1/ GameStop is one of the most fun businesses to study for both its success and failure.
Relative to other specialty retailers, it dominated up until the financial crisis, but has since done very poorly.
But unlike Tower Records or Blockbuster, it is still in business
1. Accessibility
2. Deeply trained expert staff
3. Tailored loyalty program
4. Custom inventory management for used game sales
There are 5,500 GameStop stores, often more than one in the same mall (mostly because of EB acquisition). Can always find one.
They install ramps--not for wheelchairs, but for strollers because parents are the real buyer
As @joosterizer told me recently, try to go into a GameStop and stump a staff member. They can help you navigate much better than a generic retail employee. Creates loyalty and trust that wouldn't be possible if they didn't just focus so specifically on games.
Standard reasons for a loyalty program, but it helped them manage inventory with pre-sales and reserves, and they used Game Informer (only remaining gaming magazine really) to keep people interested.
This is the most interesting. Blockbuster games would be resold 6x, and GameStop made all the money on resales.
Required complicated accounting and inventory systems to manage re-sales. Others couldn't compete.
So interesting to me that edge can be developed and then so quickly eroded.
Its always Day One
Charts were made via an internal tool @OSAMResearch developed by @Jesse_Livermore
More from Game
Now that I have a little more time, I'd like to go into detail as to why this is such horseshit.
-39 Seconds- The implication that the PC release was of the quality standard they intended and that's extremely hard to believe. 1/many
-49 Seconds- Leadership Team is deeply sorry (not at fault), don't blame any specific teams (hold onto this one)
-1m42s- Describes a process of making the game look great on PC and then backsliding to "Old Gen" despite the game being announced before PS4/Xbox hardware was known.
-2m11s- Describes the old gen disk bandwith as "it is what it is" Considering the game got announced before those consoles even shipped, its absurd that the entire game was built so far beyond their possible constraints. Also, those consoles put out stuff like Tsushima late gen.
-2m19s- "-our testing did not show a big part of the issues
you experienced while playing the game" This is probably the worst part. Despite telling you not to blame any specific team, the test / QA team, somehow didn't discover the issues with the game.
You don't need to have worked in Dev or QA to know that the game was flying apart at every level (even on PC). The idea that the bug nightmare that ended up shipping seen for example here https://t.co/bgDkfQMVku went under the radar of a PROFESSIONAL QA TEAM is ridiculous.
-39 Seconds- The implication that the PC release was of the quality standard they intended and that's extremely hard to believe. 1/many
Dear gamers,
— Cyberpunk 2077 (@CyberpunkGame) January 13, 2021
Below, you\u2019ll find CD PROJEKT\u2019s co-founder\u2019s personal explanation of what the days leading up to the launch of Cyberpunk 2077 looked like, sharing the studio\u2019s perspective on what happened with the game on old-generation consoles. pic.twitter.com/XjdCKizewq
-49 Seconds- Leadership Team is deeply sorry (not at fault), don't blame any specific teams (hold onto this one)
-1m42s- Describes a process of making the game look great on PC and then backsliding to "Old Gen" despite the game being announced before PS4/Xbox hardware was known.
-2m11s- Describes the old gen disk bandwith as "it is what it is" Considering the game got announced before those consoles even shipped, its absurd that the entire game was built so far beyond their possible constraints. Also, those consoles put out stuff like Tsushima late gen.
-2m19s- "-our testing did not show a big part of the issues
you experienced while playing the game" This is probably the worst part. Despite telling you not to blame any specific team, the test / QA team, somehow didn't discover the issues with the game.
You don't need to have worked in Dev or QA to know that the game was flying apart at every level (even on PC). The idea that the bug nightmare that ended up shipping seen for example here https://t.co/bgDkfQMVku went under the radar of a PROFESSIONAL QA TEAM is ridiculous.
My most Luddite opinion is that you must pick one
a) the ability to connect with arbitrary numbers of people simultaneously around the world
b) rich, multi-modal, interaction that mutually exposes vulnerability among participants
if you want a) and b) simultaneously you get the basis for a science fiction horror scenario and that's a Bad Thing unless you're a Gendo Ikari type
"individuals might experience episodic segments of the lives of other willing participants (locally or remote) to, hopefully, encourage and inspire improved understanding and tolerance among all members of the human family" uh nope sorry
this goes to my periodic complaint about global villages vs. global cities. cities are anonymous places full of wary people that, after certain conditions are met, can become lifelong friends....
villages are places ruled by grandmas who, whatever the ethnicity or nationality, have intelligence networks that rival the KGB
a) the ability to connect with arbitrary numbers of people simultaneously around the world
b) rich, multi-modal, interaction that mutually exposes vulnerability among participants
if you want a) and b) simultaneously you get the basis for a science fiction horror scenario and that's a Bad Thing unless you're a Gendo Ikari type
"individuals might experience episodic segments of the lives of other willing participants (locally or remote) to, hopefully, encourage and inspire improved understanding and tolerance among all members of the human family" uh nope sorry
this goes to my periodic complaint about global villages vs. global cities. cities are anonymous places full of wary people that, after certain conditions are met, can become lifelong friends....
I mean, A enabled me to have B with a bunch of people I couldn't have met in the beforetimes, but this was a time on the internet when moving up the ladder of intimacy included "telling each other your legal names"
— K. Chen (@tznkai) January 6, 2021
villages are places ruled by grandmas who, whatever the ethnicity or nationality, have intelligence networks that rival the KGB
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Module 1
Python makes it very easy to analyze and visualize time series data when you’re a beginner. It's easier when you don't have to install python on your PC (that's why it's a nano course, you'll learn python...
... on the go). You will not be required to install python in your PC but you will be using an amazing python editor, Google Colab Visit https://t.co/EZt0agsdlV
This course is for anyone out there who is confused, frustrated, and just wants this python/finance thing to work!
In Module 1 of this Nano course, we will learn about :
# Using Google Colab
# Importing libraries
# Making a Random Time Series of Black Field Research Stock (fictional)
# Using Google Colab
Intro link is here on YT: https://t.co/MqMSDBaQri
Create a new Notebook at https://t.co/EZt0agsdlV and name it AnythingOfYourChoice.ipynb
You got your notebook ready and now the game is on!
You can add code in these cells and add as many cells as you want
# Importing Libraries
Imports are pretty standard, with a few exceptions.
For the most part, you can import your libraries by running the import.
Type this in the first cell you see. You need not worry about what each of these does, we will understand it later.
==========================
Module 1
Python makes it very easy to analyze and visualize time series data when you’re a beginner. It's easier when you don't have to install python on your PC (that's why it's a nano course, you'll learn python...
... on the go). You will not be required to install python in your PC but you will be using an amazing python editor, Google Colab Visit https://t.co/EZt0agsdlV
This course is for anyone out there who is confused, frustrated, and just wants this python/finance thing to work!
In Module 1 of this Nano course, we will learn about :
# Using Google Colab
# Importing libraries
# Making a Random Time Series of Black Field Research Stock (fictional)
# Using Google Colab
Intro link is here on YT: https://t.co/MqMSDBaQri
Create a new Notebook at https://t.co/EZt0agsdlV and name it AnythingOfYourChoice.ipynb
You got your notebook ready and now the game is on!
You can add code in these cells and add as many cells as you want
# Importing Libraries
Imports are pretty standard, with a few exceptions.
For the most part, you can import your libraries by running the import.
Type this in the first cell you see. You need not worry about what each of these does, we will understand it later.
