Best Buy GCU is being Discontinued?

Status
Not open for further replies.
MrRidickulous said:
Back to being a real cag, no games purchased around release.
Click to expand...
This is really true. Just need to remind myself that most games are on sale around a few weeks to a month after release. If I can't immediately play it and aren't in love with the series (God of War I'm looking at you) don't preorder.

 
Did they take away the bonus trade in with this announcement too?  I didn't get the extra 10% on a trade in yesterday.

 
tonyvx said:
Real talk - I've never understood this.

I would totally buy into the whole physical obsession (read: digital paranoia) people have if they looked nice. Like old cartridge boxes had badass spines with art and stuff. I only read physical books for that reason, my home looks nicer for it.

But video games now are just bland plastic boxes with boring font on the spine. Who actually wants to display that?
Click to expand...
It's true. But there are two sides to it. People like to collect things they are interested in. I'm sure you collect fishing lures, comic books, magic nose goblins, or something. I think that Switch games for instance are very non-collectable due to their completely plain spines and tiny size for cover art. But several companies like LRG are doing some cool things like full color instruction booklets, alternative art, steelbook or other packaging, and special extras. I also don't think anyone collects in order to display the plastic cases.

Personally, I collect because I want to immortalize the games that I'm interested in. Gaming is a huge part of my identity. I like having access to a physical library and I also like owning my stuff. I'm also an able internet seller for the occasions that something becomes extra valuable, so that I can use it to continue funding my hobby. There is no value for me in paying for digital games. Other "well I have a family and a job and don't have any time" people see things differently, and that's fine too.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Tyrok said:
Games aren't for playing. They are for filling shelves. ;)
Click to expand...
Wait, you can do more than put them on shelves?!?!

tonyvx said:
Real talk - I've never understood this.

I would totally buy into the whole physical obsession (read: digital paranoia) people have if they looked nice. Like old cartridge boxes had badass spines with art and stuff. I only read physical books for that reason, my home looks nicer for it.

But video games now are just bland plastic boxes with boring font on the spine. Who actually wants to display that?
Click to expand...
I personally can't justify digital due to it usually costing more and having nothing to show for it. I like showing off my collection and I like having the option to trade games in if I decide to do so especially since I can usually dump some stuff off and rebuy it physically for a fraction of the cost a few months later.

Nine Lives said:
Can't believe they discontinued this on Rusev Day.
Click to expand...
Wouldn't you know! My GCU expires on Rusev Day too!

 
I see a lot of people assuming in this thread that the GCU value was only when it was used for preorders.  I personally rarely preordered a game unless it included the bonus $10 cert.  No, the real value is GCU was on sale priced games.  Having a game go on sale for $10 and getting it for $8, or $20 for $16 was far more valuable to me than preordering.  Add the extra reward zone points for being elite plus and this can't be matched.

I think the next best deal on non release pricing for games will be Target 5% with Red Card purchases or Amazon when a game goes into price freefall.

Anyone who thinks that losing GCU is a good thing needs to turn in their CAG card and never post on this site again.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
RiPPn said:
I see a lot of people assuming in this thread that the GCU value was only when it was used for preorders. I personally rarely preordered a game unless it included the bonus $10 cert. No, the real value is GCU was on sale priced games. Having a game go on sale for $10 and getting it for $8, or $20 for $16 was far more valuable to me than preordering. Add the extra reward zone points for being elite plus and this can't be matched.

I think the next best deal on non release pricing for games will be Target 5% with Red Card purchases or Amazon when a game goes into price freefall.

Anyone who thinks that losing GCU is a good thing needs to turn in their CAG card and never post on this site again.
Click to expand...
...Who ever said it was a good thing?

 
Anyone not getting GCU pricing anymore?

I add the item to my cart and try to checkout and not seeing 20% off.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
lionheart059 said:
...Who ever said it was a good thing?
Click to expand...
I don't think anyone said it is a good thing. But some people, myself included, see why Best Buy is doing away with it. At the end of the day it's probably not going to do much to move the needle on game sales for Best Buy but by eliminating GCU they won't lose as much on game sales. I personally think it's a bad move because I know for myself any way I'd go into Best Buy almost once a week to check out games and usually walked out with either a video game or Blu-Ray, which anymore I buy on impulse unless it's a good sale. Once my GCU is expired I will not be going into Best Buy as frequently and instead will browse around Target and Gamestop since they are very close to my house, so any impulse buys I would have made at Best Buy will soon be made elsewhere. I know in the grand scheme of things I don't spend much at Best Buy, but I do spend at least enough to be an Elite Pro member for the past 4 years straight and I doubt I will get it next year now.

 
It has begun...

giphy.gif


 
Last edited by a moderator:
Yep 10%...oh well. Guess I’ll get dark souls remastered on steam now since it’ll be $19.99, was gonna get it on Xbox but no way I’m paying $36 instead of $20
 
Looks more like a glitched flash sale than the death of GCU 20%. That 10% discount shows up even when signed out.

...Although, even if it is, 10% off digital currency wouldn't be the worst thing to replace it with.

 
Cliffs? Are they gonna give us some sort of courtesy coupon, since it looks like the 20% off doesn't even work for existing members.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
abbabaab said:
Looks more like a glitched flash sale than the death of GCU 20%. That 10% discount shows up even when signed out.

...Although, even if it is, 10% off digital currency wouldn't be the worst thing to replace it with.
Click to expand...
Oh hopefully it is just that. I had a few more things I wanted to lock in with my 20%. I was just putting in an order for Fallen Legion and Detroit when I noticed it wasn't 20% off.

 
Strange their 10% glitch isn't working on console hardware. PS4Pro and Xbox One X not on 10% even though most TV's appear to be.

 
Just posted the same in the eShop thread. OI got screwed out of $5 on a $50 eShop card because I ordered it while the site was still updating and it originally said $45, but I ended up getting a $99 card for 10%. Decided to get $100 worth of PSN cards as well. Who knows when this will end.

 
I added Detroit to my cart just to check the discount and first, it was only giving me 10% off and after refreshing the page it changed to 20% off. I also tried to see it worked on a Blu-Ray and it did not apply any discount there. 

 
Stuff still showing up as 10% off in cart for me. :( Luckily I got in preorders for everything except RDR2 this weekend, predicting this would happen.

 
Sigma said:
I added Detroit to my cart just to check the discount and first, it was only giving me 10% off and after refreshing the page it changed to 20% off. I also tried to see it worked on a Blu-Ray and it did not apply any discount there.
Click to expand...

Boss said:
Seems to be corrected now.
Click to expand...
Nice, thanks for the update. I'm gonna go lock in those last few orders I wanted just for in case.

 
I think it's hilarious that we all know it's a glitch of some sort (10% off on almost all TVs and Appliances?) but DAVID from BEST BUY EXPERT CHAT SUPPORT told me it's instead a promo pricing of 10% off everything.  Thanks, David!

 
So my GCU expires August 8th 2018, I pre-ordered Tomb Raider and paid in full with gift cards. Will the price go up or should I be good?

 
knothead65 said:
So my GCU expires August 8th 2018, I pre-ordered Tomb Raider and paid in full with gift cards. Will the price go up or should I be good?
Click to expand...
I would think if it's already PIF you should be fine, but that's a stellar question to ask the amazing support team at Best Buy Customer Support. And then just go with the opposite. At least if you get David.

 
knothead65 said:
So my GCU expires August 8th 2018, I pre-ordered Tomb Raider and paid in full with gift cards. Will the price go up or should I be good?
Click to expand...
If you got the order in, you’re good. They can’t alter a price of an order. The worst they could do is cancel it, but they won’t be doing that.
 
Nothing371 said:
It would make sense to have had the discount just on in-store merchandise. All of those shipped games and collector's editions kind of defeated the purpose of creating more foot traffic in the stores and also caused BB to lose money. Plus you know that resellers abused the limits.

Announcing a new program soon would be a good thing for demonstrating the long-term health of the company. I'm not surprised they had to stealth cancel it overnight. But when shocking things like this happen in business, with no apparent succession plan, it often foretells a gloomy financial situation or drastic company-wide cost-cutting changes.
Click to expand...
Is it expected they will announce a new program? I think they probably have to after not warning anyone of the cancellation of GCU. Best Buy is usually good with customer service at least from personal experience so I’d like to think they wouldn’t just screw everyone over. I’d pay for a new program to get 15% off & pay like $50-$60 a year if they were willing to do something like that. I still have my GCU until the end of the year luckily though.
 
knothead65 said:
So my GCU expires August 8th 2018, I pre-ordered Tomb Raider and paid in full with gift cards. Will the price go up or should I be good?
Click to expand...
If you pre-ordered online, you're good. If you pre-ordered in-store, the discount is only applied at pickup, so you're not good.

 
Bottom line, they wouldn't eliminate something that was working for them. For all the people whining oh my God they're going to be sorry, missing all MY business.. No. No, they're clearly not.

not acknowledging that selling to more people at lower prices creates more profit than selling to less people at higher prices is just poor business sense
Click to expand...
Except we've already seen this sort of pendulum swing, in the indie market. Devs found that the "mass sale" strategy on Steam, PSN etc. was not working, at all. Tons of games readily available at $3 made them nowhere near enough money in sales while also encouraging people like US (haha) to just wait until any damn title was available for $3. It doesn't work, and in the AAA physical segment, where it is already widely known that budgets are only ballooning further and further out of control, I highly doubt the pattern would be any different.

Besides - we're not talking about the actual pubs here, we're talking about BB as the middleman. They have to deal with the wholesale prices paid to the pubs and their (profit) numbers are not going to have the direct link to sale prices you're presupposing. I agree with an earlier response: they are most likely trying to reduce their footprint in the video game business entirely.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Nothing371 said:
It's true. But there are two sides to it. People like to collect things they are interested in. I'm sure you collect fishing lures, comic books, magic nose goblins, or something. I think that Switch games for instance are very non-collectable due to their completely plain spines and tiny size for cover art. But several companies like LRG are doing some cool things like full color instruction booklets, alternative art, steelbook or other packaging, and special extras. I also don't think anyone collects in order to display the plastic cases.

Personally, I collect because I want to immortalize the games that I'm interested in. Gaming is a huge part of my identity. I like having access to a physical library and I also like owning my stuff. I'm also an able internet seller for the occasions that something becomes extra valuable, so that I can use it to continue funding my hobby. There is no value for me in paying for digital games. Other "well I have a family and a job and don't have any time" people see things differently, and that's fine too.
Click to expand...
That totally makes sense. My mindset on it has been to compare it to other physical media vs digital. Vinyl vs mp3 for instance, I get way more with vinyl than buying an album digitally. It has way more value in that it's an entirely different experience. For the most part with video game companies cutting cost over time, almost certainly intentionally, what I get from a physical game versus digital in terms of the experience is identical.

I love me a good special edition, though. Too bad we won't be getting any discounts on those anymore.

Also you're 100% right about Switch, that's my main gaming platform these days, and the cases are just so boring and ugly and pointless for such small cartridges. GCU (and potentially Prime) discounts coming to a close will likely push me the rest of the way over the digital edge.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
This will be a great lesson for some people that a store won’t change their policy or continue a program just because you complain about it on social media and say you won’t shop there anymore.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I've hit Elite Plus solely because of GCU. I've no other reason beyond August 2019 to go back to a Best Buy. TARGET is a mile from my house. Guess they see some business.

I refuse to shop at Gamestop and never buy anything virtual. Maybe this is a good thing in the long run. I can focus more on my Japanese classic stuff. Adios BB
 
bigbadboaz said:
Bottom line, they wouldn't eliminate something that was working for them. For all the people whining oh my God they're going to be sorry, missing all MY business.. No. No, they're clearly not.
Click to expand...
This. For all those predicting Best Buy’s demise or posting how much this is gonna hurt their business, I urge you to read their first quarter financial report being released on Thursday. Spoiler Alert: they’ll be fine without you.
 
Hey guys it's not that bad. If you want GCU for 4+ years all you have to do is fill out a registration application. Grand Canyon University.. A fine American institution.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
bread's done
Back
Top