Topic: Secondhand Games on Wii, DS Retain Most Value

[Chessa]

Nintendo-published titles rank second in maintaining their price as used games, and several even sell for more than their MSRP.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=17507

 According to a recent analysis of the second-hand game market, Nintendo-published titles retain their value longer than those of any other publisher save Bethesda.    

The study, conducted by pricing data site Video Game Price Charts, compared the resale price of games from publishers who had released six or more game SKUs (meaning different editions of the same game are counted separately) in 2008. They found that Nintendo-published titles have an average value decrease of 12.9 percent between MSRP and second-hand pricing. They also discovered that Mario Kart Wii, Wii Fit, Rapala Fishing Frenzy, and the Rock Band 2 bundle actually surpassed their MSRP pricing by 16 to 55 percent when sold used.    

Although Nintendo-published games did not claim the top spot in value retention, used games for Nintendo's Wii and DS consoles maintained their prices better than all other consoles on the market. On average, secondhand DS games sold for 25.5 percent off their MSRP, and used Wii games sold at only a 25.4 percent decrease.    

VGPC discussed some of the factors that lead to a particular titles value retention including game quality, lastability, and appeal. They stated that "casual games," such as Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit, tend to sell consistently over time and have better resale values because people are more likely to play them continuously. Games for the "hardcore" crowd tend to be played through quickly and then resold in order to purchase a new game.    

VGPC also suggested that retailers are raising the demand for used Wii games by failing to stock enough titles to begin with. Electronic Entertainment Design and Research Director of Analytical Services Jesse Divnich stated that retailers "don't fully understand the Wii consumer yet which often leads to retail sell-outs, which correlates with higher resale prices." VGPC pointed out that "the top four titles on the top games by resale price list are Wii games that were sold out at many stores at the end of 2008."

[Kairon]

Surprisingly, there's only one Wii game on the list of worst price retention titles, the rest are 360, PS3 and PS2 titles.

Additionally, I think the Wii is helped in these comparisons due to its lower average MSRP, which speaks to a range of sensible pricing options for games.

[Flames_of_chaos]

Here are the charts they made if you are interested.

[Shecky]

Shouldn't surprise anyone seeing as how they said a while ago that they didn't intend to discount games after release - a trend that had been developing.  Discounts at retail kill resale.  I mean, go and try to sell a Kia...

[Djunknown]

Some of the numbers took me by surprise, but when I thought about it, they add up. My PS3/360 owning friends hock their games via ebay on a regular basis, whereas I've kept all nearly all of mine since launch. I've only re-sold 2 titles. Of course, they buy a lot more than I do...

[Tanookisuit]

Yeah, I think Nintendo fans are hoarders, I know I am.  My friends with the other systems are also constantly reselling games.

[DAaaMan64]

I definitely hoard, but I do resell some of my old ****. The only Wii games I've ever gotten rid of are Elebits and SSX Blur.

[KDR_11k]

I would have liked a sample size number on that chart too. How many games did Bethesda publish?

[IceCold]

Makes sense. Nintendo's games these days have long legs (especially the "nongames") because of word of mouth and because of how many Nintendo systems are constantly being sold. Since their games keep selling the value stays high. 360 and PS3 games usually have front-loaded sales - after a month or two the demand drops significantly, and so does the value.

[TheYoungerPlumber]

Nintendo has been unable to meet demand at the MSRP for its big games lately, so this is no surprise. Nintendo isn't going to raise prices, but that doesn't stop resellers.

[Kairon]

I bet Nintendo would be in first place if there had been more time between Bethesda's big Fallout 3 release and this analysis.

[Nick DiMola]

I bet Nintendo would be in first place if there had been more time between Bethesda's big Fallout 3 release and this analysis.

Also, if Bethesda made half as many games as Nintendo. With such a small list of games released, the comparison is slightly unfair.

I'm sure Nintendo has published/developed more games this generation (Wii/DS) than Bethesda has in their entire career.

[KDR_11k]

That's why I wanted the sample size.

[Kairon]

VGPC's methodology.

It seems they collect data from Ebay, retailer JJ games, Amazon.com and Half.com.

[NWR_insanolord]

They did a study on used games and didn't include data from GameStop? That's crazy.

[Kairon]

They did a study on used games and didn't include data from GameStop? That's crazy.

It's certainly a head scratcher. Hmmm. I mean, how hard is it to go on Gamestop's website?

However, the site may have an issue with gamestop's used games, and feel that gamestop is deliberately setting prices at desired levels. The only retailer the site includes is JJ games, which uses the site's own data to begin with, and they look at Amazon and Ebay, which are more diverse and especially price-sensitive.

[KDR_11k]

So what if GS sets levels, it's where most people get their used games from and it's subject to market movements too.

[Kairon]

So what if GS sets levels, it's where most people get their used games from and it's subject to market movements too.

That's true. *shrug* There must be a reason, but hell if I know.

[NWR_DrewMG]

The last few months, I've taken to reselling my games on Goozex.  It's a great system, and I've gotten a lot of other games out of it.  In fact, today I shipped off Animal Crossing City Folk to another user for $45. 

[Ian Sane]

The results sound all skewered.

Nintendo doesn't offer a Player's Choice option anymore.  When a game is available new for $20 you can't sell it used for more than that.  Sony and MS have a discounted "hits" line and that's going to be bring the used price down.  We all know that chains like EB try to make their used price as high as possible ($5 off new price for a folded manual and slighty scratched disc!  What a deal!)  When Nintendo is asking $50 for a game that's a few years old then EB can price it at $45 and will.

And those games that were selling for higher are titles that for a time were not easy to find new.  If Nintendo can't meet demand with Wii Fit well OF COURSE Wii Fit is going to become expensive in the used market.  It's supply and demand.  Now good for Nintendo for making a game so popular but the higher price just means Nintendo sucks at meeting demand.

None of this means that core games have no value and non-games do.  It means Nintendo can't meet demand and doesn't have Player's Choice games anymore.  In other words they're jerks.

[Kairon]

None of this means that core games have no value and non-games do.  It means Nintendo can't meet demand and doesn't have Player's Choice games anymore.  In other words they're jerks.

Well... that's a conclusion that you can reach certainly, but I don't think that the source's report is saying anything more than... well... "Secondhand Games on Wii, DS Retain Most Value." (defining value as monetary equivalent)

&P

It means Nintendo can't meet demand and doesn't have Player's Choice games anymore.  In other words they're jerks.

I don't know. When Nintendo faces the challenge of supplying just as much if not more Wii Fit to the market compared to GTA IV (I'm not sure if Wii Fit has outsold GTA IV, but if not it may happen soon)... AND it faces the added challenge of manufacturing a super weighing scale to go with each copy... I don't necessarily lay the blame at Nintendo's doorstep.

I'm really amazed whenever somebody thinks that Nintendo's constraining supply. If anything, Nintendo's taken far more manufacturing risks this generation than they've ever done before, even out-of-the gate.

[KDR_11k]

Nintendo games retain their value because they keep selling, stores won't keep stocking games at full price if they don't sell and in the worst case will drop prices just to cut their losses (the same goes for publishers, they won't keep trying to push copies at full price when noone wants those, they drop the price because the demand falls off, not out of charity). Twilight Princess still costs 60€ new but I got Wing Island for 15€ from the clearance bin.

[mndrix]

They did a study on used games and didn't include data from GameStop? That's crazy.

Hi insanolord.  I'm one of the developers at Video Game Price Charts.  I thought I'd try and explain why we don't include GameStop in our data.  To include a video game retailer in our data, one of two things must be true.

• We can obtained raw sales data indicating that a specific game, sold at a specific price on a specific date.  This is the case for eBay and JJGames
• The retailer's listing mechanism allows sellers to list a specific game for a specific price.  Once that item is sold, it's removed from the listings.  This is the case for Amazon and Half.com

We have no way of obtaining raw sales data from GameStop, so #1 doesn't help.  GameStop's listing mechanism also doesn't agree with #2, since there's only a used and a new price without any variation within those condition categories. Essentially, there's no way for us to tell whether the GameStop price is above or below market value because there's no mechanism to detect whether people are actually buying at those prices.

Our eventual goal is to have all of our pricing data come from sources like #1.  We're working on some changes so that our data from Half.com is like that in the future.  If we can ever get raw sales data from GameStop, we would definitely include them as part of our data.

I hope that helps.