Leveling Down

Gamestop.com’s various promotion codes allow it to compete better online with Amazon.com

About 8 months ago, I mentioned how Amazon had successfully stolen me away from Gamestop. With all of the various deals Amazon had running in its favor, I went the way of Amazon for most of my game buying in 2009. But this year, it looks like Gamestop has probably lost a lot of customers to Amazon and is turning up the heat. (Don’t you just love competition?) Let’s explore what they’ve begun implementing to pull gamers back to their store.

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I never thought this would happen, but Amazon has succeeded in pulling me away from Gamestop to become my primary video game supplier. Just look at this list of pre-orders I have!

With no tax in my state, release date delivery on practically any big game (thanks to Amazon Prime), a 10% discount on all video game purchases (ECA membership), $10-$15 gift certificates for several big games releasing this Fall, and various trade-in promotions such as 50% off any game, Amazon has converted me. What kills me is that I have hundreds of dollars in Gamestop credit, but why buy any of these titles new for $64 at Gamestop when I can get them for 1/3 less on Amazon?

The tricky part now is that I’m trying to convert my Gamestop credit to Amazon credit, and this involves buying used games from Gamestop with my credit and trading those same games into Amazon so I get credit there. I’m hoping for a chance when Gamestop runs a B2G1 free sale or 20-25% off coupon on all used games, and Amazon is running something like +50% trade-in credit so I can actually even make some money when I transfer my credit.

But as you can see, it looks like my gaming for the rest of the year is set. Now I just need to figure out what to do with Alpha Protocol, Dragon Age Origins, and Left 4 Dead 2. Will they be bought this year, or bumped back to next year?