Xtra-Vision enter receivership: Games options are getting limited

1man3letters

ah man
gamestop is all thats left now besides a random cd shop that might stock 2 year old games still for full price.
i would not give 1 cent of my money to smyths, worked there and they run a shady shady business,one example was a full shipment of 360s left in the rain for a day while the dora the ****ing explorer stuff was deemed more important to get it, they then put them 360s for sale, everyone was returned and they were trying to blame the costumer, "how would console ever get water damage,this is not our fault,you will have to contact MS".....scum

Mister Man

I only buy the odds game here and there. The last being the latest Call of Duty. Only reason I bought it in Xtra-Vision, was because it would have taken 3 odd days to arrive in the post. I have to admit, I'm surprised it's taken this long. They never seemed to be doing well for the past few year. Lately, my local shop has more a less done away with any games at all. At one point, it was full to the brim with both new and pre-owned games. Now, it's a small stand in the corner, with the rest ****ty old DVD's, and a section for Blue-ray.
Times have changed since Xtra-Visions has opened. They have been too slow to cop that, and are now paying the price. I'm sure they could have done something years ago to insure some safety into the future.
I seen a info-graphic a few days ago on Reddit referring to how companies have been, or were slow to adopt modern methods of distribution. Focusing mainly on the US market of rents, it more a less said with online services (Netflix, Hulu, etc) all companies were gone. Does that made the last ditch attempted at online, failed. Which is what I imagine will happen with Xtra-Vision now. Some sort of online service will be offered, but it will be years behind other, cheaper alternatives.

mister bishi

THEY TOOK OUR JOBS

NinjaK

Smyths toys sell games usually at ok prices, plus ive got a loyalty card with 10% off new games:)

VinLieger

Tinie wrote: »

Im guessing hes hinting at 1024 mb in a gigabyte.

Or 1024b in a kb

Zero-Cool

Anytime I am in Xtravision Parkway in Limerick browsing the games, it always has a queue of people renting. Saying that, there are about 5 Xtravisions in Limerick which seems a bit overkill. Smyths game choice has been absolutely awful lately, looks like they have no interest selling games anymore which leaves Gamestop one of the only shops left with a good choice of games who will trade with you. Gamesnash.ie are cheaper than gamestop (The have a pre-order low price guarantee against Gamestop) and will also trade games with you.

Hopefully Xtravision stays open even just to sell games, DVD's & Boxsets.

VinLieger

Lol at people being quoted in newspapers today blaming the government for this, has nothing to do with their backwards thinking and an archaic business formula that never considered the threat of evolving technology and attitudes to media on demand

dmcg90

Its a pity Currys/PC World stopped selling games, they could have been in a great position right now.

Major game retailers Ireland 2012
Tesco
Smyths
Argos
Gamestop
Game
HMV
Xtravision
PC World
Currys

Major game retailers Ireland 2013
Tesco
Smyths
Argos
Gamestop
Xtravision?

Kinda sad to see!

Adamcp898

Well now I'm forced to buy a new game with my gift card just in case they go bust, so much for clearing my backlog

degrassinoel

Adamcp898 wrote: »

Well now I'm forced to buy a new game with my gift card just in case they go bust, so much for clearing my backlog

count yourself lucky it's an Xtravision gift card and not a HMV one.

SC Kevin

Worked in a few of their stores (Midleton, Youghal and Dungarvan)

Delighted their gone or on the brink of going. Said it nearly 2 years ago they wouldnt last. The business model they are using is dead. Its all online and streaming and they have been behind the curve all the time. no foresight in the company at all. Any one who was half decent working there jumped shipped a long time ago cause they knew what way it was going.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=75219626&postcount=180

While i feel sorry for my friends still working there, im DEE LIGHTED they are just about gone!

marshbaboon

Xtra Vision are profitable from a retail standpoint, so they'll more than likely stay open (with some radical restructuring and a lot of people out of a job, which is sad, one of my brothers works for them).

B&M stores just can't compete with digital distribution. The margin on new releases really isn't huge, the only thing keeping most game stores afloat is the used games market (one of the primary reasons why Xtra Vision stayed afloat for so many years).

Nonoperational

SC Kevin wrote: »

Worked in a few of their stores (Midleton, Youghal and Dungarvan)

Delighted their gone or on the brink of going. Said it nearly 2 years ago they wouldnt last. The business model they are using is dead. Its all online and streaming and they have been behind the curve all the time. no foresight in the company at all. Any one who was half decent working there jumped shipped a long time ago cause they knew what way it was going.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=75219626&postcount=180

While i feel sorry for my friends still working there, im DEE LIGHTED they are just about gone!

Classy guy.

Pushtrak

SC Kevin wrote: »

Worked in a few of their stores (Midleton, Youghal and Dungarvan)

Delighted their gone or on the brink of going. Said it nearly 2 years ago they wouldnt last. The business model they are using is dead. Its all online and streaming and they have been behind the curve all the time. no foresight in the company at all. Any one who was half decent working there jumped shipped a long time ago cause they knew what way it was going.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=75219626&postcount=180

While i feel sorry for my friends still working there, im DEE LIGHTED they are just about gone!

This post has a stench of "I predicted something and it was right, ah, what an ego boost" while ignoring that it was an easy thing to predict, and the actual consequences for gamers on the high street is terrible. Yeah, you go and feel delighted. It isn't good for anyone. The gamer, the employees, anyone.

RoyalMarine

i remember working in xtravision when I was 18-19. One christmas, the last weekend before christmas day we took in €13,500 in total sales inc credit cards etc. Our manager was doing runs to the bank every 3 hours to get rid of cash as it was too risky keeping it there.
This was in a small enough town btw.
Big difference now!

iamanengine

Sigh, I'm in Galway so all that's left is Gamestop or Smyths.

How I miss thee, HMV.

SC Kevin

Nonoperational wrote: »

Classy guy.

Says the fella who has a dig when they know nothing of the situation! :rolleyes:

SC Kevin

Pushtrak wrote: »

Yeah, you go and feel delighted

I do and i will, thanks!

noodler

SC Kevin wrote: »

Says the fella who has a dig when they know nothing of the situation! :rolleyes:

SC Kevin wrote: »

I do and i will, thanks!

Jesus, just grow up.

GTR63

iamanengine wrote: »

Sigh, I'm in Galway so all that's left is Gamestop or Smyths.

How I miss thee, HMV.

Amen, I am waiting on Fire Emblem to be re-stocked in Gamestop for a week now. And I miss buying & browsing dvds in HMV a lot too. I know there is Amazon but still.....

MadYaker

I can't remember the last time I spent money in xtravision. They really aren't offering anything that can't be got cheaper/free online.

VinLieger

Seriously people get over brick and mortar stores, stop giving gamestop your money and buy it cheaper online

Tinie

VinLieger wrote: »

Seriously people get over brick and mortar stores, stop giving gamestop your money and buy it cheaper online

Apparently some people dont like buying cheaper online, because they cant browse through stacks of overpriced dvds and games

I stuff in a high street store unless its a very good deal, or I trade in stuff.

grizzly

I remember as a kid going there up to 3 times a week to rent video tapes (before they used to charge 50p for not rewinding them). This was long before games were available for rent.

Since they started selling games I'd use them maybe once a year for an impulse buy. They were often €5 cheaper then Gamestop and it was cool that it opened so late. Surprised that they lasted until 2013, I remember reading years ago that there shares were trading at less then 1p (think it was back in the late 90's).

SC Kevin wrote: »

I do and i will, thanks!

It may be a sh!tty place to work, but it's still a steady income for many people. Show some heart.

Varik

Wasn't that near an extra vision as a kid and so the 1 night or 2 night rentals weren't gotten much, would as to get some and I'd get the same reply "who'll bring it back" but there were time where game and movies had week rental at a good price and I'd load up.

I've some memory of getting Kids movies for a week for 50p during the summer.

Star Lord

Tinie wrote: »

Im guessing hes hinting at 1024 mb in a gigabyte.

[pedantic smartarsery]There are 8192 mb in a GB, 1024 MB in a GB... :pac:[/pedantic smartarsery]

I'll be sorry to see XtraVision go, if they do. I'm still optomistic about the return of HMV though, as the company that runs the Canadian HMV operations, that bought over the UK operations does apparently want to re-open the Irish business, albeit in a smaller capacity.

allanb49

Falthyron wrote: »

Keep that TPT up! :pac:

Oh god the unrealistic targets.

make it stop.

mister bishi

xtra vision is a kip anyways

wish i could go back to the days

when a old red minivan full of videos used to come into

my estate and we would rent them off this dodgy oul lad

for 50p a go

Adamcp898

Anyone know of any fairly recent Xbox games which are competitively priced in Xtra Vision?

Haven't shopped in the place in a long long time but have a €20 voucher to use and don't really buy Blu Ray's/DVD's so I'll put it towards a game. I only had time for a quick browse this evening going by and most of the games, even with the €20 taken off their price, aren't competitively priced at all. The new releases are €55 as well as some old ones too (Sleeping Dogs) and so at €35 they're still only around a fiver cheaper than online if even that in some cases. Halo 4 was €40 but a quick look around shows that's available online for 20. Now I know I'm comparing B&M pricing to online but surely there's scope for more value than that, especially with the rate at which games are discounted nowadays, 5 years ago noone would've batted an eyelid but the times have most certainly changed.

imitation

Pity, I think there's still a place for b&m shops, I like going out and getting a new game rather than waiting for online deliverys or even long downloads (thanks Irish internet). I actually think up until recently they were good value too (mainly game), new releases could be half price after a few months, it never seemed to me that online beat them much price wise, especially for older titles.

The models the shops ran on seem to almost all have been bad, and maybe that is why the prices were decent a while back, and why they are tanking now.

I think there is an opening in for a small shop ( relatively densely packed with stock though, its small after all !) With preowned games, new games and small amount of the popular titles