Topic: Cut game prices and save the VG industry

[The Omen]

  I was thinking today as i wandered into that wasteland of GC games called EB game world.  What i was thinking was, am i doing a disservice to Nintendo, and the video game industry as a whole by buying used games?  On the surface, it appears harmless.  Somebody bought the game, didnt like it or grew tired of it, and i'm buying it back at a discount.  Then i began to think what if more people bought new games at a lower price ?  What if the industry standard was brought back down to 29.99?  Would the industry sell more games, but lose money?  I dont think so, because i , and a lot of others, would buy the new version, thus adding more sales for the game, instead of everybody waitng to get the used copy.   29.99 compared to 49.99 seems like a big hit to take, but to me it probably would work.  30 bucks is too low for the used games to make a huge discount possible.  29.99 and selling 700,000 copies, as opposed to 49.99 and selling 200,000copies,  still makes more of a boatload of cash for developers.  I bought Splinter Cell used for 24.99 a few weeks ago.  If i had seen it new for 5-10 dollars more, i'd be inclined to buy it.  Its my contention that used games are hurting the overall sales, seeing as they cant count used copies as  adding to the overall count.  In other words, if new game prices were lower, do you think it would spur game sales,or bankrupt game developers?  I tend to think it would add $$$$ at the backend, overall game sales.  

[ThePerm]

i agree

[Hostile Creation]

I'd say a Gameboy game should be twenty or twenty five and a GC game would be 40, perhaps a little more.

Whatever.  It is possible to find cheap games either way, and that's all that really matters to me.

[Ian Sane]

Well even if they lowered the general price of games I would still probably always go for a used copy if it's in good condition.  $20 isn't much cheaper than $30 but it's STILL cheaper.  I buy used GBA games all the time and they fall into that price range.  However people would probably be more willing to buy games at release and since everything, new or used, is cheaper they'll probably buy more games period.  It could work but it's risky and considering the higher cost to develop a game I doubt any of the big guns would be willing to try it out beyond the odd "budget" release.  More budget releases would be good though for games that were either easy to make (Ikaruga) or are ports/collections (Resident Evil 2, Sonic Mega Collection).

I guess if new game prices went down to $30 then EB would sell used games at $29.

[The Omen]

EB is still selling Skies of arcadia for 44.99 used.  Ugh...

But yeah, the price reduce is risky, but pro-active. In my case, it would definately work.  I like buying the new versions of movies , cds and games.  But in the case of games, youre often talking a difference of 20 or more dollars.  Whereas with CDs and movies, its only a few dollars difference.  They have to close that gap, make the new version more appealing.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

I remember the time when Street Fighter II was $80, new.

[Berny]

Well, Ninty's been giving us some stuff anlong with our games of late. I like that. If they cut prices, I would expect to see less bonus disks.

[Infernal Monkey]

I just wish Nintendo would drop their obscene prices after the game is.. You know, old. They're still demanding $99.95 for the likes of Eternal Darkness, Wave Race: Blue Storm and Wario World. Hell, Super Mario Advance is still officially the same price as Mario and Luigi or Super Mario Advance 4. Seems everybody but Nintendo has realized the wonders of dropping game prices or releasing certain new titles at a budget price, here.

I don't see the industry dying if they were to release games at a cheaper price point. They WOULD sell more copies, and that'd mean the likes of EB would drown in pre-owned games that they won't sell. EB have some fetish with selling second hand copies of games around the same price as new. People woudn't buy the second hand copies as a result, EB would be forced to drop the price of the second hand copies, and everybody wins. Hurray!
I HAVE HOTELS ON MAYFAIR.

[Berny]

Oh, yeah. And another thing. The video game industry really doesn't need "saving". Mario is the best selling celebrity in the world, and every console is selling strong. I don't think they are to concerned about going bankrupt.

[SearanoX]

Ah, Canada...the land of high prices on all things electronic.

Your idea is a good one, and I'm sure it would really help spur sales, but really, would it increase them that much, Omen?  You're looking at a 250% increase in sales right there - in business terms, that is absolutely insane.  I doubt there would be quite that much of an increase.

Think about it.  If you want to buy a game, chances are you're going to buy it.  Most people buy new.  I know that I (and many of my friends) only buy a used game if I'm unsure about it.  That way, I don't have to spend a lot of money, and since it's used, I can give it back for the full price provided I haven't damaged it in any way.  If I don't want a game, generally, a low price won't make me any more willing to buy it in most cases.

After all, do you go to the store and buy a five dollar game just because it's cheap, even if you don't want it?

[Plugabugz]

In the UK, games in the shops are tradionally £39.99 or £44.99. N64 now, make that £44.99 to £59.99.
Online, no game I've bought (from where I buy my games) surpass £40.

Part of the problem is the shops themselves overcharging on them. If a game like Resident Evil Zero is £10 online new, when the shops STILL have it new for £34.99 new - who's to blame?

[vudu]

typically, i only buy stuff new.  this goes for video games, cds, and dvds.  i'd much rather my money to go the developer/publisher/artist/etc than to some creep at eb games.  the only time i buy used is when you can no longer find the product new (i.e. chrono trigger for snes).

[ThePerm]

who said canada..infernal is aussie..canada isnt so bad..aussie prices just suck

[Jale]

A game costs the company about £5 to put on disk and package. If £20 goes to paying the development costs then if a game sells 1,000,000 copies thats £20,000,000 in development costs (which is a bit of an exaggeration). that leaves about £15 profit, which relates to £15 mil if the game sells a million copies. The worrying thing is that if game prices fall will the deficit be taken out of the porfits, or will games just grow generally worse.

[The Omen]

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Oh, yeah. And another thing. The video game industry really doesn't need "saving". Mario is the best selling celebrity in the world, and every console is selling strong. I don't think they are to concerned about going bankrupt.

Its not in need of saving yet, but game sales, individually, are down.
And i wasnt really thinking in terms of Nintendo.  More in terms of 3rd parties like Capcom or Sega.

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I don't see the industry dying if they were to release games at a cheaper price point. They WOULD sell more copies, and that'd mean the likes of EB would drown in pre-owned games that they won't sell. EB have some fetish with selling second hand copies of games around the same price as new. People woudn't buy the second hand copies as a result, EB would be forced to drop the price of the second hand copies, and everybody wins. Hurray!

Here ^^^ is a lad that sees things my way.  

[Bill Aurion]

Considering the profitability of the gaming industry right now, I doubt the decrease in prices...

[ThePerm]

the game industry is evolution like other industries..there was a time when sammy didn't own sega.

[The Omen]

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Considering the profitability of the gaming industry right now, I doubt the decrease in prices...

True.  But i think games would sell more copies thus mantain or even surpass the current profits.  If you cut into the used game market, you're bound to gain something.  And frankly, the sooner EB dies, the better.