Gamestop being investigated by Federal Trade Commission

The alleged practice of GameStop lending new copies of games to employees at their stores and then later selling those games as new, unused copies, may be a violation of federal law.

[tiberious151]

Good, while their there they should investigate Gamestop for giving away personal credit card information to Reservation Rewards and the many others companies that have our card numbers. Screw these guys, I hope justice will be served one day.

[Trollimite]

we also sale your phone numbers to our parteners. have you guys been getting calls from companies that youve never heard, telling your your insurance is about in expier. thats our fault. i pray to god we get caught

[XxSolid SnakexX]

LOL thats what they get cheap bastards XD

[CaseyRyback_CPO]

Thank god.

[N4g_null]

WOW just WOW! Man some people are getting fired and good god this could shut the place down if it is big enough. WOW Man the rats will be jumping ship really soon!

_WOW_

[ReservoirDog316]

don't forget to buy Valkyria Chronicles at gamestop for $30

it's one of the best games on the PS3 and for $30?
it's a steal

[Heldrasil]

@ 1

Sorry mate, but the whole comment of "Reservation Rewards" doesn't make sense to me. The program that is called "Reservation Rewards" is a customer "selectable" program that they are entered into when making a an online purchase, but the customer at times DOES NOT know it exists because of all the fine print BS that sites give you (make sure you uncheck all those lovely boxes). It is really up to the end user to read the fine print and not enter into a crappy contract with some other company (often at the prospect of getting discounts) ....Yes, it's sneaky and a bunch of crap, but no one should complain when they didn't read the fine print or ESPECIALLY when they actually bought something from Gamestop.

[ThanatosDMC]

Good! I really doubt their "preowned" games since they take out the disk from the cabinets. That's why i always ask for the sealed ones without the sticker.

[Tru_Ray]

When I went to Gayme Stop to purchase R6V back in '07, the clerk told me that they had one "display copy" left. I asked him if had ever been played before and quickly said "Nah".

He rang it up for $59.99 (I bought the game in conjunction with NGS. This game was actually "new").

I was always suspicious about the ethics of this practice. I'm glad that the FTC is looking into this.

Tru

[N2NOther]

You do know that if you want you can say "no" to getting an open copy of the game. I love when people complain about this but yet they continue to buy open games.

[Death]

was supposed to be stopped over a decade ago. The idea was to have employees sign out games to try out so they could intelligently recommend them or not. Corporate put a stop to it a long time ago since they had received complaints that the new games were being used. If this is still being done, it is at a store level and not a corporate level since corporate made it very clear it is not to be done. Gamestop/EB no longer allows you to return games or exchange them for a different title either which eliminates the possibility of re-selling new games.

-Death

[unrealgamer58]

[40cal]

This has been going on for along time.

[Shaka2K6]

..

[Quickstrike]

The Gamestop in my town has average teens to young adults gamers. Not biased to any system. They can tell you the best and worst qualities of each system.

Have you even been in a Gamestop or are you just going by the stereo-type shoved down your throat by just about every one that had a few bad days at Gamestop?

[Slinger420]

I have had this happen to me. They say, "it's the last copy bro," but really it's a copy they played but kept as they have the box to advertise the game on the shelf. Bunch of rats.

[hatchimatchi]

yea that happened to me for the first time the other week when i bought battletoads.

Another thing is that whenever i would pre-order a game from gamestop i'd never get it on the release date, they always say, "no, that date is when the game ships out, you'll get it tomorrow" oh really? then why the hell does best buy and every other store have it?

Main reason i dont pre-order, but pre-ordering is pointless as hell anyways, games never sell out anymore.

[Voozi]

Happened to me too once, this was back in early 07, I was going out to buy Madden 07 for PS3, they didnt have any left and did the whole "we have an unused never played copy"

Then other day when I was @ mall, they pulled that trick to some parent who was with their kid buying some game (wasnt sure what)

Oh yea and one time I preorderd Armored Core 4 from GS, and they apparently didn't get their copies in until like 2 days after release day, was a joke

I never go to GS now, unless its for some kinda bonus where I'll preorder to get it, then cancel it :D or some exclusive CE/LE that I can't get from any other store lol

[Myst]

I 100% agree with you and that's the only reason as to why I can't shop at Gamestop majority of the time. Though for some reason I couldn't get Killzone 2 (I think it was KZ2) and [something else?] on release date, yet I was able to get DS version of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles echoes of time on release date.

I'm not to sure how they do it, but it seems mismatched. I find pre-ordering rather moot to begin with, especially if you have other stores nearby that will be selling the same game. Pre-ordering only seems to be helpful if one lives in a big city like new york, but if you live in about a medium sized to a small town it doesn't seem to be a problem what so ever.

[xbollox]

anyone still buying games there??

gameshtapo kaput!
more bad news for xbollox suckas

[Seferoth75]

Bad news for MS and Nintendo. Of course since Gamestop isnt a movie store PS3 will not be hurt. Not like anyone actually buys games for it anyway.

[hatchimatchi]

you just couldn't help yourself could you

[xbollox]

great choice: your avatar suits you perfectly XDDD
http://thedailyprofaner.com...

[ultimolu]

Aww, poor sephy is butt-hurt. xD

xbollox, stop picking fights dammit. >.>

[Anon1974]

If you've got something to add to the conversation, by all means join the community. We'd love to have you.

If you just want to spout off - there's a zone over there for you. Knock yourself out.

[tonywood24]

I have a lot of issues with Gamestop. First of all, and most importantly, these guys are ripp off artist! Only taking a few bucks off a used game, selling the last copy of a game...that was opened (Hapened to me a few times, before I quit shopping there), and getting people to preorder games, is very annoying and discusting to me.

MS, Sony, and Nintendo fans should all agree and attest to the fact they we have ALL be victimized by these jerks! It's flat out highway robbery what they have been gettign away with. GAMESTOP IS THE MAIN REASON WHY PEOPLE CHOOSE TO "PIRATE" GAMES! I only buy form Blockbuster game rush stores, Amazon, and Best Buy, and Target.

[HDgamer]

maybe you should learn to spell debate.

[princejb134]

that is why you have the choice of taking the last copy or not
is your money you choose what you want
i myself don't mind a open copy as long as there is no scratches
the fun of a game is not unwrapping it, but playing the game itself

used game is not a problem to myself either

the most annoying thing, is them trying to get you to buy a subscription to game informer

and trying to get a reservation oh god so annoying

[cereal_killa]

RUH ROH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Gamer_Z]

I hope they shut those bastards down

[Bumpmapping]

Scamstop finally getting what they deserve.

[OhReginald]

i remember back in the day buying sega genesis games there....

[butterfinger]

Gamestop bought out Funcoland back in the day. So, that's just one more thing you can add to your list of awesome reasons to love GameStop. lol

http://au.answers.yahoo.com...

[DailyAddict]

For those not sure what exactly they are referring to in this investigation, I've been sold one of these games. Basically, the box is on the shelf and the game is actually behind the counter in a little cd sleeve. The store employees have been playing the game and they say "the game is still new" and usually sell it to you when no other ACTUAL copies of the game are in the store.

They figure that because the game never left the store that they can sell it as new, when it's not and should be used.

It's a foul practice and hopefully they get in trouble for it.

[Bumpmapping]

damn I forgot about funcoland good times :)

[Miraak82]

or babbages

[Panthers]

Good. I hate GS. WIsh they would just get shut down

[San Frandisco]

i get most of my games from online retailers and the others are locally traded between people in the same area...
i do believe that gamestop started a higher pirate percenage rate becouse of their ripped off prices and sh!ty unknowledgable staff.

gamesop can suck it and i DEFINENTLY will be there the day they get shut down so i can have a celebration outside their store wit the sign saying "going out of business" lol

[V0LT]

You know what I hate? I hate it when you get a game from there and its already been opened. Then they reach into a drawer and pull out the game and put it in the box and sell it as new. I don't know about you but in my eyes that's used at that point......

[RonDeMuerte]

About damn time!!!

[II Necroplasm II]

yes and it feels real good

hope they get slammed on their ass!

"GameStop officials declined to comment"
..... damn crooks.

[Heldrasil]

@ 7.1 bubble for being a Mayhem fan!!!!!

[II Necroplasm II]

Mayhem will never die!

[pippoppow]

Taking home used may be ok but not new games that are to be sold as new. Still once opened it is no longer new. Can't see why they can't print out fake game covers.

[PeeKnuckle]

"GameStop traces its roots to Babbage's, a small software retailer that started in Dallas, Texas in 1983. The movements that made Babbage's into GameStop started in 1994 with a series of mergers. The first was with Software Etc. in 1994, the second was with Funcoland stores in 2000." -Wikipedia

[menoyou]

hell yea i hope this messes up their company big time, hopefully they go out of business

[LONEWOLF231]

No wonder ive gotten a few games with scratches....and they were new or so they said. But i mean for them to do that is pretty stupid, most companies send GS employees review copies of their games before the actual thing releases......hell i know for a fact that just this past week they got the Wolverine game for them to play and enjoy.

[princejb134]

they dont send us copies to play a few days before
who ever told you that lied
we arent allowed to play the games until release date
which sucks
i hate my job
to bad economy is bad or i would have left a while ago

[LONEWOLF231]

Nope im not wrong, i wasnt told i was shown as a matter of a fact i was sold one of those review copies. And yes i know the difference between review copies and broken street dates. This copy i bought came in an package with a letter to all Gamestop employees reminding them NOT to post any gameplay videos or pictures to the web cause if they did they would be prosecuted with the full extent of the law. How high are you in the GS chain??? I guess these games are only shown and or given to trusted employees.

[princejb134]

im a ASM
been there for a year and some change
and they have never given us a review copy to play

or maybe it depends on what district your located in, cause in my district we was never given review copies

[LONEWOLF231]

Yeah it might be the location.
But all these review copy give away might stop due to leaks and whatnot.
Its these leakers that mess things for the rest of the lot.

[Dogswithguns]

Finally someone stepping in, I knew and I hated GameStop for a long time now, hope I will never see a sign GameStop anywhere in the world. Ever.

[xman06]

I work for GameStop and everyone who works with me would agree with everyone here. They don't send us any kind of cover art, bc they're cheap. I don't consider a game new if it is not still in plastic. I wish it would go back to the way it was when GameStop first started.

[Cyrus365]

Isn't this a dupe of this:

http://www.n4g.com/NewsPend...

[ultimolu]

Yeah, those guys are assholes.

[Darkfocus]

When you buy a used copy of something and they put the wrong version in. I bought god of war 2 used and got god of war 1 instead I also bought Oblivion GOTY edtion which comes with all the expansions and cost 25 bucks more and got the regular version and they wouldn't let me return it! >=[

[midgetsanx]

I bought Orange Box for the PS3 at Gamestop. It was supposedly new, but he use the case of the shelf and took the disk out of the sleeve. I don't know, but that doesn't seem new to me!

[TruthbeTold]

I'm not really one to believe in conspiracies, but I sure do find it convenient that as soon as other major businesses start touting their own used game services Gamestop suddenly is being investigated.

That being said, I don't feel sorry for those bastards. They rip people off every day.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

I'm really not even surprised.

[GamerPS360]

gamestop rocks, gaming rocks but I don't shop at Gamestop period.

[TrenchaunT]

This is terrible! I've always been annoyed how they sell you the game outside the case. I don't want them playing with my game before I buy it. I guess I won't be shopping at Gamestop anymore unless I have to.

[Sangria]

The practice is not alleged, it's factual. However, it's not Gamestop itself that ask for vendors to do it, but only the few "accountants" that dare to do it (i say "accountant" because i don't know how to translate it in english).

In each shop, there is the boss, co-boss and vendors. Bosses are under the orders of global store bosses, etc... Those "shop bosses" must fulfill quotas, like pre-orders, attach rate, guarantee extension, revenues, etc...

And this is why some (few, actually) shop bosses decide to transgress incognito some rules, like game prices, sealed games, declared revenues, etc... When, for example, a consumer buys a sealed game, then few hours after, he brings back the game and says it was absolutely not what he though.

A perfect vendor would say "I'm sorry but as the game is no longer sealed, i can only buy eat as a used copy price". But if it's a boss shop, he will say "Ok, no problem, i'll take it back at sealed game price and you'll be able to take another one". Then the game goes back to the shelves, considered as an unused game.

And it's even more effective if you are a recognized regular consumer, as there is competition between each shop, shop bosses prefer give some privileges to loyal consumer to not give them the feeling to have to go in another shop. I don't say that every shops are corrupted, absolutely not, but like any corporation, there are always some few people that may violate the laws.
(and i don't say that as a guesstimation but because i used to work for a Gamestop-like shop that ruled like described)

[donscrillinger]

i was 3rd key manager at this store for about an year back in 2003 and this is very true ,they also open games then put them in a shelve than then turn around and sell you the same game for full price ..which is crazy cause if you buy a game from them and break the seal they will not take it back for full price so wats the diff there is none ...when i go there and buy a game now i will not buy the game unless its in the wrapper ...cuz if the wrapper is broken they should be selling you the game for used price not full price ..

[Auron]

because I'm tired of buying a new game when they give it to me opened!!! and pull it from a damn sleeve!!