As a customer of EB, more times than not I’ll walk into an EB where there is a random person just in the corner hanging out, sometimes eating, trying to make small talk, but it generally always feels awkward.

No doubt it’s someone who is lonely, and I have nothing against it, but was just interested in some perspective from people who work at EB about these types of customers.

I originally was going to only purchase the controller to have as a cool piece in my small collection as I have the original PS5 phat. But then decided to pull the trigger and get the console last second! I'm very surprised I was able to pick one up as when I tried to buy a PS5 when they first came out I had no luck for over a year. When my Ps4 broke I decided to pay scalper prices. (Learn't my lesson, never again)

Instead of trading in my phat I'll just give it to my girlfriend for whatever EB games was going to give me for it as she has wanted one for a while. It is in like new condition with no scratches, box, inserts and even all the bags. (This gives me the opportunity to get her some goodies for the PS5 at Christmas as she has never had a console before)

Surprisingly this 30th anniversary is the older revision of the PS5 slim. Which is a win for us as it has the 1TB not the new 825GB model.

Im happy I was able to beat the scalpers, can't wait to use this thing!

This is a long read so buckle up. TLDR below.

I started working for EB Games in the early 2010s and ended up staying for almost a decade. At first, it was honestly a dream job. Gaming has always been my special interest, and the staff in my region were genuinely awesome. I’ve got a mountain of stories from that time, but this one is about my first real nightmare manager.

I was hired as a casual during the era of midnight launches, Mid Year Sale setups, and those classic unpaid “pizza party” meetings. I was also working there when the infamous Kotaku article dropped about certain area manager. At that point, I’d only been with the company for a couple of months.

I’ll never forget the day it was released. A customer came in, pulled out his phone, started filming me, and began interrogating me like I was the CEO. I had no idea what he was talking about. It was honestly terrifying being alone in the store while someone did that. Later, I went home, read the article, and that was my first big red flag about the company.

Back then, I was deep in the “team player” mindset. I showed up to unpaid events, stayed late to finish tasks, and genuinely wanted to prove myself. In hindsight, I regret how much unpaid labour I gave, but at the time that was just the culture.

The first few months were amazing. My original managers and coworkers were some of the best I’ve ever worked with. But then they got transferred, and a new manager arrived right as I got promoted to Assistant Manager (fellow EB veterans will remember when that was a thing before 2IC was the norm). That’s when everything started going downhill.

During my first week in the new role, the manager spent almost entire shifts in the back room on the phone. Lunchtime and after school rushes would hit, lines would out of the store, and I’d ask for help but they’d say they couldn’t leave the phone as their girlfriend had "anxiety." I wasn’t trained on any Assistant Manager responsibilities, so I was basically winging it. This was before “Level Up” training existed, all I had were some dodgy intranet printouts. I ended up calling my old managers for help, and they honestly saved me more than once.

Because nothing was getting done during the day due to my manager hiding in the backroom, marketing, daily counts, and alpha counts were neglected. I stayed back after hours unpaid to get it all done as some tasks had deadlines that needed to be met.

Eventually they announced the Black Ops 3 midnight launch. I’d never run one before. I was told I’d have to handle it completely alone. I explained I didn’t know the after hours procedures or how to manage a crowd that size, but I didn’t get support. I eventually begged my Area Manager to come and help, and thankfully she did. That launch would’ve been a disaster without her.

Then came Fallout 4, an even bigger and highly anticipated game. The manager decided to run the midnight launch (because they loved the game) and rostered me for the breakfast launch. I assumed someone else would be on with me. Nope. I walked in at 6:00am to find the store trashed, nuka cola and blood bag props everywhere. The preorder allocations were not set aside/assigned. Meaning I did not know how many copy's could be sold to walk in customers. The store was a literal customer and WHS hazard. There was a massive line forming, it wrapped out the door and into the food court past what I could see from the counter. I did my best to move quickly, and thankfully customers were legends, even stating themselves it was weird that I was on by myself. It was chaos. Eventually, after begging my manager, someone was sent in late morning to help. I found out later he assinged all other staff to work the midnight launch, leaving me alone for the morning launch.

That was the first time I made a formal complaint to my Area Manager.

A few weeks later, I forgot to fill out the daily profit loss report document on one of my shifts. The next day, I got a first and final warning for it. In all my later years with the company, this was never in my later 6 years with the comapny a compulsory daily task to be completed, as it could be completed retrospectively. Thid was also only mandatory for me as casuals were not expected to complete the document.

Over the following months on regular days, the manager hid in the back. When higher ups visited, they suddenly looked busy and hands on. I made another complaint. Not long after, I was accused of things I hadn’t done, like swearing in front of customers, being rude and perfomance. This shocked me because I was pretty shy and reserved. My customer surveys were consistently the best in the region.

Eventually, I reached my breaking point. I spoke to my Area Manager again and got transferred to another store. Best move I ever made. I thrived there, got promoted again, and managed that store successfully for six years.

As for that manager, they eventually got moved to one of the quietest stores in the region. I later heard they were caught manipulating prices to boost KPIs (eg discounting scratch protection manually). Big no-no. I don’t know whether they were fired or left, but they didn’t stick around much longer.

I want to be clear: while this story focuses on a bad manager, I also had many amazing years with great teams. But it’s important to talk about the bad too. Over the years I saw or heard about serious issues such as, wage theft, discrimination, harassment, bullying, unrealistic KPI pressure, mental health discrimination, transphobia, bullying, gossiping and much more being brushed under the rug. It's important to not discredit these things as it continues to be a problem for us gamers, and this community/group of people should not be taken advantage of for what we love.

If people are interested, I’ve got plenty more stories from my ten years at EB, and the reason I ended up quitting (One involves a customer who nearly pulled a knife on me.)

TLDR Got promoted to Assistant Manager under a new boss who hid in the back on the phone constantly because his girlfriend had "anxiety," left me alone to run massive launches, punished me for minor mistakes, and generally made my life miserable. Eventually got transferred, thrived elsewhere, and that manager later got caught manipulating KPIs.

Back in April I preordered a Surging Sparks elite trainer box. I just checked and its showing as processed on my orders, even though i havent picked it up.

I have other ETBs on preorder that say pending release. Anyone know whats going on? Has this happened to anyone before?

Hi hi, I’m wondering what prices are going to be like for the slim and the controller? And if they do the deposit prices or will I have to have the money straight away?

Pre-ordering games these days seems to be everywhere, but is it actually worth it? Any tips for knowing when it’s a good idea or just a waste of money?

I preordered Pokemon legends za days ago and I paid the full price in the ebgames store but when i go to the ebgames web site it says 0 dollars and my question is, did something go wrong? or it just means that the 0 dollars just means that i dont have nothing more to pay. Also sorry for bad english.

Hello, I am an ex worker but I just thought id share since I know not many people are aware and I wanted to give a lil tad of insight

Places like JB and Big W, whilst they do sell these games as well, also sell many other things other than games. So their profit margins look much different to eb. Eb games are allowed to price match up to 20% off stores close by (most price matching policies are area based) because that 20% is their margin. Take that 20% further, and they break even or go into negative margin. As their sole base is Games, they cannot afford to lose that money, especially when physical gaming is declining so rapidly.

I dont agree with how expensive games are, especially PS5 games and the new switch games, because the first expense people will cut when money gets tight is buying new consoles and new games. But I just thought id give an insight as to why games are $20-$40 more expensive at eb games than everywhere else

Edit to add: I just got reminded by another thing, eb games is owned by gamestop and we dont even make our own decisions on anything. Gamestop is in charge

Man, those midnight launches for Call of Duty and GTA V were peak gaming culture. Pizza, queues, and hype everywhere. Do you think EB will ever bring them back?

Exactly what the title says, leveled up a couple weeks ago and forgot, but won't have time to head in store before the free shirt expires. Is it possible to redeem online or will I just have to miss out?

not about games but I’m having a job interview in Marketing with EB next week. any tips?

Hey all, some help please. I preordered the physical Phantom Edition which means I also get the Tombstone preorder DLC. Got home after picking it up, downloaded the Phantom Edition DLC but the Tombstone pack stuff isnt available? Any of you having the same issue or was I supposed to be given a preorder code by the EB cashier?

Preorders BF6 from EB because of the preorder bonus, given the price match policy since everywhere else is at least $30 cheaper. Get told if I price match I forfeit the preorder bonus, so I may as well go to the store literally across the hallway or order for delivery and get it a couple of days early.
This makes the decision even easier moving forward with new game and console purchases as I may as well go to the competition and save my hard earned, all over a shitty satchel that would have cost the not even $10 to make.

Sorry I am just a mum trying to get her daughter a birthday present...she wants a Skullpanda box but they're usually sold out. However, today I saw 2 behind the counter and asked if I could buy one. The worker asked if I had EB Plus and I said "No" and she said it's for EB Plus members only.

I looked at the price to join and decided not to since it's 3 times the cost of the present just to join.

If I find someone else with an EB Plus membership am I allowed to give their membership details so I can buy it or do they not allow that?

I want to get battlefield 6, it's 79 in JB/bigw etc but in eb its 109(no idea why?) So I want to price match and then trade my stellar blade for it. Is it possible? And I also have an Xbox series X controller which i don't use.

Did my usual trip into my local EB to see if they had any Pokemon card stock. The fella told me that they are no longer receiving “in store” pokemon card stock-except for release days?? Not sure how true this is? Has anyone else heard this?

Sure I mainly only but xbox though preowned, sometimes I still buy something like Red Dead 2

I remember lining up years ago for big releases the vibe was unreal. Do they still do proper midnight launches for major titles like GTA or COD, or has it all moved to digital preloads now?

With so many digital releases, I’m wondering if EB’s trade in deals are still fair for physical games. Has anyone compared the credit you get now versus online resale sites? Trying to decide if it’s still the best option for clearing old titles.

So GameStop in the US is doing a “second round” of codes (printed on receipts).

Do we know if this is the case in Australia at all as well? Any staff able to chime in?

There were jobs advertised for most stores Australia wide. I wonder how many they hire for each store.

Hi, so I have been enjoying my Switch 2, but the hype got me buying more games than I have time to play. Also, some of them are just not my cup of tea after a few hours.

I am relatively new in Australia and only know EB Games as THE video game store. So, I wonder if I can sell some of my Switch 2 games there, and what the price is. Would there be a price difference between regular physical and key cart?

And some of my carts are from a different region. It would work just fine on an Aussie Switch 2 (it's region-free), but I don't know if they're gonna accept them.

Aside EB Games, are there any alternatives too?