While Gamestop was the only bastion left for gamers to score preowned games and accessories at a discount. That all looks to change if they continue the course. Recently announced by Gamestop is their newly revamped Pro membership that’s currently in beta. With it comes a few changes that you likely aren’t going to like.
First up, the new membership is seeing a $5 price hike, from $14.99 to $19.99. Next, the 10% discount on pre-owned games and accessories has been erased. Replacing it is a $5 reward certificate that will be provided every month and it won’t roll over at the end of the month. Meaning if you don’t use it, you lose it. Of coure, this isn’t spelled out on the current promo from Gamestop and you have to read the fine print on the website.
I’ve provided that for you to read for yourself.
$5 Reward Certificate Benefit Test – Reward certificates will be sent on the first of every month and can be accessed in member’s Active Offers and via the monthly account summary. $5 reward certificates will expire at the end of the calendar month and cannot be rolled over. $5 reward certificates cannot be used to purchase select POSA cards. For full terms and conditions, click here. $5 monthly reward certificate benefit is currently testing and can be cancelled or modified at any time.
Yikes. The wording is criminal by saying members get $60 USD annually. What good is it if it expires every month? So far this doesn’t seem like a win to me. I also don’t like how it’s stated this can be canceled or modified at any time. It could be removed completely, imagine that grim scenario. Now, I’m assuming this is due to this new membership being in beta. Still, I’d hate to be enrolled and to suddenly have Gamestop pull the carpet from under me.
This is laughable from my point of view. Not only did the price get raised by $5, but the %10 that’s going away could be applied any number of times. If you normally purchased a lot of pre-owned games, you got some really nice savings. With this new plan, you get a one-time $5 discount and that’s it. The math speaks for its self. This is going to piss off a lot of people who purchase pre-owned games on the regular.
It’s almost like Gamestop is trying to kill off any loyal fans that the company has.
Thankfully this new membership is only in beta and isn’t in effect everywhere. I checked my local stores and none of them are participating in it. For now at least. Though, you have to wonder when this will go live everywhere. In the meanwhile, we should take every chance we can to tell Gamestop that this plan is horrible. That is if they’re really trying to stay afloat.
Can you see that I’m not a fan of these purposed changes?