Walmart Ranked #1 Gaming Retailer, Despite Incompetence
I hate Walmart. For many reasons that I won’t go into here, I can’t stand this big-box retailer. Since we try to stick to gaming here, I’ll list only the related reasons why I don’t like shopping at Walmart. Recently, I decided to pick up Fallout 3 on a whim when it launched. I live in a large town where we have two such Walmarts, and I had some credit with them, so I decided to wander in. I eventually tracked down a sales associate and inquired about the game. They seemed to know what game I was talking about, and proceeded to go over to a shopping cart full of boxes, which were clearly marked Fallout 3. Surely nothing would go wrong, right?
I was specifically looking for a copy for my 360, which I didn’t think would be an issue. Well after the person helping me had opened 7 (yes, seven) boxes which contained copies for the PS3, they finally wandered in the back to see if there were more. After returning with a manager of some sort, I was informed that they don’t always get copies of a game for all systems, especially if they aren’t a popular console. The Sega Saturn was an unpopular console, the Xbox 360 to my knowledge, still seems to be quite popular among gamers. I traveled to the other Walmart, only to find the exact same issue, which was very disheartening.
Another day I decided to grace the walls of my least-favorite retailer to get a different game, thinking that since it had been out for a little while, I’d have no problem. I couldn’t have been further from the truth. I went over to the glass case and found exactly what I was looking for. Then, spying an associate, I told them what I needed. The girl started laughing and told me that if I could patiently wait for an hour or two, she’d be more than happy to help. Yes, she actually said that. Apparently the only person in the entire store that had a key to the games case was out on break. Now I’ve never worked at Walmart before, but I don’t recall any job ever giving me a break that lasted “an hour or two”.
So there you have it, I hate Walmart. They are the absolute worst place I’ve ever gone to buy video games. Yet I was filled with wonder today when I read that IGN conducted a survey of 2,000 gamers age 12 to 54. The survey asked them where they most frequently shopped for video games. The leader, by a majority vote of 62% was Walmart. Honestly, I still have credit with them, and have no intention of trying to buy another game from them. It is a complete waste of my time, as the store is ran by incompetent morons that wouldn’t know a PS3 from a George Foreman Grill.
