Why the hell is Timesplitters: Future Perfect so expensive?

[rutcommapat]

I'm not sure that this thread will lead to much discussion (Though if somebody has either a link to somewhere that I can get this game at a reasonable price or an explanation for why it's like this, both would be appreciated), but I felt the need to share.

So I own both Timesplitters and Timesplitters 2. I found copies at the local used game store for 3 dollars each, and continue to constantly see copies of them available there. Both games are among the most fun I've had with shooters in general, whether in single player or multiplayer. So, reasonably, I wanted to play the third.

But for some reason, though I've checked multiple times, the stores in my town never seem to carry this game. Finally I decided that I might as well go the easy route, and order it online. I go to amazon, and I begin searwhat the fucking Christ is this. [http://www.amazon.com/Time-Splitters-Future-Perfect-Playstation-2/dp/B0006ZJP8M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344298934&sr=8-1&keywords=timesplitters+future+perfect+ps2] That game is 60 dollars. The price of a new release, and it's seven years old.

Well, alright, that must just be some random thing on Amazon trying to rip me off. I suppose if I just scroll down a bit I'll find more reasonable priOH MY GOD WHAT IS THAT. [http://www.amazon.com/TimeSplitters-Future-Perfect-Playstation-2/dp/B0007ULFQG/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1344298934&sr=8-4&keywords=timesplitters+future+perfect+ps2]

Finally I did find one that's of a reasonable price, [http://www.amazon.com/TimeSplitters-Future-Perfect/dp/B00029P9IC/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1344298934&sr=8-5&keywords=timesplitters+future+perfect+ps2] but I also feel weirdly suspicious. Like, are all these really expensive versions boxed with a jewel-encrusted double-headed dildo? Is the 20 dollar version developed by EA? What am I missing here?

Sorry, just wanted to share my experience with you. Carry on with your day.

 

[oplinger]

Well, the reasoning may be the fact that it is the last timesplitters game. And still a hell of a lot of fun, I would assume by now it's rare and very sought after.

Also

http://www.gamestop.com/ps2/games/time-splitters-future-perfect/34771?affid=9797&cid=ppc_60000001

EDIT: upon further research, it seems it really is pretty rare. Glyde is sold out, amazon only has a few copies, total, across all systems. Gamestop will probably always have copies, and they have a standard policy for marking down games I believe.

So...there you go. Rarity and awesomeness make the price high as hell.

It's an excellent party game btw.

 

[ohnoitsabear]

When I got it last year for Gamecube, I don't think I payed more than twenty dollars for it. Granted, it does have a nasty habit of getting disk read errors during loading screens, so maybe paying more might be a good idea. Still, sixty bucks is a tad unreasonable.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

You're looking in the wrong places. I got mine at Gamestop for less than $10.

The logics is that, not only is a very good and replayable game, it's also sought after for being considered the best Timesplitters game, and supposedly the last game.

It's why I've been looking for a copy of Shadow of the Colussus for years in the used bin in Gamestop and the cheapest I've found is $20. It's a game people want.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

It's the used game scalpers. Any time an old game gets popular, a bunch of jerks start buying up all the copies they can get their hands on and selling it for as much as they possibly can. It's why FF VII goes for $60, and ZoE 2 goes for $200, despite neither of them being anywhere near rare enough to justify that price.

 

[piinyouri]

Bought mine at Game-X-Change for 12 bucks.
Works great.

 

[GiantRaven]

A quick search on Amazon UK yields a low low cost of £3.86 + £2.03 delivery.

And there was me getting all worked up that I had a nice expensive rare game on my hands.

I guess I'll just have to be content with my Ico collector's edition.

 

[ThePenguinKnight]

I believe mine cost between $10-$15 but it's worth so much more. Like a previous escapist pointed out, you can always just jump on Ebay and find a copy for a reasonable price.

 

[Zeh Don]

It's the used game scalpers...

There aren't enough of these so-called "scalpers" to alter the entire flow of the market and artifically create demand on the scale we're dealing with here. That's a bit of a conspiracy theory, as opposed to verifiable fact.

The answer is extremely easy: customer retention.
How many people who own a copy of Shadow of the Colossus, Ico, Time Splitters: Future Perfect, etc., are going to want to part with their beloved game? Replayable games, classic games or games with emotional resonance, are the ones most likely to be held on to.
This is why they're hardered to find: the original customers are still playing them.

Unlike something disposable, like annualised titles like Call of Duty and the various sports brands, these games were built in love, and built to last.
This is also why companies like EA Games, Activision Blizzard, Valve, Ubisoft and THQ employ Account based DRM: by preventing re-sale, they artifically increase the value of their games in the long term. They're attempting to force customer retention, as opposed to earning it.

 

[Aprilgold]

Wrong place to look mate, try Ebay or Amazon. To point this out, it is about forty dollars at Gamestop [when I looked] for Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, I ordered it on Ebay for half the price [20$] and couldn't be happier.

 

[lordmardok]

Probably because it's the most awesome game that ever let you play a zombie monkey with a rocket launcher. Oh wait. It's the ONLY game that ever let you play a zombie monkey with a rocket launcher. I rest my case.

 

[Muspelheim]

That's odd. I found my copy in the bargain bin for 69 crowns, which is pretty much the lowest price they are prepared to ask for a game before throwing it away, and the game was even kind of new at the time.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Because it's perfect and from the future... that sort of thing doesn't come cheap.
Sometimes things just get priced oddly, that is why you should always always shop around.

 

[Frankster]

Timesplitters 3 for 60£ is still a way better bargain then for most recent full price games i bought so still not a bad deal imo

 

[Jazoni89]

In CEX, the PS2 version is £4, the Xbox version is £2, and the Gamecube version is £10, with about thirty copies in stock for each version.

Rare game my arse. MGS 2, or Gran Turismo 3 is probably rarer than that, and those titles are as common as muck.

 

[Palademon]

BECAUSE IT'S AWESOME!

But that seriously shocks me. You can buy it here for the same price as Timesplitters 2.
Infatc whenever I see either of them for say I want to screma to a customer in the shop to buy it. It would be the best 3 quid they ever spent.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

When it came out it was hammered or ignored by most of the press and community for not being exactly like Halo or CoD. So there are not nearly as many copies of it floating around as there are of Timesplitters 2.