could sainsburys single handledly kill the games shops?

[HotFezz8]

i have heard that sainsburys intend to sell CoD MW2 for £26 or something ludicriously low like that, if this is true, how can sainsburys do it?

would activision sanction such blatant under pricing?

what would microsoft, sony, nintendo and every other game company on the planet make of it?

how much profit would sainsburys expect to make per game if they sold it at half the rrp price?

more importantly, could we be about to see supermarkets drastically under cutting every game store in teh country to the point of putting them out of business..? we've watched them do the vegetable shops and all but the local buthcer, could Tesco and the like be about to storm into this market?

if so, do we care? i like the staff at my local Game, but if tesco took over that responsibility then i wouldn't have a major problem with it... a game for £26 is a game for £26, irregardless of where you get it from...

 

[AddytheGreat]

This is probably just a one off on Sainsburys behalf. Trying to snap up all the sales quickly. I dont think they'll make a habit of it.

 

[Sassafrass]

It is real. They advertised it on TV.
Guess where I'm off to tomorrow. And no, I don't think they will. This is a one off.
Then again, I got CoD:Waw 7 days after release for £30 so anything is possible.

 

[Tairan]

dont think people would care since sainsburys is a english shoping thing.

People who dont live in England will just think ahh whats the worst that could happen?

 

[DazZ.]

Asda are selling it for £27 £32.

Supermarkets vs Game stores!

 

[Torque669]

There only selling it for the day it comes out as far as I remember and I would assume they've paid Activision already for several thousands of the games already knowing its the most anticipated of the year therefore they make hundreds of money even though they're selling cheaper.

So no they will not kill the games industry and they're just being smart.

 

[Sassafrass]

Asda are selling it for £27.

Supermarkets vs Game stores!

Oh, goody.
I have two shops to check out now.

 

[gibboss28]

No. Next question.

 

[damselgaming]

Ha ha. I am buying it from Game and getting it for £13. Oh yeah.

 

[Torque669]

Asda are selling it for £27.

Supermarkets vs Game stores!

£32 pounds. My mum works at Asda and told me this. However they're going to have their sale on longer than sainsbury's so if people miss the Sainsbury's sale. Tescos or Asda are your next bet not GAME

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

I hope it's true. Not because I particularly want the game...I just like the idea that it is a big "fuck you" to activision. They RRP'd the game at £60, seriously...fuck 'em.

 

[Ben7]

If Game stores dont attempt to make better deals then to hell with them, gogo Supermarket chains!

 

[DazZ.]

Asda are selling it for £27.

Supermarkets vs Game stores!

£32 pounds. My mum works at Asda and told me this. However they're going to have their sale on longer than sainsbury's so if people miss the Sainsbury's sale. Tescos or Asda are your next bet not GAME

Ahh bugger, hadn't seen for meself just heard from the grapevine.

 

[Aardvark]

Wonder if they'll ship it down here. The Aussie Dollar's about .55 Pounds Sterling at the moment and I don't mind waiting for Royal Mail if it means I'm saving fifty bucks or so.

 

[TPiddy]

Yeah, Wal-Mart here in Canada was selling limited copies of Borderlands for $39.99 when it retailed for $59.99. I had to work and as such didn't get my hands on a cheaper copy.

 

[fix-the-spade]

could sainsburys single handledly kill the games shops?

To put it bluntly, no.

Now for the explainy bit.

As far as Activision are concerned they most likely don't care, Sainsburys and all the other supermarkets will have bought the games from Activision at whatever price Activision was charging for trade sales. Activision have their money and what happens next is of minimal concern to them.

As for why they do it, it's partly because they can afford to. The Supermarkets have bought these games by the million and probably negotiated a good price with Activision based on that they would be the largest orders in the country (they will have orderd a LOT more copies than any of the game chain stores).

The main reason though is that they are not actually interested in selling MW2 (or any other blockbuster game, film or album) for much or any profit at all. What they want is to get you into their store, where they can sell you other things at a proper mark up. Think about it, most people going in to buy MW2 will buy it, then get some milk, or bottles of drink, or whatever else they realise they need to buy whilst they are there.
All these little extra sales from people they got into stores to buy MW2 will amount to an ernomous amount of money. Certainly more than the profit from selling MW2 at full price (with correspondingly lower sales and people through door numbers).

The big game shops and HMV will probably do this too, if they get you in with £50 for MW2 they can sell you MW2 cut price and CD's or whatever at full mark up. I expect there'll be at least one buy MW2 and get MW1 half price deal as well, there's going to be masses of people without the first buying the second.

As for damaging game stores, they've already been doing it for years and to an extent it has. There are much fewer independant game shops even than five years ago. There's two here (Loughborough), but besides Liverpool and London that's the most I've ever encountered in one town. None is the normal number now. Like with Butchers it'll probably kill of the weaker stores leaving only chains and the good specialists, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Gamers will keep buying from game stores, because they don't just buy the blockbusters, so to some extent or other specialist stores are going to survive.


Personally I think it's a win for consumers, it effectively kurb stomps Activision's and other publishers masive price fixing. In main stores it's probable MW2 will never sell for it's intended rrp, which can only be a good thing.

 

[YourCriticism]

I just saw that!

 

[AddytheGreat]

Wonder if they'll ship it down here. The Aussie Dollar's about .55 Pounds Sterling at the moment and I don't mind waiting for Royal Mail if it means I'm saving fifty bucks or so.

Well, they are going on strike again soon I think, so you might be waiting a while

 

[hazabaza1]

No.
A single cheap new release won't ruin the games market, many however, will.

 

[Vanguard_Ex]

No. Next question.

This, this and motherfucking this with extra this. I don't care how upset the games shops get, I get to buy it legally, with my EMA and still give a big middle finger to IW's overpricing.
MUHAHAHAHA