Topic: Where do you buy your games from?

So I've noticed recently that the selection of games in GAME have declined gradually over the last year which is a shame as it's the UK's only high street game chain and would leave a void if it went bust.. what I'm getting at is do you still support your local game shops are is digital or online the way for you

Amazon mainly but that's because nowhere in my little town sells games, we did have a GAME but that closed when they went bankrupt years ago and never reopened when they were brought out afterwards

@FullbringIchigo its catch 22 really it's cheaper online and more selection but I still enjoy being able to go into a shop and browse games, I would be gutted if GAME went

@QualityGeezer Like i said as no where in my town sells games, not even supermarkets i don't really have a choice but to buy them online

as for GAME, in all honesty they are a terrible chain and i wouldn't care if they vanished tomorrow, it would at least stop them from getting exclusive rights to various releases, i'm still peeved that i can't buy the Deluxe Edition of FFVII Remake because they got exclusivity for it

@FullbringIchigo yeah I hear you and GAME do alot of wrong it's just I dont want to lose a gaming presence on the high street

Online storefronts. Primarily Amazon and Ebay.
And, of course, the manufacturer's own digital storefronts.

I haven't purchased games in a retail setting in years. Retail stores are so 20th century.

PS4 games only in the digital store. Switch games depends on price/credit available stuff like that so Amazon, Target, Gamestop, or Best Buy for switch games.

Dont you all think its depressing though that games dont have a high street presence

I'd love to here from Americans because they have such a different model in the sense of having alot of independent stores especially for retro gaming

@QualityGeezer I'm an American.

With that said, Gamestop swallowed up most of the smaller game stores years ago. They're still out there, but they're not hugely common, in my experience.

Retail games do have a pretty big presence in big stores like Target, Walmart, etc. But only the really recent ones.

@Ralizah that's a shame to here I dont want games stores to disappear from malls/high streets

@KratosMD everything you have said is true and makes perfect sense it doesn't take away from my belief that games should have a high street presence

GAME is my local video game store. I bought my ps4 from them and I think that was the last time I bought something in that store. I sometimes go on and browse if I'm really bored on my lunch hour. CEX is the only store I go into and 'buy' games, but that is using store credit.

New stuff is split between the PS store and online sites such as Amazon, Shopto and Simply Games. I used to use Amazon a lot more but recently there prices have not been that good, and if you are not a Prime member you usually have to pay for delivery if it is under 20 quid.

I live in America, so GameStop is the gaming chain around here. I do frequent GameStop when it comes to more current gen games as well as the occasional PS3, DS/3DS title when I find something good. I know everyone hates GameStop with the fury of a thousand suns, but I've been fortunate to get a location with employees that know better than average and like to talk shop. I do occasionally buy online, either from ebay or Amazon, usually with harder to find games. I'm also not afraid of buying digital if the price is right.

Back when I was living in a smaller town, there was another physical game store called Game Haven, which had more older games than current ones, essentially the only retro game store I was around. It even had the general layout of older game stores, so I'm willing to bet our older members would have felt at home. It ended up closing during my senior year of high school, but it apparently reopened some time after I'd graduated. I dunno if it's still open nowadays.

I suppose the moral dilemma is should we support our high street game stores

@QualityGeezer I buy from GAME. I'm a member of GAME Elite and I pre-order the small handful of games I want directly from them, using the reward points I build up on games for my partner or my best friend around Christmas or their birthdays.

It's an easy choice for me, though, as I live in a city centre literally two minutes from my local branch, and my mailbox isn't big enough for Blu-Rays, games, etc. to be posted to me. I used to get things from Amazon posted to my workplace, but they got so awful about keeping their "receive on launch day" promises that I gave up, shrugging that the extra cost (which isn't a lot, really) was worth the security of getting a copy in my hands, 9am at launch.

For those who can't make it to a high street, I get the Amazon route, I really do. It's a shame, though, as I quite like my local GAME. It isn't too big, the staff are really friendly and they've never made a mistake.

@RogerRoger you've hit the nail on the head, the staff are friendly and gamers too and it's a pleasant experience going in store ok it's not as cheap as Amazon but for a fiver more I'd rather a game shop have a presence on the high street

It's a mixture. Often go with digital, occasionally buy physically online, but I do also frequently buy in stores. I do buy things from GAME and CeX, but will get something from the Argos just across the street of them instead if Argos is cheaper, which is fairly often. The Tesco near me does have an alright game section, so I'll bite if a game is going cheaply there.

I do like having dedicated video game stores on the high street, so I'm happy to support GAME and CeX if their prices are similar to elsewhere. However, GAME's prices often seem expensive, and CeX's prices can be hit and miss.

@RogerRoger @QualityGeezer then you got some of the good ones, when we did have a GAME the store was small and poorly stocked, unless you wanted a used copy that is and the staff just didn't give a **** about anything they was doing or any customer that came into the shop

i remember one time going in to buy a game and they didn't have left any behind the counter and i still remember what the woman said as i was so shocked being a retail worker myself at the time "we do have some more round the back but i can't be bothered to go back there and get one" so i said "well i'm never using this place again then"

and i never did, except i did use the online store once, they lost my games and wouldn't refund me because they said i had received the delivery when i bloody well didn't

ever since then i had nothing to do with GAME and never will again

@crimsontadpoles yeah that's the problem in a nutshell if it's cheaper in Asda Tesco etc its a no brainer and it's a pity game get priced out of it. I know because I have friends that work there that they would love to be more competitive price price but they cant