fujishig

Hey all,
Just went to the local Best Buy and found:

RTX: Red Rock: 19.99
Mace Griffen: Bounty Hunter: 29.99

Aren't these really recent releases? Now Red Rock might have been released at a discount price from the beginning, but I seem to remember it being 49.99 a couple of weeks ago. Did they just bomb? Even Castle Wolfenstein is usually 35 bucks... Xenogears was 30 after a couple of months. Target's got insane deals on some games, like the recent Star Wars: Bounty Hunter for 15 dollars. Are these games bombing?

FalconH10

Actually sales are up and the competition is very fierce. This is pretty normal now that we are fairly cemented into this generation of consoles. Production costs are down and video game revenue keeps increasing. The competition keeps the prices very good for consumers and the production costs help companies put out a lot of games. Typically this is the best time to own a new system. Those first couple years always are slow with a lot of overpriced crap.

Draven

Aren't those games supposed to suck hardcore anyway?

I want to say that Red Rock was $29.99 on release, but I'm not sure.

Gideon68

Castle Wolfenstein is still selling regularly at $49.99, the $34.99 is the sale price for this week.

Xenosaga (prob the game you meant) might not be selling as well as had hoped. I've heard different opinions on it, and it's only the first of a five part series.

Star Wars Bounty Hunter at Target is only a temporary price cut but it's now regularly selling for $29.99. Target probably clears out its stock of older/unpopular games to make room for newer ones.

And as FalconH10 said, competition is up. More games vying for your attention. That's why it's probably a good idea to wait a few months before buying newer games as they may drop down in price. As it is, I've got too many games I haven't even opened so waiting isn't a problem except for key titles like Soul Calibut II.

As said, some of these games are pretty bad too.

cubanx

Xenosaga has sold double what Namco set for projected sales in the US but they probaly reduced the price when the sales slowed down after the release. I don't think most RPG's can sustain constant high sales other then then the FF series.

Revoltor

Game quality is subjective.

ArmyMen games were being made like clockwork for a reason and selling at full price.

dvd-fanman

Same with Atari - Apex on the XBOX. It came out back in Feb for $49.99 and I was going to wait for it to go down in price. It's now listed as $29.99 at BB.

tanman

I posted about this in the "Do you buy video games at full price thread"

Nowadays video games are plummeting in prices even from the get go. Even first rate games like Metroid Prime was selling for $30 just a few months after it came out. It is much easier to hold out on buying games now. I remember when getting a game for $30 was an amazing deal.

I think it is just the business. it is moving very fast and it seems like game developers are hard pressed to keep up with it.

Groucho

There are so many titles coming out now that each game, even hot titles, only has a week or two in the sun...if they are lucky! Similar to the movie business. Right now, this forum is soiling its collective trousers over Kotor. In a couple weeks, it'll be something else.

Jackskeleton

those games that debute in the 19.99 range are usually just crap games anyhow. you get what you pay for.

sniper308

Mace Griffin was originally in development for the dreamcast wasn't it? I had noticed it was $29.99 at Best Buy but plenty of other places are $49.99. I figured it was just finally released and they just are trying to recover whatever $$$ out of the project they can. I believe it got middle of the road reviews?

Basically either get the opening week deal on a new game if there is one, and add the $5 coupon from Best Buy, or wait a while and get it marked down, or string a couple of deals together (PM & coupon).

fujishig

Yeah, I noticed Red Rock was 19.99 at EB, but still 49.99 at Target, etc. So these aren't the value-priced games or anything, it's just retailers lowering the price within weeks of release...

mrpayroll

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...log/GetContent

Analysts: Game Software Sales Dip in June
Mon July 21, 2003 04:33 PM ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sales of video game software dropped 9 percent in the United States in June from a year earlier, analysts said on Monday, reflecting fewer hit titles and a year-earlier tally that was helped by sharp price cuts on game consoles.
The weaker sales data came after news that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has opened a probe into revenue accounting practices in the games business. Shares of many video game publishers fell on the news.

Analysts said that the lower sales could deepen investor caution about the game software sector and increase pressure on game console makers to discount more aggressively in order to boost sales of the more lucrative games.

Sales of Sony Corp.'s 6758.T PlayStation 2, Microsoft Corp.'s MSFT.O Xbox and Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s 7974.OS GameCube all fell sharply in June compared with a year earlier, according to the analysts' latest monthly research. In May 2002, Sony and Microsoft took $100 price cuts each, while Nintendo cut $50. This year, Sony and Microsoft each cut $20 and Nintendo took no cut.

"We believe that the rate of sell-through suggests that a platform price cut this fall is increasingly likely as the hardware companies try to achieve targeted year-end installed bases," Harris Nesbitt Gerard analyst Edward Williams wrote in a note Monday.

The best-selling game in the month by units sold, analysts said, was Atari Inc.'s ATAR.O mid-May release "Enter the Matrix" for the PS2, followed by Eidos Plc's EID.L "Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness," also for PS2, data showed.


Chris

Tuan Jim

What bugs me is those games that are top notch, but not incredibly hot -- ie. Moto GP2, HOTD3 or similar games -- take a LOT longer to drop in price compared to system seller types. No biggie since there's a lot else out there, but it can be frustrating still waiting a long time for drops. Because they're not as hot, even the used prices stay comparatively high since there aren't as many copies in circulation.

sniper308

Or some retailers not reacting to last minute price changes as fast as others. That would be my guess.

Gizmo

RTX was suppose to be priced at $19.99 from the getgo. For some reason when it was shipped, the $49.99 price tag was attached. My store lowed the price 2 days after we received notice from the publishers.

Mace has been out for roughly a month now. $30 is a bit low, but it wasn't that great of a game.

Apex is 5-6 months old. Its about time it dropped in price.

Star Wars KOTOR won't be dropping in price for atleast 4-5 months. Spilnter Cell (xbox) finally just dropped to $40 after being out for 8 months. Tony Hawk 4 is starting to drop to $20 and $30.

discostu1337

I just picked up Smugglers Run: Warzones GC brand new for $7 at ShopKo...read ign and gamespot reviews...both 8/10. Having never tried these games yet, I'm sure it will be worth $7. Bring on more cheap new games