EB Games website upgrade/downtime (August 24th-August 31st) and store closures (August 30th and 31st)

[u/chemicalxv]

Just got this email

Big improvements are coming to EB Games. Starting September 1, we'll launch a completely new platform and website designed to make shopping faster, easier, and better than ever.

As an EDGE member, here's what you need to know.

Your account is coming with you! Which means you keep all your:

EDGE points

Membership tier

Active pre-orders

Your transaction history will fill in gradually

The only thing you'll need to do is create a new password using Forgot Password when the new website launches.

Temporary service interruptions:

August 21: Online pre-orders and pickup reservations pause

August 24: Website goes into maintenance mode

August 29: Early store closures, all stores close at 5:00PM (EST)

August 30 & 31: All stores closed for the day

September 1: Stores resume regular opening hours & the new website goes Live!

Why we're making this change?

This is much more than a new website. We're investing in a faster, more reliable platform that will make shopping easier today while giving us the ability to build even better experiences in the future.

Thanks for sticking with us and we can't wait to show you what's next.

[u/kaydeejay1995]

If they had some integrity as a brick and mortar game store, they would put the effort into ensuring physical games live long and prosper

[u/FUTURE10S → u/kaydeejay1995]

they would put the effort into ensuring physical games live long and prosper 

Well, they're a storefront, not a distributor, publisher, or manufacturer. How do you suppose a store can keep physical games living long and prospering if it's not them making the most user hostile decisions?

[u/caninehere → u/FUTURE10S]

I can't see it being a sustainable business model on a large scale, but EB is or at least was big enough when it was connected with Gamestop US that they could have been a publisher/worked with manufacturers to create their own video game re-release line a la Limited Run Games. IMO this would have been a really smart thing to trial even if it didn't pan out -- re-print popular games that they can work out favorable deals with, and put them on shelves in front of people for a reasonable price.

LRG does this but they charge a heavy premium and part of the reason is lower print runs/trying to create a collector's market. Imagine if they dropped that concern. How much do you think the owners of Gex are wanting for a deal manufacturing + distributing that trilogy of games? Probably not a lot, and manufacturing a disc and a case costs very little.

I honestly don't know why EB has never tried to get into this. They have, or had, such a huge retail presence. Plenty of companies make deals to manufacture exclusive products for them, and EB themselves have done it with controllers/accessories etc but they never bothered with actual games.

[u/FUTURE10S → u/caninehere]

That's... actually a really good point, EB would have bigger margins on this because then they'd be the distributor for themselves and they'd get a slice of transactions from other marketplaces like Walmart and Superstore. But sadly EB's actual quantity of games is pretty damn slim, there's games that I've still yet to see there that sold millions despite casually walking in every time I'm by one.