I fear for Steam's future if GameStop goes under.

[magelord01]

Here is why: Steam is now almost completely dependent on GameStop stores to distribute Steam Gift Cards to its customers. Many Targets, Best Buys, etc. in many cities and towns across America have STOPPED carrying Steam Gift Cards, so this pretty much leaves it up to GameStop to carry them. Once GameStop completely goes under (and thus: ALL GameStop stores shut down), then I fear that pretty much all Americans will have no choice but to use their credit cards to add funds to their Steam Wallets. I figure that Steam's been counting on the sheer convenience of Steam Gift Cards to stay afloat; and once that option is gone, then Steam itself might well go under: Steam Gift Cards are FAR more convenient than using credit cards!

[Jon the VGNerd]

cSg|mc-Hotsauce původně napsal:

Kage Goomba původně napsal:

Gamestop IS A pawnshop - its how they buy/sell used equipment.

It's worse than a pawn shop, with corporate rules.

Jon the VGNerd původně napsal:

At a local video game store that isn't GameStop? Not exactly. Heck, that one employee was impressed with the amount of gaming collection I had, both old and new, and even loved racing games like me. They never pestered me to sign up unlike GameStop. If 2024 were to arrive, I'd be more than happy to move to Florida in a heartbeat and shop that same gaming store that outclasses GameStop. IMHO, of course.

...GameStop

:summercat2023:

https://www.facebook.com/VGTPFlorida/ <- This speaks for itself

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Jon the VGNerd původně napsal:

cSg|mc-Hotsauce původně napsal:

It's worse than a pawn shop, with corporate rules.



...GameStop

https://www.facebook.com/VGTPFlorida/ <- This speaks for itself

I've seen a few YT videos of collectors going around the US to local store to find amazing finds.

And yes, even that specific store.

Took a minute to find the videos i saw...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ8-y7lOEcc

And this channel has a video or two about them...

https://m.youtube.com/@TheRetroWorld/

[crunchyfrog]

Jon the VGNerd původně napsal:

Is GameStop even a thing anymore?

That's another point that demonstrates how wrong this thread is.

If they were so big selling and only at Gamestop then why are Gamestop in so much trouble?

That is contradictory to some degree.

The point is that Gamestop have been failing and continuing to lack business for years now, so even if these cards WERE only sold in Gamestop (which I see zero evidence of), then the takings would likely be TINY.

[Jon the VGNerd]

cSg|mc-Hotsauce původně napsal:

Jon the VGNerd původně napsal:

https://www.facebook.com/VGTPFlorida/ <- This speaks for itself

I've seen a few YT videos of collectors going around the US to local store to find amazing finds.

And yes, even that specific store.

Took a minute to find the videos i saw...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ8-y7lOEcc

And this channel has a video or two about them...

https://m.youtube.com/@TheRetroWorld/

:summercat2023:

Yep. Its become my favorite store to shop. Can't wait to go back there.

[crunchyfrog]

Kage Goomba původně napsal:

cSg|mc-Hotsauce původně napsal:

They still have to pester you as part of their rules to sign up for this or that.

Most GamStops stopped carrying seriously old retro consoles. Local stores and even pawn shops now have the vast goldmine of stuff GameStop gave up in order to try to stay current enough to be relevant, in their own eyes.

:summercat2023:

Gamestop IS A pawnshop - its how they buy/sell used equipment.

Yup, effectively.

Here in Britain we have a similar type of game chain called GAME. It's similar because it runs on the same sort of ♥♥♥♥♥♥ business practices.

And there they do the same business of buying trade-ins and re-selling. That's where a lot of their money comes from (or used to as I haven't kept up in a few years).

There was one report from a manager some years ago (in Edge magazine iirc) that tracked games by subtly marking them. On average a game would be sold around 6-8 times.

Given that they would buy in at less than a third of the book price for the game, that's why they prefer to sell you a used game rather than new. The markups are FAR better.

Granted, there's going to be considerably dimishing returns on that today as physical doesn't do so well as Gamestop's business declines (which is why they've desperately been trying to find different markets).

[Kage Goomba]

crunchyfrog původně napsal:

Kage Goomba původně napsal:

Gamestop IS A pawnshop - its how they buy/sell used equipment.

Yup, effectively.

Here in Britain we have a similar type of game chain called GAME. It's similar because it runs on the same sort of ♥♥♥♥♥♥ business practices.

And there they do the same business of buying trade-ins and re-selling. That's where a lot of their money comes from (or used to as I haven't kept up in a few years).

There was one report from a manager some years ago (in Edge magazine iirc) that tracked games by subtly marking them. On average a game would be sold around 6-8 times.

Given that they would buy in at less than a third of the book price for the game, that's why they prefer to sell you a used game rather than new. The markups are FAR better.

Granted, there's going to be considerably dimishing returns on that today as physical doesn't do so well as Gamestop's business declines (which is why they've desperately been trying to find different markets).

Lord help us if we start using NFT's for games.
Can only imagine the insanity that will result. :)

[crunchyfrog]

Kage Goomba původně napsal:

crunchyfrog původně napsal:

Yup, effectively.

Here in Britain we have a similar type of game chain called GAME. It's similar because it runs on the same sort of ♥♥♥♥♥♥ business practices.

And there they do the same business of buying trade-ins and re-selling. That's where a lot of their money comes from (or used to as I haven't kept up in a few years).

There was one report from a manager some years ago (in Edge magazine iirc) that tracked games by subtly marking them. On average a game would be sold around 6-8 times.

Given that they would buy in at less than a third of the book price for the game, that's why they prefer to sell you a used game rather than new. The markups are FAR better.

Granted, there's going to be considerably dimishing returns on that today as physical doesn't do so well as Gamestop's business declines (which is why they've desperately been trying to find different markets).

Lord help us if we start using NFT's for games.
Can only imagine the insanity that will result. :)

Never going to happen as demonstrated quickly. Everybody rejected NFTs as they saw through the obvious lack of uitility and how dodgy they were.

YOu don't own anything except a receipt. A receipt that only points you to a web p0age that could go down and disappear at any time.

So they had zero merit.

If anything like NFTs were ever to appeal in future they'd have to change substantially and offer SOMETHING of value.Not only that but be backed up by some sort of regulation or guarantee too.

It's why crypto is slowly declining because even the dumb people are elasing that perhaps having regulated fiat currnecy is a safer bet. And crypto only makes money by preying on others.

[Watermelon {JESUS IS LORD}]

Jon the VGNerd původně napsal:

Is GameStop even a thing anymore?

yep next to deptford family dentisty is a gamestop and next to that is a wing stop

[Watermelon {JESUS IS LORD}]

speaking of gamestop, anyone notice how gamestop and smashburger logos are similar?

[Kage Goomba]

crunchyfrog původně napsal:

Kage Goomba původně napsal:

Lord help us if we start using NFT's for games.
Can only imagine the insanity that will result. :)

Never going to happen as demonstrated quickly. Everybody rejected NFTs as they saw through the obvious lack of uitility and how dodgy they were.

YOu don't own anything except a receipt. A receipt that only points you to a web p0age that could go down and disappear at any time.

So they had zero merit.

If anything like NFTs were ever to appeal in future they'd have to change substantially and offer SOMETHING of value.Not only that but be backed up by some sort of regulation or guarantee too.

It's why crypto is slowly declining because even the dumb people are elasing that perhaps having regulated fiat currnecy is a safer bet. And crypto only makes money by preying on others.

don't be quick to judge the tenacity of greed.

While a large majority hates the concept - greed wins out.
Regardless I would loving nothing more than to be told I'm wrong about NFT's becoming a thing.

[crunchyfrog]

Kage Goomba původně napsal:

crunchyfrog původně napsal:

Never going to happen as demonstrated quickly. Everybody rejected NFTs as they saw through the obvious lack of uitility and how dodgy they were.

YOu don't own anything except a receipt. A receipt that only points you to a web p0age that could go down and disappear at any time.

So they had zero merit.

If anything like NFTs were ever to appeal in future they'd have to change substantially and offer SOMETHING of value.Not only that but be backed up by some sort of regulation or guarantee too.

It's why crypto is slowly declining because even the dumb people are elasing that perhaps having regulated fiat currnecy is a safer bet. And crypto only makes money by preying on others.

don't be quick to judge the tenacity of greed.

While a large majority hates the concept - greed wins out.
Regardless I would loving nothing more than to be told I'm wrong about NFT's becoming a thing.

Oh I don't but what I do look at is numbers.

NFTs were never big. It was flashy because there was a lot of money thrown at it at one point. But when you looked into the data, it wasn't very many people at all. A TINY TINY fraction of people across the globe numbering in the few thousand.

Nowadays NFTs are nothing. Last month the number of trades tracked were less than 200 iirc.

So no, I never under estimate greed, but the point here is that these lacked any utiltiy and were as dodgy as hell and only idiots didn't see that you weren't actually buying anything at all.

So when anything went tits up you had no comeback.

[Kage Goomba]

crunchyfrog původně napsal:

Kage Goomba původně napsal:

don't be quick to judge the tenacity of greed.

While a large majority hates the concept - greed wins out.
Regardless I would loving nothing more than to be told I'm wrong about NFT's becoming a thing.

Oh I don't but what I do look at is numbers.

NFTs were never big. It was flashy because there was a lot of money thrown at it at one point. But when you looked into the data, it wasn't very many people at all. A TINY TINY fraction of people across the globe numbering in the few thousand.

Nowadays NFTs are nothing. Last month the number of trades tracked were less than 200 iirc.

So no, I never under estimate greed, but the point here is that these lacked any utiltiy and were as dodgy as hell and only idiots didn't see that you weren't actually buying anything at all.

So when anything went tits up you had no comeback.

NFT's are a potential threat for one reason.

The Tech - its solid - its ingenious - and its proven effective in use cases.

But the biggest incentive - is the sheer greed it induces.


The biggest weakness however - is ironically - Greed.

The level of exploitation it allows is obscene. Yet companies keep trying and try hard they do.
Thankfully the "Fan-atical" users from various walks of life (Games/Art/Music/etc) are so massive that companies risk going under for their attempts to implement (and everyone of them is horribly bad)

Thankfully marketing people are such stupid idiots - their complete lack of competance in security and abuse - makes them easy targets.

I give it 1 in 4 odds of succeeding. Good odds - for us - but I'm too paranoid to ignore it.

So Id rather support your viewpoint for comfort if that makes sense.
But I keep my guard up none-the-less :)

[crunchyfrog]

Kage Goomba původně napsal:

crunchyfrog původně napsal:

Oh I don't but what I do look at is numbers.

NFTs were never big. It was flashy because there was a lot of money thrown at it at one point. But when you looked into the data, it wasn't very many people at all. A TINY TINY fraction of people across the globe numbering in the few thousand.

Nowadays NFTs are nothing. Last month the number of trades tracked were less than 200 iirc.

So no, I never under estimate greed, but the point here is that these lacked any utiltiy and were as dodgy as hell and only idiots didn't see that you weren't actually buying anything at all.

So when anything went tits up you had no comeback.

NFT's are a potential threat for one reason.

The Tech - its solid - its ingenious - and its proven effective in use cases.

But the biggest incentive - is the sheer greed it induces.


The biggest weakness however - is ironically - Greed.

The level of exploitation it allows is obscene. Yet companies keep trying and try hard they do.
Thankfully the "Fan-atical" users from various walks of life (Games/Art/Music/etc) are so massive that companies risk going under for their attempts to implement (and everyone of them is horribly bad)

Thankfully marketing people are such stupid idiots - their complete lack of competance in security and abuse - makes them easy targets.

I give it 1 in 4 odds of succeeding. Good odds - for us - but I'm too paranoid to ignore it.

So Id rather support your viewpoint for comfort if that makes sense.
But I keep my guard up none-the-less :)

Ah I think I see the error in your assessment there.

The thing you're overlooking is that people realised they had NO utlity. Not little utilty, NONE.

You do NOT buy an NFT.

What you buy is a receipt only. A ticket that tells you you paid for .... something. Which legally is terrible as it means the site that the NFT you DO NOT own. You don't own the copyright either. You don't own the website, or ANYTHING.

Just a receipt for a payment.

What does that mean?

It means that whoever sets up the website that "holds" the NFT can take it down instantly and you're ♥♥♥♥ out of luck. You have ZERO legal recompense.

And that's the problem. You buy NOTHING. Once people realised that, it was dead in the water.

[Kage Goomba]

crunchyfrog původně napsal:

Kage Goomba původně napsal:

NFT's are a potential threat for one reason.

The Tech - its solid - its ingenious - and its proven effective in use cases.

But the biggest incentive - is the sheer greed it induces.


The biggest weakness however - is ironically - Greed.

The level of exploitation it allows is obscene. Yet companies keep trying and try hard they do.
Thankfully the "Fan-atical" users from various walks of life (Games/Art/Music/etc) are so massive that companies risk going under for their attempts to implement (and everyone of them is horribly bad)

Thankfully marketing people are such stupid idiots - their complete lack of competance in security and abuse - makes them easy targets.

I give it 1 in 4 odds of succeeding. Good odds - for us - but I'm too paranoid to ignore it.

So Id rather support your viewpoint for comfort if that makes sense.
But I keep my guard up none-the-less :)

Ah I think I see the error in your assessment there.

The thing you're overlooking is that people realised they had NO utlity. Not little utilty, NONE.

You do NOT buy an NFT.

What you buy is a receipt only. A ticket that tells you you paid for .... something. Which legally is terrible as it means the site that the NFT you DO NOT own. You don't own the copyright either. You don't own the website, or ANYTHING.

Just a receipt for a payment.

What does that mean?

It means that whoever sets up the website that "holds" the NFT can take it down instantly and you're ♥♥♥♥ out of luck. You have ZERO legal recompense.

And that's the problem. You buy NOTHING. Once people realised that, it was dead in the water.

You have a solid point there.

People don't really read enough to understand how it works.
And as you pointed out - "Chicken or the Egg" syndrome becomes a big problem.

But sooner or later someone will figure it out and things could get nasty.
Then again - when you get users who won't read what's put in front of them anymore and scream at you for being wrong - yeah - maybe I'm just too paranoid for my own sanity concerning something like NFT's :)

[crunchyfrog]

Kage Goomba původně napsal:

crunchyfrog původně napsal:

Ah I think I see the error in your assessment there.

The thing you're overlooking is that people realised they had NO utlity. Not little utilty, NONE.

You do NOT buy an NFT.

What you buy is a receipt only. A ticket that tells you you paid for .... something. Which legally is terrible as it means the site that the NFT you DO NOT own. You don't own the copyright either. You don't own the website, or ANYTHING.

Just a receipt for a payment.

What does that mean?

It means that whoever sets up the website that "holds" the NFT can take it down instantly and you're ♥♥♥♥ out of luck. You have ZERO legal recompense.

And that's the problem. You buy NOTHING. Once people realised that, it was dead in the water.

You have a solid point there.

People don't really read enough to understand how it works.
And as you pointed out - "Chicken or the Egg" syndrome becomes a big problem.

But sooner or later someone will figure it out and things could get nasty.
Then again - when you get users who won't read what's put in front of them anymore and scream at you for being wrong - yeah - maybe I'm just too paranoid for my own sanity concerning something like NFT's :)

Yeah that's what I pointed out earlier.

I'm not saying NFTs will never make some impact as it COULD happen that someone may find a way to offer utility.

For example, if a major publisher that put out a load of regular games like Call of Duty annually, they might be well placed for an infrastructure where you could buy something like an NFT which you could actually own in some way, transfer it across all the COD games, and sell it on.

But I wouldn't hold my breath as even then I still fear it's too little too late.

You can fool some of the people some of the time ... as the saying goes.