today gamestop clerk.....

[FloridaGators]

For a company that doesn't advertise often like ESPN, it's a shame that workers at Gamestop are another source of Madden advertisement.

[jhaunki]

this is the reason i try Best Buy first. The people there arent as knowledgable, but since you can just take it off the rack, you dont even have to deal with anyone except the cashier, and they wont say anything. But the game store i go to in the mall near me(Planet X, its a offshoot of EB games or gamestop) the guys know their stuff and i have never been pushed to buy a certain game. I guess i know where i'm going to get ESPN

[PBurress80]

This is the opposite at the EB at my mall....last year they pushed people to buy ESPN. I dont know how much it worked but all the employees thought it was the better game. They even put up all the reveiws of the 2 games where ESPN scored better.

[gambit816]

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DXZeke said:
There's no Incentive but to keep your job. It's secret shop time of the year when no one's really buying games, so EB and Gamestop like to send out there secret shooppers to make sure people are pushing the titles they're supposed to be pushing, begging for preorders, and magazine subscriptions.

EA's sent out a bunch of promo stuff to Gamestop and EB. I've got a feeling they've got some kind of incentive deals with both compaines right now to push NCAA, Madden, and NBA Live for the next couple months.

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I worked retail for 10 years folks, and here's the deal. During one of their store meetings, their store manager will sit down and pull out a company memo. He/she will tell the clerks that the company has a target goal in sales for Madden. The store manager will then install a contest within his store, as to who can get the most pre-orders to help reach that goal. They'll usually throw in some kind of reward, either a gift card or lunch, etc. These people aren't all pushing Madden just because they like it. A lot of the clerks don't even play sports titles, and that's why the only word that comes out of their mouths is "Madden". If the company decided to push ESPN with financial incentives, then their sports' vocabulary would include "ESPN". Either way, who gives a damn which game they push? Buy the one you want, secretly smile at their unknowing ways, and go enjoy your game. If you're worried that their actions will lead to low sales and eventually VC will stop making ESPN, then it's up to VC in addition to everything else they're doing, to start making arrangements with EB and Gamestop to get the stores involved with pushing them too.

[augustus]

at my EB, there was Madden and NCAA stuff all over the store, but not a single thing about ESPN; however, they never pressured me into a title though. I asked him about ESPN 2K5, and the manager told me that "this game is gonna own madden for three weeks, and its only 20 bones!" The other guy standing next to him said, "yeah, and its not like its a half-rate game. They made tons of improvements". Heck, they even encouraged me to preorder to make sure I had my copy! I had not mentioned anything about the features or price before they spoke to me, so I guess everyone's experience differs place to place.

[ESPNFANAZ]

It's sad that it's come down to employees being told what to say on which product is better just to get a reward for themselves. There is only one solution to this... do the research on the net before you buy a product and you'll come out way ahead.

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gambit816 said:

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DXZeke said:
There's no Incentive but to keep your job. It's secret shop time of the year when no one's really buying games, so EB and Gamestop like to send out there secret shooppers to make sure people are pushing the titles they're supposed to be pushing, begging for preorders, and magazine subscriptions.

EA's sent out a bunch of promo stuff to Gamestop and EB. I've got a feeling they've got some kind of incentive deals with both compaines right now to push NCAA, Madden, and NBA Live for the next couple months.

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I worked retail for 10 years folks, and here's the deal. During one of their store meetings, their store manager will sit down and pull out a company memo. He/she will tell the clerks that the company has a target goal in sales for Madden. The store manager will then install a contest within his store, as to who can get the most pre-orders to help reach that goal. They'll usually throw in some kind of reward, either a gift card or lunch, etc. These people aren't all pushing Madden just because they like it. A lot of the clerks don't even play sports titles, and that's why the only word that comes out of their mouths is "Madden". If the company decided to push ESPN with financial incentives, then their sports' vocabulary would include "ESPN". Either way, who gives a damn which game they push? Buy the one you want, secretly smile at their unknowing ways, and go enjoy your game. If you're worried that their actions will lead to low sales and eventually VC will stop making ESPN, then it's up to VC in addition to everything else they're doing, to start making arrangements with EB and Gamestop to get the stores involved with pushing them too.

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[Purefootball02]

i've worked at Gamestop, the reason for the "pushiness" is because the salesperson at the end of each week with the most pre-ordes and/or Game Informer subscriptions sold gets special incentives. Things like movie passes to see movies before they come out. For instance I saw Bad Boys 2 and Jason vs. Freddy like that.

[blackceasar]

I used to work for Gamestop a long time ago. They get perks and stuff for getting people to put some money down on a game. Thier disctric managers keep track of that stuff and every week they have to call in thier numbers. They are told to do it, and of course they try to bull**** you with stuff like "well, if you dont pre-pay today..you all of that game is gonna be sold out when it comes in and youre not gonna get one".. Which is true sometimes, but when they are trying to get you to pre-pay like 2 and 3 months before the game comes out but tell you that if you dont do it right now youre not gonna get a copy is bull****. People will be pre paying for maddend 2 and 3 days before it comes out and they will take those pre pays as well.