One of GameStop's international subsidiaries that cuntplasters sale signs everywhere has confirmed that it will be closing, despite supposedly still being profitable as glorified merchandise stores.https://www.ebgames.co.nz/eb-games-new-zealand-closure-faqsWill the rest of the chain will see the same fate internationally in the foreseeable future?
How are any non-service based stores even still a thing today? Who doesn't just order online and have it delivered to their door?
>>730790245noooomy carrots
>>730790292A lot of these stores have for years been filled to the brim with generic pop culture merch, shit like Funko Pops, board games, t-shirts, plushies, and what have you. Pokémon cards as well, and apparently even Gundams, though mine doesn't have those. While the PC section eventually melted away for obvious reasons, the Xbox aisle becoming the most anemic is somewhat amusing.In some cases they might have things like event Pokémon or some shit, but they're probably all online now anyway.
>>730790245>Will the rest of the chain will see the same fate internationally in the foreseeable future?I would say yes. I used to go to EB Games but one day I noticed games had to be activated on Steam, so now everyone just buys them on Steam or PSN.
>>730790245i would say the australian stores are next but even blockbuster existed in australia for way longer than expected
>>730790832>i would say the australian stores are nextDefinitely. I think physical media is outdated. Covid showed everyone how little they actually need to leave home beyond employment. Everyone is likely having stuff delivered (if they insist on physical media) or buying digital.
>>730790832it doesn't help that EB is normally 10-30$ more than JB, i've had a lvl4 card for years and still have no idea what it even does if i buy physical i just go to JB and only go to EB if JB doesn't have what i want
>>730791259eb does price matchingi always used to walk to the jb in the same mall to take photos of the stuff i was gona buy to get it price matched
>>730790245>Despite supposedly still being profitable as glorified merchandise stores.Most are profitable they just don't generate enough, I'm from UK and used to visit a Game in the town next over to me. It was in a shit location in a pretty decent sized town and the manager there was pretty open that while not making massive amounts of money the store was turning a profit.Now in UK pretty much all Game stores have gone, they didn't bother even trying to adapt to the market and instead just closed up so now we have fuck all.
>>730791259Last I checked the membership level was usually in regards to pre-owned games, something that has aged like milk. Something about pre-orders as well.Feels weird that EB here once sold Valve Index kits for a really brief time in 2022, probably like the only retail store to do so unless JB did something. And any emails about VR since then were followed by apologies in that they accidentally mixed up Australian ones.>>730790832United Video here for some reason was really insistent on not fucking dying until like 2023 and even then there's still two stores open in smaller towns, maybe the overall culture here moves less quickly and thus such stores to survive a bit longer than the more competitive shit in the US and Europe, seeing that department stores are also a dying breed. But where one video store was now here is a bit of a zombie with selling shitloads of DVDs nobody wants on top of lots of other shit like incenses, TCGs, and a pharmacy, coming across as some desperate bid to survive.
god I should have sold GME when I had the chance
