Games lose their value fast

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Wolverine

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Edited By Wolverine

Games lose their value faster than any other form of media I know. In a few months you can easily get a game that was $60 for $30 new in a store or $10-$15 used if you know where to look. Because of this I have stopped buying most of my games at launch because I feel like I'm just throwing my money away because I can't wait.

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Wolverine

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#1  Edited By Wolverine

Games lose their value faster than any other form of media I know. In a few months you can easily get a game that was $60 for $30 new in a store or $10-$15 used if you know where to look. Because of this I have stopped buying most of my games at launch because I feel like I'm just throwing my money away because I can't wait.

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deactivated-5c5cdba6e0b96

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But if you wait long enough, they will be worth good money, so keep em.

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Illmatic

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#3  Edited By Illmatic

I think it just shows how ridiculous the concept of all games costing 60 dollars is.

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C0V3RT

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#4  Edited By C0V3RT

It's definately made me become more selective.  I'm holding out on Red Faction and inFamous because moneys tight and like you said, the price drops fast.  Probably isn't condusive to a healthy video game industry but whatever. 

The sad thing is if games were back to being $50, I would have no problem going out and getting 2 or 3 at a time.  But now every time I go out and buy multiple games at full price at the same time, I kick myself when I look at my bank statement.

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CenturionCajun

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#5  Edited By CenturionCajun

It really depends on the game. Call of Duty 4 was selling for full price for nearly two years. Gears of War has just now reached $20 or so used. There is also the problem in that while you can find them cheap the problem is the condition of the disc. The longer you wait the more likely you're going to get a disc that has been buffed or repaired several times.

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#6  Edited By Video_Game_King
@Bucketdeth said:
" But if you wait long enough, they will be worth good money, so keep em. "
No, not really. I'm pretty sure that a copy of Grand Theft Auto III will still go for $1.50 in 3 years or so. Hell, even rare games, like Beggar Prince and Panzer Dragoon Saga, probably don't get much at your local game store.
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#7  Edited By DukesT3

yea shelling out $100 looks a little better than $120 for two games. that twenty bucks is gas money man! 

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#8  Edited By AgentJ
@Illmatic said:
" I think it just shows how ridiculous the concept of all games costing 60 dollars is. "
This. They wouldn't drop so fast if their value wasn't so overrated in the first place. If we weren't so fickle with our money (if the gaming population could hold off for a few months rather than buying these expensive games at launch) the games would start releasing at 50, or even 40 dollars. I haven't bought a brand new 360 game for as long as i've owned the console, and that would suprise anyone who knew just how much I wanted Resident Evil 5. 
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Optiow

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#9  Edited By Optiow

I think that it is good that they come down in price quick, then I can buy them.

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KaosAngel

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#10  Edited By KaosAngel

Steam is awesome.  You can get new games for 50% off within a week or two. 

Hell, weren't all the UT games for $15 for a week?

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#11  Edited By LeoMinor

I never pay full price ($60) for games.  $40 is the most I'll pay for a 360 game and most times I wait until they get down to $30.  Handheld games I will pickup for $20 or lower.  I use to go out and get a game right at release, but I'd kick myself a month later when the thing was on sale for $40 or cheaper.  CheapAssGamer.com is the shiznit for news on game deals.  And Amazon.com is a good source for alot of those deals.

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#12  Edited By maxszy

The issue is that we continue to buy them at this price. Sure we all say that its $60 but as a gaming community as a whole, we still buy them. Maybe not some of us on here (Personally, I only buy very specific titles at full price, but I do sometimes) but overall the only way that the cost will come down, is if people stop paying the price. And that isn't going to happen any time soon.

Though, as others have mentioned, the fact that they drop in price so fast (many of them, maybe not the AAA hits) just proves how overpriced they actually are.

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Diamond

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#13  Edited By Diamond

What is it about games that will make a game $5 after a few years, yet Disney can sell the same movie over and over for decades at full price?

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TheGreatGuero

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#14  Edited By TheGreatGuero

Games are dropping in price faster than ever, and I'm LOVIN' EVERY MINUTE OF IT!

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#15  Edited By AgentJ
@Diamond said:
" What is it about games that will make a game $5 after a few years, yet Disney can sell the same movie over and over for decades at full price? "
It's not like those games wouldn't be full price again if they were remade in BLU RAY! *side-note: I've heard that Cinderella actually looks really good in BLU*
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#16  Edited By End_Boss
@C0V3RT said:
" It's definately made me become more selective.  I'm holding out on Red Faction and inFamous because moneys tight and like you said, the price drops fast.  Probably isn't condusive to a healthy video game industry but whatever.  The sad thing is if games were back to being $50, I would have no problem going out and getting 2 or 3 at a time.  But now every time I go out and buy multiple games at full price at the same time, I kick myself when I look at my bank statement. "
This.
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#17  Edited By ArbitraryWater

I will only pay full price for a game if I consider it to be a Day 1 purchase. Like Modern Warfare 2, which conveniently comes out the day before my birthday.

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maxszy

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#18  Edited By maxszy
@AgentJ said:
"
@Diamond said:
" What is it about games that will make a game $5 after a few years, yet Disney can sell the same movie over and over for decades at full price? "
It's not like those games wouldn't be full price again if they were remade in BLU RAY! *side-note: I've heard that Cinderella actually looks really good in BLU*
"
I assume they re-mastered it? They must have. Animated movies have great potential to look amazing on BRD... (example: Wall-E. Though obviously, different animation that Cinderella :-P)
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#19  Edited By williamhenry
@Diamond said:
" What is it about games that will make a game $5 after a few years, yet Disney can sell the same movie over and over for decades at full price? "
Even after a few years, games that are still new aren't $5. You can probably get them on eBay or Amazon in new condition from that price, but thats from individual sellers, not stores or Amazon itself. DVDs are the same way. Most new movies are $5-$10 within months of their release on eBay and the Amazon marketplace, but not in stores or from Amazon itself. DVDs have a lower starting price, so staying at the price for years doesn't really bother anyone. They also don't have to worry about new hardware coming out that will make them unplayable and unwanted by most people.
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ConkerAndBerri2

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#20  Edited By ConkerAndBerri2

I feel kind of ashamed..i bought prototype today, but i guess i shouldnt be since ive been waiting for this game for over 2 years now. But yeah 60$ IS ridiculous for new games.

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#21  Edited By mike
@Wolverine:
Enjoy physical media and the secondary market while you can. Sooner or later you'll be paying $60 or more for download-only games that you won't ever be able to sell or trade.
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#22  Edited By The_A_Drain

If you're talking sheer %age, they depreciate no quicker or slower than DVD movies. I even posted up in the other thread when someone asked why games are so much more expensive than DVDs that comparatively, they are the same price, plus some fees that don't apply to DVDs, the gross profit per disc is the same %age.

A dvd comes out for £13.95, and less than a week later I can find it for a tenner, or even on release I can find it in a supermarket for a tenner. That's a 20% or so reduction in a week. Some games depreciate that quickly, it depends how well it's selling and what it is.

It's the economic climate though, people are more and more eager to shift product rather than have it hanging around in warehouses, so we're seeing reductions faster and faster these days, all over the place not just with games and movies.

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#23  Edited By The_A_Drain
@ConkerAndBerri2 said:
"I feel kind of ashamed..i bought prototype today, but i guess i shouldnt be since ive been waiting for this game for over 2 years now. But yeah 60$ IS ridiculous for new games."

You might geel that way, but there are legitimate reasons behind the high cost, and when you see ow it breaks down you'll realise that there is very little developers can do to edge down the cost by more than a few dollars.

Here's a cut/paste from another thread where I explained to someone else, and a comparison to the cost of a DVD.

Here's a cut/paste from me earlier in the thread, some of it might be a little out of context.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Anyhow, regardless of what you think, here is a rough breakdown of where the cost goes per disc when you buy a brand new game.
Take for example, the asking price of $60 (excluding tax)
Distributor cut: 10% / $6
Store Cut : 10% / $6 (very often more, depends on the game)
Shipping/Handling: $5 (Seems high, but these games have to go through a long and arduous shipping process, and have to travel all over the world sometimes)
Pressing of disc: $2 - 4 (This includes packaging, manual, etc)
Royalties: Depends on the game. Can be a lot, could be nothing.
License cost: (This is taken by MS/Sony/Big N, paid PER DISC printed for their machines) $8

That is a minimum of $27 per disc, and very often it's only the HUGE publishers making this much money per disc, as the smaller ones have to pay higher printing/etc costs as they
aren't dealing with quite as much bulk, or don't own their own factories/etc.

So at the very most they make $33 per disc, although more often than not it's about $20, out of that they have to actually pay for the game (again, most games are made on
borrowed money) and pay pay any loans/etc before any of that turns to profit. When you consider the sheer amount of money it takes to make a game these days, especially
a so called 'AAA' title, (we're talking tens of millions of dollars) they aren't actually making a lot of money unless the game sells in the millions.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The main reasons DVD movies are cheaper than games is because the movie itself has already (not always though) hit the box office and made/has not made money, the majority of films make a chunk of money here and then do not have to make so much back from the disc purchase. Secondly, they can afford to be $8 per disc cheaper because they don't have to pay a license fee to Nintendo/Sony/MS for the privelage of putting out a game for their console. They get slightly cheaper pressing, because they (often) don't have manuals of any kind. The store cut is less (sticks along the same 10% guideline, so of a 15 dollar dvd, it's 1.5) same for distributor.

So for a DVD it breaks down like this; RRP: $15 - 20
Distributor Cut (if not done by the company itself): $2
Store Cut: $2 - 3
Pressing: $1 - 3
Royalties: Who knows.

So a min of $5 to $8 per disc, which leaves around the same profit margin as games, something like half of it.

So, while it seems that way to the consumer, the comparative cost, and the percentage of money made from the sale, is about the same.

I'm not arguing any point here, i'm just showing that the figures do add up, and games are more expensive for a reason. Some developers can afford to drop the prices (and, PC games forego the license cost and this is often reflected in the RRP, but, shockingly, recently this is not always the case)