Topic: Physical Games, Where do you buy?

I used to love Toy r Us
Target barely carries anything
Best Buy also has limited stock
Amazon usually sends me broken items.
eBay sellers are just as high or higher than GameStop.
Mercari is only good for selling.
Facebook marketplace, no one near me sells anything and I'm not driving over 2 hours each way.

I usually by my games at either Walmart or Amazon, and that's only if they got them on sale or at a good price like during Black Friday. I have bought a few from Limited Run Games like Shredder's Revenge, Samurai Shodown Collection and Dust but those were more for collecting purposes.

Mostly I just by digitally when they go on sale.

I always use my local GameStop and Walmart. It’s so quick and easy to preorder a physical at GameStop, pay it as I go and pick it up on launch day. Plus you get $5 a month as a Pro perk to use on purchases.

@GameOtaku
Closest Gamestop is an hour and a half away. that's a 3 hour drive...
For something they might not even have.

I’m a regular at the local GameStop, luckily for me right on my ride home from work. I pick up most of my NA region games there, or else at VGP (Video Games Plus) in Canada. VGP offers reprints of out-of-stock games, and often Imports from Europe or Japan, too. I’ve had a few pleasant transactions with them. I haven’t been going to Best Buy since they stopped carrying blu-rays and DVDs - their Switch section was always kind of bare, too. Every now and then I’ll pick up a game from Target or Walmart.

eBay also has pretty much everything you could want new and retro, where I’d say you’ll find a mix of inflated and reasonable prices.

Japanese imports I’ll get from Amazon JP or else Playasia. I’ve been fortunate thus far with all my shipments from Asia, and I love the preorder goodies like CDs, pins, clear files, etc that often accompany Japanese preorders.

I’m not sure if any of the above is helpful for you. I know if I had to drive 3hrs to GameStop, it certainly would not be worth the trip. I’d probably just resort to buying everything online. 😑

I'm totally a normie in this regard I'm afraid. I usually just buy from Walmart, cause my local one usually has an excellent selection. Pretty much all the major first party stuff is there, plus big third party titles like Hogwarts Legacy and FC 24, and (relatively) smaller titles like cowabunga collection and Rayman Legends. Honestly, I enjoy looking just to see what they keep in stock. It's really interesting to see what games are considered "Mainstream" enough to be sold at a big retailer like that.

Holy shells...it's a long one for me. Years ago it was K-Mart, Game Crazy, & Circuit City. Stopped buying games from Best Buy & Target years ago. Now it's mostly Walmart, Ebay, Gamestop, & local game stores.

Lately, though, it's eBay. Since I find newly released games for less than what current stores price them at. But in general...whatever is closest to me or whenever it's convenient...I guess.

DekuDeals will alert you by e-mail when games on your wishlist go on sale, not only on the eShop, but for retailers as well. You can set it for what price or how big a discount before you want to be alerted as well.

Amazon, Wal-Mart, GameStop, BestBuy...I don't really care who ships it in a box to me.

some local like "retro" game stores are my favourite, love collecting copies of 360/PS3 games as thats my Second Fav Era of Gaming (My first is PS2/Gamecube)

JB Hi-Fi, mostly (an Australian electronics franchise).

I also like to shop at Gamesmen, but it's a bit of a drive, but they're pretty much the only remaining family-owned vendor of new video games left in Australia (and have had some exclusive promotions from time to time). They also have a little "museum" at the back of the store showcasing pretty much every major Nintendo console (and variants thereof) as well as noteworthy games from decades gone by. I would highly recommend a visit to non-locals who happen to be in Sydney.

@Spider-Kev
Call ahead or check online. If my store doesn’t have it and they can try and order it if it’s available.

Amazon primarily. Although you have to make sure it's provided by Amazon and ships from Amazon. Items shipping from the Amazon "Warehouse" or a second party vendor are always a gamble quality wise.

In Guernsey we have one gaming store and they aren't very well stocked so normally get them from Amazon as they also take the VAT off.

NEVER get them from My Nintendo Store as they have no clue that they need to put a customs form on a package and it instantly gets sent back to their warehouse. So therefore all My Nintendo physical extras or exclusives I have to go to eBay and hope for an honest dealer.

For limited physicals I do rate Super Rare Games, but they have some random picks which I am not interested in. Limited Run, the postage is a bit of a killer and don't get me started on 1st Press Games. Seems like iam8bit has kind of given up on games and are mainly doing Vinyl, but their games normally follow up after a few months with an Amazon standard edition

Mainly Amazon but Smyths, Currys and Argos can be worth keeping an eye on too

Used to be mostly GAME as I found them reliable and Reward/Elite made buying from there good value but considering that's falling apart like Reward/Elite and new instore preorders stopped in July, I'm not sure what my replacement will be. Don't want to have to rely on Amazon but even that's a better option than going digital.

(US region) Since switch launch, I've usually bought physical games at my local Best Buy, because the two game stops by me are staffed & run by people that don't seem to repsect customers, seedy car salesmen types (I ask for a Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, they are visibly stacked on the wall behind the counter, and they try to force me into buying something else. WHAT!? Just let me buy what I asked for. Is that so hard!?!?). Now, Best Buy USUALLY doesn't even put the games out on the shelf on release day, so I usually had to ask for a copy, if I didn't preorder - buy I preferred to give a local business my money, and it was still more pleasant than my Game Stops.

I'm realizng, the last physical game I got was Tears of the Kingdom. And since then, Best Buy is getting out of physical games (their physical games shelves usually sit 95% empty, looking severly neglected). When Switch 2 launches, I guess I'll have to buy the next gen physical copies of 3D Mario, Mario Kart, Zelda at Target?

With Best Buy abandoning physical games, I imagine this will result in hurting their selling of console sales when the next gen Nintendo console launches. Does anyone want to buy a console from a local business that doesn't sell physical games? I don't. I guess we'll see how this pans out. I'm disappointed that the market for phsycal stores selling consoles and games continues to narrow. I prefer to give my money to local business, but that's looking less sustainable.

@WoomyNNYes
I don't even look at best buy anymore since they dropped movies / tv shows.

For mainline games I go PlayAsia; for more Indie games I go to iam8bit, LimitedRunGames, SuperRareGames and the like. Some publishers like Capcom and BandaiNamco still sell physical copies straight from their websites.

From a big electronics store you probably never heard of, or (rarely) Amazon. Depends which one is cheaper. The store almost always wants to be a little cheaper than Amazon when it comes to games at least.

@Bunkerneath
To bad the UK is not in the EU anymore!
Just kidding.

@Budda Ha, very funny but Guernsey was never part of the EU