As the economy continues to dip as low as Hermes doing the limbo, once thriving businesses are forced to declare bankruptcy and even close up shop for good. And so it went for Gamecrazy and its parent company, Hollywood Video/Movie Gallery.

I am no economist. All the economic theory I know I picked up on the streets listening to the Wu Tang Clan, so I can’t tell you if the the Hollywood Video/Movie Gallery business model was destined to fail as we transition into the age of Netflix and digital downloads. However, I am a gamer and I can tell you the loss of Gamecrazy hurts us all.

I worked for Gamecrazy six years ago. My third day on the job was the midnight launch of Halo 2. I worked there until soon after the launch of the Xbox 360. I have first hand experience with the way Gamecrazy did things. I talked with District Managers and Regional Managers as they explained the Gamecrazy philosophy. I watched as the company grew to the point that it seemed like it was going to challenge mighty Gamestop for supremacy. After I left, I would still pop in from time to time to various Gamecrazy stores. Even after all the employees I knew had long gone and no one knew that I had worked there once upon a time, I was still treated with respect.

Gamecrazy seemed like the last big-time alternative to the evils of Gamestop. Yes, Gamecrazy was a giant corporation that, at its worst, pimped used games and pushed trade ins, MVP’s, and pre-orders with the best of them. For me, though, their prices always seemed a little more fair than Gamestop. You got a little more for your trades and they dropped the price of used games more than $5. A stack of games that would get you $20 at Gamestop would often get you $35 or $40 at Gamecrazy.

Since the stores were not generally in malls, you didn’t have to worry about 5,000 bored teenagers milling about, killing time on the demo stations. You could generally have a conversation with the Gamecrazy store associate and they often knew their games pretty well. They would also take the time to remember your name and what kind of games you liked. Sure, it might have all been a sales tactic so they could sell you an MVP card or a pre-order, but I like walking into a store and getting recognized by the employees. I like when employees see me as a person and not just another transaction.

I went into a Gamecrazy yesterday and the place had been gutted. Most of the stock had been sold off as the store tries to liquidate its remaining stock. Walls that had been filled to the brim with games had been stripped down to next to nothing. The DS section was down to the games that have those crappy generic cases, Xbox 360 had a whole lot of copies of Call of Duty 3 and not much else, there were stacks of old Guitar Hero guitars, and everything was 20- 30% off. The store was just starting to take down names of people that wanted to purchase the fixtures and display cases. The lone employee tried to frantically answer everyone’s questions as he went about his business with a sad desperate look in his eyes.

I went in expecting to take advantage of some deals, but left feeling sad and ashamed.

Gamecrazy did not deserve to die. Its employees shouldn’t be out looking for new jobs. They should be happily selling you MVP cards and trying to get you to try Bayonetta.

Goodbye Gamecrazy.

You will be remembered.

Tags: Bayonetta, call of duty, economy, Editorials, Gamecrazy, guitar hero, Halo, Hollywood Video, memories, used games

This entry was posted on Friday, May 28th, 2010 at 5:00 am and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.