Analyst: Used Game Boom Correlates With New Sales Decline
- Thread starter Tom Goldman
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... what? As long as I can remember, new games have always been $50-$60. From the n64 carts, to high profile disc games.fix-the-spade said:
Which means, if anything, games have actually gotten cheaper due to inflation...
So... seriously, what?
People want stuff cheaper. If I could buy a brand new game for $64.19 or the $57 or so I'd get it for used, the logical choice is to buy it used. I've been going to places like GameStop since I lived in Colorado when I was eight; I'd just look up reviews online, find something that sounds fun, and see if I could find it used. If not, it was just back to the internet again. I didn't want to spend eight weeks worth of allowance on something that would give me the same level of entertainment as a semi-old game I could get for $20. Look for Dead Rising at your local Wal-Marts and Targets. Tell me when you find it so I can make your all-spandex suit, Captain Jesus.
You know...less new games being purchased means there are less games on the used games market. I can already hear everyone saying "well duh!", but the point is people don't feel the need to go out and buy brand new games, more than likely because of the price point. Wait a few months, go and buy a game that was owned maybe once or twice before, and the price is about half of what you'd pay for a new copy.
It could also be an indication of replayability which I believe is a direct result of market over-saturation. Too many game companies trying to put out too many games every year means less good games.
It could also be an indication of replayability which I believe is a direct result of market over-saturation. Too many game companies trying to put out too many games every year means less good games.
You're damn right. I'd bet this analysis was set with controls to ignore the new release retail price increases of 66% or morefix-the-spade said:
Uh, no? Multi-disc games were always upwards of $50, carts were always upwards of $50. I mean, best I can figure is you were always buying used, you just didn't know it.Jarrid said:
Of course, the range specified was when large chains started buying out all the mom&pop game retailers.
I'm a good example of this, just now I bought Alan Wake and Red Dead Redemption off a local auctioning site, then I'm borrowing by cousins xbox 360 then when I finish playing them I'll sell em right away, the whole thing will only costs me a few euros in postage fees.
I know, its as if he completely ignored the fact there was still a 3rd system out at the time. Have we really forgotten that the Gamecube even existed and that it was the last system Nintendo made that was actually up to snuff for that generation's technology?Brotherofwill said:
Also: No shit Sherlock, of course sales have declined; we're in a massive economic depression. People have tightened their belts all around and the first thing to go was new games. Some people (like myself) decided to be more picky about which games they bought, and bought maybe 2 or 3 new games in the last year. Others just started buying used, get rid of the used game market and I can almost guarantee that his figure for new game sales would be the same if not dangerously close to what he's already got.
In other news, eating bacon leads to pig farming. I'd give more examples, but I got distracted by bacon...Georgie_Leech said:
The economy is problematic to say the least, new games are more expensive, and most of them just aren't good enough to justify the price. It's not hard to work it out.
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I know that when I was buying new N64 games from places like EB Games (then Electronics Boutique) they cost $50 for high profile titles and $30-40 for smaller releases and things that had been out longer. Playstation games sometimes launched as low as $20 in the latter half of its life cycle and I never saw a multi-disc title go higher than $50 in the time I owned a Playstation. Likewise, I've never seen a PS2 or Gamecube game launch at over $50. The only current-gen system whose games comes close to its predecessors' in pricing is the DS, and even those are a bit pricier on average. For reference, this was in New England, just in case location is a factor in this.Cynical skeptic said:
What annoys me most is how almost all of the new games are at the 60USD price point. Not all games are deserving of such a price point, some games should still be 40-50USD. With the economy the way it is, of course people are looking for a deal.
Um... duh?
Well I'd rather buy a $29 dollar used game than a $35 new game. Even if I'm only saving $5, it's still $5 saved.
Games are just too expensive for me to buy new half the time.
Well I'd rather buy a $29 dollar used game than a $35 new game. Even if I'm only saving $5, it's still $5 saved.
Games are just too expensive for me to buy new half the time.
I'd be curious to see how the potential flux of game rentals works into this. For me the only place I can really rent a ps3 game is blockbuster and they're bleeding to death from Nextflix and such.
This is a retarded use of statistics. Maybe instead of making used games seem like a force of evil, they should also show the statistics for the rise in unemployment rates right next to the rise in used game sales. It's not rocket science. People don't want to spend $60 on a brand new game anymore. Deal with it video games industry!
People are buying used games because they are so damn expensive. A new copy just isn't worth the money to many people. Lower the prices and we'll see what happens
I don't know, I specifically remember buying ff8 for 54.99 new, phantasy star IV being the same price, and even final fantasy also going for the same price. This being from toys'r'us, KB toys, and k-mart respectively.OtherSideofSky said:
Could've just been a case of "where," as I had crap for stores where I grew up. Babbages and software etc always having crazy prices.