GameStop has started rolling out a TV ad this week informing us of their latest ploy to get you to spend cash at their stores. And I like what the ad has to say (for once). From now until March 14th you’ll get an extra 50% on every trade-in you bring to their store. Use your Edge card and you can sweeten the deal with an extra 10%.

Of course as usual newer games will net you bigger paybacks so keep that in mind. With a lot of great games having been released already and even more on the way this will help keep you from selling drugs to support your gaming habit, and that’s a good thing.

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Retailers Walmart and Best Buy launched pilot programs last year to test game kiosks in some of their stores. Walmart tested the kiosks in almost eighty of their stores while Best Buy tip toed into the market with only two. Both retailers were trying to find a cost effective way to take a bite out of GameStop’s lucrative used game buy-back program. As of today both of those pilot programs will have to come to an end.

According to Industry Gamers e-Play, the company who supplied those kiosks to both Walmart and Best Buy has suspended operations. The company’s website only features the following ominous message:

e-Play, LLC has suspended operations. Thank you to all our customers. For more information call 1-866-602-6014

I called the toll-free number listed in the massage, it’s just an automated message explaining how to return games and asks if you would like to leave a message.

It looks like GameStop’s hold on the used game business will remain intact. Both Walmart and Best Buy will have to go back to the drawing board if they wish to get back into the used game marketplace.

Kiosks still left at the selected “test stores” will be removed in the coming weeks.

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GameStop started the preorder bonus voting today for Rockstar Games’ upcoming title Red Dead Redemption. The voting will reveal which bonus outfit will be unlocked for those who preorder the game. Each outfit comes with a character skill boost in their area of expertise to help you along the way.

Hit the jump to find out more.

Here’s a breakdown on what each outfit has to offer:

The Savvy Merchant – Buy guns and ammunition from any gunsmith for half the cost.

The Deadly Assassin (Almost looks exactly like Ray McCall from Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood. Ubisoft get your lawyers ready.) – Regenerates “Dead Eye” targeting twice as fast.

The Expert Hunter – Receives double the amount of skins and hides from hunting.

Those interested should head over to GameStop’s Red Dead Referendum site and cast their vote. We live in a democracy damn it so do your part…or the terrorists win. Voters will also automatically be entered into a sweepstakes with prizes ranging from a trip to the Grand Canyon to $100 GameStop gift cards.

Is anyone else getting sick of all these preorder tie-ins? It seems like developers have to add something extra to get people interested in reserving their game, whether it’s exclusive content, extra DLC or new outfits. Whatever happened with just making a good game and sticking by it? It seems like they really put it to gamers who don’t rush into GameStop right away to order their games months before they come out. What’s your take?

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Microsoft and Turn 10 have announced that Forza Motorsport 3 will be making it’s way to North American store shelves on October 27. And to sweeten the deal for hardcore fans they’ve teamed up with GameStop (who else) and revealed the details of the Limited Collector’s Edition of the game.

The Limited Collector’s  Edition will give purchasers custom limited edition packaging, VIP status in the Forza community, a custom key chain, a Forza Motorsport 2GB flash drive and ten exclusive cars you won’t be able to get anywhere else. Very nice.

Also exclusive to those who pre-order will be the custom painted Audi R8 V10 (shown above), which was designed by Justin Van Dusen II. The winner of the Forza 3 community design challenge.

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The recent news that Best Buy is tossing it’s hat into the used game market hasn’t phased the game retailer Gamestop a bit. During a shareholders meeting on Tuesday they explained why the Best Buy and Wal Mart kiosks won’t take away their business anytime soon.

“GameStop understands that trading in used games and consoles is a highly-assisted activity,” the company said. “We are very confident in our business model that allows our expert associates to help consumers trade in product, a fact not addressed with a self-serve process.”

Gamestop does bring up a good point. Handing a game to a clerk and getting a gift card return is in no way the same as putting your game into a kiosk and getting a gift card in return. It’s that high level of assistance from the clerk that makes the difference.

See what I did there? That’s called sarcasm.

EDITOR’S NOTE: I’ve gone back and read the last few posts I’ve written (for both here and pixeltaedgeek.com) about Gamestop and noticed they all have a wise ass undertone in them. I actually like Gamestop. I just wish there were more competition in the used game market. So I’m sorry Gamestop. I’m sorry for being such an SOB.

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The last time GameStop chimed in about digital distribution they told us that they didn’t think digital distribution would be a major factor in the gaming market until 2020. Now that’s changed with GameStop saying they have “conducted the most thorough study to date” on the matter.

According to their new findings only 25% of consumers will “have access to the technology required to download full games.” in 2014. Five years from now.

These findings were reported by analyst Arvind Bhatia of Sterne Agee during a meeting with GameStop executives.

According to GameStop executives such digital distribution could cost users $100 per month, not to mention the cost of storage devices.

They do make a good point about the cost of storage. Downloading full games takes up precious drive space quickly. And I’m guessing the $100 monthly fee they are figuring includes the cost of broadband service and possible penalties from providers for increased data transmission. Fail.

The study also claimed that “customers are willing to pay only $39 for downloadable games,so publishers will be less incentivize than some in the industry think.”

I’m no math genius, but if publishers are reducing costs by not having to package games, shouldn’t the cost of distribution be reduced as well? And gamers pay full price for most digitally distributed games already, so where are they getting the reduced figure from?

Of course we have to take this whole report from GameStop with a grain of salt. Their business model is built around putting people in their stores and finding ways for consumers to buy more then they intended too. The upsell.

Buying Prototype? Would you like to buy the strategy guide too?

Would you like a 12 month subscription to Game Informer too?

Modern Warfare 2 will be out in November, would you like to pre-order that today?

You get the idea. Off course GameStop is trying to drag their feet when it comes to digital distribution. They know what it might do to their bottom dollar. But with the growing number of Steam accounts, the future launch of Xbox’s Games On Demand service, the OnLive console, and the PSP Go moving away from UMD it’s clear that the industry as a whole is quickly moving in a new direction. Why spend time and money guessing when it will happen when you know it’s inevitable?

Source:

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GameStop released their sales figres for Q1 of 2009 and there were some surprising figures buried in all of the numbers.

A telling sign of the tough financial times people are facing was GameStop’s used game sales, which  jumped by a whopping 31.9%. A clear indicator that gamers are still willing to pay for games, they are just going about it in a more money conscious way.

In the same quarter GameStop saw their new game sales fall by 2.8%. This figure may have been lower if it had not been propped back up by major Capcom releases Street Fighter IV and Resident Evil 5, as well as strong sales of the Nintendo DS and new DSi.

Overall sales for the retail chain rose 9.2% to $1.98 billion, up from $1.81 billion in the same quarter last year. The same quarter in 2008 that saw the release on Grand Theft Auto IV and Super Smash Bor. Brawl. Pretty impressive.

Despite the increase in over all sales, same store sales did fall 1.5% and they continue to see new console sales decline, mostly because of the European recession.

GameStop CEO Daniel DeMatteo is optimistic and looking forward to the sales figures that will pour in later in the year saying “We do expect the back half of this year to be stronger than the first half due to a full and wide-ranging new title lineup. All together, this places us in a prime position to capitalize on the growth in the market in the fall and holiday seasons.”

With Wal*Mart piloting it’s used game buy-back kiosks, GameStop has to be worried that the retail giant may take a big bite out of their used game monopoly. One of the saving graces of their business that helps them turn a decent profit no matter what the economic conditions are.

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Gamasutra did the math, and in a recent report they found that Gamestop controls around 21% of the game market in the U.S. That means 1/5 of us (I am guilty too) feed their gaming fetish at their local Gamestop. That also means that 1/5 of us get hassled by the nerd behind the counter  into pre ordering some other game or buying a strategy guide. Erroneous Gamestop dude, just sell me my game and save the sales pitch for the other junk.

The report did not include the sales of PCs or their accessories. It only took into account console hardware or software. So their total gaming market share may even be higher than this report suggests. Also, take into account big box stores and mega retailers like Wal*Mart and this 1/5 market share is even more impressive.

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