EB Games Australia

EB Games Australia (originally Electronics Boutique) is an Australian video game and entertainment software retailer. EB Games mainly sells video games, consoles, and accessories for Nintendo, PC, PlayStation and Xbox systems. The company operates over 300 EB Games stores as well as over 80 Zing Pop Culture stores in Australia. The company runs a further 40 EB Games stores in New Zealand. EB Games Australia is headquartered in Eagle Farm, Queensland (a suburb of Brisbane) and is a subsidiary of GameStop.

Electronics Boutique Australia Pty Ltd
EB Games Australia
TypePublic company
IndustryElectronics Stores
Founded27 February 1997 (1997-02-27)[1]
Headquarters25 Backhouse Place, Trade Coast Central, Eagle Farm, Queensland, Australia
Key people
Steve Wilson
(Managing Director)
ProductsVideo Games, Consoles and Accessories
Number of employees
5000+
ParentGameStop
DivisionsZing Pop Culture Australia
Websitewww.ebgames.com.au - Australia
www.ebgames.co.nz - New Zealand

History

The first Australian store was opened on 5 July 1997 in Westfield Shoppingtown Miranda, New South Wales, with stores opening near-concurrently at Westfield Group Tuggerah, New South Wales and in the Old Charlestown Square complex.

In 2003, Electronics Boutique officially started trading as EB Games to differentiate themselves from the larger traditional multi-department electronics stores where video games had been relegated to one department within the home entertainment section.

EB World

EB World is a loyalty program founded in 2011. The program offers five reward levels. Level one, two, three and four can be earned by collecting points called "carrots" when shopping at EB Games and Zing Pop Culture stores.[2] The level five tier is by invitation only with memberships being reviewed annually.[3][4] The program allows receipt free shopping, longer preorder holds and other additional benefits through continued purchases.[5] As of 2017 the program had over 5 million members.[6]

Since the launch of EB World, EB Games has released a number of limited edition EB World membership cards as gifts or to commemorate certain events. EB World cards have been released for: the inaugural year of EB World,[7] EB Expo 2012 and 2013, EB Games Sydney CBD store opening, PlayStation 4 & Xbox One console launches, Star Wars Day,[8] Red Dead Redemption 2,[9] World of Warcraft[10] and in 2012 as Christmas presents for Level 4 customers.

In December 2019 the EB World membership exceeded 6 million members.

Pre-owned products

EB Games pre-owned/trade-in program covers consoles, games, controllers, toys-to-life figures, iPods, iPads, iPhone and select Samsung mobile devices. The pre-owned/trade-in program generally doesn't include peripheral accessories not required for gameplay (sports kits, charging stands or AV/HDMI cables). However, there are exceptions with a select range of pre-owned Nintendo Switch peripheral accessories being available and accepted for trade-in.[11][12][13]

Traded games are able to be resold in-store upon being traded in, provided they are physically in re-sellable condition. If the traded items are deemed un-sellable, a defective repair cost can be incurred to the trader, being deducted from the trade value. A game can be deemed defective if scratched, missing the original case, cover display insert, or correct Australian Classification Board rating. These items are then returned to the store support centre warehouse and processed to a re-sellable condition. All consoles are returned to the warehouse before being approved for re-sale regardless of physical condition upon being traded.[13]

In all Australian states and territories, the value of traded games, consoles and accepted accessories can be used as in-store credit towards all items in stock as well as towards paying off a Lay-by or Pre-order on an upcoming release title. Only in some states can the traded value be exchanged for cash. In these instances, items traded for cash are retained by the store for a grace period to verify that the traded items were not obtained by the customer through illegal means.[13]

EB Games accepts the following consoles/games for trade in:[13][14]

ConsolesGames/Accessories
Nintendo DS
Nintendo 2DS/3DS
Nintendo Wii
Nintendo Wii U
Nintendo Switch
Nintendo Classic Mini: NES
Nintendo Classic Mini: SNES
PlayStation Classic
PlayStation 3
PlayStation 4/PSVR
PlayStation Vita
Xbox 360
Xbox One

EB Games Expo

In 2011, EB Games launched the EB Games Expo held on the Gold Coast. The Expo allows attendees to play and experience upcoming games. It also hosts a variety of local and international developer and publisher teams, who deliver presentations to attendees showcasing their upcoming releases.[15][16]

Starlight Children's Foundation

Since 2007, EB Games Australia has maintained a charity partnership with the Starlight Children's Foundation. Every year, EB Games sponsors a "Starlight Week" in April–May with fund-raising endeavours across the chain and at a corporate level. In 2018, Starlight Week raised over $835,000 for the Foundation.

Controversial Incidents

In May 2015, four former EB Games employees accused an EB Games district manager of workplace bullying, sexual harassment, discrimination, racial hatred, intimidation, and unpaid worked hours. The incidents occurred in the Figtree and Dapto stores. The former employees filed complaints with WorkCover New South Wales and the Australian Human Rights Commission.[17][18][19]

Zing Pop Culture stores

Zing Pop Culture Australia a division of EB Games Australia launched in May 2014 and currently operates over 80 stores.[20] In addition, the Zing brand has prominent floor space in many EB games stores, which now have much larger merchandising sections than in previous years. This is to encourage customers to purchase extra game or pop culture merchandise with their games.

References
  1. "National Names Index: Index of corporate and business names: Electronics Boutique Australia PTY LTD". ASIC: Australian Securities & Investments Commission. 30 January 2012. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
  2. "What Is EB World, And Why Are They Giving Me Carrots?". Kotaku. 2011. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  3. "EB GAMES IS SURPRISING GAMERS WITH LEVEL 5 EB WORLD MEMBERSHIPS". Press Start. 2017. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  4. "LEVEL 5 EB WORLD MEMBERS WILL ONLY BE PICKED ONCE A YEAR". Press Start. 2017. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  5. "What is EB World?". EBGames AU. 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
  6. "EB Games to give away 100,000 limited edition poster in celebration of 5-million EB World Members". MCV. 2017. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
  7. "EB World inaugural card". Facebook EB Games Aus. EB Games Aus. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  8. "Zing Pop Culture - StarWars Day". Facebook-Zing Pop Culture. Zing Pop Culture. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  9. "EB Games - RDR2 EBW Cards". Facebook- EB Games Aus. EB Games Australia. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  10. "EB Games Aus WOW EBW Cards". Facebook - EB Games Aus. EB Games Australia.
  11. "Switch Pre-owned peripheral accessories". EB Games. EB Games. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  12. "Switch Preowned periperal". EB Games. EB Games. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  13. "What can I trade?". EB Games. EB Games. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  14. "Preowned Consoles". EB Games. EB Games. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  15. "EB Games Expo". EB Expo AU. 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
  16. "EB Games Expo 2015 – Sydney Olympic Park". Sydney.com Destination NSW. 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
  17. Mardon, Cydonee (19 May 2015). "Illawarra store manager's behaviour 'absolutely appalling'". Illawarra Mercury. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
  18. Hollingworth, David (20 July 2015). "An inside look at EB Games work practices". PC Authority. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
  19. Serrels, Mark (20 July 2015). "Inside EB Games: When The Dream Job Becomes A Nightmare". Kotaku AU. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
  20. "Zing Stores". Zing Website. Retrieved 5 May 2018.
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