AWAY from GS rather than TOWARDS them? Like giving better incentives for making digital purchases such as lower price (I would LOVE this). Or are they so heavily reliant on GS to do a bulk of their marketing and selling their product that they are afraid to undercut the retailer? If that is the case then why complain so much when you are so reliant on the company to do your business in the first place?

Btw we don't even have any Gamestop stores that I know of in the UK, so I have never ever bought a copy or traded any games with them in my life. The only one time I even saw a Gamestop was when I visited New York on vacation and I was rather impressed by the store guy who seemed to be quite knowledgeble about very niche games. And the store demos were cool I guess. But that's about all the personal experience I have of GS. So this is not me supporting the retailer but rather trying to take an objective look at publisher practices.

If publishers stopped supporting Gamestop, they would lose a shit ton of money.

Gamestop just prioritizes used games over new and they mistreat their employees.

True dat.

They do this everywhere, not just Gamestop.

Nintendo gave Best Buy exclusive DL content and Gamestop Xenoblade and Fire Emblem art book. It ain't just Gamestop.

because gamestop won't promote these games otherwise.

They let Gamestop have exclusives because it means free advertising for their game- or at least adverting paid for by gamestop. At least that's what I think. I've also heard gamestop won't promote some games without some sort of exclusive content.

Yeah but the point is that they shouldn't be if they have a problem with GS's (or any other retailer's) business practices. It is in their best interest to not incentivise people to do business with a company that the publishers feel are taking away from their own business. I'm not saying this for Nintendo (since they don't seem to have a problem with the retail model) but rather for other companies who feel otherwise. If these companies prefer digital then they should incentivise digital. It's not a surprise that more people buy games from GS when GS have all these exclusive content that digital or other sources don't.

art book? They gave GameStop the whole freaking GAME, that was the only retailer you could even buy the damn thing at besides the online store. They do it for others, but IMHO they favor GS way more than anyone else. That doesnt even take into account the fact that alot of stores simply dont carry certain games. Try find bit.trip collection for WIi at Target or Walmart or even Best Buy, hell look for any of the Alteir games there.

I suppose then they shouldn't complain when people start to become heavily involved with GS's programme of trading/buying games since they are so reliant on GS's promotion of their game to sell copies in the first place.

well, sales of the first few weeks are almost everything for publishers and often decide if your game will be a huge financial flop or if you will make a small profit or will be break even. and if the retailer with 3500 stores or so tells you that he won't promote your game if you won't give him some extra stuff, you risk to sell a huge amount less for full price. 

they surely would like to see less used games but without gamestop they would be more on ebay. not as many as with gamestop but i think as long as console gamers are still not so open to downloads, they can't fuck it up with gamestop. i'm sure that this will be very different if digital will have a decent size on home consoles.