Ever Tried to Buy a Game Informer from Gamestop?

 It's like trying to buy organs in the black market. WTF 


I been itching to get a new magazine subscription on top of my Retro Gamer. So I figured I would pick up the newest EGM and Game Informer to see which one I liked better. Obviously, I'm not buying a mag for the news, I buy it for the personalities and their opinions. I know the EGM staff pretty well, but of course Game Informer being owned by Gamestop gets a lot of pull and a lots of exclusives because of their circulation. Anyway so I bought my EGM a few days ago at a news stand and last night I hit Gamestop at Union Square in NY for a Game Informer. 


First, when I hand the guy the mag, he grins and tells me not to bother, just to get the Gamestop card because it gives me discounts on used games and gives me the subscription. I told him, I had the card already but never got my magazines. He asked how long ago I got the card, I told him "a long time ago" and he lets me know that there is a new card now and I would have to update mine. He pulls the card out and I tell him "yeah that's the one I have, but no worries I just want this one issue" He almost tells me to just take it and walk out, until he decides he'll just look up my account. He sees that I don't have the second tier membership (the silver card) and that is why I don't have the subscription. At this point don't care. I tell him, not to worry about it, I was just curious to see the issue because I wanted to compare it. He then proceeds to tell me that Game Informer is the only real mag out there. And I'm mention EGM, and he scoffs at my suggestion that EGM can even compare. He tells me he gave up on EGM a long time ago (oh let me guess why) and that Game Informer is the best magazine out there, I'm not sure if when he said "out there" he meant US, or in the whole world because Games TM, and Edge are WAY better but whatever that's not the point.


So now I repeat "don't worry about it I just want this issue" and he looks at me and looks at the computer and tells me he doesn't think he can even sell the issues one off like that. It's been at least 10 minutes, and I'm annoyed. I say "why would you have them on the stand here with a barcode if you can't sell them" he says "no one usually buys them like that, everyone subscribes" and I reply, "well you wouldn't have them here if I couldn't buy them, so I can just buy this one" and he says again that he doesn't think he can. At this point I tell him to double check, and he does, and his boss tells him he can just enter in the proper code before ringing up my issue and he does, and I walk out. And I'm never going in there again. I know they probably get commission on subs but come the fuck on man.     

That guy was either new, stupid, or being a dick. Or all of those. It's completely possible to just buy one; that's why they have sub cards inside the magazine. 
 
It's a shame GI has a stigma because of Gamestop, it really is (in my opinion) the best game magazine out there. EGM and the like will always be way too fluff-heavy for me. Way too many gigantic pictures with blurbs and top ten lists and never enough writing.

As soon as you were having trouble with him you should have just asked to speak to his manager. Things would have been sorted a lot quicker.

That's how GameStop employees are. Reliably the worst people I've ever met.

Yep they're all like that. It doesn't matter how much experience they have, if the manager is there breathing down their neck for subs they'll get a sub out of you no matter what you tell them. Worst fucking place ever.
 
Pro Tip: use your school email to sign up for a free year of Amazon Prime that gets your free 2-day shipping on anything. It saves you so much on brand new games since they undercut Gamestop by a good six bucks on the average, not to mention all the ten dollar gift cards they give out. And their used games are always cheaper and not gutted-out like Gamestop.

As an ex-GameStop employee, I don't think we were able to sell the magazines individually. I recall someone in your situation coming up to me, I couldn't figure out how to sell it. 

i just wanted the alternate cover with the beatles on it when beatles rock band came out. i asked him if i could buy it separately and the dude just handed it to me. worked well, i think

That's such a bummer. Gamestop's practices just aren't helping its image. The snark, the elitism, all the slimy selling practices. It's just a big blow to consumer electronics and is why I have stopped buying games from brick and mortar stores. I shop almost exclusively on-line now.

No one's at fault here other than Gamestop's corporate policies.  Employees there have to meet quotas on both Edge Card subscriptions and pre-orders.  So if they aren't forcing that shit down your throat, they'll lose their job.  I'm thinking about signing up for PC Gamer Monthly, myself. 

ive never had an issue at all with gamestop. Ive purchased game informer, games, returned games, eventually got the subscription, and never once had any issues. I hear all this shit on here about how bad they are but i would love to go into a gamestop with you to see what the hell youre talking about. The ones in my area are good. Im in Arizona.

Wow that sucks for you guys the dudes at my local GameStop are like some of the nicest people I know they don't even need my to show my driver license and they never hassle me about pre-ordering the only kind of weird thing is one the employees hates activision which I don't mind cause I dislike activision too

It's funny. I always read about these horrible costumer experiences at GameStop online, and I don't doubt them, but my interactions have all been pleasant. The employees have all been relaxed and friendly, and I've even had some interesting conversations with them. I've been asked for pre-orders and subscriptions occasionally, but never hassled. One time the clerk even undercut the store by buying a game off of me for twice the trade-in price. Corporate probably hates these types, but at least they haven't soured my view on the company.

I remember one time I went into my usual game shop (Electronics Boutique represent!) to pick up a magazine and it was rammed full of shoppers, so I'm sat looking pissed off at the back of the enormous line for the cashiers when the manager (who because I pretty much bought all my games from that shop, I was pretty friendly with) saw me, came over to say hi and asked what I was buying. When he saw it was just a magazine he apologised for the queue and told me not to worry about paying for it, just take it on the house! That's my one and only heroic service story

... The store I frequent is cool about everything I've ever gone to them about. Even the employees are good. I feel like I'm living in some bizarro, alternate dimension when I come across these stories.

" It's funny. I always read about these horrible costumer experiences at GameStop online, and I don't doubt them, but my interactions have all been pleasant. The employees have all been relaxed and friendly, and I've even had some interesting conversations with them. I've been asked for pre-orders and subscriptions occasionally, but never hassled. One time the clerk even undercut the store by buying a game off of me for twice the trade-in price. Corporate probably hates these types, but at least they haven't soured my view on the company. "

I bought one 2 weeks ago and had no problem. Took like 1 minute.

You can't just buy one. That's how they get you, try to buy one, end up buying a subscription, next thing you know you're taking out life insurance from them. 

And just as you get out.... they pull you back in.

Most of the GameStops in Manhattan suck, I generally hit the one on 33rd and Broadway and they always pester me. It's because they are typically dealing with tourists and honestly it can be frustrating as hell; i don't really blame them but when I say NO it means I am not a tourist and want to get the fuck out of there already.
 
I tend to go to the ones in Queens or Long Island now when I am visiting home if I need something.

GameStop employees are told explicitly that if they don't make x amount of card sales, they will be fired.
 
It basically makes that job a telemarketing position.
 
Same thing goes on in book stores.

" GameStop employees are told explicitly that if they don't make x amount of card sales, they will be fired. It basically makes that job a telemarketing position. Same thing goes on in book stores. "

Wow... I guess it's a good thing I never went to get the February issue for the Skyrim cover story.

Living in the UK... Wow GameStop sounds shitty. Also - yes Edge is awesome.

" GameStop employees are told explicitly that if they don't make x amount of card sales, they will be fired. It basically makes that job a telemarketing position. Same thing goes on in book stores. "

My EB has one really annoying guy who always tries to push bullshit on me and is constantly shouting his gaming opinions to customers. It's kind of a bummer that obnoxious people like him overshadow the really awesome people that work there D;

The last time I went to GameStop the cashier was super cool and pleasant to talk to. Most of the time they are just fine.

" @gladspooky said:

" GameStop employees are told explicitly that if they don't make x amount of card sales, they will be fired. It basically makes that job a telemarketing position. Same thing goes on in book stores. "

Umm... no we don't? ... I'll admit, when I was a Game Advisor, yeah, there was pressure for numbers."

" @choffy21 said:

" @gladspooky said:

" GameStop employees are told explicitly that if they don't make x amount of card sales, they will be fired. It basically makes that job a telemarketing position. Same thing goes on in book stores. "

Umm... no we don't? ... I'll admit, when I was a Game Advisor, yeah, there was pressure for numbers."

 well, as long as we've got that settled "

I bought an individual Game Informer magazine from them once, they asked me if I wanted a subscription, I said no and that was it. No problems to speak of.  
 
Granted, this was about 2 and a half years ago, though...

" @choffy21: The District Manager is the primary variable.  Some of them are douchebags that try to force numbers, some aren't.  I've heard that the former is true most of the time. "

It's been about ten years since I worked at Electronics Boutique, back when we actually had to wear a button-down shirt, dress pants/shoes, and sometimes a tie.  Even though it looked more corporate and formal, EB's policies were actually pretty lax and there were no forced sales to make.  We sold system warranties that I think were called (ESM's), but the incentive there was we actually got commission on it, but it was completely optional and had no bearing on one's employment or review results.  
 
However, EB became more and more about pushing used games rather than new ones, and the worst 'push product' was a little thing called the "Game Doctor".  Many of you who frequented EB in the early 2000s might remember the cashier counters being littered with them as well as an awful "how-to" video that would play on an endless loop.  The thing basically shaved off layers of a CD with the hope that most scratches were minor surface level only.  The reality was many customers would come in complaining they wasted $25 on it and all it did was make the disc look even worse than before.  However, we were told we could not make returns on it, or we had to try to persuade them to not want to return it before having to go to a manager.  In addition, they expected each employee to try to sell 7-10 of them a week!  The best part was, EB guaranteed that used games would work, yet we were told to ramp up the Game Doctor pitch when they purchased a used game as a back-up plan for the customer.  That's like telling the customer, "Hey, we promise our used games are fine, but if we're wrong, instead of refunding or exchanging the defective item, we'll charge you another $25 so you can try to fix it yourself!"  Needless-to-say, I made little to no effort selling the piece of crap and I quit shortly before Gran Turismo 3 came out.
 
This was a roundabout way of saying it, but this was the kind of crappy policies that became the norm in videogame retail.  Yeah you get your share of elitist snobs, but you also get people that just follow the inane rules because it's easier to just get the manager than to please the customer and potentially get yelled at, docked hours, later on.

no, i never did but i would have suggested it was horrible. gamestop people usually pester people to get them to buy things. it gets annoying from them. the gamestop i go to hasn't been all that bad. i would have went to somewhere else to buy the magazine. i'm pretty sure they sell them in other places. if not then o well.

Yeah I was looking at a copy of the Bioshock Infinity issue and asked the guy at the counter to sell me a copy,  and he just gave me his copy and said "enjoy". Which was nice of him.  

Gamestop employees get no commission at all. Also, why wouldn't you just buy the subscription? It only cost six dollars more for the whole year and the card last time I checked. 
 
@FourWude: Yes, you can buy just one.

" GameStop employees are told explicitly that if they don't make x amount of card sales, they will be fired. It basically makes that job a telemarketing position. Same thing goes on in book stores. "

The whole GameInformer/GameStop/Game Industry relationship seems super shady to me.  Isn't it actually just a heavily subsidised brochure for the store, rather than a legit game magazine?  It does have a ridiculous circulation, but only by using the infrastructure and leverage (and presumably funding?) from their retail operation, which must have a huge influence on the agenda and content of the magazine/brochure.

" As an ex-GameStop employee, I don't think we were able to sell the magazines individually. I recall someone in your situation coming up to me, I couldn't figure out how to sell it.  "

Sounds like the guy you were dealing with was just an idiot. It's always blank and white with Gamestop employees. Either they are great and don't hassle you, or they are total idiots that think they can force and trick you into spending money on shit you don't even want. In my experience anyway.

My Gamestop is pretty cool, kinda silly to judge a whole franchise by one or two bad stores/managers

That's what you get for reading magazines in 2011. Bullshit. 

That's too bad man.  You should still try to give game informer a shot.  It's a good magazine with good writers.  Their site is pretty cool too.

Damn you, capitalism!

yeah of course it all depends on the employees. The other one on Union Square, the bigger newer one next to the Bank of America is pretty good.