Physical games always have their value, but this is not enough to feed a physical game store.
Editor’s note: This article is from WeChat public account Touch Music (ID: chuappgame).
author: PHILLIP MOYER
Author 丨 Wait
“You must not have seen this, you can only find photos online.” Brian Marks smiled proudly while waving the latest gadget in his hand.
Max is the owner of Game Repair, a Las Vegas individual game store. He just got a 56k modem for a Nintendo GameCube. No one at Max or his customers needs it, after all, they all use broadband Internet. There are only 3 GC-connected games in the world, and their official servers shut down in 2007.
But when an employee Nick offered to buy that modem from Max, he refused. In Mark’s view, finding such an extremely rare “treasure” that records the history of the gaming industry always brings great satisfaction.
It is not an easy job to run a physical game store, and Max is still repaying the loan that he used to open another store, even though that store has long since closed.
Brian Max’s Game Repair game store
Past and present life of the physical game store
In 1990, Max partnered with John Balboa to open the Game Repair game store-at the time Balboa was the owner of a video rental store and often sold him second-hand games.
Few game stores canGame Repair has been in business for so many years, but Game Repair’s survival is not easy. At the beginning of the century, Game Repair had two stores in Las Vegas. Max’s business is doing well, even the American History Channel TV show “Pawn Stars” has introduced it. He had planned to continue to open branches, but as the mortgage market was in trouble, he had to abandon the plan and close another store that had been in operation for many years.
At the same time, GameStop is expanding rapidly in the local area. Today, there are as many as 27 in Las Vegas, and there are only 10 non-GameStop brand game stores. Game Repair is one of them.
Max is about to pay off his loan 10 years ago, but the future of the physical gaming industry is not optimistic. Over the past period, GameStop’s dominance has also begun to shake. They had previously announced that they would close about 200 stores by the end of 2019, and more would be closed in the coming years. However, when the news was announced, GameStop still had about 5,700 physical stores worldwide. “GameStop is doing the right thing. They really should be shutting down a bit, and they will do the same.” Max said.
Repair workbench in Game Repair shop
GameStop’s history is quite tortuous. Like many large companies, it has undergone a series of commercial mergers and acquisitions and restructurings. GameStop’s predecessor was a software retail store called Babbage’s. Several founders persuaded Ross Perot, an entrepreneur who had run for the US president, to invest $ 3 million, which grew rapidly in the 1980s. Early this century, Babbage’s started using the GameStop brand after merging with another company, Funco.
David Pomije is the founder of Funco-after two failed business ventures, he came up with the idea of selling second-hand games via email, and bought advertising space on the monthly magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly to list the price of the game. It didn’t take long for Funco to open a Funcoland retail store, publish its own game magazine, and by 1993 it had become the largest used game seller in the United States.
It is worth mentioning in 1In April 993, Funco’s stock was hit because Sega came up with an idea to plan a service that would allow people to download games over the Internet. Investors worry that the plan may represent the future of the gaming industry. It turns out that this worry is only temporary: in the 1990s, the second-hand game industry did not have to be afraid of the threat of game downloads.
Now times have changed. In 2019, Sony announced that digital downloads accounted for more than 50% of total PS game sales. Although used games are still an important source of revenue for GameStop, their sales of used games have continued to decline since 2011, which should have become an irreversible trend.
“Special Services”
Used games are even more important for indie game stores. Gamers Anonymous is a game shop located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and owner Jon Sakura said that selling new games is no longer a stable source of income. “We will also buy new games, but we will not sell them in large quantities, and generally do not sell more than 10 copies.”
According to him, Gamers Anonymous ordered 5 PS4 remakes from a distributor, and even if they were all sold, the total profit would be only $ 7. “As long as we don’t lose money, we will continue to treat it as an additional service, but it will not be a major source of income.”
Gamers Anonymous game store
Sakura used to be a manager at a GameStop store, and is very aware of the company’s sales efficiency-which is part of the reason why GameStop can be successful across the United States. However, in his view, GameStop’s unified sales strategy for efficiency also has limitations, which will cause the store to fail to truly connect with local consumers.
“The biggest benefit of working at Gamers Anonymous is that you can talk directly to customers.” He explained, “GameStop headquarters may tell you, ‘how do we need to do this to promote this game’-they control This is called ‘Jump’ and you will ask: ‘How high do you want to jump?’ But here, we can deal with our customers every day and develop more specific and personalized marketing strategies for them. I think this is Help companyThe most important reason for growth. “
Gamers Anonymous boss Jon Sakura
If you plan to run a game store, you may also consider offering services that are not available in national chain stores.
Max acknowledges that if Game Repair only sells games, the revenue will simply not be enough to support long-term operations. In this store, 75% of the revenue comes from one service: repair of game consoles. “If it’s just a video game retail store, I’m afraid I can only find a place to be a waiter.”
Max says Game Repair always treats its customers fairly. Many people have visited other repair shops to find out the price, but found that his price is more fair. He said that if you go to a nearby store to repair the PS4 bald head, it will cost 120 US dollars (this is the original text, changing the bald head in China will cost about 300 to 400 yuan-Editor’s Note).
“I only charge $ 79! I think the price is reasonable, and $ 79 can repair a $ 300 part.”
In the United States, many individual game stores are not limited to selling games. For example, in downtown North Dakota, if you take the elevator to the basement of a historic trading building, you will find Replay Games, a gaming retail store that has been in business since 2018-you can spend $ 5 or $ 15 Walk around here for a day and play any game you buy from players. Replay Games will not sell only one game in the store (unless the store buys another copy), this rule makes it look like a game museum.
“It’s great to see someone interested in these retro games.” Boss Cassidy Schnase said, “Many kids learned about the old game” Adventure “in the movie” Number One Player. ” ), I find it very interesting, so I came to our store to see what it looks like and how to play. “
Schnars founded Replay Games to meet this demand of players.
The main feature of the Replay Games store is the play experience
“I’ve always wanted to open such a store. Since no one wants to eat crabs first, I’ll come. I want to open a store that doesn’t focus on selling games, avoiding GameStop or other retail stores Direct competition, but more to let people share the joy of playing games. “
However, persuading banks to fund this idea is another matter entirely. Schnass ran five banks back and forth before finally getting a business loan. “The first bank was ridiculing my thoughts at the time, and felt that this would definitely not work, so after 18 months, I was very happy to open this store.”
At present, Schnass’s income is not enough to pay himself, but Replay Games is very popular. This store has held birthday parties, campus parties at the end of the year, and even some corporate events. Schners told me that it also helps bridge the generation gap, allowing parents to show their children the games they played in childhood.
“The scenes of family interaction are really cool, especially when the father is going to show the children how good the N64 game” 007: Golden Eye “is. The gameplay of that game is still interesting, but the picture is not beautiful “Some kids may not be interested in it at first, but after a while they will sit down and play for an hour,” Schners said.
As the owner of Game Repair, Brian Max also said that old games can enhance the relationship between parents and children.
“A lot of children watch their parents play games and want to try it themselves. I’m glad that there are still children who like to play those classic old games, such as” The Legend of Zelda “,” Contra ” Wait. “
Schners hopes that Replay Games will bring a sense of sociality to players. “It’s not my store, it’s our store.” He even wrote down the amount of the commercial loan on a blackboard inside the store, allowing customers to help him raise money. In addition, Replay Games has also organized Games Done Quick and donated to Extra Life, a gaming charity.
Frank goals
Community awareness
“Replay Games is a store supported by the player community, so if this doesn’t benefit players, we won’t do it. We are still working hard to expand our influence and want more players to understand Replay Games and understand our business philosophy. I tried to pass this message: ‘Unlike GameStop, this is a social-based store. ’”
This sense of community seems to be the core spirit of many individual game stores. Similar to Replay, Sakura also hopes that Gamers Anonymous will bring people who love games together. “For us, increasing sales is not the most important thing. If you treat customers well and provide valuable products, then someone will naturally buy. You need to let customers know that there are good products in the store and they can enter the store to experience . “
Gamers Anonymous even hosts a “community day” event, allowing customers to sell anything they hand-made in the store. “We give customers the opportunity to come to our store and use the place to sell for free. If you are an artist, you can sell your own art works; if you are a baker, you can also sell bread here.”
In addition, Gamer Anonymous also participates in the “Cat in the City” program of the local animal protection organization, and always keeps a cat for adoption.
Maggie and Lucas Point are a couple who co-operate in Los Angeles-based game store Game Realms. The couple also believes that a sense of community is an important element for individual game stores to attract customers. In March 2016, Game Realms started trial operation, but almost no business. However, on the official opening day in May, the couple held an opening event and invited the actress Jennifer Hall, who voiced Commander Shepard in Mass Effect, as a special guest.
“She helped us attract a lot of customers.” Maggie recalled, “The sales in the store were also good that day.”
Cassidy Schnase, owner of Replay Games (pictured right)
Maggie was born in Hong Kong, China, lived in Sydney for a while, and moved to Los Angeles after marrying Lucas. Maggie has loved gaming since she was a child and has often dealt with independent game retailers. She, Lucas, and another business partner, Will Delaney (Wi(ll Delaney) worked at another game store in Los Angeles and later co-founded Game Realms.
“We have accumulated some experience and hope to open our own store and share our love for retro and modern games.”
It is interesting that in Los Angeles, the owners of individual game stores have developed a strong sense of community, get along well with each other, and even often introduce customers to other stores to buy games. “I would rather let players buy games at another store rather than leave them empty-handed.” Lucas said, “Of course, other stores are also willing to recommend our store to customers.”
Like many other game retail stores, Game Realms derives most of its profits from vintage games. Lucas told me that if a store only sells new games, it’s impossible to survive. He believes that selling vintage games has always been an advantage for individual game stores compared to large chain stores.
“One year after the PS4 was released, GameStop had no incentive to keep PS3 games, but it also meant that their business was heavily dependent on the console market. Once the console market fell into a downturn, they would encounter difficulties … and be independent Most of the products in the game store cannot be sold out, so after a few years, they can still meet the needs of some players. “
Black cat in Gamers Anonymous shop
To attract customers, Game Realms often organizes various events, such as autograph sessions, game competitions, and “retro game exchange” parties. According to word of mouth of players, the customer base of this merchant continues to grow.
Draenei also said that making money is not the primary goal of Game Realms-“We want to improve people’s experience more than increasing sales.” Maggie added: “In this way, customers may Will visit all stores. If customers are looking for some classic games or rare games, then we will recommend them to look at other stores. “
Game Realms even provides a dedicated game room for customers to try before deciding whether to buy a game. For many young players, the games room is particularly attractive. “A lot of children come to our store after school. In the summer, some parents will also send their children here, it seems that we use our store as a nursery.” Delaney said with a smile, “This is fun, but children can Play games safely with friends here. “<