Gamestop ain't your Zunestop

GameStop will no longer stock or sell the Zune, citing weak sales and a poor fit with its "product mix". Despite recent positive sales numbers and only weeks short of Microsoft's launch of games for Zune, Microsoft's player will no longer be found at the gaming retail giant. The decision came about a month ago, and sales will continue at Gamestop.com until stock is depleted. Adam Sohn, director of Zune marketing, confirmed the announcement this afternoon by not denying it:

"We have a set of great retail partnerships that give Zune a strong presence at retail including Best Buy, Target, Walmart, and others. We will continue to invest in deep retail partnerships, and have seen good momentum online and at retail over the last few months including a great response to our recent Spring Update. We're looking forward to a continued strong presence at retail with our partners."

We can't help but thinking better Xbox integration could've gone a long way, but perhaps it was just never meant to be.

[Pochi @ May 23rd 2008 2:11PM]

Nobody goes to Gamestop to buy an MP3 player. This was stupid to begin with.

[Chris @ May 23rd 2008 2:13PM]

Agreed.

I didn't even know that Gamestop sold them to begin with!

[Bunson @ May 23rd 2008 2:19PM]

It only really made sense for the Halo special edition.

[Flashpoint @ May 23rd 2008 2:22PM]

The only time I ever remember GAMESTOP being a place to go for an MP3 player was when they were promoting the Nokia nGage.

People want a DAP they go to Best Buy or Circuit City. Walmart if they don't have alot of money.

GAMESPOT to me is too small to stock MP3 players of any kind - not just the shelf but the security makes it useless to get a profit.
Stores don't profit selling these devices at their Retail price. They make their money selling ACCESSORIES.

as a former store manager of BBY I can't imagine who at Gamespots board ever decided this was a good idea.

[JakeB @ May 23rd 2008 2:28PM]

agreed, but now we have to hear all the ipod fanboys talk about how bad the zune is and how the iphone is so much better even though the zune is not even close to a phone and all that BS.

[JJV @ May 23rd 2008 2:42PM]

I love the picture though. Its just so fitting lol.

[Chris @ May 23rd 2008 3:22PM]

@Jake B. - Where are they? The iPod fanboys I mean. Just read through the whole comments list and they're nowhere. I see a lot of "iPod sux" comments.

On topic: This was never good for GameStop. Why by a marked up version of the Zune when you can go to Wal-Mart and get it for 5 cents under retail?

[Pochi @ May 23rd 2008 3:27PM]

@Chris

I don't get the Walmart comment...

[phenom @ May 23rd 2008 5:04PM]

Its because it didn't play Battletoads

[sinai @ May 23rd 2008 2:11PM]

gamestop's a pretty shady retailer to begin with. i would never buy anything from gamestop except games once in a while.

[ChiWax @ May 23rd 2008 2:20PM]

Totally...everytime I've been in a Gamestop I leave wanting to kick someone's ass....Q

[Vic the One @ May 23rd 2008 2:12PM]

This is strange... because people actually know what the Zune is now, it is becoming increasingly marketable, and you'd think they'd want to put it out in MORE locations! "Welcome to the Social! EXCEPT YOU, GAMESTOP! YOU GO CLEAN THE OVEN OUT WHILE WE ALL HAVE A GOOD TIME!!! NYARRGH"

I'm so bored... Why cant work be over now?

[Bunson @ May 23rd 2008 2:21PM]

It wasn't Microsoft that stopped the deal with Gamestop. It was Gamestop that stopped the deal with Microsoft.

[Vic the One @ May 23rd 2008 2:24PM]

You are absolutely right! Sorry everyone.

[Zach @ May 23rd 2008 2:50PM]

Hey, +1 one on the bored at work thing though.

[Eric Kelly @ May 23rd 2008 4:30PM]

Because the clock hasn't stricken 5, my good man.

[roole @ May 23rd 2008 10:42PM]

Struck.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh........

[Blaine Oliver @ May 23rd 2008 2:13PM]

Give it xbox download play and your on a winner, maybe even wireless song play with an adaptor? There is a fanbase of 12 million on xbox live, thats a big market sector you could capture if you enhanced the features of the zune and xbox for crossover compatibility.

[Wiigee @ May 23rd 2008 2:55PM]

not to mention mac and linux compatibility.

[Biscuit Boy @ May 23rd 2008 3:57PM]

I was really surprised that wireless streaming directly between the 360 and the zune wasn't included from the start as well. Would have been a definite bonus.

Still happy with it though.

[Fatima @ May 23rd 2008 2:16PM]

*yawn* who cares about Zune? All marketing no substance.

[Bunson @ May 23rd 2008 2:20PM]

*yawn* Who cares about Fatima, all flesh, no brains.

[Pochi @ May 23rd 2008 2:21PM]

Yeah, I can't think of any other MP3 players that are all marketing with no real substance... hmmm...

[Vic the One @ May 23rd 2008 2:27PM]

Bahahaha!!! It's funny, because the best ones (ie. Creative) have little to no marketing!

[Kizorblade @ May 23rd 2008 2:40PM]

The "best" ones sell the most.

[Vic the One @ May 23rd 2008 2:48PM]

@Kizorblade

I don't know about that. I define "best" as "most stable, good software, easy to use, wont break 6 months after I buy it, not overpriced". My personal opinion is that Creative's Zen line still holds this title over iPod and Zune. I've used 'em all, and iPods break quite frequently it seems (and no, I do not abuse them). The Zune is a beautiful piece of hardware with bad software on it. The Zen is simple, plays all my media, hasn't broken (knock on wood), and is cheaper than an iPod. Even if you're a large corporation, you get what you payed for... Apple and Microsoft spend a lot on advertising compared to Creative, and so they move more units. It does not necessarily assert their superiority over other brands.

[Zach @ May 23rd 2008 2:57PM]

See, I was an iPod hater and had always heard creative was good so I bought a Zen Micro. Damn thing broke twice on me (although customer support was good, they even sent me a bigger upgraded version back when it broke). I own an iPod now, and I like it pretty well. I'm sure I just got the lemon of the group, but owning an iPod is definitely easier because everybody and their brother makes some sort of accessory for it.

[Scott @ May 23rd 2008 3:17PM]

Did someone just say "Creative" and "good software" in the same sentence?

[tcc3 @ May 23rd 2008 4:01PM]

Only relatively speaking. The creative software is probably great compared to the Zune software.

[Pochi @ May 23rd 2008 4:18PM]

"The creative software is probably great compared to the Zune software."

As an owner of a Zen and now a Zune, I can tell you that you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.

[DeoWulf @ May 23rd 2008 4:56PM]

I kinda like the Zune software... I guess it's just preference? Gasp! To think that any of this is subjective!

[LC @ May 23rd 2008 9:35PM]

I owned a few Creative Zen players and can say that the Zune software blows Creatives out of the water in ease of use.

[Patrick @ May 23rd 2008 2:17PM]

i can't really see how this could possibly have a noticable effect on zune sales. i'm sure ever little bit helps, but who the hell goes to gamestop to purchase electronics?

personally, i haven't been into a gamestop in probably 15 years. all the big box places have the same stock and usually lower prices. if i want something used - ebay. cheaper anyway.

[bartoron @ May 23rd 2008 2:25PM]

Gamestop scares me. I bought Call of Duty 3 for the Wii (I know, I regretted the purchase after like an hour) there and when I got home and opened the box, there was no game manual and the disc was clearly used. The game was labeled as new.

[computer.dude.28 @ May 23rd 2008 5:19PM]

The source did this to me when I bought my iPod shuffle. (I love my Zune 80 so much that there are some places I just can't risk bringing it, so the shuffle does the dirty work - Canoe trips, ski hills, and dirtbiking) Anyway, I bought a shuffle at the source and when I brought it home there was a ton of crap music on it that obviously the *previous owner* had loaded and the apple logo had a little scratch on it. The source sold it as new, I paid full price.

[Hayst @ May 23rd 2008 2:26PM]

ugh, zunes... if microsoft would've just given it a better name, it would sell so much better... "zune" just sounds cheap and lame... i've been on the ipod bandwagon since the start, but was all ears when i heard microsoft was coming out with a rival... then i heard "zune" for the first time, and once i finished laughing and puking, i just went out and upgraded my ipod... somebody in microsoft's marketing division should be fired...

[Rainier @ May 23rd 2008 2:32PM]

I suppose you would have bit had the name been iZune, yes? ;)

[Hayst @ May 23rd 2008 3:57PM]

or better yet, rainier, the "ZunePod"... i would've bit like a rabid dog, my friend...

[Josef @ May 23rd 2008 4:24PM]

"and once i finished laughing and puking"

That must have been messy. In fact,I bet you made a real mess all over your Abercrombie & Fitch Cargo shorts while listening to My Chemical Romance on your iPod and drinking your half-caf double-decaf iced Mocchacino from Starbucks.

[Hayst @ May 23rd 2008 4:53PM]

good attempt, josef, but wrong on all counts.... hell, i don't even know what a "half-caf double decaf iced moccachino" is.... i think the fact that you do speaks more about your tastes than mine.

[Mobile Phone Diva @ May 23rd 2008 11:40PM]

On the other hand, it's unique and you remember it. Perhaps it wasn't the best choice for a name, but as long as people remember the name, it works.

[Anton @ May 23rd 2008 2:30PM]

People still shop at Gamestop?

[Ben @ May 23rd 2008 6:33PM]

That should be their slogan...

[El Taco @ May 23rd 2008 5:21PM]

I only trade my games in there, but then buy from gamestop's online store.

[--Ed @ May 23rd 2008 2:31PM]

Wow did not even know that Gamestop sold mp3 players and did not even know that MS was still selling the Zune. I learned 2 things today cool!

[Low Ranked @ May 23rd 2008 4:15PM]

Here's something else to learn. Microsoft doesn't sell Zunes, it manufactures and ships them to vendors.

Your local retailer does all the selling to the consumer market.

[--Ed @ May 23rd 2008 4:29PM]

Hey LowRanked!!!
So what, MS just gives them away for free to vendors?? What kind of a smartass comment are you trying to make?

Just to straighten you out MS "sells" them to a middle man who in turn sells them to another middle man or to consumers. So in the end MS does sell them to you just not directly bumbass. Have you not passes the 8th grade yet??

[totoro @ May 23rd 2008 2:34PM]

Actually, this was a pretty ambitious effort by Microsoft to leverage Xbox360 popularity to market the Zune. Obviously no halo effect resulted, but you can understand the attempt.

[Alex @ May 23rd 2008 3:09PM]

I see what you did there! …you did do something there, didn't you?

[ReynaldoRiv @ May 23rd 2008 4:22PM]

@Alex:

haha, I can only wish, good call though. Only problem being he didn't capitalize the 'H' so it's not distinguishable as intentional.