GameStop Retro Will Never Be FuncoLand (This Is A Bad Idea)

GameStop retro there's a lot of pros and cons to it uh I want to say mostly cons I just don't know what they're thinking we have these 20-year-olds Now who grew up when Xbox 360 and Wii were a thing they're they're nostalgic for that stuff now we got we for real and that's probably what a majority of these GameStops will be filled with some stores back in the day would throw away boxes and stuff and like like if that sort of thing happens then we got a real problem with will they preserve the games will they give fair market value will they check and clean and make sure those games work there's a trust that's been broken for me with GameStop as a company I don't trust them to treat retro the way that it should be I've been with the company for four years now and I haven't you know seen or heard of anything like [Music] this visit patreon my retro life to get full unedited episodes hey it's your buddy Tyler coming at you with a brand new video here on my retro life and I've got with me my friends Brian and Seth I myself worked at GameStop back in the day as many of you know I put out a video talking about my time there recently GameStop announced that they're going to be rebranding at least internally some of their stores in various cities across the country as Gamestop retro now immediately I was kind of like okay that sounds pretty cool but then I thought about it a little longer and I was like that might not be a good thing for the Retro Gaming scene so I figured we'd talk about it and uh Brian I'll start with you there's a lot of pros and cons to it um I want to say mostly cons but you know your average game Gamestop worker is going to be a 20-year-old and a lot of these consoles are much older than 20-year-olds and so my first thought was there's going to be a lot of this and it's happened in the past where um a Repro gets sold to GameStop on you know the 20-year-old unknowingly will buy it and that's unfortunate because it's already an epidemic out there on eBay and all these other places I mean I can't can't tell you how many times I'm at a gaming convention and I see these Repros lying around um and it's like you have to you literally have to even on common games sometimes now have the the thing that opens up the cartridge you know the screwdriver and it it's like I shouldn't have to carry around one of those come on so we definitely need to quell the problem with piracy and to your point I don't know if GameStop's going to be up on that you know I don't think they're GNA that's not going to be at the Forefront of their their corporate company it's all about the ever Almighty dollar Seth your thoughts well I've seen the nuances of what it takes to operate a legitimate Retro Game Store I don't know if GameStop's trying to grab what's left over in people's closets and see if they can turn a buck on it again but I'm concerned about the GameStop history not the original Funko and Funko land history but the GameStop history of what they've done to uh games by tossing out Boxes by throwing away instruction manuals it's kind of like I was thinking about this before it's kind of like somebody who owns a piece of rare art or a Ferrari or something like that vintage cars when you take on that responsibility as a collector you're you're you kind of hopefully have that you you feel like it's your job to make sure that these are preserved they're taking responsibility for it kind of like it's just like if you adopt a pet you're you have to take responsibility for that pet and I kind of think of it like that as you're you're adopting these games from the wild I actually will say that I rescued it you know you know you're a game resc yeah I'm a rescuer I'm a retro rescue Ranger so to speak this is my original copy of the game and forer which they just apparently I I didn't know they were still making this but apparently they just quit making they just announced recently that it's over they fired the staff at the same time they start talking about this retro GameStop brand it's almost like why did you have to get rid of Game Informer to I just don't know what they're thinking I don't know what's going on my only thought maybe is that the retail stores that were failing the ones that really weren't doing well trying to Breathe new life into it people into new gaming exactly retail across the board is failing it's dying I could see two sides to it physical is dying for PS5 um PS5 and Xbox for sure yeah this is the end of line there's no more coming so their storefront unless they're just going to become Funko Pop salesmen which you know they fill their store with pretty heavily they need to have some video game inventory I mean they could Rebrand it funol land I why not oh wait wait hold on he all [Music] [Applause] right so do you have fun yeah okay I think we might be seeing a second generation coming of r like you know we have these 20-year-olds Now who grew up when Xbox 360 and Wii were a thing they're they're nostalgic for that stuff now we got a we for real I'm not joking look at this oh my gosh you did get a Wii so I think there's a lot of that stuff out there and that's probably what a majority of these GameStops will be filled with is Wii Xbox 360 PS3 DS it's not going to be what you see behind us it's not going to be NES it's it's not going to be super you know some of that stuff will make it in there I think they also see that there is while there's a decrease in retail modern stuff there's kind of been an increase in retro interest and all these Retro Game M and pop shops that we all know and love we have friends that own these places um Retro Gaming conventions and I think they're trying to jump jump on the Retro train but maybe a little too late I I think they're didn't they have retro for a while yeah they did but it all depends on what they consider retro if it's what 10 years ago is their idea of retro yeah but to Brian's point the kids these days are are looking towards their youth 20 something the 20s somethings these days have their retro which is like 360 yeah I mean they're so young they would come to talk to us and be like you were born in the 1900s like you know like they to them that's that's ages ago what we have behind us belongs in a museum and maybe maybe we do too I'll [Music] taker bring her up GameStop they got to recognize there is a market for it like you go on Facebook Market you go on eBay and the stuff's pricey you know and it's probably NCAA Football 14 is probably the thing that did it when they saw that that one game that they probably threw out copies of it was like $140 a copy at one point what are they going to do and how they going to treat these these games like say somebody comes in with Sega CD games are they going to go with like the old F some stores back in the day would throw away boxes and stuff and like like if that sort of thing happens then we got a real problem because there are collectors out there like ourselves and it's like are they going to put enough care in and understanding whoever is basically running this program and and dishing it out they need to understand how to do it because it could easily go south I I wonder are they putting into consideration CIB versus loose you know in a lot of cases the Box might be even worth more than the game yeah like I think they especially if they want to make money they should know that going into this they better not be throwing away boxes I mean for one for preservation sake two there's a large amount of money that can be made if they're inventorying that stuff the the proper way it might make it where if I feel like I want a game at market price and I don't feel like throwing the dice for eBay you know waiting for that to come in and paying eBay fees and shipping that maybe hey I just need a market copy of this I'll just go to GameStop and grab it or you know that would be very convenient versus hey let me find and meet this Shady guy on Facebook Market might who might mug me you know yeah well same thing like there's the companies out there online the the DK oldies and places like that where you we've seen people on YouTube tell stories about the junk they've got I saw my sisters in-laws bought stuff for their kids on DK oldies and the the NES games were all broken and the games wouldn't even fit I had to help like get them back together so if a company that can be doing that for as long and we know that that still happens that's that and their job is specifically those retro games this company is a little different now will they preserve the games will they give fair market value will they check and clean and make sure those games work will they pass along working stuff will they all the stuff that the Retro game stores do because as my friend Greg would say I sell this stuff it's my name on the line if it doesn't work I have to replace it yeah so and that's where you get a little tricky because I feel like a corporate company like GameStop are not going to have that sort of attention to detail and also heart behind making sure this unless they've put somebody in charge where they're like will they will they do that I hope of course and I am you know I try to be this person who always thinks positively about how things are going to go but I just don't I think there's a trust that's been broken for me with GameStop as a company more than once more yeah I mean like I I just think that I don't trust them to treat retro the way that it should be I feel like Indiana Jones in this sort of scenario the museum exactly I'm like you know what y'all aren't going to really care about this like they should be cared about and it even makes me a little sad seeing fun cand these These Old slips right here cuz we're talking about this and at the same time these are two old relics of GameStop's past of course GameStop buying out funol land back in the day and um you know it's you were around then weren't you that was did you work for funand or had it already happened I worked at e games okay and then e games bages all those old all those old uh software Etc all those old places that had games that you could go to if GameStop wants to move in the right direction with this rebranding of certain stores and really you got to win the Retro Gamers you got to win the people that are going to be your client your your your uh your customer I mean so I would say take a note from successful game retro game shops Retro Game conventions employ people that are going to care about this stuff and bring in those people by really making it seem like you care about like put arcade cabinets in your in your stores old old school arcade cabinets you know do do stuff that shows that you're trying don't just retrofit pun intended an old GameStop that's been like failing or something and and just put retro around and and no re no nothing on the inside's changed it's just the walls are filled with retro games like that's the cabin full of retro games yeah that's that you know so you know I I hope I think that it could be great like I really do there's a there's a vision I I can see for it being really awesome but I just don't know that you guys if you're watching games top CEO people prove us wrong prove us wrong prove me wrong well thank you guys for being here Seth where can they find you man well uh if you're interested in video game stuff and other odd stuff on YouTube you can check out my channel Dr game Bender that's Dr period game Bender you'll see videos of things like this uh where I go through them very very cool and of course Brian you seen him on my retro life he's in the old videos that Dad filmed back in the day and of course I'm Tyler with my retro life and if this is your first time to the channel do consider subscribing thank you guys so much for being here GameStop I hope they do the right thing we'll catch you next time n [Music]