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GameStop is Vile and Disgusting Part XXVII

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GameStop is Vile and Disgusting Part XXVII

Old 04-30-08, 10:22 AM
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GameStop is Vile and Disgusting Part XXVII

Let's get Gamestop in the BBB's crosshairs.

If you have been affected by Gamestop's shady practices.. FILE A COMPLAINT.
https://odr.bbb.org/odrweb/public/ge...spx?siteID=113

This is the only way we can fight the highly unethical and sometimes HIGHLY ILLEGAL practices.

If you have been sold an OPEN AND THEREFORE USED game as NEW, FILE A COMPLAINT.

If you have had a pre-order you paid for, EITHER IN PART OF IN FULL, sold to someone else, FILE A COMPLAINT.

Here's the 2008 original post for posterity.
Atlus recently ordered a reprint of two low-print, highly-sought PS2 RPGs: Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne and Digital Devil Saga. These reprints were to be priced at $29.99 and were definitely timed to appear near the $29.99 release of Persona 3 Fes as all three of them are, at least loosely, in the same series. An awesome deal for a fan of the series or somebody looking to give it a try (which would have been me).

So, a HUGE portion of this reprint was bought out by GameStop. Most of it, actually. So what do they do with this new stock? Instead of putting them out at their listed $29.99 price they OPEN EVERY COPY of them and marked them as used at $39.99.


Last edited by PixyJunket; 05-04-10 at 08:48 AM.
Old 04-30-08, 10:24 AM
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Holy crap. That really sucks, I don't have as much hatred for GameStop as a lot of people, but that is really freaking low.

Is this documented or just rumored?
Old 04-30-08, 10:28 AM
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GameStop was charging something like $59.99 or $69.99 for used copies of Nocturne until about a week ago. It's now $39.99 and most stores have a copy or two in stock. An administrator on the Atlus forums confirmed that the game was just reprinted and almost the entire stock was purchased by GameStop. There may not be a press release on the situation, but you do the math.
Old 04-30-08, 10:31 AM
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Blame Atlus for selling it all to Gamestop.
Old 04-30-08, 10:32 AM
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They really are just a glorified pawn shop.
Old 04-30-08, 10:35 AM
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Originally Posted by The Bus
Blame Atlus for selling it all to Gamestop.
How could Atlus have known that GS would pull something like this?
Old 04-30-08, 10:36 AM
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Originally Posted by The Bus
Blame Atlus for selling it all to Gamestop.
I hate Gamestop too, but have to agree with Bus.
Old 04-30-08, 10:39 AM
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Originally Posted by slop101
How could Atlus have known that GS would pull something like this?
Perhaps they should have read parts I-XXVI of this thread.

This is really super shitty of GS but, while completely shady and immoral, it probably isn't illegal unfortunately. They're creating an artificial market. If Atlus would sell to the common man, this sort of scalping would still occur, but for it to be done by a retailer is unthinkable.

Hopefully Atlus takes this under advisement and either stops dealing with GS or greatly minimizes the % of stock they allocate to them.
Old 04-30-08, 10:46 AM
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I'm not sure how the whole process works, but Atlus could very well have not had a say in who was buying it. Reprints like this are handled by a third party, usually GameQuestDirect. They made a niche for themselves reprinting sought-after games like the GameCube Resident Evil games, Gitaro Man, Persona 2, Rhapsody, etc.
Old 04-30-08, 11:41 AM
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I would bring it to the attention of Atlus and GameQuestDirect either via email or phone call to a sales department or higher up if you can get ahold of someone. At least make sure that they know what is going on. Is there a variation on the cover that would identify a reprint vs. an original? Because without proof there would be nothing you could do.

Having used copies at $10 more than the listed price of the new reprints should be enough, but sadly it probably isn't.
Old 04-30-08, 12:41 PM
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DAAAAAMN that is fricking low. Gamestop still sells Ikruga (GC) for 39.99 used and Marvel VS Capcom 2 (PS2) for 79.99! This makes me glad I grabbed that used copy of Nocturne at my store, and I think I only paid about 29.99 for it as well.
Old 04-30-08, 12:54 PM
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I don't get why they don't just sell them for 40 bucks new? Why open them and mark them as used? They obviously have no problem with charging above retail for some games... I think I bought Firepro wrestling from them for 10 bucks over MSRP because they were the only ones I could find it from at the time.

edit: ok, it was 5 bucks over MSRP. It's a 15 dollar game that they sold for 20 bucks.

Also, does the reprint of DDS 1 come with the case that houses both games? Are they reprinting DDS 2? Why not freaking reprint Persona 1 or 2?

Last edited by fujishig; 04-30-08 at 12:56 PM.
Old 04-30-08, 01:06 PM
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I've heard two stories on it, one is that they no longer have entries for them as new games in their system, so they open them to make them used. But hey, they didn't have an entry for "Grand Theft Auto IV - NEW" in their system at some point either. The second thing I've heard is that they're free to price them as they see once they're open but as you've pointed out, they price over MSRP regularly on some new items.

I don't know about your second question, but I think it probably won't. The reprint of Nocturne does not come with the soundtrack as the original did. Also, I think DDS2 is still a bit easy to find (I show a few GS locations near me with new copies in stock still) and Persona 2 WAS reprinted about a year ago before GameStop rid their store of a PS1 section.
Old 04-30-08, 01:09 PM
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But it was still the gimped Persona 2, right?

Looking at CAG, it looks like Amazon had a few Nocturne's available a few days ago, also priced at 39.99. Are you sure they were supposed to retail for 29.99?
Old 04-30-08, 01:22 PM
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^^

Thanks for asking my question, fujishiq.
Old 04-30-08, 01:22 PM
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Oh, was it actually Amazon or a third party seller? The lowest third party seller right now is listed as $56.95. I heard the $29.99 price came from Atlus themselves, I'll try to get better confirmation on that. It certainly makes sense though as when Gitaro Man was reprinted you could get it sealed and pristine at Fry's for $39.99 but GameStop opened all of theirs and sold them for $44.99 or $49.99 used. They also listed the reprinted Cube versions of Resident Evil 2 and 3 for $39.99 used but I don't recall seeing them elsewhere for comparison.

On the plus side, having them listed as used opens them up to a number of deals, I'd imagine.
Old 04-30-08, 01:33 PM
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It seems like it was Amazon itself, as they apparently had a counter with how many were left, and I'm not sure they do that with 3rd party vendors. It was also just today that they had them. Hard to say for sure, though, because they're out now.

What kind of system makes it easier to input barcodes for "used" games than "new" games? It just makes no sense to me that they have to open up all the games... why not just input them in the system as used and keep them wrapped? This just baffles me.
Old 04-30-08, 01:42 PM
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It's still Atlus's IP. I don't see how they could lose control on what retailers it gets to. Companies should be allowed to allocate stock as they wish. Putting all the stock in one retailer's hands is complete idiocy.

Either way, Atlus and the consumer lose. Had Atlus sent even a handful of these to Best Buy, Circuit City, TRU, K-Mart, and Wal-Mart, this problem wouldn't be happening. They may have even sold more of them.

What benefit does the distributor have? "Here, let me sell you this game for $15 eventhough I know you will mark it up to $50... Enjoy your extra profit!" Why not sell it to them at $40?
Old 04-30-08, 01:59 PM
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I haven't seen the reprints at any less than $39.99 online, but I can't complain about Gamestop opening all of them because I just snagged them both as part of the B2G1 sale running right now. It's a pretty strange situation, though.
Old 04-30-08, 02:02 PM
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If I can't find confirmation on the supposed price other than conjecture on various forums, I'll remove one of the adjectives from the thread title, they still don't get a pass on opening these before selling them.

The Bus, none of the retailers you listed carried these games when they came out, why would they stock them now?
Old 04-30-08, 02:09 PM
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Yeah, especially if this is really timed to coincide with the release of Persona III FES (Great game by the way, only 30 bucks even though it meant I double dipped on it). I don't think any of those stores even carry FES. I can't blame Atlus too much, as they probably sold it to whoever wanted it... anyone see FES sole anywhere besides online, smaller stores, Fry's, and Gamestop/EB?
Old 04-30-08, 02:09 PM
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I've read many times about GameStops that open all new games before selling them. Not sure where the logic is in that, but it's definitely nothing new.

The only time I'll consider spending money at a GameStop is when they have a B1G1F, B2G1F or 25% off on used games. Even then, it's usually just to grab a couple games that have high trade-in values at Blockbuster/GameRush, i.e. spend $20 at GameStop, flip it to $60 at Blockbuster and basically get the next new title I want for 66% off.
Old 04-30-08, 02:25 PM
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Originally Posted by dvd182
I haven't seen the reprints at any less than $39.99 online, but I can't complain about Gamestop opening all of them because I just snagged them both as part of the B2G1 sale running right now. It's a pretty strange situation, though.
There's a B2G1 going on now?
Old 04-30-08, 02:30 PM
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Originally Posted by The Bus
Either way, Atlus and the consumer lose. Had Atlus sent even a handful of these to Best Buy, Circuit City, TRU, K-Mart, and Wal-Mart, this problem wouldn't be happening. They may have even sold more of them.
Unfortunately, these sorts of niche games will never move at those kinds of stores.

Knowing the razor-thin margins that stores make per new game sold, it's not surprising that an unscrupulous company like GS would do this - but the fact that they're making only $10 more in profit per (obscure) game, to risk losing hundreds of customers that might find out about it, shows how desperate and pathetic they are.
Old 04-30-08, 02:38 PM
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The other (inadvertant) possible plus side to this: this may dissuade hoarders from buying up all the copies. Apparently, a lot of the Amazon stock went to ebayers. At least, these being opened and "used" should mean that people that actually want to play the game can get ahold of one.

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