Over the last year we’ve seen developers scrambling to find “value add” features to new game purchases. Their goal is to convince the customer to buy new instead of used because developers don’t see a penny from a used game sale. While GameStop sees 48% profit margins from the used game market developers struggle to stay floating in the industry.
This is not the fault of GameStop and their 48% profit margins because they’re only getting 7% to 20% profit margins (say analysts) on new game sales. As someone that’s run a game store online, if you’re getting 15%+ on a new game you’ve got some great hookups in the distribution channel or are buying in huge quantities.
Buying games in huge quantities to build profit margins can be a huge mistake in this industry. Gamers are fickle little creatures and they’re going to buy their top tier games for a few weeks and then sales will drop significantly. No retail chain wants to purchase a thousand copies of GTA IV (only as an example) and sell seven hundred over the first few week to be stuck holding onto a few hundred copies when the dust settles. Now you’ll have to put them on sale to get them out of the store because the hardcore gamer have already done their shopping and you’re not going to get any price protection if you’re not a major player in the industry.
Why take 7% profit margins when you can get 48% on a used game? The gamers don’t seem to mind because they’ll trade in a used copy of a sports title like Madden to save $5.00 on the latest franchise release. Gamers will buy Fable 2, beat it in a week and rush to the store to get the “most for their dollar” before the game gets stale and buy-back prices drop like a stone. Why not rent Fable 2 and save yourself $50.00? Of course, renting pisses off developers as well because they see no additional revenue.
While the economy struggles and consumers fight for their jobs, the entertainment side of life continues to grow. People would rather “cocoon” in their homes playing video games and watching movies on their brand new HD television because it takes them away from the low points of the economy if only for a few hours. History has shown us trends in entertainment during the down points of economies, it’s natural to want to get away for a bit.
But, consumers want to play these games on the cheap because their job may not be there tomorrow. Saving $5.00 knowing the store just took the title in for half the price doesn’t bother you; $5.00 in your pocket is better than in their pocket right? The fact that they just pocketed upward of 40% on the game doesn’t matter to you — it’s all about your bottom line!
While we’re bargain hunting during the recession developers are going to try and up sell you to a new copy of the game. If that means giving you special game items and features with a “one time code” upon purchase, it will be up to you to decide if it’s valuable. All the while GameStop will lock out the game industry from selling used games because 42% of their overall gross profit is from used game sales.
You, the consumer, benefits from a slightly cheaper game, bargain bin fire sales and additional game features if you do choose to buy new. The economic down turn is a great time to be a gamer, as long as you remain employed.
@Videogame violence
Oh, we’re covering *this* topic …
Thing is:
– can you live without resorting to acts of violence? And yes, intimidating people is an act of violence.
– what is (in real life) justified violence and what is not?
Now try to answer that in the context of video games, where all depictions of violence are projected onto computer generated avatars.
Do the same rules apply? No. So how do we know what’s exaggerated and what’s not?
Dunno. I’m not that impressed by violence in games, and if a game has only that to offer (meaning no story, no gameplay) then I won’t be bothered to buy that game. Not on account of over the top violence, but on account of the game just being plain bad.
With one exception: Serious Sam. But then again, the core gameplay of Serious Sam is not in how neat you can use the chainsaw to cut through your enemies, it’s actually about managing/dodging large numbers of enemies.
Paul, loved your point of view. Indeed, ultra-violence seems to have a stronger influence on young people. Who shouldn’t be playing that game to begin with.
Jonah, being desensitized to violence, that’s also true. Still, you don’t need head ripping to achieve that. Good enough depictions of realistic violence will do that. COD4 will do that. STALKER will do that.
@ “play to win” premium game portals
This is just plain market segmentation. It’s ok with me. Will that split the community? Maybe, but if it racks in more money then guess what: it’s ok.
And something tells me that all premium people can also play using a free account, if they feel generous enough to let go of their ‘unfair’ advantages. It’s a choice being offered to the community.
And any consequences will be also suffered by the publishers: when a franchise dies, it dies.
@Videogame violence: I seriously don’t know what to say about this topic. I do sometimes feel that I am desensitized to violence, but in reality I was never a violent person or had any reaction to it. But at the same time I sometimes do feel the satisfaction of slashing through a wave of enemies, but that could also be attributed to the feeling of victory rather than ecstacy in violence. Bulletstorm was very enjoyable to me, but at the same time I think it was all attributed to its fast-pace nature that it had.
So speaking from my experience, maybe we could tone down the violence in certain games, but as one of you said, it’s always about the gameplay for me.
@Premium game portals: I’ll try to keep this concise so that I won’t go on an all-out rant about DLC and money-grubbing.
The only time I will ever find this service acceptable is in free-to-play games, and even then it’s a bit of an iffy subject. So you pay 60 dollars to buy a supposed finished product and then you find out that you need to pay a subscription fee to get all the content at the time of release? That’s just bullshit to me. I already oppose of paid DLC (apart from the very rare times when it is actually a good value for money for content that was made after release), I don’t want you to add sub-par missions or new weapons after release and then asking me to buy them from you. I want to buy a full game and that’s it. For me, this whole premium business just adds insult to injury.
Oh, and there was a point when I got confused if I was listening to a video game podcast or a card game podcast.
@Robot chicken TF2 hat: Well, seeing as all hats are cosmetic, I don’t care for Robot Chicken and I think it looks pretty stupid, no I am not interested in it.
@GamingFlashback: I loved the 7-Up dot game on the Sega Genesis. Reminded me of the Ren and Stimpy game. Not sure how it would be now, but I remember renting it more than a couple times. As for Wally Bear, he reminds me of the Charmin bears: creepy.
That’s all for today. 😀
Hello guys this is the first time I have written in. I just started listening to podcasts and found yours first. I listened to about twenty of the last episodes. You guys make me laugh and at the same time bring all of the items I want to hear about.
@ultra violence in games- I tend to agree with Paul on this subject. Games are an outlet to do things you are not allowed to do in real life. I believe that parents are supposed to determine what children play. The ratings are there for a reason. I am not saying that games should be violent just to be violent but still. If the game is violent then PARENTS NEED TO KEEP IT AWAY FROM THE CHILD.
@premium game DLC- as an adult who is a gamer this upsets me. I have a full time Job my wife works part time job. I have a daughter and between her and bills I cannot afford more money on top of what I payed for the game. It puts me in a bad place when because I cannot pay money on top of the game I get penalized because I have other responsibilities. To buy a game is a big thing for me I take my time and research before I buy. So I get this game that is supposed to be great and then I hear oh by the way spend thirty and you get more. While I know some people do not have to worry about money I do and it is disheartening to get stuck because I can not afford more.
Well guys have a good week keep up the great podcasts.
hai guize!
i’m finally free from my obligations… for now ¬¬
so… this week i “watched” 2 VGRT podcasts and i’d like to answer the QOTW of the past week if allowed. can i? GREAT!
!QOTW: my main ritual is to get a hot coffee and smoke a cigarrete before the game, it takes around 10 min to finish the smoking, so i call my friends to form a squad before the game starts (BF3) and when the map is loading, i have enough time to get another cup of coffee.
Like now, just before i start writing this reply :3
@ultra violence:
unfortunatelly, violence for the sake of violence sells, it will always sell because appeal to the most primitive part of the animal inside of us! like porn!
i agree with paul too, even disliking this genre… you do in VG’s what you cannot do in real life, even if it is just shooting a cop in da face or hit a hooker with a bat multiple times, or even in sim games, you build your dream house, have your dream furniture, dream job, dream family… it all can be fit in gaming world.
@Elite/Premium pay2win:
i am a premium BF3 user for the following reasons: 1) ALL DLC INCLUDED = saving money =D
2) that new orange knife that looks like a boxcutter – nope, this knife sux, i want my old lame, non crayon-like knife back
being serious now: if a “premium” service does not lead to real disavantages on non-premium gameplay is is legit for IMO. services like queue priority is retarded, DICE and/or EA screwed the non premium users on porpous (? – grammar might be wrong on that word). But as far as i see that is the only true disavantage. the 2 weeks early access to maps might lead to a disavantage, but is a knoledge one, i mean, non-premium users might get roflstomped in the first 2 days, but they will figure the maps later, and get in the same lvl of map awareness in no time!
i liked the round table format! do it more often, like once a month :3
bai guize!