Curse

Yandawar · Jan 28, 2008, 08:29 PM // 20:29

Urgh. So no retail stores at all. Only some more online 'retailers' - none of which are even valid for the Netherlands, not that I'd have bought from them even if they were.
Fsck. They can distribute those plaync "game time" cards to brick and mortar stores easily enough - how come they can't do the same for this?

You know, maybe it's just the language barrier speaking here, but when I read "a variety of retail partners located throughout North America and Europe" in the original announcement, that sure as hell didn't indicate to me this would be online-only.

Dark-NighT · Jan 28, 2008, 08:32 PM // 20:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yandawar

Urgh. So no retail stores at all. Only some more online 'retailers' - none of which are even valid for the Netherlands, not that I'd have bought from them even if they were.
Fsck. They can distribute those plaync "game time" cards to brick and mortar stores easily enough - how come they can't do the same for this?

Well it seems like paypal is the only option left then, FFS transfering money to paypal takes a damn week.

Navaros · Jan 28, 2008, 08:50 PM // 20:50

I might buy it if buying it from a "retail partner" means one does not have to link one's GW account to a PlayNC account. That forced linkage is the sole reason why many people will not use the GW online store. I noticed that Gaile's statement quoted from a few pages back did not provide any clarity on this particular point.

So, what's the deal with that? Does buying BMP from a "retail partner" enable you to avoid linking your GW account to a PlayNC account, or not?

strcpy · Jan 29, 2008, 05:13 AM // 05:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Miss Presler

Well i dont know if you remember but they did put the pre release pack of eotn out in a box for a mere 5 dollars, i know it was a promotion to get gwen sales but seriously that must have hurt their profit somewhat.

They did something similar for Factions and Nightfall - I still have the DVD case for Nightfall. I purchased the pre-release pack for GWEN online though.

Promotional items tend to be different - for one big thing they are usually treated different as far as shelf space is concerned. In many cases those items are also treated by the stores as "pre-orders" so they don't mind putting them out as they will make their money later anyway.

Even if that weren't true that generally comes out of the advertising budget and isn't really expected to be a direct profit maker. That is MUCH more similar to many of the mini-pet giveaways and such - but even then from another point of view they *do* cost them money, it is just that since that department isn't expected to directly turn a profit anyway (they are intended to make the profits of the departments that make them larger) it isn't considered loosing money. Not to say they can spend whatever they want and it doesn't count, but "advertisement" can not be compared with the product being sold.

Ultimately few stores are going to stock a new item on their shelves that cost 10 dollars simply because shelf space is normally more expensive than that (they will very much try and move old stock in that fashion, but that is also different from knowingly purchasing something to sit on your shelfs for 10 dollars). They *will* generally stock promotional items since they tend to increase revenue of the expensive product later on.

Most likely in order for Anet to have it released in a brick and mortar store said store would need such a large portion of the 10 dollars that they would loose money per sale - again if this was going to later on increase sales of another item by more than they loose here (otherwise known as advertising) then no problem. However, in this case the BMP *is* the product - same reason the mini-quests for Oblivion were not sold in brick/mortar stores until they had enough to bundle and be worth the money/shelf space.

But, who knows? They may have some promotion up their sleeve with it that we don't know about or they may talk some places into doing it to increase sales of the other games. All I can point out is what is normal and that doesn't mean the abnormal can not happen.