Why pay full price? (Part 2)

In my last blog I wrote of my hesitation to purchase Prince of Persia, believing that perhaps to wait for a couple of weeks would be the wise thing to do. Now, 10 days after its release over here in the UK, the game has fell from £39.99 to £17.99. I slowly watched the decline in price, at one point it got to £24.99 and I was intent on purchasing it. Yet today, I find it even cheaper, so I finally decided to grab it along with Tomb Raider: Underworld (which also had the balls to drop from £39.99 to £17.99).

Now don't get me wrong, this is great for me. But take into consideration the people who splashed out full price for a copy at the time of its release. I've saved £22 just for waiting 10 days, £44 if you count both games. I understand that because of the state of the economy etc. and the complete flood of games over the past couple of month, that price drops are to be expected. But what effect will this have on the future? I have absolutely no intention of purchasing any game over the next few month for full price (well...maybes Resident Evil 5). How long will it take to restore the expectation that games are to cost as much as £39.99? I'm also curious to see if this 'trend' will continue throughout the next year. I'm expecting this to mark the end of most free DLC, as developers will surely take a hit from all this.

I shouldn't complain, thanks to this insanity I'm going to have one hell of a Christmas ;)

In my last blog I wrote of my hesitation to purchase Prince of Persia, believing that perhaps to wait for a couple of weeks would be the wise thing to do. Now, 10 days after its release over here in the UK, the game has fell from £39.99 to £17.99. I slowly watched the decline in price, at one point it got to £24.99 and I was intent on purchasing it. Yet today, I find it even cheaper, so I finally decided to grab it along with Tomb Raider: Underworld (which also had the balls to drop from £39.99 to £17.99).

Now don't get me wrong, this is great for me. But take into consideration the people who splashed out full price for a copy at the time of its release. I've saved £22 just for waiting 10 days, £44 if you count both games. I understand that because of the state of the economy etc. and the complete flood of games over the past couple of month, that price drops are to be expected. But what effect will this have on the future? I have absolutely no intention of purchasing any game over the next few month for full price (well...maybes Resident Evil 5). How long will it take to restore the expectation that games are to cost as much as £39.99? I'm also curious to see if this 'trend' will continue throughout the next year. I'm expecting this to mark the end of most free DLC, as developers will surely take a hit from all this.

I shouldn't complain, thanks to this insanity I'm going to have one hell of a Christmas ;)

I agree, I try to wait for price drops to buy my games. Some games just don't drop though like Halo 3 or Gears of War 2. I managed to pick up Call of Duty 4 up last year for less than $40 new at Best Buy becuase of a sale and thats how I'm getting Far Cry 2, less than $40 new at Best Buy. Saved $20 so now I can also buy the DLC for it too. :)

Sometimes we are lucky to find deals, but it is something you actually have to 'hunt' for and most working people do not have the time to do that. I don't know how it works in UK but in Canada for example, if you manage to find a lower price and can prove it, most stores within the first 30 days will return the difference. I've saved a lot of money on games like that.

I also noticed that the best place to buy videogames has to be Amazon. I have purchased quite a few games there for 5-10 dollars less than most Brick and Mortar stores and they ship for free. I suggest to those looking for deals to keep an eye on what Amazon has to offer (regardless of the region, USA, Canada, UK) because you are bound to find a deal on games.

I actually wait for price drops on most of the games I buy, unless it's either a must-have game for me or if it includes limited-availability extras that I want. I haven't really heard of price drops for major titles happening so quickly, in the span of 10 days, unless they weren't selling well or something. I think a major reason why most people don't wait for price drops is because they either want the game right then or they don't know when the price will drop (some games take over a year to drop in price).

The only reason to preorder or to pay full price is to get any "goodies" such as collector's editions and other limited edition items.   It's the only reason why I buy games at full price.

DirrtyNinja, it was £17.99 yesterday on play.com. I think it's went all the way back up to £39.99 now. I was lucky enough to get my order in, but no doubt it'll come down again.

finalkross, I agree that with a lot of the deals you have to really look for them, but there are times where big retailers advertise the hell out of such deals. For example last week over here, GameStation were running commercials advertising Sonic Unleashed for the Xbox 360 as being £19.99. A brand new game being shoved in our face for half price shortly after release. Other big retailers (particuarly on web sites) are blatantly advertising games for cheap prices, everytime I visit play.com a little banner is on the side showing Mirror's Edge for £19.99. These kind of prices are being imprinted into the minds of many consumers, I'm just curious to see if this lowers the price expectations consumers have, and if in the future many will hold back from buying on day one. If I recall correctly, the first few days of retail are where games make most money.

DARKIDO07, yeah it's amusing to see Call of Duty 4 (let alone World at War) still holding fine at £39.99. Again, I'm a victim of these price drops, I refuse to purchase CoD until it drops to around £24.99.

The COD4 things really annoying me. It's the type of game I'd probably buy if it was £20, but for i don't wanna splash out £50 (in some cases) on a game that's over a year old....

ANd i bought Little Big Planet 3 weeks ago for £19 which i thought was pretty damn good! And took advantage of Woolworths closing down by buying Bioshock (ps3) for £22

:D

Christ, I wish prices would drop that fast over here, I'd definitely go bargain hunting then.

I agree only if its a true price drop and not buying the game used.

The people in the UK, Australia, and etc. definitely deserve the price drops, despite the fact I paid $60 for my Prince of Persia. Generally you guys pay more for pretty much all things video games, so it's only fair.

That's basically what I do.
That being said, with games like Halo or Final Fantasy I just pay in full.

Even so, you can always find it for $10 off or with a $10 gift card

Surprised nobody has mentioned this yet but www.cheapassgamer.com is the greatest place in the world for American deals.

"buy it used."

"SmugDarkLoser said:

"Levio91 said:

"buy it used."

No, that's the most idiotic post here.

Buying it used will save you like $7 max and hurts the industry and essentially rips off developers.
It's okay for smaller priced things I say, but don't pay $50 for a game that just came out.  Support the developers, not gamestop."

Im not a fanboy at all. If I can get a game 1 dollar cheaper and the dev loses 50 dollars im fine with that."

"He said I should pay extra to "help the developers" only a fanboy would do that."