I am a previous Gamestop Store Manager. AMA

Ever seen anyone else use Gamestop as a bank?

This is actually not wholly uncommon. I've seen it a lot XD

To you think Gamestop deserves the poor reputation it gets?

In all honesty, no. Mainly because they ARE a business, and in the ever-changing gaming industry, I've seen the way they scrounge around to try and make things more fair for customers. Yes, there are really crappy prices on things at time, and sometimes they make no sense, but they are based on algorithms and profit and loss reports throughout the company. Sometimes Gamestop pays for so many games that they will never sell back and lose a lot of money off of it, but to counter-act that, they sell some games that are way more popular close to the price of new. Nothing was ever more frustrating to me than someone coming in with a copy of Duke Nukem and yelling throughout the store about how mad they were at the <$1 trade credit they were getting. Yes, you're getting nothing for the game, but look at the reviews and how long it's been out, and you'll realize why we can't make a profit off of it. Thousands of games every day are traded in (Because we don't refuse games based on whether we resell them well) that never get resold. It's a waste for everyone involved, and the company loses more than it gains from it. Think of it this way too: more and more people are buying games to be directly downloaded to their consoles (Me included) and that is Gamestop's biggest revenue stream. If people aren't coming into stores to buy games anymore, what profit will they make? They need the used sales profits to stay afloat for much longer.

They buy every game? I can remember being told they wouldn't offer anything for quite a few games before.

They won't buy previous gen consoles like Xbox original or PS2, so that may be the issue. They also cannot refurbish discs with any defects or cracks, so those are rejected. For games that are just unpopular though, they buy them all anyway.

A few months ago I brought in all of my Xbox 360 games (consisting largely of the most recent previous gen editions of popular franchise games such as CoD, Battlefield, Halo, Dark Souls, Far Cry, etc.) and was told they would not give me any money for any of the games. So I guess if there's a newer title in the series the previous game becomes worthless, whether it's a sports game or not. They offered to take the games off of me for free and I told them I'd go to eBay or craigslist as they weren't doing me any favors by making that offer.

I've never experienced that with 360 games, so if that happened, it may have either been a change of policy, or a lazy employee who didn't want to process trades. To check amounts you could get, there is away to do it at the website so you can refute that if it's ever an issue.

Or $0.01. Which is more of a slap in the face, really.

Those are for games we no longer sell at all. Sometimes we will allow you to trade them for the penny, but they will just got destroyed later. At my store, we encouraged keeping them or finding a pawn shop/retro game store to sell them too.

So because the buisness needs the used game buisness that makes it okay? Another x gamestop manager who started as an employee im not gonna beat around the bush or tell you a long well written story. That company is an asshole. The employees are paid shit and the whole buisness thrives off other peoples work. Fuck gamestop and fuck yourself instead people.

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Gamestop. I try not to leave a company jaded against them though, so different strokes i guess. When I left the company, I left in good spirit onto my new adventure, not because they did wrong by me.

Do you sell battletoads?

Absolutely

Is your name Chris?

Yes, it actually is. hah.

Did you work at a location in a mall?

I worked at many locations, Mall and Strip, but my main 2 stores were mall stores.

What kind of QA, if any does gamestop practice on trade in consoles? My experience with refurbished consoles from gamestop has been..... less than fortunate.

Our QA (At my store at least) was to run a small stress test on the console to make sure it was working with whatever the most graphic intensive game was out. We'd inspect each component and then start the trade. If we saw even one problem with it, we would sent it in to be refurbished. Now....I have no clue what they did at the refurbishment center, but we had a return rate of maybe 1 out of every 20 consoles. The good news is that we would go above and beyond to replace anything that the customer didn't like about their refurbished console.

What do games actually cost?

For the new games, the company sells them at $59.99, but they are purchased at bulk at around $45-$55, so each game can be from $5-$15 profit. When there are sales like when they drop a new game to $40 for the week, Gamestop loses profit on those purchases, but gains more from other purchases in store. For used games, it depends on each game. A brand new game traded in with a membership will give the customer $33 store credit, and the company resells it for $49.50 to pro members ($54.99 to non-members) at a $16.50 profit.

For sports games, Gamestop make little to no money on them after a year has past, so when you see the $1 trade in credit on NBA 2k14, it's because we'd have over 100 copies per store at times that we pay for but never resell. They get sent to a warehouse and never get sold unless ordered.

You are forgetting the costs to ship them too. That eats into the profit as well.

Yes, and Gamestop ships items around more than necessary. We will send all unwanted games to another store that may sell them better, only to have them sent back on the next shipping day.

What's your best and worst experience as a Gamestop Store Manager?

Best experience would have to be the conference I posted for my proof. I went to Las Vegas (paid for by the company) and was briefed and tested new games set to release sometimes 2 years into the future before anyone had even seen screenshots or videos. It lasted five days, and every store manager who was healthy enough to make the trip was there. There were auditoriums of over 5,000 or more store managers watching gameplay of new games, new consoles, and great ideas for the industry. On top of getting that experience, my coworkers were my life. We hung out every day we weren't working and were basically a family. I stay in contact with them even from across the country. The worst experiences were unfortunately some of the customers. I loved my regular customers, and some were so awesome that I would play games with them on my days off, but there were always customers every day that would come in already pissed about things out of my control. I think the worst one was a woman who started tearing up the store and screaming at me that I was racist because we couldn't accept checks and that's what she wanted to pay with.

You forgot to mention all the free shit you get at those conferences. My buddy gets most new games and consoles for free every year.

Oh yes, the freebies were great, They didn't make the experience great though, they were just the icing on the cake.

was briefed and tested new games set to release sometimes 2 years into the future before anyone had even seen screenshots or videos

Which games did you get to test? Anything good?

Back then it was games like GTA V, Dark Souls 2, BF3, a lot of the new console games (This was before they released, so there weren't too many) and when I calculated it all, we got about 40 free games each out of it.

How much sweet gaming swag did you collect while working there?

All of my walls back at my apartment were plastered with free posters after marketing gave us new ones. I had countless standees of the best quality with nowhere to put them. Games were sometimes given to managers, especially at conference time, and I probably accrued a few thousand dollars worth of merchandise over my time there. It was a great perk.

Don't forget the lanyards. Oh god so many lanyards

I still have hundreds of lanyards somewhere in a box.

That's awesome. I used to work there when it was still known as Electronics Boutique (yeah I'm older). Even though retail can suck at times I got a ton of game stands and posters, like life sized ones. My favorite probably being one for Final Fantasy VIII. Which one is your favorite?

The Diablo III and Zelda standees were always a couple of my personal favorites.

By the way thank you OP, your post has inspired me to write a story about all the crazy things that happened while working in my local mall.

If you post it on Reddit, I want a link! I bet it may bring back a lot of memories hah

My favorite thing from my time working with Gamestop/EB was the swag. I have a little blue Eidos shotglass somewhere in my house. It was my favorite swag piece. Really nice etched glass shotglass with the eidos logo.

Normally you get pens and lanyards, but this stood out. Loved that little thing. No idea why.

I felt the same way about my Zombrex pen

What was the strangest moment you had while working?

There was a guy who came in and started taking inventory of our store, and he had no credentials linking him to our company, so I felt really uncomfortable about it. My neighboring store had a guy poop his shorts and then it dropped onto the floor. Closed the store for an entire 24 hour period while the cleaners came in and re-sanitized.

Any backstory on the poo situation? Was it a child?

Grown man. I wasn't there, but he said it was a normal adult male that didn't seem to have any mental illness. Just had diarrhea and couldn't stop it.

As someone with IBS....this is my nightmare.

Lactose intolerant with a dairy addiction. I know what you mean.

Probably a Juggalo

Oh my goddness........Don't get me started on the Juggalos that would come into the store. You always knew them by the clown tattoos on their necks.

Do you think Amazon Prime's 20% off all "new release" video game preorders thing will put any sort of dent in Gamestop's business? I realize they make a ton of money off of used games, but I now no longer shop there at all because that 20% is just too good to pass up and I'm sure there are many others who are doing the same.

Every time another company makes a deal available like that, it's sure to leave a mark on Gamestop's business. That's why I would push less into Games themselves and more into Games-with-Collectibles types of deals if I were in charge at gamestop. Gamers are collectors, and that makes a good business.

Did you get tired of asking for preorders and/or Game Informer subscriptions?

And what's the best way for me, as a customer, to say, "Listen, I know you're just doing your job but fucking stop with your spiel" without saying it just like that?

The employees hate trying to sell those things as much as anyone. Trust me, it's terrible for us to be pressured into pressuring you. My best advice is to get the free powerup card, because it costs nothing and the emails are opt-out available at the store, and they still help us. For the reservations, best thing you can do is say that you have it reserved at your home store. Gamestop employees have an uspoken code of not trying to steal reserves from other stores.

I just bought an Xbox One from GameStop Winter Street Boston. Brand new Quantum Break edition. I took it home and imagine my surprise when I found a free copy of Gears Ultimate inside the disc slot with someone else's profile loaded as well!

What kind of shady things go on at GameStop like this? Repackaging used consoles as new? Not testing or wiping returned consoles and then reselling them again? What have you seen happen, and what will corporate let you get away with that the average customer doesn't know?

I've never seen a situation like that before, so my best guess is an employee clearly broke policies that are made to prevent that sort of thing.

How would you suggest I go about getting it fixed? I'm happy with the XBox and the freebie, but I did encounter problems registering the console with Microsoft for its warranty.

That depends on what problem Microsoft gave you. On workaround is take it back to the Gamestop with the receipt and say it's been turning off randomly and you think it's defective. Get a replacement and register that one. This only works if your Gamestop warranty is still active.

How much did you make as manager?

Starting out as a store manager was about $36k a year. As an Assistant Store Manager it was about $12/hour, and before that all the way down to minimum.

I've seen as low as 27k for an SM

Yeah, with the amount of money that moved through my store and how bad it was before I took charge of it, they had to give me a good deal to be worth it. Plus they had me over an hour away from my home, so they compensated a bit for that as well. That store was in pieces when I got there from the previous manager who quit on bad terms, so it was a challenge to get it up and running at first.

Was it worth it? I heard managers work pretty freakin hard. I've heard a lot of negative things about working there honestly.

I had complaints when working there, but after military life, I realize my complaints were mainly me just feeling privileged, and I'm okay with admitting it.

Do you feel that Gamestop is going to be the next Blockbuster, losing too much of its profits to digital/online sales?

If no, what do you think Gamestop will do to stay relevant?

Gamestop is trying its hardest to become Best Buy, and Best Buy is taking a lot of Gamestop's practices and using them as well. From my perspective, I would think that Gamestop will lose focus on games and start venturing into other items. Very recently they opened up orders on a lot of items that were previously unavailable. They always had action figures, but their selection now is starting to grow. They will most likely focus efforts onto more game-related items than the games themselves. That's what I would do at least.

Why does every gamestop smell like bad body odor? Ive been in about 12 different ones...stand alones, in strip malls, at the mall...seriously, no joke. Why?

Mine didn't but who knows. My boss at my first store was huge on hygiene, and so was I, so if an employee smelled, we sent him/her home to shower. Tough love, but it's a business, and customers don't want grossed out at the store.

You had employees that smelt in the first place though?

I had one employee who had another job that would schedule him before his shift at Gamestop. He'd end up smelling like the food, but in a bad way, and we'd send him to get cleaned up. I understood the struggle though, because I worked Chick Fil A shifts before Gamestop shifts sometimes, and I could smell the grease on me if I didn't have a chance to go home between jobs.

Is it true employees could be written up/fired for not getting enough game informer subscriptions/pre orders?

Also how many people take cases thinking the game is in there?

Not OP, but also a former GS manager

1. Yes

2. All the time. People are idiots.

Yes, you have to meet criteria or else it just looks like you aren't trying to perform. Even if you give your heart, if you're a bad salesman, you can lose your job after weeks/months of bad performance. & We would lose many game cases that way.

Did your store have any "regulars" who would just use it as a hang out spot? Any horror stories?

We had a lot of regulars that would chill at the stores. As long as they aren't interfering with business, they are usually pretty cool and fun to be around. I never had any real issues with regulars who hung out.

Who has the worst fans? Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft? And why?

There are good and bad in each. I would say PC, but I am a PC player too, so I'm allowed to say that. Hah

/r/PcMasterRaceBuilds would like a word with you...

If they will help me upgrade my PC, they can have all the words that they want.

Are there used games in game cases that say new?

So, in the shrink wrapped copies, no. If you ever come across a game not in shrink wrap, it was our display, and our displays are constantly tested, so they no longer qualify as new, but they sell the same. You can get an open product discount if you ask at most stores, as long as the manager on duty is a cool manager.

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It depends from location to location. At my store, we had a lot of neighboring game stores that weren't Gamestop, so our customer service had great ratings all of the time. I have worked at some stores that were farther from other stores of the like, and some of the workers were douchey. it really depends on who is in charge of them. Gamestop as a corporation will punish any rude employee if they catch wind of it.

Aside from being the only physical seller of the Steam Link and Stram Controller, why does GameStop have virtually nothing PC-related other than a few gift cards? If they sold controller to PC adapters even, one could get an XB1 controller to use on desktop.

Gamestop used to have a lot of PC games available until Steam got popular, so I guess the higher ups decided it was pointless to compete. I can't blame them. I rarely sold anything PC at all there.

Do the employees (and yourself) take dibs on any rare Funko Pops that come in, before they hit the shelves?

They have them available for pre-order, so in a way yes, but in the same way you could with a pre-order. Gamestop employees do not have the power to pre-order before customers.

Is Black Friday as horrible as the stories you hear or read about? Not just customer behavior, but the hours that have to be put in to work?

The preparation and the execution of a Black Friday shift is scary, but I actually enjoyed being busy the whole shift. It can be a nightmare or a fun day depending on your personality and how well you take stress.

Former Gamestop part time slave here in my younger years.

We had angled shelves so I would stand there and move my arms so it would look like I was busy straightening the items on the shelves. Used to freak customers out when they would walk past and I'd be there just moving my arms around but not touching anything with a blank stare.

Did you ever collect any weird customers? For example, people that would just stay in the store all day playing the consoles unless you kicked them out?

We did, and I would let them be unless another person wanted to try the games. Then I would politely ask them to let someone else have a turn. I never had any incidents with it.

Ah ok, we were in a mall location and had a woman that would drop her son off there like it was a daycare and he would scream and cry if we told him to make room for someone else. After a month of it and never actually seeing the mother we had to call security.

We would tell parents that they had to be in the store with their children for safety reasons. It never became an issue after that.

Would you recommend working at GameStop?

I would base it off of the people working at the store you are interested in. Talk to the managers, make friends with them, and see what kind of people they are. If they are good people, then you'll love the job. If you don't see eye to eye, I would move on. The company itself was a blast for me. i loved working midnight releases and playing games, but it really depends on the employees there. And with all businesses, there are good and bad apples everywhere.

How do you feel about people who are against preordering? Does this directly affect your stores? I read one of your responses on how GameStop will order games in bulk and may lose out on the ones that aren't purchased. If people preorder at your store, does that give you a better idea of how much to order, and does it ultimately help your store? Thank you.

So, a game that has pre-orders gets more of the product. I believe it was around 150%. So if we had 10 pre-orders, we would receive around 15 copies to sell. We also were pushed majorly because our salesmanship was rated off of things like that, and we were talked to if we dipped below certain amounts of pre-orders per transactions.

How much video games do you play yourself?

I play games all the time. I'm currently playing mainly Halo 5 to go competitive, but I play PC and plan on getting a PS4 soon too.

Has your dignity ever recovered following the years of suggest selling memberships and magazine subscriptions? I know you had quotas to fill. That shit would be agony for me.

I feel like, if anything, it made me a better speaker. I didn't enjoy the constant grind of trying to sell, but it was great experience for life.

With brick and mortar businesses becoming less and less profitable, what are some simple steps GameStop could make to stay in the game?

Making their online business more appealing could be a good way. Weekly deals for online customers usually attracts a lot more customers. Advertised more than their trade in programs so that people are aware that they can save more than at Amazon or buying a digital copy.

What was the biggest rookie mistake you, or other new hires did when starting out in gamestop?

Giving a game and forgetting to take payment. It happened all the time with new hires. They would get overzealous with the rest of the sales (Cards, reserves, etc) that they would forget to scan the games.

Most likely too late to the party, but if possible, I wanted your thoughts, as a former employee of an incident that happened to me.

I bought a used Xbox 360 at a Gamestop, I used it for a few months before the drive started making scratching noises and killed the game that was in it, upon further inspection, I found that the Xbox 360 had been modded.

I went back to the gamestop, as it came with a 1 year warranty (not sure if that's normal or just in norway), but gamestop refused to look at it, instead they told me to contact microsoft themselves.

Now, luckily microsoft didn't make a fuzz about it having been modded and just gave me a new one after I provided proof of purchase etc.. but I asked a friend that worked at a gamestop in Sweden, and he said that what that Gamestop had done was against their policy in several ways, for one, the Xbox 360 shouldn't have been sold, had it been found to have been modded in the first place.

So yeah, what's your opinion?

There are clear markings on the back of Xbox 360s when they have been tampered with (I know much about it because I used to do red ring repairs on my off time) and to check for that, there is a sticker that gets removed and usually (not always) has scuffs on the release holes that you pop open the casing with. At Gamestop, we were always told to check for these and not accept any of them in trade. That was for the customer's benefit so what happened to you wouldn't happen. That Gamestop probably wasn't paying attention and took it in without checking and resold it. Laziness causes issues, so I'm sorry for that. Their second mistake was not instantly replacing your Xbox, because when we make a mistake, we are supposed to do right by the customer. Overall, you had a bad experience and I'm sorry you had to deal with that. Luckily Microsoft was helpful, because they always have been a shot in the dark when it comes to customer service when I dealt with them.

I personally dislike that GameStop has such poor quality control when it comes to accepting used product, although I have seen this differ from store to store. Some stores I know will always have case and manual, some are riddled with disc-only copies.

Why doesn't GameStop implement a mandatory complete trade-in policy? Wouldn't that improve the margins a bit and cut back on overstock? Or does the general public not care much when buying pre-owned?

A lot of customers don't come in with game cases, and we weren't going to refuse the game since that's what is the important part, so for people who like to have all of the extra stuff, the best I could say is call ahead and ask if the game has the original items.

How much does it take to have a game on the shelves of gamestop? I mean what's the process. I'm just curious.

So, I can't honestly say I know the answer to this question. Most of the games that weren't from huge companies that got on our shelves were indie games made by really good designers that just blew up in popularity. They get funded enough and retailers and game producers will take notice and the rest is in the paperwork I guess.

Have you ever seen any cringe-worthy moments between a few socially awkward customers and your female employees?

More than I care to share. Most were simple, like them refusing to acknowledge a girl talking to them, but a few were downright creepy.

What made you decide to leave Gamestop and join the military? What are you doing now?

I wanted to feel like I was doing something more meaningful in my life than retail. Now I'm in the USAF for at least another 3.5 years and I may continue from there.

Does digital gaming scare you? Or do you think Gamestop will be able to adapt to it?

It doesn't scare me since I am no longer a Store Manager there, but Gamestop should be worried. I personally have started buying digitally more often than naught, and I believe more people will do the same in years to come. Console and game makers are learning that they no longer need physical games, so it's becoming less and less popular.

What is the most ridiculous game someone wanted to hand in?

There really aren't any ridiculous games that we wouldn't have already carried, but there were plenty of times where people tried to trade in 20+ sealed copies of a game that were obviously stolen. We refuse those.

Do you feel like theres a trend in people hired at gamestop? What do you generally look for?

That might be an odd question, just asking because it seems like every gamestop has the exactly the same people working.

Like every time, theres a pudgy guy, a guy with a beard, and during busy hours an attractive girl.

Being knowledgeable about games is usually a good part, but also being able to speak well can trump the game knowledge very easily. Each gamestop is different. The Store Managers are in charge of hiring, so it's whatever they are looking for in an employee.

Are there ways that average joes can get the kiosks in your stores??? Like the wii u ones? Ive been trying to get my hands on one considering they might fade away soon. Any tips or advice?

The Kiosks with systems are dismantled after use, but I'm not sure what happened to them after that. The one time we removed the Kiosk in my store, I was on leave and never found out what happened to it.

The GameStop in my area just started this thing where even if it's a new game, they open the case and give it to you in a different one. What's the reason behind that?

I'm not entirely sure what you're referring to, so I cannot answer. I haven't been with the company at all this year, so I can't really say.

Any funny 'pathetic customer' stories?

It's not really a pathetic customer, but there was this one guy who would come into the store 2 times a week, and he spoke what I believe to be Japanese. He would try to speak English and would ask the same questions about 12 different ways before getting frustrated and storming out when he didn't understand our responses. He came to my store every week for the 3 years I worked at it before I moved to another store.

Chris, interesting coincidence, I'm going by that location later today. But for the question: I've heard stories from other people who have worked at GameStop complaining that they just don't treat their employees well, do you think that varied by location? Or do you think it was something they had an issue with at the corporate level? Not too familiar with the model they use so would like your input.

It's really a location based thing. Back when I started, I had a Store Manager who was amazing. Treated each employee like they mattered in the fullest extent. When I became a store manager, I tried to do the same. I have had bad bosses too, so it can go either way.

With the consumer shift towards downloadable games and content which cuts into Gamestop's primary revenue stream, has there been consideration into expanding the franchise's content into tabletop games/boardgames, like turn them into something like a franchised local gaming store (LGS) that focused more on physical gaming media that is less likely to shift into an at-home transaction?

I'm pretty sure those sort of items are already available on the website. I know for sure we were selling cards like MTG and Pokemon when I left, so there is a shift going in that direction.

Do local store managers have any ability to negotiate discounts for buying out a store's clearance items in bulk? Or are prices 100% dictated by corporate?

Prices are 100% dictated by corporate. If you see a price on the website, that's what it will be in store. We could change things based on condition, but our discounts were always very highly tracked.

After the first question about GS's bad reputation, did you truly believe anyone gave a fuck about your uninteresting job? Serious question.

I actually didn't expect this to make more than 20 upvotes before even posting it, but I figured some people might be interested in some things. To be on the front page is a huge shock to me.

I posted this not too long ago and Id like you to change my mind about game stop:

TLDR don't buy shit at gamestop. Go to target or other places cuz their policies are better for ya

Why is it that game stop, a specialty retailer of consoles and games, can not meet or exceed the customer service standards of non-gamercentric competitors like target or best buy...

This is more of a rant, but my experience has convinced me not to go to gamestop for my gaming needs..

I purchased an xboxone 2 days before the price dropped by $50 recently. Anyway I end up spending almost $600 for games, headset, live, etc. I go back in to gamestop 2 days later once I found out the price dropped to $299 from $349. I ask very nicely on what their return policy is. I've already opened my Xbox so no dice on returns. I ask for a price adjustment and she declines my request. Store policy.

Im not asking for an exception to store policy, but maybe just some good customer service. The employee did not offer any help and appeared smug in explaining the stores policy. I guess I'm the sucker here and she wins right?

I know delivering customer service and adhering to store policy is hard to do simultaneously at times, but in this case, I feel that gamestop has alienated their customer base and definitely lost me as a customer. Not out of spite... But because the store policies are simply not as good as other retailers like Walmart, target, and best buy.

End rant.

Edit: I've been told this is actually up to the store manager's discretion, which passes me off any more. Still won't be shopping at any gamestop if I'm gonna have to sweet talk the manager to get some service

This is a problem with the actual store manager. They are given flexibility for this exact reason, and she was abusing her power there. My advice to you is in any case like that, ask her for her District manager's phone number, and followup with him. She will have a discussion, and you will get your money for sure. Customer service is supposed to be her #1 priority, not buffing her numbers. That's frowned upon by all leaders in Gamestop.

Why can i buy a game new someplace else for less than the same game used at gamestop?

Is there ever a reasonable deal at gamestop that doesnt completely screw over the customer?

What branch of the military, whats your MOS, and where are you stationed?

There are no chain retailers that I know of that sell games less than Gamestop used, though there are individually owned shops that do a great job sometimes. Unfortunately, a lot of times those shops will google the Gamestop price and price it almost identically. Before the internet was so used in it, the price of used games at pawn shops were fantastic. Sometimes you can still find gems there. Also, considering that each game (That doesn't include DLC) in the new systems have blu-ray disc, buying them used doesn't really detriment you much because of their durability, so I wouldn't call getting a used game that just released at $50-55 getting screwed. If you don't mind not having warranties, I would suggest Ebay or if you're brave, Cragislist. I joined the Air Force as a 1N151 (Geospatial Analyst) and I am at Beale AFB currently. (edit: spelling)

I don't have any particular hate for Gamestop, but FYI Best Buy has a membership program called Gamers Club. For the same price as Edge/Powerup ($15 a year), you get 20% off all new games and a few other perks.

So if you do that, the price of a new release is $48 new at BB, compared to $50 used at GS, if it's in stock.

I didn't know that was a thing. i'll have to check that out! Sounds like a great deal. Thank you for sharing!

Edit: I just looked it up. Everything it does is mostly taken from the Powerup Rewards card, but the 20% off new is something I've never seen before. I don't fault them for taking a page from Gamestop's playbook, and I may even sign up. Sounds like a great deal to me.

How does it feel to take a child's lifetime worth of games, and offer them 30 dollars?

Same way your 2003 Volvo you learned to drive in, drove cross country when heading to college, and finally tried to replace 13 years later will be taken at a car dealership for $1000.

Your sentimental memories and initial investment doesn't mean shit compared to the depreciated cost of the product no one will likely ever buy.

I'd have to agree with this as my answer. Sentimental value has no change in how much currency something is worth. If it means that much to someone, I would tell them to keep their games.