Gamestop trending towards ditching manuals and reprint art?

MSI Magus

MSI Magus

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Just wanted to see if anyone else is finding this to be a problem/give a heads up to those unaware. 3 out of 5 of my local gamestops have had people state that their managers have told them to start pitching manuals and they are all also really printing that you can go to gamestop.com and print off new materials if you so wish. Since this started I am not only finding it harder and harder to get a manual with my games, but I am also finding I have to check my game cases over because even newer releases which are supposed to be guaranteed to be in original cases are instead replacement cases with print off covers(damn good ones....but still not the originals).

Anyways, wanted to see if anyone else is finding this to be a problem and give a heads up to collectors who might not have seen the trend yet.
 
I was in my GameStop yesterday and I didn't notice them doing anything with the manuals, but I have run into stuff with the cover art. The cover art for some games does look like reprints.
 
[quote name='MSI Magus']Just wanted to see if anyone else is finding this to be a problem/give a heads up to those unaware. 3 out of 5 of my local gamestops have had people state that their managers have told them to start pitching manuals and they are all also really printing that you can go to gamestop.com and print off new materials if you so wish. Since this started I am not only finding it harder and harder to get a manual with my games, but I am also finding I have to check my game cases over because even newer releases which are supposed to be guaranteed to be in original cases are instead replacement cases with print off covers(damn good ones....but still not the originals).

Anyways, wanted to see if anyone else is finding this to be a problem and give a heads up to collectors who might not have seen the trend yet.[/QUOTE]


They can print covers for used games but still can't come up with a method to display game cases without gutting them? Really?
 
Gamestops I've been to have ditched manuals and cases for all PS2 games $4.99 and cheaper to save space. I can't imagine the reasoning for throwing away manuals of newer games.

[quote name='MSI Magus']they are all also really printing that you can go to gamestop.com and print off new materials if you so wish.[/QUOTE]

Not exactly sure what you meant to type, but I can't find anything on their Web site to print covers or manuals. Maybe it's in the works?
 
I normally make sure to check for cover art and manual when picking up used games at GS, though I'll have to make double-sure going forward in the future.
 
Wow that blows. Bad enough all of the LA/SoCal stores I've been to have cart-only GBA games, the few that have XBox games left are disc only, and some stores have 90% of the PS2 games in the generic cases...some even toss all DS used cases, simply ridiculous.
 
[quote name='salty tbone']Gamestops I've been to have ditched manuals and cases for all PS2 games $4.99 and cheaper to save space. I can't imagine the reasoning for throwing away manuals of newer games.



Not exactly sure what you meant to type, but I can't find anything on their Web site to print covers or manuals. Maybe it's in the works?[/QUOTE]

/shrug I never bothered checking but its been pushed at 3 local stores. I have went in with games I bought from the last 2 big gamestop.com sales and asked for manuals and original cases. A few employees have told me in those instances that they ditch manuals and you can print your own cover art at their site so I should just go there. I have tried explaining I am a collector and their website says I can bring the games to a gamestop for replacement case/manuals but they have been total dicks about it and insisted their new policy is to send people to the website to print off their own stuff. Every time I have just returned the games on the spot which pisses them off so much ;)

It could just be that the local district manger is a dick and has told employees to state that so they dont have to waste time hunting down cases/manuals for costumers buying on the website, but I still wanted to pass this on for the collectors out there. I also wanted to pass it on because I know for a fact I have bought 2 or 3 games from them that as I said were supposed to come in original case/manual but had printed off ones instead.
 
i usually walk away when theres no case or manual.

what i find disturbing is that when people trade that shit to gamestop and theres no case or manual, they get credit deducted from their trade. then gamestop prints a cover, and provides a game that basically disintegrate on their shelves (it breaks before someone buys it), and not have a manual. if theres no manual, then the price shouldnt be comparable to that of a game that has one.

but like anything else that gamestop do, they again get away with murder.
 
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I don't know what the stores the OP visits are thinking, but it's certainly not a company directive. It's a waste of time and supplies. Gamestop wants to make the most money possible and this kind policy would be counter productive to that.

Also, in before ninja dog commenting on how they sell open new games at full price.
 
None of the Gamestops in my area have been doing this (thank god).

However, if Gamestop does decide to start this practice, I will hands down stop shopping there.
 
Will definitely never shop there if their games don't come complete with non-reprinted box art and game manual.
 
That doesn't make any sense... they throw out the actual cover art and then use a printed one? Is that just wasting money?

The only thing that I can think of is that GS is having their stores send in the manuals/cover art to their warehouses to fulfill their online orders with manuals/cases.
 
[quote name='Ziv']It's a waste of time and supplies. Gamestop wants to make the most money possible and this kind policy would be counter productive to that. [/QUOTE]


Exactly. Why waste resources on a valueless strategy?
 
Wow thanks for the heads up on this matter. I typically open up the case to see if a manual is in there but I'll be checking the cover art as well.
 
I could see them getting rid of manuals since they would sell for the same thing. You have to remember that gamestop doesnt care about the hardcore gamer, they are trying to appeal to the casual gamer and soccer mom
 
[quote name='kell']I stopped buying used a long time ago. It was always such a pain finding a complete copy at a GS.[/QUOTE]

I don't buy used games from gamestop any more for the same reason.

I do buy used games from gamefly, and only gamefly. The games are always complete and in good to great condition
 
[quote name='L0sther0']I don't buy used games from gamestop any more for the same reason.

I do buy used games from gamefly, and only gamefly. The games are always complete and in good to great condition[/QUOTE]

But their selection is horribly small. Look I created the topic so its hard to deny I am in the group of people that are skeptical of gamestop, however I think its nuts to completely discount them as a retailer when they keep offering up big sales. Its far too easy to buy a handfull of games and if they come in bad condition just return them!
 
If you've got a bunch of games with artwork and manuals sitting next to a bunch without, the complete games will sell, and the incomplete games will stagnate.

If everything is the same crappy quality, everything will sell evenly because people won't be picking and choosing over aesthetic quality.
 
^^^ Indeed.

Even funnier is seeing a GS employee try to pass off a gutted "new" copy of a game to a clueless soccer mom. And by gutted, I don't mean merely opened, I mean a disc only "new" copy of a game in a generic GS case that they are actually trying to ring up as a NEW COPY!!!

GS employee: "oh yes, we have a 'NEW' copy in stock, here you go, it was just opened to put the disc in a secure location and someone stole the original case so we give you a GS case, but it is 'new'..."

Soccer mom: "ohhhh....ummmm, okay, I guess."
 
[quote name='karkyco']Even funnier is seeing a GS employee try to pass off a gutted "new" copy of a game to a clueless soccer mom. And by gutted, I don't mean merely opened, I mean a disc only "new" copy of a game in a generic GS case that they are actually trying to ring up as a NEW COPY!!!

GS employee: "oh yes, we have a 'NEW' copy in stock, here you go, it was just opened to put the disc in a secure location and someone stole the original case so we give you a GS case, but it is 'new'..."

Soccer mom: "ohhhh....ummmm, okay, I guess."[/QUOTE]

Absurd.
 
ok i know of two stores where i used to live where it was the policy to throw away DS cases and cover art. they did not even have generic cases, if you buy a cart u just get that cart in a bag.
although in their defense they did say that it was because of the location they were in was just TOO SMALL to hold everything.
Both of these were in the same mall, and to their credit i couldn't see any space anywhere on the floor where cases could have foreseeably gone.
 
[quote name='karkyco']^^^ Indeed.

Even funnier is seeing a GS employee try to pass off a gutted "new" copy of a game to a clueless soccer mom. And by gutted, I don't mean merely opened, I mean a disc only "new" copy of a game in a generic GS case that they are actually trying to ring up as a NEW COPY!!!

GS employee: "oh yes, we have a 'NEW' copy in stock, here you go, it was just opened to put the disc in a secure location and someone stole the original case so we give you a GS case, but it is 'new'..."

Soccer mom: "ohhhh....ummmm, okay, I guess."[/QUOTE]

Forget soccer moms, they actually tried to do that with ME :bomb:.
 
If soccer moms are so stupid they can't look at a "new" product and tell it's not sealed, they deserve to be ripped off. Nobody on here complains that the shirt they just bought had been tried on by other people and then sold as new, or their car had been driven by someone else. And, quite frankly, nobody complains when stupid people get screwed. Yet every thread with "Gamestop" in the title devolves into this discussion regardless of the original topic. You know what's more effective than complaining on the internet about Gamestop's gutted games? Not buying them. That's what I do, and, therefore, I've never had a problem with them and don't have to bitch relentlessly about it. Problem solved.

[quote name='phear3d']what i find disturbing is that when people trade that shit to gamestop and theres no case or manual, they get credit deducted from their trade.[/QUOTE]

This isn't a universal practice. At Gamestop, quite frankly, I don't think there is a universal practice. Everything comes down to how much of a dick your clerk is. I've never been charged a refurb fee or for a missing case or manual, but I've had clerks switch the cases on games I'm buying and flat out remove the manual. I've sold them broken consoles and empty cases, but I've ended up buying discs that were flat-out cracked. It all depends on how much the guy at the counter cares, and also how much attention you pay to what you're doing, which is something a lot of people seem to overlook, myself included at times.
 
did you guys ever hear that they open new games and still sell them as new. i think that's even worse as a collector. each time a shrink wrap is torn i cry tears of sadness.
 
[quote name='orcafan8']ok i know of two stores where i used to live where it was the policy to throw away DS cases and cover art. they did not even have generic cases, if you buy a cart u just get that cart in a bag.
although in their defense they did say that it was because of the location they were in was just TOO SMALL to hold everything.
Both of these were in the same mall, and to their credit i couldn't see any space anywhere on the floor where cases could have foreseeably gone.[/QUOTE]

They could leave the carts in a glass case and put the cases in the back room stacked up. Then when the customers wants to buy the game, they can go fetch the case. It's really simple, really. I don't think I've ever seen a GS that didn't have a back room big enough to put a couple hundred games.
 
[quote name='DarkRider23']They could leave the carts in a glass case and put the cases in the back room stacked up. Then when the customers wants to buy the game, they can go fetch the case. It's really simple, really. I don't think I've ever seen a GS that didn't have a back room big enough to put a couple hundred games.[/QUOTE]

i know i know my thoughts too, but when i peeked back there when they went to get something, it was filled with lots of big bulky items like rockband sets and what not, i mean these two don't carry even just their own generic cases if you want a case for the game to carry it out in. i told them they should just merge the two locations or specialize them, i mean same mall literally a few hundred feet about. but really the one i did see the back of was the smallest back room i had ever seen in a gamestop
 
Go scroll through the used game selection on their website too. After 5 or 6 pages of used PS3 and 360 games I couldn't find one that said it came with an original case and instruction manual. That alone made buying used from GS.com worthwhile.
 
[quote name='luminaria']Go scroll through the used game selection on their website too. After 5 or 6 pages of used PS3 and 360 games I couldn't find one that said it came with an original case and instruction manual. That alone made buying used from GS.com worthwhile.[/QUOTE]

Wow, so much for that "Used Game Guarantee" that they were hyping last month.
 
Damn, I just checked a used PS2 game that was delivered recently and sure enough it was a freak'n printout cover! :bomb:

I had set the game aside thinking it looked fuzzy at first glance, but never fathomed they'd pull this particular BS. Ugh. Now I'll have to head into a store to see what they have there.

It's on the same heavy paper stock, but the print quality is the shitz. They even stickered their own UPC over the 'For Display Only' block underneath. A new low.

I could see them stupidly explaining this is for all the complainers who want the art. Yeah, if it wasn't blurred as hell I wouldn't have minded as much. Add in the markered over top scratched filthy disc and they got a winning formula to ensure many returns. Just yuck.
 
[quote name='Hibiwa']Damn, I just checked a used PS2 game that was delivered recently and sure enough it was a freak'n printout cover! :bomb:

I had set the game aside thinking it looked fuzzy at first glance, but never fathomed they'd pull this particular BS. Ugh. Now I'll have to head into a store to see what they have there.

It's on the same heavy paper stock, but the print quality is the shitz. They even stickered their own UPC over the 'For Display Only' block underneath. A new low.

I could see them stupidly explaining this is for all the complainers who want the art. Yeah, if it wasn't blurred as hell I wouldn't have minded as much. Add in the markered over top scratched filthy disc and they got a winning formula to ensure many returns. Just yuck.[/QUOTE]

/nod this seems most common with PS2 games, pretty much all my print out covers have been for PS2 titles.
 
I didn't even think this was being done until I saw the thread this morning. I can't imagine all older games being traded in are so bad that they think their bootleg covers are a better solution.

Maybe it's time to finally forget about PS2 games and not look back as far as Gamestop is concerned. Sad to think they are throwing out originals (good or bad) because of some new policy to save space and whatnot.

And of course, there was no manual too.
 
[quote name='darkslime']did you guys ever hear that they open new games and still sell them as new. i think that's even worse as a collector. each time a shrink wrap is torn i cry tears of sadness.[/QUOTE]



but that's illegal! have you tried notifying the BBB?
 
Exactly. I want to nuke their Marketing/PR depts. every time I hear another company try to pass off penny pinching as 'Going Green'.

And no I don't want to save your operating costs. I'll have my printed bill and snail mail. Thanks.
 
[quote name='darkslime']did you guys ever hear that they open new games and still sell them as new. i think that's even worse as a collector. each time a shrink wrap is torn i cry tears of sadness.[/QUOTE]

Nonsense. That never happened.
 
[quote name='perdition(troy']its not green, its just cheaper.[/QUOTE]

I was hoping someone would catch the sarcasm in my post. I know it's just a way to make more money.
 
I stopped ordering used older gen titles from GS.com because of incompleteness and crappy discs. This just adds to my case against ordering half of the used games they offer. I am reluctant already, good going Gamestop!
 
[quote name='Survivalism']If soccer moms are so stupid they can't look at a "new" product and tell it's not sealed, they deserve to be ripped off. Nobody on here complains that the shirt they just bought had been tried on by other people and then sold as new, or their car had been driven by someone else. And, quite frankly, nobody complains when stupid people get screwed. Yet every thread with "Gamestop" in the title devolves into this discussion regardless of the original topic. You know what's more effective than complaining on the internet about Gamestop's gutted games? Not buying them. That's what I do, and, therefore, I've never had a problem with them and don't have to bitch relentlessly about it. Problem solved.[/QUOTE]
But if those of us who incessantly and relentlessly bitch about Gamestop's shit policies, then what will we have to complain about?

Personally, I have to say that I saw something like this coming, although you have to wonder what the fuck they're thinking by doing so.

Honestly, I truly hope that Sony, MS and Nintendo and all of the game publishers all go digital download so they can put Gamestop the fuck out of business by no longer having any physical media to sell people.

Mind you, if that happens I'm no longer going to be gaming, since I refuse to 'buy' shit I don't have a physical copy of to resell at my discretion when I get sick of it. But if it would put Gamestop out of business, I'd gladly give up gaming in a heartbeat to watch them go down in flames.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']
Honestly, I truly hope that Sony, MS and Nintendo and all of the game publishers all go digital download so they can put Gamestop the fuck out of business by no longer having any physical media to sell people.

I'd gladly give up gaming in a heartbeat to watch them go down in flames.[/QUOTE]

You're an Idiot...
 
I can confirm that they're throwing out the cases for PS2 games. I was going to purchase a PS2 game today, but the disc had tape on top that was covering up a crack (which was visible on the bottom). I didn't purchase it due to this and I saw the employee toss the case into the trash but put the disc back.
 
2 more stores visited today and both had/were pitching PS2 manuals. All these stores have had their PS2 games at the counter in the generic sleeves so costumers can browse through them. Easy assumption is that they are doing this to save on store space now that the PS3/360 are kicking into top gear and churning out lots of games. I took advantage of stores that I have found with games for $5 and under and bought some games I normally would not(like dead to rights or old GTAs)knowing that if I did not buy them now id probably never have the chance.
 
Maybe your district manager or someone is telling them to say that, because they don't want to just give you their stock of real cases and manuals when you buy something incomplete from the website.

If your talking specifically about older games, like PS2, I could see them doing that. They probably want to get rid of that stuff for good pretty soon, to make more room for older current gen stuff. Still my be a district thing for your area, though that does suck, there are a some really great dirt cheap games to be had in their PS2 section, when you luck out and find them.
 
[quote name='warmsignal']Maybe your district manager or someone is telling them to say that, because they don't want to just give you their stock of real cases and manuals when you buy something incomplete from the website.

If your talking specifically about older games, like PS2, I could see them doing that. They probably want to get rid of that stuff for good pretty soon, to make more room for older current gen stuff. Still my be a district thing for your area, though that does suck, there are a some really great dirt cheap games to be had in their PS2 section, when you luck out and find them.[/QUOTE]

Its just old PS2 games. Last night I was not even returning stuff I bought at gamestop.com last night I was just going to gamestop to buy games I found under under $5 that I might want at some point in the future knowing stores were tossing them out.
 
[quote name='orcafan8']ok i know of two stores where i used to live where it was the policy to throw away DS cases and cover art. they did not even have generic cases, if you buy a cart u just get that cart in a bag.
although in their defense they did say that it was because of the location they were in was just TOO SMALL to hold everything.
Both of these were in the same mall, and to their credit i couldn't see any space anywhere on the floor where cases could have foreseeably gone.[/QUOTE]

That's BS I work next to the smallest Gamestop in St. Louis (also in the top 3 in sales) and they have a rack of all the used DS games with cases. Now a bunch of them are generic Gamestop cases, but if you trade a complete package game in there, it goes on the shelf as a complete package game. This also pertains to any CE's that are traded in there.
 
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