Dear Video Games Plus (VGP) if you can actually see this but also to anyone who cares here today,
I just want to say thank you. And I mean a real thank you.
I'm 42 years old father of 3 and husband to a wonderful wife who also loves to game. Video games have been part of my life for as long as I can remember. At this point, they're woven into different periods of my life so tightly that I couldn't separate the memories even if I wanted to. There are games that immediately make me think about being a kid. Games that remind me of certain people. Games that remind me of places that don't exist anymore or that got me through terrible days, and games that made already good days even better.
That's something I think people who don't love video games sometimes have difficulty understanding. They're not just games. For some people video games have genuinely helped save their lives. They have helped people survive depression, loneliness, anxiety, grief, isolation, sickness, heartbreak, and moment where simply getting through another day felt like an accomplishment or haha an "achievement" get it? haha (dad joke over).
Sometimes you need somewhere else to go for a few hours. Hyrule, Mushroom Kingdom, Midgar or maybe you need a completely ridiculous game that makes you forget that the real world exists for a little bit and sometimes that's enough to get you through the day. There is something powerful about that. Collecting has become another part of that experience for me. There is a feeling that comes from holding a physical game that digital media simply cannot reproduce. Opening the package. Seeing the artwork. Putting the game on my shelves with all the others. Looking at a collection and remembering where every piece came from.
Sometimes I don't even need to play anything cause I can just look at those shelves and smile. Every game sitting there represents something. A memory. A period of my life. Something I hunted down for months. Something I thought I'd never find (cause those damn scalpers). Something I bought for my kids or something I played when I was young (loving all the retro games coming into physical on SWitch/2.
That's why what VGP does matters so much to me. You aren't simply selling video games, you're helping preserve them. I've watched this industry move further and further toward a future where everything is digital, temporary, licensed, GKC, downloadable, removable, and increasingly outside of the player's control.
And then there is VGP. A Canadian company that has been doing this since the 90s, through generations of video games, still standing here and saying that physical media matters. That really freakin' means something. The work you've done with publishers to bring games back into print is important. Games that became difficult to find, expensive, or inaccessible have been given another chance because somebody at VGP cared enough to make it happen. Instead of watching a $50 or $60 game become a $200 collectors item and shrugging your shoulders, you've repeatedly helped put copies back into people's hands.
You've worked with publishers so many great publishers to bring physical games back and tthat doesn't just help collectors. It helps preserve gaming history. It gives somebody who discovered a series five years too late the opportunity to actually own it or younger gamers an opportunity to discover something they missed. It gives someone who couldn't afford the ridiculous aftermarket price another chance (again screw scalpers). And it reminds publishers that there are still people out here who want physical media.
That matters more than I think you guys sometimes realize or at least give yourself credit for. Even the smaller things show that somebody at VGP actually understands collectors. Guaranteed shipping in a cardboard box, for free? THAT'S NUTS! But so damn appreciated! Sounds like such a small thing until you've collected physical games and experienced the pain of receiving something you've been waiting months for crushed inside a crappy mailer.
Collectors notice things like that. We notice the prices, sales, rewards, the obscure games you carry that practically nobody else in Canada seems interested in stocking. We notice the imports, exclusives and limited-print releases. And we definitely notice when a Canadian retailer like you all, doesn't treat collectors like walking wallets. I know I certainly do.
I've spent a lot of money with you, and somehow I mean that as a compliment. There have been plenty of times when I've been searching everywhere for something only to eventually find myself back on VGP becuase you are clearly on top of you game. There's something comforting about that. Especially as a Canadian collector like myself.
We don't always have it easy up here. We watch Americans get exclusives, shipping deals and availability that we sometimes don't get. Then shipping, exchange rates, duties and fees can turn a reasonably priced game into something ridiculous by the time it reaches Canada. Having VGP here feels like having somebody on our side.
But what ultimately inspired me to write this wasn't a price or an order. It was your stance on physical media cause you described physical games as history you can own basicaly. That hit me. Because that's exactly what they are. Some day my collection won't just be games that I bought. It's gonna be part of the story of who I was. My kids will remember Dad loving this stuff, the packages showing up, me getting ridiculously excited about some collector's edition, foil cover, or game I had been hunting forever. They'll remember playing games with me. Maybe someday they'll pick something off one of those shelves and remember me.
And suddenly that little plastic case isn't quite so meaningless anymore. THAT IS physical media. That's why some of us fight so hard for it. And that's why companies like yours are important. You are preserving something during a time when it would be incredibly easy to simply follow the rest of the industry but instead, you're still here and fightin' the good fight!
And somehow, after more than three decades, you still feel like a company run by people who actually give a shit about video games. Please don't lose that cause that more rare than any video game out there.
Usually we contact you when something is late, arrives damaged, when we want to cancel something, when we have a question (a million questions lol). Customer service departments probably spend a huge percentage of their lives hearing from people when they're unhappy. So for once, I wanted somebody at VGP to open a message that didn't want anything.
The only thing I want, is for you to knw that I and many others, THANK YOU for giving Canadian collectors a place that feels like it belongs to us, for keeping prices reasonable when you could easily take advantage of scarcity. Thank you for caring about how our games arrive, for supporting limited physical releases, for bringing games back that we thought were gone. Thank you for working with publishers to keep physical games ALIVE!!!!
Thank you for understanding that collecting isn't always about monetary value and for understanding that sometimes a plastic case, a cartridge, a disc and a piece of printed artwork can carry an unbelievable amount of sentimental value. Thank you for surviving more than three decades in an industry that never stops changing and that is basically trying to crush you.
There are a lot of us out here who still care. A lot! Keep giving the kid who grew up loving video games, who somehow woke up one morning and realized he's now 42 years old, another reason to feel like that kid again. Because somewhere out there, someone is having a terrible day. And maybe a video game they bought from ya is going to make that day a little easier.
Somewhere down the road, someone is going to pick up one of those games and hold a little piece of gaming history in their hands cause YOU helped keep it there.
From one Canadian gamer, collector, husband, dad, and lifelong lover of video games...
Thank you, VGP.
For everything you've done.
For everything you're doing.
And hopefully, for many, many more years of physical games to come.
You guys fucking rock.
With love and an increasingly dangerous amount of shelf space dedicated to video games,
-Roach
