EB Games Closing down??

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#3450530 7-Jan-2026 11:06

It's sad to see another retailer go.

I feel for their staff. I see they're talking about finding them positions in AU but given most will be low paid they will probably not have the resources to make that shift (and who know how long the business will remain viable in Australia too).

JB Hi-Fi is expanding, they will be looking for staff (On their website they have a store coming soon in Tauranga).

CokemonZ

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#3450534 7-Jan-2026 11:29

Saving retail, especially in malls is incredibly challenging, especially without exclusive product.

It was great as a 'walk past and see what they have shop' but never a destination.

Turning it into somewhere you wanted to specifically go is the end goal - without it being just discounts.

Bringing people in for special days is good, however I have found that often people won't spend, or that you get people that spend a large amount of time, and don't spend enough. This puts off casual 'coming in for a look traffic'.

To make people aware is also incredibly difficult - you almost need a social media/marketing manager per store that joins local groups, hooks up with local hobbyists and drives awareness.

All difficult to run at scale, local hobby/game shops do a better job of local community, and those with large budgets - mightyape - do a better job of overall awareness.

When did ebgames last show up in online searches for product? events?

Sad to see it go, and I think it still has a role, but the cost and complexity of the turn around :(

Visit your local game/hobby shop!

richms

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#3450537 7-Jan-2026 11:55

Its been a while since I have ordered from them online. I recall they were like JB in trying to scam you with freight costs when they have to send from multiple stores.

As much as we like to rag on how kogan ruined mighty ape, they are still leaps ahead of the other options for that sort of thing like EB and JB. Hell, even the warehouse is better when they have what you want.

Richard rich.ms

sen8or

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#3450538 7-Jan-2026 11:57

Sadly with digital downloads and game pass type products, and the likes of Temu selling cheap merchandise, it was as inevitable as the closure of the local video store, it was simply a slower death. I thought they did well to diversify into the merchandise and survive as long as they did. Malls, the likes of Westfield charge an arm and a leg for retail space, add in the cost of staff, insurance and other overheads and that becomes an awful lot of sales needed just to cover the basics, let alone actually make a profit.

JimmyH

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#3450620 7-Jan-2026 18:13

The writing has been on the wall for some time. Their bread and butter was game sales and, I understand it, their best margin was actually the resale of used games. With games going to digital download, and the used game market also consequently evaporating, they don't seem to have much of a business model left.

MikeAqua

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#3450897 8-Jan-2026 22:28

I'm not a gamer but ... aren't most games purchased over the web these days? That would presumably decrease revenues for stores selling physical media. My kids buy all their hardware online too.

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nunasdream

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#3452391 12-Jan-2026 17:35

That is unfortunate, I actually buy physical games as they're actually cheaper a lot of the time.

invisibleman18

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#3452539 13-Jan-2026 10:27

Yeah I prefer physical games for playstation as they are usually cheaper - the PSN store has a monopoly on the digital versions as you can only get them from there and physical retailers have to compete on price. You can also resell a disc version when finished with it which you can't with digital.

Mighty Ape are still usually the cheapest for disc versions. EB Game have usually been more expensive. But I did decide to take advantage of the current 30% off to grab a couple of games I hadn't got around to buying yet as it made them cheaper than anywhere else. It said they were in stock at my local store (Queensgate, Lower Hutt) so I went for click and collect rather than pay for postage. Email came back a couple of hours later that staff in the store had been unable to find them so I could select click and collect from another store, or have them shipped free. Went to the link and the only option it would let me choose was click and collect from the same store again so just submitted that then email came back a few minutes later than they were ready to collect - went in the next day and they were. Don't know if they had been too lazy to look the first time or it was just sent in error.

MikeB4

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#3452550 13-Jan-2026 11:29

When our kids were still all living at home we used to go into Gamesman a lot and seldom went into EB Games. When Gamesman merged with EB Games we more or less stopped going into the stores. Most games etc were purchased online. After the kids left home there was no point as I stopped gaming. I was taliking to them about EB at a family BBQ and the general thoughts were they buy online so no big deal.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

wellygary

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#3452950 14-Jan-2026 16:44

..... and as expected the outcome is closure,

So you've got till the end of Jan if they've got anything you want.....

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/584037/all-eb-games-stores-in-nz-to-close-at-end-of-month

nunasdream

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#3452951 14-Jan-2026 16:55

That is crap. I guess they'll be trying to get rid of stuff then.

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Goosey

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#3453001 14-Jan-2026 17:24

nunasdream:

That is crap. I guess they'll be trying to get rid of stuff then.

Not necessarily, could be cheaper and more profitable to pack up containers of stock and fixtures and send to OZ and use there until they also shut them down…

michaelmurfy

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#3453049 14-Jan-2026 18:07

That really sucks.

It's difficult job wise out there right now so I really feel for all the NZ staff affected. I actually buy quite a lot of PS5 games from EB so they'll be missed.

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nunasdream

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#3453051 14-Jan-2026 18:39

Goosey:

nunasdream:

That is crap. I guess they'll be trying to get rid of stuff then.

Not necessarily, could be cheaper and more profitable to pack up containers of stock and fixtures and send to OZ and use there until they also shut them down…

You may be right, their website has nothing on it at all now.

michaelmurfy

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#3453056 14-Jan-2026 19:32

And they're back.

50% off everything (doesn't look like there are exemptions here).
$3 Retro Preowned games.

Starting tomorrow 1pm.

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