Support NeoGAF

[Segata Sanshiro]

how does it benefit the publishers?

The way I see it, gamers buy more games when they know they can sell back the game to recover costs. It causes them to take chances on games they otherwise might pass over, and to just plain purchase more games overall. I'm not sure if those aspects make up for the customers who currently buy used but in a no-used scenario would buy new, but it's at least worth acknowledging that there are some good points in the used games system for publishers.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

how does it benefit the publishers?

The only time it is beneficial is for a new IP. In that case by having more people exposed to the game, if a sequel is ever produced then there is more chance of these people buying the sequel on day one versus used. Of course it works in the reverse as well, though it means that perhaps they should have released a demo before the game came out.

If the game is a multiplayer game or a game that offers DLC, then it could still provide some benefits.

Though ultimately, there are more negatives to this than there are positives for the game developers and publishers.

 

[PopcornMegaphone]

A) That doesn't prove anything in regards to used game sales. Those could be rentals, Goozex users, multiple users in households, or friends lending to each other just as easily as used games.

B) Even if they are used sales, too bad, corporate jerks. Consumers have the right to sell their games. Stop blaming the used game market, which benefits everyone including you, for your troubles.

I don't think most game makers believe the used market is destroying the industry. They see it as an untapped revenue stream. That doesn't make them jerks.

 

[Draft]

Did we ever get Deadly Premonition sales numbers?

 

[Deku]

The way I see it, gamers buy more games when they know they can sell back the game to recover costs. It causes them to take chances on games they otherwise might pass over, and to just plain purchase more games overall. I'm not sure if those aspects make up for the customers who currently buy used but in a no-used scenario would buy new, but it's at least worth acknowledging that there are some good points in the used games system for publishers.

Game makers want people to buy more games and trade-in less at the same time. It's something that won't happen.

So they are trying a new strategy.

They are now trying to reduce game prices so you pay a small upfront cost and purchase the rest later in DLCs. So that trade-in values would plummet and someone buying a use copy may have to pay $10 or $15 only, which effectively advertises the game's DLC.

 

[hxa155]

The way I see it, gamers buy more games when they know they can sell back the game to recover costs. It causes them to take chances on games they otherwise might pass over, and to just plain purchase more games overall. I'm not sure if those aspects make up for the customers who currently buy used but in a no-used scenario would buy new, but it's at least worth acknowledging that there are some good points in the used games system for publishers.

hmm, makes sense I guess

but I think pubs will use Ea's online pass idea to benefit more from used games sales

 

[lowlylowlycook]

The way I see it, gamers buy more games when they know they can sell back the game to recover costs. It causes them to take chances on games they otherwise might pass over, and to just plain purchase more games overall. I'm not sure if those aspects make up for the customers who currently buy used but in a no-used scenario would buy new, but it's at least worth acknowledging that there are some good points in the used games system for publishers.

IMO, the real problem with the used market is the very high margins that Gamestop has been able to get so far. If more used games were sold for more of a discount than $5 and if trade in prices were higher, in short if margins on used games were closer to margins on new games, then the used market would let the publishers engage in some price discrimination (i.e. fans and collectors would tend to buy new and not sell, people on the fence might buy used or sell and thus might buy 1 new copy for every two people that might not have bought at full price) and thus bring in more total revenue. Given the low marginal costs of games that would be highly advantageous.

As it is, Gamestop is soaking up a lot of the benefits that consumers might get from used sales and thus I don't think that used sales are increasing the total sales enough to make them beneficial to the publishers.

From the publisher's perspective, Gamestop is just too close to a monopoly, both because they can get away with higher margins from customers and because the publishers have no hope of, say, pressuring them into holding off used sales for a couple weeks under threat of not selling them new merchandise.

 

[Version 3.0]

how does it benefit the publishers?

Because the people selling their used games are using the money to buy new ones. Gamestop is the #1 new game retailer in the US on the back of their trade-in policy. If the used game market didn't exist, the biggest seller of new games would disappear along with it.

I don't think most game makers believe the used market is destroying the industry. They see it as an untapped revenue stream. That doesn't make them jerks.

Yes, it does. Whether they dispute my right to sell my property, or 'just' want money from the sale of my property, either way they're jerks who are trying to step on my rights. Read an End User License Agreement sometime. Most of them specifically say you can't sell or even lend your copy of the game to anyone. For example, from Activision's standard EULA:

Activision grants you the non-exclusive, non-transferable, limited right and license to use one copy of this program solely and exclusively for your personal use. This program is licensed, not sold. You shall not sell, rent, lease, distribute or otherwise transfer this program without the express prior written consent of Activision.

Thankfully, all that BS is overridden by consumer rights laws, which clearly state that are purchasing, not licensing, and do have the right to re-sell. But nevertheless, yes, they are jerks.

 

[donny2112]

Gamestop is the #1 new game retailer in the US

Wal-Mart, unless things have significantly changed over the years.

 

[jvm]

Wal-Mart, unless things have significantly changed over the years.

Last year's estimate was 25% each for Wal-mart and GameStop. Comments since then suggested that Wal-mart and other big-box retailers gained share of hardware but GameStop gained share for software, especially core (whatever) software. (Source: Wedbush)

 

[Dedication Through Light]

Last year's estimate was 25% each for Wal-mart and GameStop. Comments since then suggested that Wal-mart and other big-box retailers gained share of hardware but GameStop gained share for software, especially core (whatever) software. (Source: Wedbush)

For WalMart to have that large amount, they sure dont do the games enough justice with their instore sections.

 

[Macho Madness]

For WalMart to have that large amount, they sure dont do the games enough justice with their instore sections.

They don't have to. Simply being the largest retailer PERIOD is enough.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

For WalMart to have that large amount, they sure dont do the games enough justice with their instore sections.

What? You don't like having to find an employee who does not have the key to the glass case and then acts like you're being a huge dick for asking for a game? It's like a customer's dream come true!

 

[Glix]

No one thinks ModNation is going to chart next month? I'm so excited for this game!

 

[Dedication Through Light]

No one thinks ModNation is going to chart next month? I'm so excited for this game!

Did you get your Air Raid DLC code from Gamespot? Modnation comes out so late in June, I think it will do like LBP and just have steadily increasing sales as we go on in the summer (LBP didnt ever chart though, I think?)

 

[gkryhewy]

Did we ever get numbers for MHTri?

 

[AniHawk]

Did we ever get numbers for MHTri?

Yes

 

[Version 3.0]

Wal-Mart, unless things have significantly changed over the years.

I guess I'm going to have to stop saying that--even though it's true--because people zero in on that and completely miss the point I was making.

 

[Sadist]

Did we ever get numbers for MHTri?

About 126k

 

[Glix]

Did you get your Air Raid DLC code from Gamespot? Modnation comes out so late in June, I think it will do like LBP and just have steadily increasing sales as we go on in the summer (LBP didnt ever chart though, I think?)

Awesome! I don't go to Gamespot, thanks so much for this, just got my code!

How important are First Month numbers to companies, and to their investors and stuff? You would think that if it is very important, they would try and release their games near the start of the month, no?

Any chance that the positive word of mouth will get 3d dot heroes to chart? Was there not even enough shipped for it to chart, are they restocking this month? I love the game!

 

[gkryhewy]

About 126k

Cool, pretty good! Thanks.

 

[GalacticSushiman]

how does it benefit the publishers?

"publishers"????

Guys, there is no such thing as "publishers", there is only "publisher" - this is a competition where each publisher tries to gain shares, not an organisation that tries to develop what's best for the overall market.

Simply put, the idea is not to kill the second hand market, all studies ran in the past few years point to the fact that new games' sales would be massively impacted if the second hand market disapeared, nobody wants that. Still, if I am a publisher, I am a pissed of at all this revenue generated by MY games that I don't see coming to my pocket, so I'll try to limit it for MY games - by using multiplayer/free DLC/subscription/DRM/etc...

The idea is "let's make sure that gamers will bring back games from the competition to buy my titles new, and let's make sure they keep my games as long as possible" which is a total different story than "let's kill the second hand market and gamestop with it"...

Could this trend end up killing the overall second hand market because each publisher wants to limit it for its titles? I personnally don't think so, it's just going to be a fierce competition where each publisher has to innovate with a new idea to have a better value than its competitors, which will ultimately beneficiate to gamers.
I could be wrong though, some similar experiences in other competitive markets were not benefitial to the consumers, but they are exceptionnal...

 

[Culex]

This NPD thread is very disappointing! Over 1000 posts and NOT ONE that shows hardware LTD/YTD.

REALLY?!

 

[donny2112]

even though it's true

$-wise maybe, though I still heavily doubt it, especially with the economy over the last few years pushing people toward more lower priced options. Unit-wise, there's no question that Wal-Mart is bigger. Being a budget-minded store, they're going to be selling a lot more of the lower priced games than GameStop, who'd rather you buy used.

hardware LTD/YTD.

YTD
NDS - 2.2m
WII - 1.7m
360 - 1.3m
PS3 - 1.1m
PSP - 0.42m

LTD
NDS - 41m
WII - 29m
360 - 20m
PSP - 17m
PS3 - 12m

 

[HK-47]

Did we ever get Deadly Premonition sales numbers?

Not enough, thats for sure

 

[charlequin]

From the publisher's perspective, Gamestop is just too close to a monopoly

It's certainly true that the price break for buying used was noticeably larger, and the other aspects of the used market significantly better, when EB and Gamestop were evenly-matched competitors rather than a single monolithic entity whose merger should never have been approved, at least.

 

[Version 3.0]

$-wise maybe, though I still heavily doubt it, especially with the economy over the last few years pushing people toward more lower priced options. Unit-wise, there's no question that Wal-Mart is bigger. Being a budget-minded store, they're going to be selling a lot more of the lower priced games than GameStop, who'd rather you buy used.

Wrong and wrong. There was a retailer price poll a few years ago, and Wal-Mart was the absolute worst place in the nation to shop for videogames. They almost never have sales, and most of what they do call a "sale price" is actually an official MSRP drop. Other retailers have Day 1 loss-leader sales--Best Buy and Fry's are good for this--and frequent other sales on very new titles, but Wal-Mart never does. Gamestop has at least a couple of major new game sales a year. They had one back in March, and there were several fairly recent titles on sale new for less than their used prices.

And once again, this wasn't my point.

 

[lowlylowlycook]

It's certainly true that the price break for buying used was noticeably larger, and the other aspects of the used market significantly better, when EB and Gamestop were evenly-matched competitors rather than a single monolithic entity whose merger should never have been approved, at least.

Do you think the barrier to entry for used games is mostly just the large number of retail shops needed to be convenient to the sort of customer that Gamestop has?

It's sort of interesting that the internet hasn't cut into their margins at all.

 

[Brashnir]

"publishers"????

Guys, there is no such thing as "publishers", there is only "publisher" - this is a competition where each publisher tries to gain shares, not an organisation that tries to develop what's best for the overall market.

Simply put, the idea is not to kill the second hand market, all studies ran in the past few years point to the fact that new games' sales would be massively impacted if the second hand market disapeared, nobody wants that. Still, if I am a publisher, I am a pissed of at all this revenue generated by MY games that I don't see coming to my pocket, so I'll try to limit it for MY games - by using multiplayer/free DLC/subscription/DRM/etc...

The idea is "let's make sure that gamers will bring back games from the competition to buy my titles new, and let's make sure they keep my games as long as possible" which is a total different story than "let's kill the second hand market and gamestop with it"...

Could this trend end up killing the overall second hand market because each publisher wants to limit it for its titles? I personnally don't think so, it's just going to be a fierce competition where each publisher has to innovate with a new idea to have a better value than its competitors, which will ultimately beneficiate to gamers.
I could be wrong though, some similar experiences in other competitive markets were not benefitial to the consumers, but they are exceptionnal...

What about any of this is in any way beneficial to gamers? It is at best an inconvenience and at worst ends up costing us more for the same product.

There is absolutely nothing beneficial for gamers in any of this.

 

[jakncoke]

What? You don't like having to find an employee who does not have the key to the glass case and then acts like you're being a huge dick for asking for a game? It's like a customer's dream come true!

Your's still has the glass case? the ones around here took them glass out so people can just get whatever game they want

 

[thefro]

Do you think the barrier to entry for used games is mostly just the large number of retail shops needed to be convenient to the sort of customer that Gamestop has?

It's sort of interesting that the internet hasn't cut into their margins at all.

Probably because there's a lot of big hassles, ebay fees/feedback, shipping etc with selling a game on the net. Easier to just trade it in then to spend 2-3 hours managing all that stuff.

 

[donny2112]

There was a retailer price poll a few years ago, and Wal-Mart was the absolute worst place in the nation to shop for videogames. They almost never have sales, and most of what they do call a "sale price" is actually an official MSRP drop. Other retailers have Day 1 loss-leader sales--Best Buy and Fry's are good for this--and frequent other sales on very new titles, but Wal-Mart never does. Gamestop has at least a couple of major new game sales a year. They had one back in March, and there were several fairly recent titles on sale new for less than their used prices.

I completely agree that Wal-Mart is not the place to go for video game sales (in terms of price, if you look). Most of the purchasing market doesn't price shop like that, though.

Again, Wal-Mart's attraction for those looking for low prices (and GameStop's increase in used sales despite little increase in new sales shows even the more core consumer that would frequent GameStop is looking for lower prices) is going to make them more frequented for items including video games, and in terms of units, they should be clearly ahead of GameStop (that would, again, push used sales for the price conscious consumer) if not ahead in $, too. Wal-Mart is by far the more likely choice to look to for a market leader in new game sales in the U.S. The economy being the way it is makes it even moreso.

Edit:
Maybe you don't actually shop at Wal-Mart, so you don't realize that they have tons of games at $20 or less just sitting around. The new releases that the core would be going after, no, aren't going to be in that grouping, but for a mainstream consumer just looking for a quick game, Wal-Mart has tons of options at easy impulse levels.

 

[legend166]

Publishers can whinge all they want but as long as they support Gamestop with all their exclusive crap, it's hard to take them seriously.

 

[Zen]

All your logic about this is completely sound, but I really honestly don't think anyone in this thread meant that the PSP should be killed in any sense except that a PSP2 should be released as soon as possible thereby "killing" the PSP as Sony's current handheld device.

(Or if they were, well, I wasn't, at least.)

Maybe I just grossly misinterpreted what people meant. :lol

 

[charlequin]

Do you think the barrier to entry for used games is mostly just the large number of retail shops needed to be convenient to the sort of customer that Gamestop has?

Yes.

 

[EMBee99]

If there's anyone with a subscription to NPD's site, are you noticing a discrepancy between the numbers reported via media (and GAF) on Thursday and the report-generated numbers available today?

 

[GalacticSushiman]

What about any of this is in any way beneficial to gamers? It is at best an inconvenience and at worst ends up costing us more for the same product.

There is absolutely nothing beneficial for gamers in any of this.

If a developper tries to make gamers retain their copy, by making additional DLC/multiplayer modes/... post launch, rather than the usual ship and move on to the next project, that's beneficial to gamers...

 

[Vinci]

Imagine that you've got Cecil, Edward, Rosa, and Kain in your party.

Now imagine that Cecil's at 1/4 HP and Edward is at 5 HP.

You cast Cure. Obviously the intended target is Cecil because he's at risk of dying. Sure, Edward has lower HP, but he's basically a useless meat shield.

Hahahahahaha NOPE! Since you don't get to target spells in 4WoL, Edward gets healed to full HP! Awesome!

Okay. Now I get what charlequin meant when he said that game sucked. That's a horrible idea. Jesus, did they do NO testing of the game prior to releasing it?

 

[Zachack]

Because the people selling their used games are using the money to buy new ones. Gamestop is the #1 new game retailer in the US on the back of their trade-in policy. If the used game market didn't exist, the biggest seller of new games would disappear along with it.

You know that Gamestop can be both a positive and a negative within the same sphere of discussion, right? While Gamestop does sometimes provide incentives for trading in games for certain new titles, they also constantly provide huge incentives towards trading in used games for more used games through the Edge card, which itself is boosted with an essentially free subscription to GI. Further, the amount of credit they give for trade-ins has become so meager for the vast majority of titles that it reinforces the need to use the Edge card for both the trade-in boost and the used title discount.

They may be a major retailer but it's not like something else couldn't fill the gap if they died, and hopefully it wouldn't be a near-monopoly.

Gamestop has at least a couple of major new game sales a year. They had one back in March, and there were several fairly recent titles on sale new for less than their used prices.

The latter is extremely rare and GS normally does exactly the same as Wal-Mart by claiming MSRP reductions as "sales". Trying to paint Wal-Mart as bad and Gamestop as good makes me assume that you have stock in Gamestop, because the difference between the two in new-game purchasing is basically nil, especially when you take Gamestop's gutted new-game policies into account.

 

[jcm]

If there's anyone with a subscription to NPD's site, are you noticing a discrepancy between the numbers reported via media (and GAF) on Thursday and the report-generated numbers available today?

PM me your username and password and I'll take a look.

 

[Stumpokapow]

PM me your username and password and I'll take a look.

michaelpachter / wiihdorbust2010

Edit: WAITAMINUTE!

 

[EMBee99]

PM me your username and password and I'll take a look.

JesseDivnich/E3ISSOAWESOME

 

[RBH]

michaelpachter / wiihdorbust2010

Edit: WAITAMINUTE!

:lol

 

[Version 3.0]

You know that Gamestop can be both a positive and a negative within the same sphere of discussion, right? While Gamestop does sometimes provide incentives for trading in games for certain new titles, they also constantly provide huge incentives towards trading in used games for more used games through the Edge card, which itself is boosted with an essentially free subscription to GI. Further, the amount of credit they give for trade-ins has become so meager for the vast majority of titles that it reinforces the need to use the Edge card for both the trade-in boost and the used title discount.

They may be a major retailer but it's not like something else couldn't fill the gap if they died, and hopefully it wouldn't be a near-monopoly.

The latter is extremely rare and GS normally does exactly the same as Wal-Mart by claiming MSRP reductions as "sales". Trying to paint Wal-Mart as bad and Gamestop as good makes me assume that you have stock in Gamestop, because the difference between the two in new-game purchasing is basically nil, especially when you take Gamestop's gutted new-game policies into account.

I hate Gamestop. It kind of makes me sick to constantly defend them, but by doing so I'm defending my (and your) consumer rights, as well as fighting back against corporate lapdogs who are far too sympathetic to publishers who need to learn how to serve their customers rather than exploit them.

So let me say again: Gamestop sells the amount of new games that they do because of their used game trade-ins. They're serving a market that nobody else will, which is simply people who won't or can't pay the high price of this hobby. That's not me: I buy most of my games new, at or near launch. But my sisters' families (or more specifically, my nephews) are right in their demographic. They can rarely afford a new game from anywhere else. If Gamestop were to disappear, the only way for something else to fill the gap would be to also deal in used games.

And I didn't paint Wal-Mart as bad, I simply stated that they have the worst prices, which they do. I shop at Wal-Mart (not for videogames) more than any other store.

 

[JJConrad]

IMO, the real problem with the used market is the very high margins that Gamestop has been able to get so far. If more used games were sold for more of a discount than $5 and if trade in prices were higher, in short if margins on used games were closer to margins on new games, then the used market would let the publishers engage in some price discrimination (i.e. fans and collectors would tend to buy new and not sell, people on the fence might buy used or sell and thus might buy 1 new copy for every two people that might not have bought at full price) and thus bring in more total revenue. Given the low marginal costs of games that would be highly advantageous.

As it is, Gamestop is soaking up a lot of the benefits that consumers might get from used sales and thus I don't think that used sales are increasing the total sales enough to make them beneficial to the publishers.

From the publisher's perspective, Gamestop is just too close to a monopoly, both because they can get away with higher margins from customers and because the publishers have no hope of, say, pressuring them into holding off used sales for a couple weeks under threat of not selling them new merchandise.

I'm not following you here. If Gamestop's margins on use games fell ...in other words, if more used games were sold for more of a discount than $5 and if trade in prices were higher... it would only cause greater activity in the used market. More people would be trading in because they could get more money for it and more people would be buying used because there is better value. Where do the publishers benefit?

Gamestop is pricing their used game as the market allows. I really can't see them as being a monopoly, especially today with Amazon and Ebay around. Their margins seem high, but don't forget that they're dealing mostly in credits and have to assume a very large amount of depreciation. If their margins on used games did shrink, it would be because market was shrinking too.

If publishers were truly concerned with Gamestop's margins on used games, we would be seeing them increase the margins on their games to better compete. The dependency on used games was created in the first place because the margins on new games is not enough for a specialty store to be sustainable. We're not going to ever see that, because (with the exception of a few loud numb-nuts) the industry is happy with the status quo and/or understand the importance of the used market.

 

[jcm]

I hate Gamestop. It kind of makes me sick to constantly defend them, but by doing so I'm defending my (and your) consumer rights, as well as fighting back against corporate lapdogs who are far too sympathetic to publishers who need to learn how to serve their customers rather than exploit them.

So let me say again: Gamestop sells the amount of new games that they do because of their used game trade-ins. They're serving a market that nobody else will, which is simply people who won't or can't pay the high price of this hobby. That's not me: I buy most of my games new, at or near launch. But my sisters' families (or more specifically, my nephews) are right in their demographic. They can rarely afford a new game from anywhere else. If Gamestop were to disappear, the only way for something else to fill the gap would be to also deal in used games.

And I didn't paint Wal-Mart as bad, I simply stated that they have the worst prices, which they do. I shop at Wal-Mart (not for videogames) more than any other store.

If price is someone's top priority, then EA's Project Ten Dollar should be good for them. The idea is that demand will increase for new games, and decrease for used games. That falling demand should reduce the price of the used game, especially for those who can live without the DLC that's being included in new games.

 

[Zachack]

So let me say again: Gamestop sells the amount of new games that they do because of their used game trade-ins.

You can say it but I've seen no stong proof of it. There is evidence that Gamestop promotes the sale of certain new titles via used game trade-in but not all titles are included in that type of promotion, while at the same time there is a permanent promotion of trading in used titles for the purpose of buying used titles. There's just as much to indicate that Gamestop sells the amount of new titles they do in spite of their used game trade-ins, and that their new title sales come from their aggressive pre-order promoting, videogame focal-point nature, and number of locations.

They're serving a market that nobody else will, which is simply people who won't or can't pay the high price of this hobby. That's not me: I buy most of my games new, at or near launch. But my sisters' families (or more specifically, my nephews) are right in their demographic. They can rarely afford a new game from anywhere else. If Gamestop were to disappear, the only way for something else to fill the gap would be to also deal in used games.

Gamestop by far tends to sell used games at approximately $5 less than new. It's only after a game has dropped in MSRP one or two times that the used/new price difference really starts to manifest, or on old games that no longer have a new presence (or have hardlocked at $20).

If you're a price-sensitive shopper you should be buying things on Amazon.

 

[Stumpokapow]

If you're a price-sensitive shopper you should be buying things on Amazon.

If you're a price-sensitive shopper, you should be using eBay, pawn shops, and used sections of rental stores.

 

[lowlylowlycook]

I'm not following you here. If Gamestop's margins on use games fell ...in other words, if more used games were sold for more of a discount than $5 and if trade in prices were higher... it would only cause greater activity in the used market. More people would be trading in because they could get more money for it and more people would be buying used because there is better value. Where do the publishers benefit?

Well it depends on some assumptions, but if the price of games is now being set too high or maybe close to too high, and if the average game doesn't get traded in too many times, then the publishers could sell more new copies because either buying used or selling games lowers the cost of the game and thus more people would be in the market to buy games. Also, like others have said, some will use the money they saved to buy more games one way or another.

But for the high volume games where the used price is simply $5 less than the new price then basically no one is going to buy those games that wouldn't have bought new so it's purely a matter of lowering new sales. And to the degree that Gamestop offers lower trade in values than they would if there were more competition then that's less money going back to consumer's pockets.

Basically, if they could the publishers would like to sell games at $30 to those willing to pay only $30 but still sell at $60 to those willing to pay more and under the right conditions a used market could let them do so to a degree.

Gamestop is pricing their used game as the market allows. I really can't see them as being a monopoly, especially today with Amazon and Ebay around. Their margins seem high, but don't forget that they're dealing mostly in credits and have to assume a very large amount of depreciation. If their margins on used games did shrink, it would be because market was shrinking too.

Yeah, but apparently what the market allows doesn't depend on anything but what the publishers set as the new price and not by supply and demand (well not directly and as the title gets older supply and demand play a bigger role). So it seems that the relevant competitions isn't Ebay or Amazon so far but just the publishers themselves.

Now if it came to an actual price war I doubt that Gamestop can process used games as cheaply as the publishers can print new copies. But if the publishers went that way they'd kill their overall revenue and would make it impossible to cover the large fixed cost of developing the game not to mention advertising.

Anyway, it's pretty clear that in an industry like this, simple supply and demand curves or marginal profits aren't going to explain much and competition isn't going to be simply trying to produce at the lowest price.

 

[charlequin]

You can say it but I've seen no stong proof of it.

Gamestop's entire scheme is built around funnelling trade-ins back into the system via offering greater trade-in values for specific big-game pre-orders, a system that guarantees that everyone who takes advantage of it is doing so in order to fund new game purchases. These deals are offered for every major title. You can also only actually get a significant trade-in value back if you're trading titles that are recent and in relatively high demand -- which means you need to be buying them new and trading them in fairly quickly, in most cases.

The entire system is designed from top to bottom to get one class of customer to come back and buy brand-new copies of every big game on day one and trade it in for the next one, so that they can resell it at 75% the original price to a second class of customer. The model has to include an element to drive new sales because GS' used business isn't worth much to them without copies of relatively recent titles, and it can't get those without customers who are regularly buying those titles at their store and then quickly selling them back.