DKOldies.com

DKOldies.com is an American online site that specializes in used video games, consoles, and accessories for the Nintendo, Xbox, PlayStation, and other game systems from the second–eighth generation. Founded in 2003 by Drew Steimel, the company is headquartered in Morgantown, Pennsylvania. The videos on their YouTube channel follow Joey, the company's manager, who reviews their products with short comedy films and filming orders randomly selected from their website, reposted from their Instagram and TikTok social media pages. The company became infamous and received criticism from their community for sending "cosmetically flawed" condition consoles in their refurbished condition orders and overpricing their products above their usual values since early 2023.
== YouTube history ==
DKOldies's YouTube channel was registered on March 15, 2015, and their first video was uploaded on March 18, 2015, three days after their account was created. The videos they posted on their YouTube channel from 2015 to 2016 were repairing various game consoles, 20–40 minute podcast videos of associates from the company discussing selected Nintendo Entertainment System game titles, and short gameplay videos of games from the Donkey Kong Country series. While their YouTube channel was on hiatus in 2016, more videos were uploaded to their channel in 2018, with associates reviewing their collection of video games in the receiving room, resurfacing game cartridges, and spotting differences between authentic and reproduction games and accessories. Around the time YouTube Shorts was released, they began uploading videos often to advertise their marketing across other social media platforms, such as Instagram and TikTok, and videos after June 2023 began to upscale to 60 frames per second.
== Content ==
=== Games ===
Joey would review a video game (or multiples) depending on their value, asking the viewers if anyone has played or owned the game before, and reviewing a short gameplay of the games on a TV or on their perspective handheld system.
=== Accessories ===
Similar to reviewing his games, Joey would review accessories for different platforms by comparing a genuine and a knockoff item, comparing different variants, or asking the viewers if anyone owns any of the accessories shown on their videos.
=== Challenges ===
Joey does challenges with his friends (and employees) in different ways, using video games or consoles. He would ask somebody to spot a reproduction video game, guess things by being blindfolded or guessing things inside the mystery box, guess the sound effects (including jingles) or music from the Nintendo Wii channels or title screens of video games, and more.
=== Packing Orders ===
Joey would pick a random customer's order from their website to be filmed and send them a gift by leaving their order number in the comments section of their videos on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. Joey goes to different sections to grab their orders depending on what they have purchased, and at the end of a packing order video, he would throw a "free gift" depending on how much they spent on their orders before shipping. In the middle of their packing order videos, there is usually a short scene of Joey asking somebody in their warehouse to get him a box by doing various actions and then assembling it before packing their customers' orders using bubble wrap and shipping them in each video.
=== Customer Spotlight ===
Joey would either pick a random video from his customers if they posted a comment with their order numbers in the comments section of their videos with their unboxing videos uploaded on their channel, or he would repost their video if a customer sent their unpacking video via their email or on their social media account, and at the end of the videos, Joey would gift them a virtual item for free.
=== Mail Time ===
Joey reads fan mail that is usually about a customer desiring to play a video game they've never played before or replaying the game to reflect back on their childhood while it switches to another scene of the game system and the video game being set up and played on the TV. At the end of the video, Joey makes their dream come true by gifting them the video game they wanted, along with some accessories.
=== Game Shows ===
DKOldies used to do a series called "Game Shows," where he would give his thoughts on selected video games, rant about them, and ask the viewers to vote on the two videos Joey had selected.
=== Did You Know? ===
One of the employees from DKOldies reviews trivia depicting easter eggs and hidden secrets on various game consoles and accessories while explaining the purpose of the hidden secrets.
=== 5 Second Guess ===
At the beginning of a video, a soundtrack of a video game's title screen will be played for five seconds, and viewers have to guess the video game's name before it is revealed.
=== Unboxing ===
DKOldies occasionally receives large boxes filled with video games, consoles, and accessories from their viewers and buyers to put them for sale on their websites for other consumers to buy, with a couple of YouTube Shorts videos of Joey and other associates examining the items people sent them before the full version of the video releases to their channel.
=== Q & A ===
Joey randomly picks a comment from their videos to answer questions from their viewers. Most questions people ask are: Do they have a specific video game title or a video game based on a franchise? If so, Joey will go to different sections of their department to search for their answer.
=== Mystery Game ===
Joey sees a game cartridge without a label and asks various associates to take a guess on the "mystery game" by naming a game title before inserting the cartridge into the game system and revealing the game with a short gameplay at the end.
== Controversies ==
=== Overpriced Games and Consoles ===
Many products, including video games, consoles, and accessories listed on their website, are priced above their usual value, while finding the same products on eBay, Facebook Marketplace, and other online sites can be less or equal to their value. Despite this, DKOldies lowers its price on various products for a limited time, though it doesn't make changes or give benefits for the games to be priced less than their values.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3UeR-EVtfghttps://youtu.be/O8hDnK16qgU During the Black Friday sales in November 2023, most of their games were on sale with limited stock, but the prices barely decreased, making the deals inconvenient to various consumers.https://youtu.be/4ok8998uJy8
=== Refurbished Game Systems ===
People who ordered game consoles from their website started making ranting videos on him for sending them "cosmetically flawed" game consoles when they were initially supposed to receive a refurbished console. There are videos on DKOldies' YouTube channel where they review samples of refurbishing game consoles by using the vacuum cleaner to remove all the dust and replace parts to make the console look new. Several YouTube channels, such as Jacob R, ReviewTechUSA, EmSwizzle, Austin Evans, Kaptain Kharisma, and many more, have started ordering game consoles on their website and reviewing them to examine the scuffs, scratches, and dust all over their game consoles. Several weeks later, YouTube channels like Jacob R and ReviewTechUSA have started interviewing former employees of DKOldies to hear about their experiences working at the company and find out the truth about refurbishing their game consoles.https://youtu.be/ueJ6nOcT5eEhttps://youtu.be/iZTzBROLdlU About several weeks later, DKOldies uploaded a short video and a page on their website explaining about their return policy and claiming that every order provided a 120-day (about 4-month) warranty. If a customer is unsatisfied with their order, they can contact customer support for assistance.https://www.dkoldies.com/blog/is-dkoldies-a-scam/#:~:text=DKOldies%20is%20a%20family%20run,with%20our%20120%2Dday%20warranty.
== Trivia ==
* People (including TheMasterOfDooM) criticize the logo for using the Donkey Kong emblem instead of a custom font.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdbgVtXzKMo
*DKOldie's business practices go against US federal law from a legal perspective.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8a4a22PNFY
*DKOldies used to delete comments from their social media pages if it contains criticism. This has been brought up in many video essays regarding the company as many question if it could be considered censorship.https://youtu.be/O8hDnK16qgUhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9QES0cNsT8
*To celebrate their one million subscribers on their channel, a coupon code was provided in the about section of the channel with a 10% discount off of their order.
== Gallery ==
File:DKOldiesFace.jpeg|Joey
File:DKOldiesFreeGift.png|Free Gifts
== References ==
Category:Gaming YouTubers
Category:American YouTubers
Category:Users who joined in 2015
Category:Review YouTubers