gamestop – Techdirt (original) (raw)

Stories about: "gamestop"

After 33 Years, GameStop Shuts Down And Disappears ‘Game Informer’

from the poof-it's-gone dept

Well this is a real punch in the gut. For years, we have been talking about a strange lack of interest within the video game industry when it comes to game preservation. In far, far too many cases, both single player and multiplayer video games that rely on backend checks to start the game, or online servers on which to play them, or games being available in digital storefronts essentially disappear at the whim of game publishers’ desire to keep them available. Never mind that this can mean that games people purchased become unavailable to them. Never mind that these publishers could make their games’ source code available so that fans could keep them running. It all just goes away without recourse for the public, due to the fact that these games remain protected by copyright, despite their being unavailable to the public, thereby breaking the supposed copyright contract. It’s a massive problem if you care about the preservation of culture.

But surely when it comes to something like journalism surrounding the games industry the thinking would be different… right? Nobody is going to let decades of journalistic output just suddenly get disappeared out of nowhere… right?

When it comes to Game Informer, the GameStop owned video game magazine that has been in production for over three decades, that’s exactly what just happened.

Staff at the magazine, which also publishes a website, weekly podcast, and online video documentaries about game studios and developers, were all called into a meeting on Friday with parent company GameStop’s VP of HR. In it they were told the publication was closing immediately, they were all laid off, and would begin receiving severance terms. At least one staffer was in the middle of a work trip when the team was told.

The sudden closure of Game Informer means that issue number 367, the outlet’s Dragon Age: The Veilguard cover story, will be its last. The entire website has been taken offline as well.

This isn’t link rot. It’s link decapitation. Every single URL from the Game Informer website now points only to the main site URL, with the following message posted on it.

After 33 thrilling years of bringing you the latest news, reviews, and insights from the ever-evolving world of gaming, it is with a heavy heart that we announce the closure of Game Informer.

From the early days of pixelated adventures to today’s immersive virtual realms, we’ve been honored to share this incredible journey with you, our loyal readers. While our presses may stop, the passion for gaming that we’ve cultivated together will continue to live on.

Thank you for being part of our epic quest, and may your own gaming adventures never end.

Barring anyone with physical copies of the magazine, or those that created their own online scans of those magazines, or whatever you can still get out of the Internet Archive, it’s all just gone. Thousands of articles and features, millions of words of journalistic output, simply erased. Even the ExTwitter account for the publication has been disappeared, even after it was used to post the same message as on the website. What you will see if you go that link for the disappeared tweet is an outpouring of sadness from all sorts of folks, including famed voice actors, content creators like Mega Ran, and even game studios, all eulogizing the beloved magazine.

And it seems that this shut down, almost certainly at the hands of CEO Ryan Cohen, occurred without any opportunity for those who produced all of this content to take backups for archive purposes.

This comes as GameStop is experiencing two things. First, the decline of physical game sales that has cut deeply into GameStop’s business. Second, the massive infusion of cash the company has on hand as a result of the memestock fin-bro infatuation with the company’s stock. In other words, the company has a massive problem on its hands… but that problem is not immediate. There were ways to do this that didn’t result in the effacement of decades of cultural content that is, of course, all still protected under copyright law, limiting the public’s ability to mitigate any of this.

And, because cultural disasters like this tend to be sprinkled with at least a dash of irony:

A recent in-depth feature on the retro game studio Digital Eclipse about gaming’s history and preservation is one of the stories that is no longer accessible. A write-up about Game Informer’s famous game vault, containing releases from across its decades long history, is also inaccessible.

So a gaming journalism outfit failed to preserve its own features on game preservation. That would actually be funny if it weren’t so infuriating.

Filed Under: archives, game informer, journalism, preservation
Companies: gamestop

The Communication Vacuum Is Causing More Chaos As GameStop Tweets And Deletes Promo

from the literally-just-say-something! dept

The chaos for Xbox keeps on rolling, it seems. We were just talking about how years of muddled communication coming from Microsoft’s Xbox team over exclusives and game ports to other consoles is resulting in a ton of confusion and speculation among the gaming public. The responsibility for all of this lies squarely at the feet of Xbox chief Phil Spencer and his team, which have oscillated between talking out of both sides of their mouths on these exclusives, and just sitting back and not saying a single thing when the confusion shows its head. And what that also allows for is speculation and conspiracy theories when, seemingly, a 3rd party vendor simply makes an oopsie.

GameStop tweeted out a promotion the other day for a in-store demo day where the public could walk into a store and try out some games using “Game Pass,” Xbox’s game-streaming and subscription service. It’s currently called “Xbox Game Pass,” but GameStop’s tweet referred to it as “Microsoft Game Pass.” The result was immediate.

On February 7, the official GameStop Twitter/X/whatever account posted a promo image for an Xbox demo day. Seems fine enough. But when referring to Game Pass, the company used the term “Microsoft Game Pass.” This is odd. Normally, I don’t think anyone would really care. However, we ain’t in normal times right now.

A retweet from Wario64 pointing out the phrase “Microsoft Game Pass” went viral online and theories were quickly spun up, with many pointing to this as more evidence that Microsoft was planning to kill the Xbox brand or use it for hardware only. Others suggested that it was Microsoft rebranding the subscription service— which grants you access to hundreds of games for a monthly fee—so it could be used on Switch or PlayStation.

This was almost certainly a simple mistake. Microsoft has told reporters writing stories about this whole thing that it had nothing to do with the verbiage GameStop tweeted out. But this wild speculation is again the result of one thing: the vacuum the Xbox team has left in place to be filled by conspiracy theories and rumor.

And it only got worse when GameStop subsequently deleted the tweet entirely.

This, as you might expect, convinced some that it was a mistake. It also convinced some “passionate” gamers that it was actually evidence that GameStop let the cat out of the bag too early and the death of Xbox as a brand really is coming soon. The end is nigh and all that.

Anyway, the reality is that GameStop likey made a mistake. Or, someone realized that using the term “Microsoft Game Pass” right now would set off a firestorm of speculation that would lead to more coverage and online discussion of an event that, let’s be real here, would never have been covered by most places or talked about online by gamers if this whole thing hadn’t spiraled out of control.

Correct. The point isn’t that GameStop’s mistake is in and of itself a big deal. It isn’t. The point instead is that the Xbox team has completely failed to get out in front of all of this speculation, allowing everyone’s pet theories to take the place of what should have been clear and proactive communication coming out from Microsoft as to just what in the hell it has planned for the Xbox brand.

Seriously, Spencer and team: just freaking say something, for the love of god.

Filed Under: communications, game pass, phil spencer, video ames, xbox
Companies: gamestop, microsoft

Content Moderation Case Study: Huge Surge In Users On One Server Prompts Intercession From Discord (2021)

from the moderating-game-stonks dept

Summary: A wild few days for the stock market resulted in some interesting moderation moves by a handful of communications/social media platforms.

A group of unassociated retail investors (i.e. day traders playing the stock market with the assistance of services like Robin Hood) gathering at the Wall Street Bets subreddit started a mini-revolution by refusing to believe Gamestop stock was worth as little as some hedge funds believed it was.

The initial surge in Gamestop’s stock price was soon followed by a runaway escalation, some of it a direct response to a hedge fund’s large (and exposed) short position. Melvin Capital — the hedge fund targeted by Wall Street Bets denizens — had announced its belief Gamestop stock wasn’t worth the price it was at and had put its money where its mouth was by taking a large short position that would only pay off if the stock price continued to drop.

As the stock soared from less than 5/sharetoover5/share to over 5/sharetoover150/share, people began flooding to r/wallstreetbets. This forced the first moderation move. Moderators briefly took the subreddit private in an attempt to stem the flow of newcomers and get a handle on the issues these sort of influxes bring with them.

Wall Street Bets moved some of the conversation over to Discord, which prompted another set of moderation moves. Discord banned the server, claiming users routinely violated guidelines on hate speech, incitement of violence, and spreading misinformation. This was initially viewed as another attempt to rein in vengeful retail investors who were inflicting pain on hedge funds: the Big Guys making sure the Little Guys weren’t allowed on the playing field. (Melvin Capital received a $2.75 billion cash infusion after its Gamestop short was blown up by Gamestop’s unprecedented rise in price.)

But it wasn’t as conspiratorial as it first appeared. The users who frequented a subreddit that described itself as “4chan with a Bloomberg terminal” were very abrasive and the addition of mics to the mix at the Discord server made things worse by doubling the amount of noise — noise that often included hate speech and plenty of insensitive language.

The ban was dropped and the server was re-enabled by Discord, which announced it was stepping in to more directly moderate content and users. With over 300,000 users, the server had apparently grown too large, too quickly, making it all but impossible for Wall Street Bets moderators to handle on their own. This partially reversed the earlier narrative, turning Discord into the Big Guy helping out the Little Guy, rather than allowing them to be silenced permanently due to the actions of their worst users.

Decisions to be made by Discord:

Questions and policy implications to consider:

Resolution: The Wall Street Bets Discord server is still up and running. Its core clientele likely hasn’t changed much, which means moderation is still a full-time job. An influx of new users following press coverage of this particular group of retail traders may dilute the user base, but it’s unlikely to turn WSB into a genteel community of stock market amateurs. Discord’s assistance will likely be needed for the foreseeable future

Originally published on the Trust & Safety Foundation website.

Filed Under: content moderation, game stonks, short selling, stock trading, wall street
Companies: discord, gamestop, reddit

Robinhood App Decides To Stop Helping The Poor Steal From The Rich

from the everything-is-a-content-moderation-story dept

I had been meaning to do another story on the whole GameStop/Reddit/WallStreetBets story, because there’s a lot of really fascinating points on this, but my original story got pretty much wiped away this morning when Robinhood, the popular stock trading app that promotes itself as a way of democratizing stock trading and providing free trades — and which was the main app used by Redditors to drive up the prices of various stocks that a bunch of hedge funds were trying to short — announced that it was blocking the trades in all of the volatile stocks that Redditors were driving up. It did so in the most ridiculous of statements, claiming that they were pausing buying of those stocks to “[help] our customers navigate this uncertainty.”

Amid significant market volatility, it?s important as ever that we help customers stay informed. That?s why we?re committed to providing people with educational resources. We recently revamped and expanded Robinhood Learn to help people take advantage of the hundreds of financial resources we offer and educate themselves, including how to make sense of a volatile market. In 2020, more than 3.2 million people read our articles through Robinhood Learn.

We?re committed to helping our customers navigate this uncertainty. We fundamentally believe that everyone should have access to financial markets. We?re humbled to have helped many people invest in the markets for the first time. And we?re determined to provide new and experienced investors with the tools and resources to help them invest responsibly for their long-term financial futures.

Bull and Shit. The people buying into this stuff didn’t need help “navigating this uncertainty.” This was a protest. This actually was what happens when you “democratize finance” and stop letting the big giant firms abuse the system for profit. And it turns out that that’s not what Robinhood really wanted after all.

As incredible as it seems, it turns out that even this is a content moderation story.

Also, I can pretty much guarantee that Robinhood is going to be hit with a whole bunch of class action lawsuits, probably before the day is out. (Actually, they were hit by lawsuits before even this post was out!)

Many people have recognized that while there’s a lot going on here, at least some of what’s happening is legitimately smaller individual investors giving a big giant “fuck you” to the big Wall Street hedge funds that were treating the market as a plaything with which to get ever richer. I heard someone jokingly note yesterday that Reddit and Robinhood together accounted for more wealth distribution from the rich to the poor in the past week than the Democratic Party has in years.

And, like every other time that gatekeepers’ walls are knocked down, the gatekeepers freak out. This is Hollywood freaking out about Napster all over again. Yesterday the big news was that Discord banned the r/WallStreetBets server, which was where many of the Redditors were gathering (outside of Reddit). The company claimed — somewhat ridiculously — that the ban was for hate speech on the server. But the timing of it made that look like a very weak fig leaf. Considering how many gamers use Discord (its original target market), I can assure you that other servers have a lot more hate speech than the WallStreetBets one did.

Then, last night, we had the totally expected old school “Hollywood reacting to Napster” response when NASDAQ’s CEO, Adena Friedman, said that they should halt trading in GameStop and the other targeted stocks to allow investors to “recalibrate their positions.”

Funny how they never seem to do that when it’s retail investors losing their investments.

As with other situations, the events of the past few days only serve to underline how the system itself is rigged to help the big guys on Wall Street, and the second that everyone else figures out how to game the system themselves, the gatekeepers freak out and look to reassert control.

Filed Under: content moderation, gatekeepers, hedge funds, retail investors, stonks, wallstreetbets
Companies: discord, gamestop, reddit, robinhood

For Basically No Reason, Gamestop's Stock Price Is Rollercoastering In A Tug Of War Being Fought On Reddit

from the nonsense dept

Let’s get this straight out of the gate: I am an expert on nothing to do with the stock market beyond my own personal investments. So, absolutely none of this should be taken as any advice or indication that a certain position in any market is being advocated personally by me. This is not a post about where you should invest your money. It is, instead, a post about how silly certain portions of the stock market appear to have become.

And that statement is informed by a decade of watching GameStop, the retailer for new and used video games, new and used video game consoles, and mostly new Funko Pop toys, has been driven further and further from relevance. While predictions about the demise of GameStop have been around forever, recently there is more reason to think they’re going to become true. First, the trend of expanded purchases for digital downloads does away with a hefty chunk of GameStop’s potential revenue. Yes, GameStop offers its own digital download platform… but nobody uses it. In recognition of that trend, the next generation of consoles are being offered with an option to forgo any optical drive entirely, which would be another nail in GameStop’s coffin if widely adopted. And, like most retail operations, the COVID-19 pandemic has severely crippled GameStop’s business.

Which is why those challenges and trends are accurately reflected in GameStop’s stock price, because… oh, wait… shit.

So, yeah, in the month of January, GameStop’s stock has risen roughly 4x. And if you want to try to explain that away, please note that pulling the timeline back further actually makes all of this look way more bonkers.

Okay, so what’s going on here? Did GameStop come up with an entirely new strategy to propel its relevance in the long-term video game industry? Did it totally restructure, coming up with cost-saving measures or store and staffing closures that make it suddenly more profitable? Was there some consequential change of leadership or outside investment in the company?

Nope, none of that. Instead, there appears to be a sort of insane tug of war going on right now on Reddit between short sellers and day traders that is artificially sending this stock on an insane rollercoaster.

Shares of GameStop jumped more than 20% to a high of 101.62shortlyaftertheopenonTuesday.Afterdriftinglowerfromthesessionhigh,thestockturnedsharplyhigherasSocialCapital’sChamathPalihapitiyasaidinatweetthatheboughtGameStopcalloptionsbettingthestockwillgohigher.Tradingwashaltedforasecondtimefollowinghistweetduetovolatility.Thestockwaslastup21101.62 shortly after the open on Tuesday. After drifting lower from the session high, the stock turned sharply higher as Social Capital’s Chamath Palihapitiya said in a tweet that he bought GameStop call options betting the stock will go higher. Trading was halted for a second time following his tweet due to volatility. The stock was last up 21% at around 101.62shortlyaftertheopenonTuesday.Afterdriftinglowerfromthesessionhigh,thestockturnedsharplyhigherasSocialCapital’sChamathPalihapitiyasaidinatweetthatheboughtGameStopcalloptionsbettingthestockwillgohigher.Tradingwashaltedforasecondtimefollowinghistweetduetovolatility.Thestockwaslastup2191 a share.

The explosive rally in GameStop was largely driven by the buying frenzy among individual investors active in online forums, especially the infamous “wallstreetbets” Reddit chat room with more than 2 million subscribers. One trending post on Tuesday features a screenshot of the user’s portfolio showing an over 1,000% return on GameStop’s stock.

In other words, this is like some strange offshoot of a meme stock, where nobody really cares about valuation and mostly only cares about potential. Except, for all the reasons we discussed in the opening, nobody really seems to think that there is any potential here. Instead — and I recognize that this is crazy — a group of traders on the WallStreetBets Reddit appear to be trying to use the power of that chat room to create its own market reality.

With enough small traders rallied to its cause, WallStreetBets can create its own stock market reality, at least for a little while, specifically in cases like GameStop’s where other investors have thrown massive amounts of money behind the opposite bets. “It was a meme stock that really blew up,” WallStreetBets moderator Bawse1 told Wired. “The massive short contributed more toward the meme stock.”

While analysts say the stock hype can’t last, it’s already exposed, once again, just how much of a messed-up casino the stock market can be.

And that’s the problem. This is by no means exactly like 2007 by any stretch, but it does have some of that same stench. Untethering the stock market from the reality of what’s going on with a company is not a good plan. GameStop has headwinds to its survival in the long-term, simply as a matter of its business and where the gaming marketplace is going. What’s going on in the market appears to be chicanery.

Filed Under: forums, short sellers, stock trading, stocks, stonks
Companies: forums, gamestop

The Next Generation Of Video Game Consoles Could Be The Beginning Of GameStop's Death

from the stop-discing-around dept

Predictions about the death of video game retailer GameStop have been with us for at least a decade. There have been many reasons for such predictions, ranging from the emergence of digital downloaded games gobbling up market share to declines in retail stores generally. But there are two recent new headwinds that might frankly be the end of this once ubiquitous franchise as we know it.

The first headwind is one common to all kinds of retailers currently: the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic is actually almost certainly worse for GameStop compared with retailers for other industries. As noted above, sales for the industry have long been trending towards digital downloads. Yes, there are still those out there who insist on buying physical media games, and in many cases there are good reasons for doing so, but the truth is that market was shrinking steadily for a long, long time. With the pandemic both shuttering many retail stores and keeping scared consumers out of those that remain open, the digital market share in the gaming industry has grown quickly. Whether anyone will want to go back to buying physical copies of games, new or used, is an open question.

All of which might not ultimately matter, as the other headwind is the next generation of consoles being released with options for no built in disc drive at all.

The latest quarterly earnings report from GameStop doesn’t show much sign of a turnaround for the long-troubled game retailer. Sales were down 26.7 percent year over year for the April through June quarter. Even accounting for permanent store closures and COVID-related reduced operating hours, so-called comparable “same-store” sales were still down 12.7 percent year over year. GameStop’s already depressed stock is down nearly 8 percent on the news, as of this writing.

GameStop still publicly sees an “opportunity to capitalize” on the upcoming release of new Sony and Microsoft consoles, which could help turn its business around in the short term. But there’s some reason to believe the coming generation of consoles could actually make GameStop’s long-term prospects worse, thanks to console options that get rid of disc drives entirely.

During a recent earnings call, CEO George Sherman tried to spin this in the opposite direction, pointing out that the new consoles include an option for a disc drive as a reason for optimism. A huge chunk of GameStop’s money is made reselling used games that are marked up considerably. If the best a cheerleader for the company can muster is pointing out that, at least for this generation, some of the consoles will still have drives… well, that isn’t great.

Especially when you put this all in context. Both Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation forthcoming consoles have options for discless devices that are priced significantly less than the alternative. That represents yet another reason why some gamers, who might not have gone all digital otherwise, will be jumping ship. Between the virus pushing more gamers to download games digitally, lower priced consoles in the middle of an economic downturn, and the general trends that pre-date the pandemic, the analogies some are drawing to GameStop’s future aren’t pretty.

Sherman confirmed in the earnings call that GameStop will sell these disc-drive-free consoles in its stores, a move akin to a world where Tower Records decided to sell iPods as its physical album sales cratered.

Yikes.

Now, none of this suggests that every gamer everywhere is ready to give up discs. Nor should this be taken to indicate that retail game stores are going to become fully extinct. In fact, I don’t think the Tower Records analogy is the best that can be drawn, even if we stay in the music space. Instead, it is beginning to feel inevitable that GameStop, or other companies, will be become like modern day record stores: there to cater to the niche market of those that want CDs and vinyl, with all of the nostalgia that’s as important for buyers as the product itself.

But it sure as hell won’t be the GameStop of the last two decades.

Filed Under: consoles, digital delivery, retail, video games
Companies: gamestop

Gamestop Offers Glimpse Into Their Used-Games Facility

from the they're-tired-of-being-labeled-the-villain dept

IGN has a very cool story about what happens to the used games that get traded into Gamestop Stores. The entire article is quite fascinating and a rare glimpse into a notoriously secretive company's business, but it's the why of this article I want to focus on. Or, more specifically, why Gamestop opened their doors for this piece.

Used-game sellers generally, and Game Stop specifically, have been a constant target of game producers. They claim that used game sales keep people from buying games in their awesome new shrinkwrap. As the IGN article notes, this is a case of only looking at one side of the coin (those that are going to Game Stop to buy used games) without acknowledging the other side (those that are going to Game Stop to trade in used games). The article expands on this:

“GameStop’s bosses are obviously tired of hearing about how used games are killing gaming, about how unfair they are on the producers of the games who get nothing from their resale.

One astonishing stat is repeated by three different managers during presentations. 70 percent of income consumers make from trading games goes straight back into buying brand new games. GameStop argues that used games are an essential currency in supporting the games business.”

So, if that number is correct, the interest in used games by some consumers is what drives the purchase of new games by other consumers. This is similar to what we've seen in book sales, where used books fuel the new book market. Being able to trade in games doesn't simply result in money collected for the retailer; it results in money collected by game producers as well. This goes beyond simply mentioning first sale rights. If used games are fueling the purchase of new games, what are producers complaining about? If Gamestop is to be believed, it's a significant part of the new games market:

“GameStop says 17 percent of its sales are paid in trade credits. The implication is clear – if the games industry lost 17 percent of its sales tomorrow, that would be a bad day for the publishers and developers.”

So maybe game producers should be thanking Game Stop instead of griping.

Filed Under: business models, economics, used sales, video games
Companies: gamestop

Want Revenue From Used Games? Just Have GameStop Buy DLC Codes For The Customer

from the that's-one-way dept

We all know that many game companies are really upset about being locked out of the used games revenue stream. Warner happens to be one of those companies. With the release of Batman: Arkham City, Warner is giving a free code to new game buyers that lets the gamer play as Catwoman during the game. If you buy the game used, you will need to buy a new code to access Catwoman. That is if you buy it used anywhere other than GameStop.

According to a memo sent to Kotaku, Warner and GameStop have partnered up to give free codes to buyers of used copies of Batman. Granted, GameStop is most likely paying for these codes for the customer and is most likely getting them at a discounted rate. This happens to be a great deal for both companies and even some customers. Warner gets the satisfaction of capturing used game revenue with a reduced risk of customers deciding not to buy the redemption code. GameStop gets a leg up on the competition which don’t have the same deal. Finally, customers of GameStop don’t have to shell out the extra cash to play as Catwoman.

This is an interesting move on Warner’s part. GameStop is the poster child for the evils of used games, according to many games industry veterans. However, even the toughest critic of GameStop’s policies recognizes the power this one brand has over the game consumer, thus the deal. If GameStop is willing to make such a deal with Warner, would they be willing to do the same with other companies such as EA or Ubisoft?

Of course, there are additional ramifications to consider. How will this affect the relationship with other game stores, both in and outside the US, which don’t have the same leveraging power? Will those smaller stores be coerced into deals that are not as sweet for them and their customers? Regardless of the ramifications, it is nice to see a company actually be proactive about capturing used games revenue rather than just complain and punish players. Why can’t more companies act this way?

Filed Under: batman, catwoman, used games
Companies: ea, gamestop, ubisoft, warner

Gamestop Discovers The Streisand Effect; Gives OnLive Tons Of Free Publicity In Trying To Take Away Coupons

from the epic-failure dept

Last week was an interesting week for Gamestop. As a ton of you sent in, the company decided to require all stores to open up all PC copies of Deus Ex: Human Revolution and discard an included coupon for a free version of the game via the OnLive streaming platform. OnLive and Square Enix had announced the promotion to help both companies, but apparently Gamestop was jealous to be cut out of the mix. Below is an image of the order that GameSpy, who broke that story, received:

From there the story got more bizarre. Gamestop didn’t even seem to realize how bad this looked at first, insisting that it just didn’t want to help advertise “a competitor.” Soon after all of this came out, Gamestop ordered its stores to remove the game from its shelves entirely as part of a “recall” in agreement with Square Enix. The likely implication: Gamestop and Square Enix worked out a deal to offer versions of the game without the coupon, meaning Gamestop employees won’t have to destroy the coupons.

However, the real story in all of this should be just how much free publicity Gamestop just gave OnLive in its hamfisted attempt to pretend the company didn’t exist. And, of course, now it means that anyone wishing to buy the PC version of the game is probably (assuming that no coupons will be available) better off buying it from someone other than Gamestop. I’ve defended Gamestop’s used game sales practices for years, but I’m amazed the company thought any of this was a good idea.

Filed Under: coupons, deus ex, streisand effect
Companies: gamestop, onlive, square enix

from the oh-come-on dept

Sneeje points us to a screenshot that’s making the rounds (thanks, not surprisingly, to Reddit), demonstrating that GameStop is apparently offering consumers the ability to buy “download insurance” for an extra $3.95. Apparently, that extra money lets you redownload the product in the future (assuming GameStop still exists and/or any DRM servers are still functioning):

Of course, plenty of online sites that sell digital goods offer the ability to redownload what you’ve already bought as a free service to everyone, but not at GameStop apparently. This is, of course, a ridiculous concept. I really do wonder if anyone actually signs up for something like that.

Filed Under: download insurance
Companies: gamestop