Would be nice to have a quick summary, but buisness models to get a bit weird

I've only bought new games from EB games twice when it was more convenient, but I prefer Best Buy or Amazon anyways

Oh man, I remember I once tried to buy a copy of Fragile Dreams on the Wii at gamestop (silly me for trying to buy such a niche game like that at a gamestop) and they tried to sell me a display box with a GAPING HOLE in the cover and a loose disc. Of course this would be at full, new, retail price, as the "disc was new".

To anyone listening, really do try to seek out independent stores in your areas if you can. Depends on the store of course but I've never been to one trying to pull this kind of heinous bull, and they often break street dates and try to actually care for used games as best they can.

sounds like more conspiracy theory type stuff. im just saying - once you buy a new game, its a used game. and wouldnt retailers like GameStop benefit from having more pre-owned games in circulation? it just doesnt add up

That's a long-term conceptual idea that Gamestop is probably too short-sighted to plan for. They get signicantly more money for the used games they sell, and probably go so far as to consider all new game sales as lost potential revenue from what could be upsold (or in this case downsold?) to used sales.

I agree.  Gamestop is in a tough business - physical video game sales.  I'm glad they exist, and I don't mind doing whatever they need to do to make money.  Certainly, that does not justify lying to customers.  But, I'm sure the policy doesn't say "lie".  That's store managers pressuring the employees, or the employees themselves being disingenuous.

I buy all new physical games from Best Buy, as I get 20% off with my Gamer's Club membership.  I buy a few used games per year at Gamestop, or occasionally on Ebay.  Maybe one or two per year at Target, if u see a good sale.  I bought Watchdogs 2 at Target in December for $29.99 by catching a sale and using a coupon.

I buy most of games from Best Buy. BBGR is awesome.

The last thing I bought from GameStop was MW3. Which I tried to return, still sealed, the day after release because my girlfriend also bought a copy for me and they offered me $12.25 store credit. Never went there again after that BS. GameFly ended up giving me $40 for it.

Telling you that something new is not in stock, in an attempt to sell you something used is the problem. They're not mislabeling or rearranging their shelves; they're lying to their customers.

If you think this top-down pressure to deceive customers and maximize profits is no big deal to the feds, you should see how such thinking turned out for Wells Fargo.

Maybe you didn't read the article, though: 

“We are telling people we don’t have new systems in stock so we won’t take a $300 or $400 dollar hit on our pre-owned numbers...This is company wide and in discussions with my peers it is a common practice. We also tell customers we don’t have copies of new games in stock when they are on sale—for example, Watch Dogs 2 is currently $29.99 new and $54.99 pre-owned. We just tell them we don’t have the new one in stock and shuffle them out the door.”

Wells Fargo was charging people without their consent. It's not the same thing.

What does "shuffle them out the door" means anyway?

Wells Fargo incentivized cross-selling and penalized those who missed quotas, just like this GameStop quota.

They got and are continuing to get their asses handed to them, because programs that encourage illegal activity are illegal.

"Shuffle them out the door" simply means to usher them out of the shop.

I get all my hardware and games from Microplay in Brantford(Ontario). It's an awesome little store with very friendly people. There are mutiple EB games locations around here too yet the people aren't very competent and the deals aren't as good.