Best Buy GCU to be discontinued 3-1-2021

Nephilim

Nephilim

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Ugh. I had a year left. Oh well, good while it lasted.

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We have an important announcement to share about your Gamers Club Unlocked* membership.

Thank you for being a My Best Buy® member and part of the Gamers Club Unlocked program. We have made the decision to end the current Gamers Club Unlocked program which means we will cancel remaining memberships and discontinue all current benefits as of March 1, 2021.

As a current Gamers Club Unlocked member, we will be refunding you the purchase price of your unexpired membership(s). We will mail you a refund check equal to $30 for each membership. You can expect to receive your check by the end of March 2021. To ensure you receive your check, please log into your account at https://www.bestbuy.com/profile/c/address/shipping and confirm your primary address is up to date. Your Gamers Club Unlocked benefits will remain active through February 28, 2021.

Despite this change, you will remain a member of My Best Buy which earns you rewards on your Best Buy purchases and additional member benefits.

If you need assistance with this, or have questions, please feel free to contact us at
1-888-BEST-BUY (1-888-237-8289) or through our chat channels on BestBuy.com.

Thank you for continuing to be a loyal Best Buy customer!

The Best Buy Team
 
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They could put out a program that gives 10% off all games and bumps to 20% if you buy something else non-gaming related. I think they were hoping people would buy other things while buying the games anyway.
 
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psunami said:
Best Buy has added all 3 of the new Pokemon games that are coming in the next year, so those might be the last pre-orders that I might take advantage of.
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I just made a few pre orders for the new Pokémon games before my GCU runs out. I might pre order the new resident evil or other games releasing in the next few months.
 
I just made my final GCU purchases before GCU ends in two days.  Here's my list:

Mario Golf: Super Rush - Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch Lite
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake Standard Edition - PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5
Tales of Arise - PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart Launch Edition - PlayStation 5
Returnal Standard Edition - PlayStation 5NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139 - PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5
Resident Evil Village Deluxe Edition - PlayStation 4
 
Not many really, and nothing really big coming up in the Summer.  I decided to not buy some other titles, like the Mass Effect Legendary Edition, DEATHLOOP, FFVIIR Integrade, since I won't have time to play them (they overlap with other games), and so they'll probably be cheaper down the line anyway.
 
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I've  been so careful over the years to not buy more than 3 in a year.  I used to keep a spreadsheet with all of my purchases and 5 accounts.  Sadly this is the end of an era for me.  Some new releases with the $10 bonus and $12 off were banger deals.  

The deals I'll miss the most are the games on sale that you get an extra $8-10 off on.  When a $60 game goes on sale for $40 and you get for $32, that's killer.  I flip those on eBay for decent profit, especially when buying 3 copies.  The 6% back in rewards is a nice perk too.

I don't think I've bought a video game at another store in over 10 years except for black friday deals.

Sadly it looks like no good sales this week either.  Considering preordering the new Pokemon games. 

So sad.

 
lilbuddy said:
I've been so careful over the years to not buy more than 3 in a year. I used to keep a spreadsheet with all of my purchases and 5 accounts. Sadly this is the end of an era for me. Some new releases with the $10 bonus and $12 off were banger deals.

The deals I'll miss the most are the games on sale that you get an extra $8-10 off on. When a $60 game goes on sale for $40 and you get for $32, that's killer. I flip those on eBay for decent profit, especially when buying 3 copies. The 6% back in rewards is a nice perk too.
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Objectively, that behavior probably sped up GCU's demise.

They created a program to entice gamers. Some folks have different consoles or want to gift them to friends, so there was a 3 copy limit per title. Resellers buying 3 copies cut BBY's profits and also diverted other customers bought from resellers on eBay.

 
[attachment=35380:EAC7244C-8D34-4C42-8403-C3E991DBCD66.jpeg]

GCU is still working for me, I’m going to buy a few things before the shutdown.
 
Well rats, my GCU isn't working ether despite saying I still have it for today. Oh well, I nearly got all the preorders for my friends and family yesterday, it was a good decade-ish run. Still gonna purchase video games through Best Buy until I can finally get my hands on a GPU in maybe a year (at this rate) and burn all my points out on it, then I'm finally free.

 
Lans said:
Well rats, my GCU isn't working ether despite saying I still have it for today. Oh well, I nearly got all the preorders for my friends and family yesterday, it was a good decade-ish run. Still gonna purchase video games through Best Buy until I can finally get my hands on a GPU in maybe a year (at this rate) and burn all my points out on it, then I'm finally free.
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Same here. Are you elite or elite plus? They said there's an issue if you are either of those where it's interfering with the discount. Not sure how true it is but since it's last day they can't really do anything.
 
tubtub said:
Same here. Are you elite or elite plus? They said there's an issue if you are either of those where it's interfering with the discount. Not sure how true it is but since it's last day they can't really do anything.
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Ah, I'm elite status, maybe that's a thing? Oh well, I'll have it anyway for one more year or two depending if I make another big purchase. Only reason I even had it all this time was because of GCU.

 
And so, as the night led on to the morrow, we knew we no longer could, in good faith, speakith it's forlorn title, of "Best" Buy.
 
Although I lost my GCU years ago, this is a sad moment. Still kicking myself for not renewing just a month before they killed it...

[attachment=35384:maxresdefault.jpg]

 
segasonic128 said:
Best Buy should bring GCU back! It was an amazing game rewards program; I ordered tons of games from BB and still do.

best program ever made.
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GizmoGC said:
They should bring back a program they lost money on?

OK.
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topchief1 said:
Yes. Because why would i give a shit regarding whether they lost money on it or not?
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You should empty your bank account and send me all of your money. Because why would I give a shit whether you need that money to pay your bills or not?

 
did anyone's best buy account got auto issued certificates? for some reason it did that for me and i didnt even request for certificates. now i gotta spend it before it expires.

 
trunks982 said:
did anyone's best buy account got auto issued certificates? for some reason it did that for me and i didnt even request for certificates. now i gotta spend it before it expires.
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No longer Elite/Elite Plus, maybe? Mine's still banked.

 
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trunks982 said:
did anyone's best buy account got auto issued certificates? for some reason it did that for me and i didnt even request for certificates. now i gotta spend it before it expires.
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just preorder a game, when you are ready to use the certificate, cancel the order and it will be returned to you with a new expiration date.

elessar123 said:
No longer Elite/Elite Plus, maybe? Mine's still banked.
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i dont think this is exclusive to elite/elite plus anymore. i am able to bank my certs, even on a new account i made to order a ps5 console because they kept getting cancelled on my main account.

 
R.I.P. GCU.  Well, mine ran out a couple years ago.  And guess what?  I pretty much stopped buying games at Best Buy outside of BF deals.  So, good job I guess?

 
RIP GCU. It was a hell of a run. Sadly, I stopped buying physical media years ago, and when my GCU ran out, it was all digital all the time for me, and still is to this day. But man, I made out like a bandit during the Xbox One era. So many great deals....and the trade-in program was just comically amazing. I still have $450 in credit from those days banked on a gift card that I still haven't decided how to spend yet. I would say I wish someone would come up with a similar program for digital titles, but with Game Pass and how new'ish games are constantly being added faster than I thought they would be, there's really no need to. 

 
Got mine a few days ago, it's a shame it's over, but hey at least that $30 was free (for me at least thanks to their system glitching and giving me 4 years free).

Not to mention the thousands I've bled out of them over the last decade with that deal, and that's in addition to all the pricing goofs they've had over the years.

 
Got my check. It's been nice.
haven't had time to buy and play many games in the last few years. But the early days, what a rush.
 
More Cowbell said:
Me neither. They'll be the next Circuit City. Only a matter of time.
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Best Buy isn't going out of business because it's not selling you video games. It's going to be because other retailers are taking all the big ticket item sales - like appliances and smartphones - away from them.

Video games, like bluray movies, have been disappearing from the floor space, and soon will be gone anyways.
 
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Wasnt there a dude on here a couple years ago that said BestBuy did something funky to his account that caused his GCU to not expire until 2037?

 
Mattiful-Joe said:
Best Buy isn't going out of business because it's not selling you video games. It's going to be because other retailers are taking all the big ticket item sales - like appliances and smartphones - away from them.

Video games, like bluray movies, have been disappearing from the floor space, and soon will be gone anyways.
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The new Best Buy that opened up in the mall I work at has no physical movies of any kind (even 4K Ultra Blurays) on their floors and gaming is a shell of what other stores normally have. It's not a big moved for them as much as it used to so they use the space for stuff that actually moves relatively quicker than them.
 
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