Best Buy GCU is being Discontinued?

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Mine is good till Feb 2019.

I wonder if they are going to come out with a different program.

O well will use my bestbuy credit card alot less.
 
so we get to keep the benefits until our current subscription expires but can't renew? i guess thats not as bad as suddenly ending it...well that sucks...guess best buy is not going to be the no 1 place to buy games from anymore..but we'll still get deals...we have newegg ..and amazon and a few other places...even places like gamestop has good deals from time to time like tomorrow's pro day

 
btw has anyone noticed that when you're logged in and on the best buy site...you remember how it would cross off the price and show you the GCU price...it doesn't do that anymore...but luckily if you add it to the cart it will show the discounted price..

 
Truly a shame. Sad to see it go but I suppose the writing has been on the wall for a while. Kinda wished I upped another 2 years but at least I am covered until Feb 2019. Clearly they were not making money on this and the idea was to get people in stores. It did cause me to consider BB more as an option for other stuff, but for the most part I just picked my item up a left. I bet Amazon will totally kill their 20% off pre-orders in lieu of this. 

Third party and Sony first party titles, I will probably still buy at BB, as I like physical games and they drop in price quite a bit after release. Though Target and Amazon will certainly be a lot more tempting now. Nice that the $10 reward certificates are still a thing (although most of the games on it are not worth full price IMO). Mostly a shame for Nintendo games, as they hardly ever go on sale or drop in price. Might even make sense to buy them on the eshop as you technically get 5% on digital purchases there now (stacked with discounted eshop cards).

Would have been interesting to see a more expensive program. $30 for two year was cleanly under priced for what you were getting. Hopefully it gets replaced with something decent...

 
I'm good through Jan. 23, 2020. I'll have to go on a pre-order binge towards the end.

When GCU began, it was $120 for 2 years. It later went down to $60, followed by $30. If it we're $60-80 for one year, I'd still pay it.
 
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It was a good run GCU, picked 4 years worth up during the SIM card deal a few years back for like $10. Got my money’s worth for sure. Went and preordered Super Smash and COD for the $10 bonus, hopefully Battlefield gets one too. My GCU runs out in November so I’ll hve it take full advantage until then. I probably will preorder more at GameStop now because with no savings at Best Buy there’s no point in looking for trade in’s to move credit.
 
I mean, most of you guys admit to only ever shopping at BB for glitch abuse or flipping between GS and BB.  And then a lot of you even admit to taking advantage of a glitch to get super cheap GCU.  And then you wonder why it's going away.  I mean we can all lie about how we totally negated all our GCU savings by buying overpriced crap at BB, but it doesn't make it true.  It had a good run.  Move on.  

 
Why can't Best Buy just up the price of the program? I would gladly pay more as I buy enough games under the program to get my money back and more. (well, that just shows that Best Buy would still lose money in that case)

 
why the hell are there so many posters in this thread saying to not post about this thread's topic within this thread?

 
I'm glad I renewed my GCU last month. The only reason I did it was to take advantage of the $10 cert promo they were offering for spending over $25.

Maybe GCU will stack on BF now.
 
I'll stop shopping at Best Buy not out of spite, but GCU was just the only thing bringing me there. I have a GameStop much closer that surprisingly doesn't suck, and I'll just go back to buying games after 9 months rather than pre-ordering them.
 
I'm surprised they kept it around this long. I renewed my late last year, however I doubt they'll keep it for current members that long. I can see them making changes to the program to make it practically useless by the end of the year.

 
FoxAssGamer said:
I mean, most of you guys admit to only ever shopping at BB for glitch abuse or flipping between GS and BB. And then a lot of you even admit to taking advantage of a glitch to get super cheap GCU. And then you wonder why it's going away. I mean we can all lie about how we totally negated all our GCU savings by buying overpriced crap at BB, but it doesn't make it true. It had a good run. Move on.
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I can honestly say I have never done this. Every time, and I mean every time it happens... I find out about it many hours late. (sometimes days)

 
Id been trying to turn in Monster Hunter World on PS4 for trade in for a minth. They had the Xbox one version but not ps4 and they wouldn't put it up even after calling in and complaining. Finally on the 16th I called back to complain then asked for corporates number.

I called into their corporate office to complain about that and then recalled that I've been aggravated that they never have used video games for sale in my two stores nor online. They haven't for years. They advertise extra credit back on trade ins but won't let you trade games in (my monster Hunter). I told them they can't falsely advertise the program. Since they wouldn't refund my GC amount due to it I would file a complaint to the FTC on the advertisement grounds.

They said they would get back to me in 48 hours. Never heard back... Directly. I think I broke Best Buy.
 
Maybe they are replacing this with something else like when GCU replaced the atgamer coupons or before that when we had the gamers club coupons.

Or maybe they’ll have $10 certs for all preorders. That would probably still be enough to convince me to stick with them for new games. Major bummer it’s going to be a lot harder to buy those 19.99 games now haha.
 
ck0 said:
A second important point: publishers still need retailers in the sense that it helps them advertise and keep the mindshare. When you see a game on the shelf in the store, it's advertising.
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PC games sold retail are usually a clamshell DVD case with a slip of paper inside holding the Steam/Ubi/EA activation key. No reason why consoles couldn't change to the same "physical" purchase if store presence is a concern.

 
Given how terrible Best Buy has been over the past year or so, I'm not surprised. They already ruined the trade-in values and eliminated the "buy 2 get 1 free" December sale.

 
Well that sucks. I have less than a year left.

I've never had a problem with Best Buy, but never regularly shopped there before the discount.  Mostly due to a combination of distance and general lack of interest in specifically shopping there for games.

I just don't buy games in physical stores if I can help it, and their prices were never better or worse than other online options.

Without the GCU discounts, there just is little reason for me to buy from them.  I'm sure I'll buy things now and then when the prices are good, but little otherwise.

 
Just renewed mine a couple months ago so hopefully they will honor everybody's GCU through its expiration date. I got a lot of reward certs through my Best Buy Visa so I'll still probably get games from them after GCU expires when I have certs. Otherwise most of my games will be bought digitally through PSN or Green Man Gaming who usually has some sort of promo going.

 
I let my Prime membership expire and didn't renew at $99 because I could just use GCU for games... and now, GCU is gone and Prime costs $120. fucking hell. 

This is honestly sad news and sucks it's so sudden. I think mine expires later this year. 

EDIT* I'm actually starting to wonder if they're gonna start a membership like Prime or something. Something that costs more but offers more "benefits" that most people prob won't use. I mean, I told myself I can live without Prime and I've been without Prime for a few weeks and I already fucking miss it because I can no longer order something small here and there and get free shipping. 

 
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I'm good until Sept 2020 - wonder if when May 2020 rolls around it will stop working in the system.

 
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Modus Pwnens said:
I'll stop shopping at Best Buy not out of spite, but GCU was just the only thing bringing me there. I have a GameStop much closer that surprisingly doesn't suck, and I'll just go back to buying games after 9 months rather than pre-ordering them.
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This right here. I only buy at BB for the games without that I don’t have too many reasons to go. People complain about GS but I have a couple around that are really good.
 
Elite Plus member and GCU expires in March 2020. Hope they honor till 2020 or they charge people $30 per year membership instead killed it. After 2020 i don't mind paying $30 per year. When you buy 4 games you totally get your money back ;)

 
Terrible news, but it had to come to an end eventually. Luckily for me, i'm sub through 2020 and even more so, it was around when I was broke. It will cut down my spending though, if they still offer the $10 preorder bonus I'll buy from them.

 
Guess it was inevitable. I’ll use it until it expires and then probably switch to Target for that red card discount. Not ready for the physical game apocalypse.
 
Miker525 said:
Someone confirmed earlier in the thread it's no longer working in stores. I just texted my old co-workers there too to get some further info if possible.

Incredibly stupid move by BB. If they don't replace it with a new program they're about to lose a shit ton of customers
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Somehow, I don’t think best buy will care if they lose an obligation to sell new games at 20% off
 
blueaurora said:
I called into their corporate office to complain about that and then recalled that I've been aggravated that they never have used video games for sale in my two stores nor online. They haven't for years. They advertise extra credit back on trade ins but won't let you trade games in (my monster Hunter). I told them they can't falsely advertise the program. Since they wouldn't refund my GC amount due to it I would file a complaint to the FTC on the advertisement grounds.

They said they would get back to me in 48 hours. Never heard back... Directly. I think I broke Best Buy.
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You should consult with Slidecage about your retail woes.

But seriously: BBY trade-in's have always had weird omissions from the catalog of obvious titles. Those are the times you'll just have to go with Gamestop or sell it on eBay to get the real value of it instead of $19 for MH:W.

 
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I wish I had renewed in advance, but I saw no reason to.  :wall:  Mine ends the first week of September.  I am going to miss GCU, it was fun while it lasted.  I knew this day was coming, and dreaded it so much lol.  It will be hard to pay $60 at launch when I am so used to $48.  I guess I will go back to being pickier about what I grab day one.  I've always joked to people that I was preparing for the gaming apocalypse when they saw how many games I owned...  so I guess I'm ready for this.  :whee:

I'm pretty sure I will be shopping much, much less at Best Buy than I was.  Mainly because I spent so much on games, it put me into elite/elite plus.  So I funneled a lot of my shopping to Best Buy to get more points and have the extended return.  Plus, I was in the store so often for games, it was fairly convenient to buy anything I needed and could buy there. Hell, I even bought my toothbrush heads and k-cups there lol.  

I went ahead and locked in some preorders for games I know I want day one after my sub runs out, like Death Stranding (wish RDR2 was up).  Hopefully they honor them.

 
Man... at least I still have another year and a few months (that is if they don't cancel it before then). Still, things might not be as bad as they seem. I remember buying quite a few DS, 3DS, PS3, and 360 games for $5-10 pre-GCU thanks to nice discounts and those magazine coupons. Hopefully Best Buy will still have better deals than the competition, because I'm not much of a fan of the way Amazon, Gamestop, and Target do business.

 
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Well I'm good until the first week of November.  I guess I have to focus what little video game money I have to spend on Best Buy.  I suppose the lack of deals for me lately has been a good thing.

 
I just renewed mine two days ago because it wasnt available online. Hopefully theyll still honor the 20 Percent off

 
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I'm surprised that it wasn't mentioned, until Uncle Anwar, but now that GCU will be gone, we might start having some amazing Black Friday deals again.

Past two years GCU didn't work with Black Friday and early Black Friday.

 
Noooo!  GCU kept me a reliable Best Buy customer, because the large amount of games that I would buy each year due to GCU put me well on the way to Elite, which further incentivized me to keep Best Buy as first choice for any other items in order to hit Elite for free shipping on more games.  Computers, KS8000, washing machine, etc.  It became almost funny how every year I was able to rationalize other purchases to keep the video game train rolling.

Without GCU, my video game spending at Best Buy will become much less predictable, hit or miss depending on sales.  This will have a knock-on effect for my additional spending, since it might put Elite out of easy reach, in turn making it less likely I will buy other things (if I'm not going to hit Elite, what's the point?).  Furthermore, the free shipping benefit of Elite itself becomes devalued to me because I can no longer say with any certainty that I will need it regularly to buy future games anyway.

 
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This is stupidest business move I've ever seen in my life.  I'm terribly afraid they will completely go out of business now.  :(  I was hoping to NOT renew Prime at its new ridiculous price and just keep using GCU.  Now it looks like my GCU membership expired 5 days ago and I can't renew it anymore! Come on BestBuy!  Charge MORE for the program and I will gladly pay, don't flat out cancel it when the economy is booming and your stock is at an all time high!  What an idiot move.  My Prime doesn't expire for another year, but now with GCU canceled, there's no competition so the Prime 20% is going to go away imminently as well. Mark my words.

This will hurt BBY even more than they anticipate as it will accelerate digital downloads.

 
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ElektroDragon said:
This is stupidest business move I've ever seen in my life. I'm terribly afraid they will completely go out of business now. :( I was hoping to NOT renew Prime at its new ridiculous price and just keep using GCU. Now it looks like my GCU membership expired 5 days ago and I can't renew it anymore! Come on BestBuy! Charge MORE for the program and I will gladly pay, don't flat out cancel it when the economy is booming and your stock is at an all time high! What an idiot move. My Prime doesn't expire for another year, but now with GCU canceled, there's no competition so the Prime 20% is going to go away imminently as well. Mark my words.
This will hurt BBY even more than they anticipate as it will accelerate digital downloads.
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I don’t think losing an obligation to sell games at a loss is really going to affect them overall. Who knows, they might start having better weekly sales or daily deals now.
 
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I got a lot of great deals there over the years with that membership.  It's sad to see it go but at this point, it's no biggie for me.  I went mostly digital about a year ago.  The only games I buy physical now is the occasional first party Nintendo game. 

 
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I guess I can't be too upset.  More and more I was starting to go digital only for the covenience and less clutter.  This will really force my hand down the all digital path once my Prime expires or they cancel their discount.  Because no way will I pay $120.  I am actually more worried about BestBuy's future as a brick and mortar now.  GCU or not, I don't want to see them close!

Some really stupid executive thought:  HEY, we are selling TONS of games, our stock is booming, our foot traffic is high! We don't need this money losing program anymore.

Except the program was the reason for all of the above. D'oh!

 
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phoenixlau said:
Noooo! GCU kept me a reliable Best Buy customer, because the large amount of games that I would buy each year due to GCU put me well on the way to Elite, which further incentivized me to keep Best Buy as first choice for any other items in order to hit Elite for free shipping on more games. Computers, KS8000, washing machine, etc. It became almost funny how every year I was able to rationalize other purchases to keep the video game train rolling.

Without GCU, my video game spending at Best Buy will become much less predictable, hit or miss depending on sales. This will have a knock-on effect for my additional spending, since it might put Elite out of easy reach, in turn making it less likely I will buy other things (if I'm not going to hit Elite, what's the point?). Furthermore, the free shipping benefit of Elite itself becomes devalued to me because I can no longer say with any certainty that I will need it regularly to buy future games anyway.
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Haha. This pretty much sums up my logic and buying habits from Best Buy as well. I have to think we aren't the only ones. Best Buy has been doing pretty well financially since really pushing GCU. Amazingly stupid of them to cut out a program that was leading to a lot of non-gaming purchases. This decision is going to bite them in the butt unless they have plans to implement a similar program that replaces GCU.

 
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