Best Buy GCU is being Discontinued?

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ZabaZu said:
You're installing it anyway, hard drive space isn't a factor. Download caps are valid, but afaik that affects a minority of users. I'm not rooting against physical, I buy basically all my games physically, it's just inevitable imo.
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hard drive space is a factor because of download speed and caps. If you had unlimited hard drive space you wouldn't need to download it again, but since you don't have unlimited space you have to download it again if you want to delete it to save room and then play it again.

If you have it physically you can play it if the download servers go down.

dnl2ba said:
If they went all-digital, Sony and Microsoft only need to care about Best Buy sales insofar as Best Buy is motivated to carry console hardware.

IMO, the biggest argument against all-digital is what happened with Xbox One launch. But time has passed, the PC market has swung heavily toward digital, and digital has tons of advantages for platform creators. Digital means no used games stealing sales, no physical storage and distribution, no channel partners taking a cut, cheaper hardware with no/fewer moving parts, etc. And streaming services like PlayStation Now, while not good enough for fast, competitive games, are fine for many other kinds of games.

I don't know if I really think the 9th generation is the one that will go all-digital, but I have a hard time imagining the 10th generation (PS6, etc.) will still support physical media.
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yes sony and microsoft would not care about bestbuy, that is why bestbuy isn't going to change gamers club unlocked just because of upcoming digital sales like the post I was replying to suggested.

Yes it is clear that digital sales is good for creators, but consumers will not let that happen within the next 10 years.

 
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vic_x51 said:
I bet they'll refund people's gcu rather than let them use it beyond 2018 until it expires.
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This is what I'm wondering. I just re-upped for two more years of GCU last month. Sounds great ya? There's no way they are going to let me buy games at 20% off for the next two years if they're cancelling the program.

 
jrr6415sun said:
yes sony and microsoft would not care about bestbuy, that is why bestbuy isn't going to change gamers club unlocked just because of upcoming digital sales like the post I was replying to suggested.
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Two separate issues: Sony and Microsoft don't care about Best Buy. Separately, Best Buy doesn't care about Sony or Microsoft-- but would care about the customer service / PR headache if they sold a bunch of GCU memberships that became nigh-useless once the digital games revolution hits.

Anyway, like I said, I don't really believe that PS5/XB2 is the generation when the digital revolution will strike. But if I post enough predictions, eventually one will be right. And when that one is taken out of context, I'll look like a genius!

 
Your right about that part ^, I’d imagine.....look into it or call tomorrow and make sure they do refund you bro....I’m sure they’d let it slide for the next 2 years without you noticing 20% off stopped midnight of NYE 2018

Does target still have 20% off new video games with their red dot?
 
Reading though some of these posts...just. wow.  A loss leader like this isn't going to miss your business folks.  You weren't profitable to begin wtih.  That's why the program is ending.

 
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A) Go preorder everything you want now, in case they actually drop the 20% off for existing members. Worst case, you have some extra preorders to cancel later.

B) Man, I can barely remember the times before I just auto-preordered everything from BB with GCU. I dimly recall some store with a giraffe for a mascot that used to have B2G1 deals all the time.... oh... wait.

C) I guess I'll have to start paying attention to this site again, although really, it's pretty much down to just Target for actual deals. 

 
Mine would have expired this week but I had re-subbed months ago. Multiple sources have said that 6/1 is the relaunch date for whatever new rewards program they're rolling out. That's two weeks from now which is consistent with most major announcements from companies. My guess is existing members are being told to hang tight while they roll out the new program and they've frozen memberships to avoid people in panic mode.

In either case, if they do cancel it outright I'll still continue to buy from them seeing as I have no reason to change retailers. I've been Prime free for over a year now and still manage to get free shipping in the maybe once in two months purchase I make there for household goods that end up being heavily discounted (S&S with coupons are great). GS has always been a joke and will never offer anything of value. Even if they did, BB would just PM them no questions asked.

I really think people are jumping the gun here and may feel stupid in a couple weeks. Swearing off BB is pretty short-sighted and Amazon will ditch their "me-too" savings first chance they get if GCU gets dropped completely. They've been trying to for years now and it's pretty obvious.

 
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Funny how there is no Red Dead Redemption 2 preorder page when I still have my order from January 2017 during the Visa checkout deal!
 
dnl2ba said:
Best Buy pulled the plug on GCU because Sony and Microsoft told them PS5 and Xbox Two will be digital-only, and it's less disappointing to GCU members if they end the program now rather than re-upping and getting less value out of their memberships.
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When Microsoft was going that route at the launch of this generation, Sony said they had no plans to go digital only because they are a global company and still have a great deal of sales in parts of the world that have little to no internet access. I highly doubt this has changed and we will still see physical media through the next generation.

 
Glad I have a huge backlog.

"Once, there was an explosion, a bang which gave rise to 20% off games as we know it. And then, came the next explosion. An explosion that will be our last."

GQD2ce7.jpg


 
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ShadowAssassin said:
"At this time"

Don't overlook those words. If anyone follows other forms of news media, like sports, when a team says "at this time" we won't be trading Player X and they trade him a month later, it gives them a reason to simply state "We say at that time, and that time has passed."
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Exactly. "At this time"...translates to..."We will alter or do away the membership for those who still have X amount of months/years left at anytime out of the blue". Which is why I'm going to use my reward cert. points and grab games now before they simply do away with our membership perks/reward points. I'm sure we'll be compensated in some form, or maybe rolled into their new program once it goes live.

Still a bit shady though to just spring this on their customers without a heads-up of some kind. It would have saved myself and others from renewing for another 2 years recently. Now we have to sit around in membership limbo not knowing when they will decide to cancel out on us.

 
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SmileyMcSmiles said:
Exactly. "At this time"...translates to..."We will alter or do away the membership for those who still have X amount of months/years left at anytime out of the blue". Which is why I'm going to use my reward cert. points and grab games now before they simply do away with our membership perks/reward points. I'm sure we'll be compensated in some form, or maybe rolled into their new program once it goes live.

Still a bit shady though to just spring this on their customers without a heads-up of some kind. It would have saved myself and others from renewing for another 2 years recently. Now we have to sit around in membership limbo not knowing when they will decide to cancel out on us.
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I don't think their points stuff is going away, as that's still store-wide. Their 5% credit card rewards feed into it via those points too (not to mention points are also given as compensation for money back from gas/groceries/travel/etc.), not to mention they said that the $10 pre-order campaigns will still be in effect going forward. Those also were applied via the points too. Maybe they'll just change the name of their programs, but IDK.

And at the very worst, for those who have point-banking, they'd just be forced to cash out if anything, rather than just taking people's credit card/store/membership rewards away. As far as I know, their credit cards aren't changing anytime soon either. They're also still pushing MyBestBuy accounts, and I doubt those will go away any time soon.

 
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Faithful said:
Hmm after today's dip, might be the perfect time to buy GS stock. For real. GameStop would be idiots to not make a huge deal about this.

My GCU ran out a couple months ago. Really haven't missed it. Way easy to beat 20% off with GS if you know what you're doing. Will miss the flips, but honestly even those have been few and far between. Cashed out this year for my new TV and eBay cards to buy new parts for my PC with the 20% off eBay promos.

Sad to see the end of an era. But as others have said, maybe the elimination of GCU will bring better deals and a reason to shop BB for Black Friday again.
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I hate shopping at Gamestop. They've sold me so many used games as "brand new." I purchased Bayonetta 1 & 2 Wii U online from them "brand new" and it came with a sticker seal and one of the game disc had three long scratches. I didn't notice until I tried to sell it (due to the Switch port announcement) so it wasn't worth very much even though it had the bonus Bayonetta one disc. I've also received "brand new" games from them that were completely open and had "pre-owned" stickers such as Xenoblade Chronicles X. I've probably had at least a couple dozen "brand new" games that were used. so I only go to them as a last resort.

 
Really glad I just renewed in February, good for next 2 years which isn’t awful. I’m just worried Amazon is going to get rid of their 20% off game preorders since soon they won’t have to compete

What a terrible day for CAG
 
IronChariot said:
I hate shopping at Gamestop. They've sold me so many used games as "brand new." I purchased Bayonetta 1 & 2 Wii U online from them "brand new" and it came with a sticker seal and one of the game disc had three long scratches. I didn't notice until I tried to sell it (due to the Switch port announcement) so it wasn't worth very much even though it had the bonus Bayonetta one disc. I've also received "brand new" games from them that were completely open and had "pre-owned" stickers such as Xenoblade Chronicles X. I've probably had at least a couple dozen "brand new" games that were used. so I only go to them as a last resort.
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Yeah, I haven't set foot in a Gamestop in years and the end of GCU probably won't change that. If I'm going to have to pay full price for a game I'm really looking forward to, I'll just get it digitally and save the gas, time and (fingers crossed it stays this way) tax.

 
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Killbomb said:
Yeah, I haven't set foot in a Gamestop in years and the end of GCU probably won't change that. If I'm going to have to pay full price for a game I'm really looking forward to, I'll just get it digitally and save the gas, time and (fingers crossed it stays this way) tax.
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PSN started taxing me not too long ago... and so does iTunes with my subscriptions.

Thanos went too far with GCU... Way too far.

 
In trying to renew my own sub, and buy a friend a sub, I got reupped to 2023. I can only pray they honor it til then. Maybe I'll squeak in FF7 Remake by then...
 
Well i am still good till Nov of 2019.  With this happening i may even stop using my BB visa i have as well. It doesn't seem as good with not having GCU combined with Certs.

 
RiPPn said:
When Microsoft was going that route at the launch of this generation, Sony said they had no plans to go digital only because they are a global company and still have a great deal of sales in parts of the world that have little to no internet access. I highly doubt this has changed and we will still see physical media through the next generation.
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Japan's one example. They vastly prefer physical media. I could actually see the next Xbox going digital only for that reason, but PlayStation? No way.

 
Xbox may as well already be digital only for me, because the only exclusives I'm interested in are only available digitally. I don't buy digital, which is why I don't have a One Anymore. IF Sony were to do digital only (don't see that happening) I'd prob just go pc next generation. Maybe have a Playstation for exclusives but if I'm buying digital I'm doing it on pc where it's cheapest.

As for the main topic, I don't have a best buy within 40 minutes of me so I never bothered anyway. If it'd been free shipping I would have been on it.
 
20% off everything (even older games already marked down) was probably not the best idea to begin with. I'd be alright with a system that gave 20% discounts to preorders. But if GCU is completely gone then BB is about to lose a massive amount of sales.
 
Jodou said:
Mine would have expired this week but I had re-subbed months ago. Multiple sources have said that 6/1 is the relaunch date for whatever new rewards program they're rolling out. That's two weeks from now which is consistent with most major announcements from companies. My guess is existing members are being told to hang tight while they roll out the new program and they've frozen memberships to avoid people in panic mode.

In either case, if they do cancel it outright I'll still continue to buy from them seeing as I have no reason to change retailers. I've been Prime free for over a year now and still manage to get free shipping in the maybe once in two months purchase I make there for household goods that end up being heavily discounted (S&S with coupons are great). GS has always been a joke and will never offer anything of value. Even if they did, BB would just PM them no questions asked.

I really think people are jumping the gun here and may feel stupid in a couple weeks. Swearing off BB is pretty short-sighted and Amazon will ditch their "me-too" savings first chance they get if GCU gets dropped completely. They've been trying to for years now and it's pretty obvious.
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Whatever replaces the current program will not be an improvement ... never is. Relaunched reward programs are always gimped for the consumer.

Sent from my SM-P580 using Tapatalk
 
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Honestly, if they revamp it to include more rewards but less of a discount (say, 10% off...but you get $5-10 gift cards with most any pre-order, limited to 1 per title per platform)...I'd be alright with it.
 
Just saw a follow up letter online saying that GCU is only suspended today so that no one can buy games this weekend and stay home to watch the royal wedding since it's on every goddamn channel in existence

 
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