Yesterday was a sad day

I had some time to kill last night so I decided to drop into my local EB Games store to see what PC Games I can get my hands on. Low and behold I wandered around the store and not able to find the PC Games. I asked one of the workers where the PC Games were and he pointed me to the shelf with the used Gamecube games were. I browsed the selection and was appalled. Under 30 games, most of which were just used copies. I asked them why such a low selection (A month ago they had well over 100 PC Games) and the store associate told me that EB Games Canada is slowly working out PC Games due to their lack of sales and the inability to resell used copies. So I walked out of the store feeling as if my stomach was turning from the thought.

However, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. I went home to get a call from my friend who just built a new Gaming PC and was asking me what games to get. I told him about the sad news about EB Games and then started browsing Steam, Impulse, EA Store, D2D and GOG and realized. While mortar and brick stores are slowly pushing PC Gaming out, it is quickly getting replaced by Digital Distribution. Needless to say, I am now moving completely digital after yesterdays sorrows. Too bad, EB Games just lost a customer.

So what about you guys? Your local stores axing the computer game selection? Do you plan or already moved to Digital Distribution?

Its been like that a while. If you want a game on retail, shop at Amazon.com or Bestbuy.

Its been like that a while. If you want a game on retail, shop at Amazon.com or Bestbuy.

pvtdonut54

Maybe if they did not blatantly overprice their games they wouldn't have this problem.

Why would anyone in their right mind shop at EB Games??!! Bestbuy has much better prices on new releases not to mention always had a bigger selection too.

You mention EA store. DO NOT USE IT! They give you the rights to play the game for a year, then you have to pay extra to get an entire 5 years.

Xbox 360 is adding downloadable full games (not Arcade) as well. Seems like the way to go.

amazon.com or Steam weekend deals, thats the way to go.

There are about 5 EB stores that I shop around and I think that one of them has major PC games. The others may have 1 to none.Whenever I go to get PC games now I either go to FRYs or Best Buy. They have a huge selection.

This doesn't concern me because my download speeds are pretty good and I have always found game packaging to be superfluous.

I pretty much never buy games off line anymore. Most of the games I buy are discounts or special offers from steam. There's usually something interesting I've yet to try. While it looks like PC game retail is quickly becomming a thing of the past, to be honest I don't really miss it.

They can sell a crappy console game for 60 bucks, buy it back for $15, then resell it again for $40.

The Gamestop near me has a relatively small section of PC titles, but they still get most of the new releases. They also cut prices down pretty quick on stuff that I don't want to buy new. Far Cry 2 is $20. Still $50 at Best Buy.

They can sell a crappy console game for 60 bucks, buy it back for $15, then resell it again for $40.

The Gamestop near me has a relatively small section of PC titles, but they still get most of the new releases. They also cut prices down pretty quick on stuff that I don't want to buy new. Far Cry 2 is $20. Still $50 at Best Buy.

TimO_basic

Why would anyone in their right mind shop at EB Games??!! Bestbuy has much better prices on new releases not to mention always had a bigger selection too.

concord9

Fellow Canadian here, and I've had similar issues with GameStop and EB. However, I found a secret weapon: Staples. Yes, the buisiness/stationary store. A friend and I wandered in there one day and found some amazing deals. I got STALKER for $20, and if I hadn't already bought Supreme Commander I would have got it for $7.

Best Buy still has a decent selection of PC games. But I do agree, my local gamestop has a tiny ass little shelf dedicated to PC games.

You mention EA store. DO NOT USE IT! They give you the rights to play the game for a year, then you have to pay extra to get an entire 5 years.

Drazule

That's re-download for a year not play. You can play it for as long as you want, just make sure you backup the downloaded game so you don't have to pay later incase you switch to a different pc, reformat or uninstall the game

Amazon.com is my new storefront now. Great prices, free shipping for orders over $25, and no sales taxes.

I don't even buy anything from a brick and mortar store anymore.

I buy from Game.. they are cheaper than steam for me, and they still have a large pc selection in store.. most stores have more PC games than other platforms. Plus they have a nice 3 for £10, 2 for £15 and 2 for £25 range to get lots of cheap older games. Picked up a copy of Dungeon keepers to a while back for 5 quid :)

Yeah, that's too bad. It's kind of nice being able to browse through games at a brick&mortar store. Sometimes I'll impulse buy at Best Buy for example, but similar to what other people have mentioned, by far I buy most of my games via online retail --- Amazon, GoGamer, and Newegg are great placesfor PC games. In addition, there's always digital distribution as an option as well. Still good times...

Our main game store which is Gamestop doesn't have absolutely any PC games, as far as I know. But they do have online cards for certain PC games. eg. WoW.

In Canada The Future Shop still has a pretty decent selection of PC games - really good prices too.

Luckily that's not a problem where I live :)

All of the gamestores here sell PC games, and some of them even take and sell USED PC GAMES. Even the local Gamestop has a small bunch of PC games, usually with low prices and great deals.

Today I called Gamestop asking if they had any copies of L4D for the PC and the man quickly answered no. Usually I wouldnt go to Gamestop but had 50 extra and I wanted L4D (Yeah I Know im Late). So I went there and long behold 3 copies of L4D on the shelf ,but my Gamestop also has like only 40 pc games all new.