When are 'proper' Game Shops going to learn......

[WiredWorm]

When are they going to learn that their customers are NOT total idiots and won't pay through the nose for software?

I went out on a bit of a shopping expedition yesterday as it was my birthday so I had a little cash and fancied picking up a new title for the 360.

So offs I head into town and have a quick browse around HMV, Virgin Megastore, Gamestation and Game. They all had a reasonable stock of titles in and I quite fancied picking up Hitman (mainly because of what i've read on these very forums). Every single store in town was charging £50 for this title which seemed a bit steep to me.

So I went home empty handed.

Decided to take a trip to the local Tescos and managed to pick up Hitman for the 360 for £30. So I saved myself £20. In fact pretty much every title in Tescos was < £40 so I can't say i'll be buying any more titles from the high street stores in the future. What amused me more was that Gamestation had a single solitary copy of Burnout for the 360 which was second hand and they were charging £42 for that. I could buy a brand new copy from Tescos for less than that.

Rant over.........

[Rib]

It's nothing to do with customers being idiots. It's to do with selling to different people. Highstreet stores are about convenience, not price. They can't compete with internet stores, so they don't try. With a weekly rental of say £4,000 for a high street store, they are selling to people who want to pick up games on the day without having to go out of their way. Tesco's are about turnover, so they don't carry old games or less popular titles. If you want a game cheaper from they, you usually have 3 months to get it before the high street is your only option.

[WiteWulf]

Aye...it's fair enough saying that but this also illustrates the problem that a lot of 'specialist' outlets have with supermarkets.

The big supermarkets are quite happy to stock the regular items that folk buy on a regular basis at prices way under their competitors but won't stock the more ephemeral items. ie. our local Asda stocks many types of pet food and a few treats and toys and sells them far cheaper than the local pet shop can manage but Asda won't stock all the medicines, supplements, books, etc that a pet shop would. Folk go to Asda to get their weekly food for their animal then are confused when they need something special and the local pet store's shut down 'cos Asda took away their bread and butter trade of feeds. Same thing happens with car stuff (Asda sell petrol, oil and antifreeze dirt cheap but can you get a Haynes manual or a set of spark plugs?).

Sorry, rant over...does my head in this sort of thing...

[Rod_S]

Riddle me this: The RRP of the PC version is £29.99, most places sell it for less than £20. Why is the 360 version so expensive? Serious question.

[Flabio]

One theory: games tend to be more expensive in the early life of a console because they're doing less units than they will later on. Less installed user base, so to cover costs they charge more.

Another: new console means perceived premium value. Psychology says that pricing it higher makes it seem more exclusive, more desireable.

No idea what the truth is.

[WiteWulf]

Serious answer: price fixing by Microsoft

M$ will set a MSRP for a product and most retailers will have to stick to that or suffer the wrath of the manufacturer when it comes to negotiating their next order. The Big Boys like Tesco, Asda/Walmart, etc can, if they want, do as they please as they have a lot more purchasing power due to their huge bulk orders.

It's another reason why it's so bloody difficult to run any sort of independent store these days.

[gravy]

Serious answer: price fixing by Microsoft

M$ will set a MSRP for a product and most retailers will have to stick to that or suffer the wrath of the manufacturer when it comes to negotiating their next order. The Big Boys like Tesco, Asda/Walmart, etc can, if they want, do as they please as they have a lot more purchasing power due to their huge bulk orders.

It's another reason why it's so bloody difficult to run any sort of independent store these days.

But apart from 1st party titles (of which there are very few) retailers negotiate with publishers or distributors and NOT M$

[defsdoor]

We have one of those super-mega tescos near us and inside - directly opposite the checkouts is a newly opened Game. It sells 360 games at full whack.

20 yards away Tescos has the same selection for a minimum of a tenner cheaper.

Are they stupid ?

[aureole]

Riddle me this: The RRP of the PC version is £29.99, most places sell it for less than £20. Why is the 360 version so expensive? Serious question.

How much of the price is the licensing fee to Microsoft to make a 360 game? Once that's put on the basic unit cost, then the incremental %age charges must ramp up quite a bit.

[swith]

Those fancy-pants hot green boxes don't grow on trees neither

[punkrulesok]

speaking of games shops, is the other guy from rodent still opening his shop? sounds like he had a good biz plan and decent attitude

[gravy]

speaking of games shops, is the other guy from rodent still opening his shop? sounds like he had a good biz plan and decent attitude

Don't think so, the last announcement I can remember was for a launch late last year. It's been completely quiet since then.

[gilesgoat]

Burn the publishers and big retail chains !

[WiteWulf]

But apart from 1st party titles (of which there are very few) retailers negotiate with publishers or distributors and NOT M$

Fair point, but does M$ (or any other platform manufacturer, for that matter) not have any say with the publisher/distributor as to what price they should be setting their products at?

[PVB]

Decided to take a trip to the local Tescos and managed to pick up Hitman for the 360 for £30. So I saved myself £20. In fact pretty much every title in Tescos was < £40 so I can't say i'll be buying any more titles from the high street stores in the future. What amused me more was that Gamestation had a single solitary copy of Burnout for the 360 which was second hand and they were charging £42 for that. I could buy a brand new copy from Tescos for less than that.

Rant over.........

My local GAYME was selling Hitman (360) second hand for £44.99.