interesting article on the retail side of gaming

[Aeyjay]

http://www.gamesradar.com/games-reta...oing-so-wrong/

so what do you all think?

downloaded games no one but you can play is the way forward for the games industry to be successfull but is that giving the consumer what they want?

[PeteWhite2005]

Its coming. Nothing can stop it. PC games have been one pc only for a while IIRC. If PSN did't charge near full retail price for a download IT WOULD BE HERE NOW! If they charged what steam, for example, charges for an download, GAME would have been dead ages ago.

To be honest, it does't bother me too much if it does. (Anything that get Tesco out of the market is a good thing. home of gaming my arse! Trowbridge tesco is bloody useless)

(I have a 13mps+ download speed though.. If I had GAzs connection, I might not be so bullish about download only!)

[Aeyjay]

whoever orders the stock for the supermarkets wants to stop getting in so many copies of the bilge , that way the wouldn't have so much to reduce.

[wadley101]

I think the reason the DL games on PSN are so expensive at the moment is so Sony dont undercut the retailers who buy stock off them. If retailers in general hadnt got so greedy with second hand sales then this may not be happenig so quick.

[PeteWhite2005]

Indeed wadders. To be honest, GAME only have themselves to blame for the trouble they're in. And i cant blame the manufacturers for wanting to stifle the second hand market when GAME charge nearly full price for a second hand game. For example, when i was looking for FIFA 12 on the xbox, the second copies were £35 or more, when Argos were selling it new for £39. Absolute greed!

When the PS4 comes around (which looks like it might do before the next shedbox) Sony have to take the plunge on downloadable games and make the price competitve. I know they have the spiel about doing buisiness in markets with poor broadband, but the have to consider how thier core markets ( europe/usa/japan/korea) have comparitively good connection speeds. I would much prefer to pay Sony direct than to be forced to buy games from Tesco, or from faceless dude on ebay.

[Aeyjay]

the main worry there is competition and the fact that tesco and game and the independent exist keeps the rrp at a manageable cost. If you could only buy games direct from sony and nowhere else what's to stop them charging £70 quid for the latest FIFA or COD or GTA.

I like the PSN Store and with PS+ feel it is generally value for money however think that a sony monopoly will only lead to higher prices. The wipe out 2nd hand sales and 1st hand games get cheeper arguement leaves me a little sceptical.

[PeteWhite2005]

Dont think theyd do that Personally Shad, not while Sony is in direct competition with Microsoft and to a lesser extent Nintendo. And its not only wiping out second hand games that should make them cheaper, its also a) getting rid of retailer mark-up and b) getting rid of manufacturing cost. Also wonder if VAT would be lower on a download too... it should be as the Item doesnt actually exist! Lol

Of course, if On-Live doesnt turn out to be a gimmick, gaming could go streaming, making it cheaper still! Lol

[Hannigaholic]

I still think that if they just charged less for new games they'd sell proportionally more, and second hand games would be less attractive as a result. Steam have certainly said that whenever they have a sale they make more revenue the more they discount their games.

Originally Posted by Edge

Discounting games does not only increase unit sales--it increases actual revenues. During the 16-day sale window over the holidays, third-parties were given a choice as to how severely they would discount their games. Those that discounted their games by 10 percent saw a 35% uptick in sales--that's dollars, not units. A 25 percent discount meant a 245 percent increase in sales. Dropping the price by 50 percent meant a sales increase of 320 percent. And a 75 percent decrease in the price point generated a 1,470 percent increase in sales.

The industry is trying to force us to act the way they think we should, rather than adapting themselves to consumer demand in order to make everybody better off.

[daveshans]

Originally Posted by PeteWhite2005

I know they have the spiel about doing buisiness in markets with poor broadband, but the have to consider how thier core markets ( europe/usa/japan/korea) have comparitively good connection speeds.

I'm not sure if Europe and the US have infrastructure for download only. Poland don't even have access to Xbox Live. It's fine if you live in a city but not so much if you live outside one. If you factor in people that still have download limits or at least get throttled after a certain amount it's less appealing.