Curse

DismalClown · May 31, 2005, 09:13 PM // 21:13

I don't know about where you live, but where I live the people that work at best buy aren't the smartest.

Ellix Cantero · May 31, 2005, 09:14 PM // 21:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Corwin_Andros

Microsoft actually sends people around to WalMart to make sure that their X-box displays and things are all the way they want them to.. Was a bit of a surprise the first time I saw one of the MS people rummaging around and rearranging all the games and console accesories.

Nintendo was doing that ten years ago.

Pevil Lihatuh · May 31, 2005, 09:20 PM // 21:20

shop display usually means very little. I work in a game store in UK and although we are sent out 'chart' layouts each week, we dont always stick to it. For example, Guild Wars was meant to be at number 1 this week, but we had none in stock due to it selling out, so its not in the chart at all. And say... I don't know, San Andreas for PS2 was supposed to be number 1... well we have at least 12 spaces for the #1 spot and if we only have 3 copies of the game in, its gonna go in the chart at #8 where we can put just one game in.

And yep the theory thing is true, our company is paid by EA to have their own "EA Tower" put in each store with selected titles displayed on them. And if we don't do it we can get in lots of trouble, since EA is paying a LOT of money. And when Halo 2 came out we were again paid a lot to put giant cardboard Master Chief's up in the stores.

But yeah, a lot of the time it depends on how many of a game that store has in stock; something with few copies left is going to go on a lower shelf, or not be 'facing' the shop but instead be spine-on. San Andreas, still stupidly popular is in fact spine-on because its now 6 months old and a lot of other big games have come out. Star Wars Ep. 3 for example will stay at number 1 for a while but will soon be moved to be spine-on because the stock will stop being sent out in such huge quantities. You'll find a game that stays steadily popular instead of being huge at release and then dying down, will often make its way from facing to spine on to facing again regularly. Because as the staff do their general tidying and filling up of spaces, if there is a gap in the facing they will put in something they know is still selling well. And if something much newer comes out and they have no space left facing, they will take the older (or cheaper

) titles off

Vertical_Zer0 · May 31, 2005, 09:28 PM // 21:28

I bought GW the day it came out. I went to EB Games and they didn't even have the game on display - not even a cardboard stand or anything! I had to ASK if they had them yet. Luckily they had a few, but they were locked in an opaque box behind the counter. If I hadn't gone in specifically looking for GW, I would have never known it was there.

Sovetskeey · May 31, 2005, 09:32 PM // 21:32

I bought mine the day it came out for $39.99CDN from Best Buy

I havn't checked since then but places like Best Buy only put up a display for the first few days when games come out.

Numa Pompilius · May 31, 2005, 09:32 PM // 21:32

Can anyone explain the financial model of GW to me, though?

I mean, they've probably spent in the region of $10M developing this game, and they have running costs for the servers which they'll have to keep running for at least a few years - but they only charge for the game itself?

And it's not even more expensive than single-player games.

I have a real hard time getting that to add up to turning a profit.

Lazarous · May 31, 2005, 09:39 PM // 21:39

They'll make little if any net profit on the initial sales i think. However, expansions are going to be much much easier to develop for the game than the first release, so when they sell it for full price they WILL be making substantial profits, which i would only assume completely outweight the server requirements for the game.

Gerbill · May 31, 2005, 09:44 PM // 21:44

I went out 3 days before it went out to ask if they had them yet.
the answer was no check again tomorrow, so I did and they already had it.. so technically I had my game 2 days before release, but since I didn't have a pre-order account I wasn't able to play it sooner than the official release.. oh well.

oh and around here it's still at the top of the shelf in about every store =)

Wesley Wyndam-Pryce · May 31, 2005, 10:25 PM // 22:25

bought my copy at MediaPlay, the week it came out

They had it display of the new releases, had mostly old stuff that had been out for a week or two (Matrix Online). It was a bit pricey at $49.99 but hey it was new. I had remembered playing the E3 beta like two years ago and it was neat. Plus the box art was pretty cool, it just looked awesome.

I wish I coulda gotten the Collectors Box, with the female necro, conceptual art, headset and shit

Dax · Jun 01, 2005, 01:02 AM // 01:02

I bought mine for $39.99....but if someone wants the game they'll go looking for it.
I'd be worrying if it goes down to $19.99 like EQ2 did

BrandonIT · Jun 01, 2005, 01:17 AM // 01:17

I'll get worried when they start bundling the original game, and the two newest expansions for $19.99...

Like SWG.

There's a slap in the face of everyone who paid $50 for the original game, then another $40 for each expansion.

Frutron · Jun 01, 2005, 03:55 PM // 15:55

GAD! Ive been searching for this info since this post first appeared and now I have found it, at gamesindustry.biz. Here are the top ten full priced games for PC for last week. First number is this weeks ranking, and second number is last weeks ranking.

1 1 GUILD WARS NCSOFT EUROPE
2 4 CHAMPIONSHIP MANAGER 5 EIDOS
3 - IMPERIAL GLORY EIDOS
4 3 THE SIMS 2: UNIVERSITY ELECTRONIC ARTS
5 5 WORLD OF WARCRAFT VIVENDI UNIVERSAL GAMES
6 2 HALF-LIFE 2 VIVENDI UNIVERSAL GAMES
7 6 FOOTBALL MANAGER 2005 SEGA UK
8 7 THE SIMS 2 ELECTRONIC ARTS
9 8 EMPIRE EARTH II VIVENDI UNIVERSAL GAMES
10 9 STRONGHOLD 2 TAKE 2

Not bad eh? It think that's where it began life on the chart when it was released too. Poor WOW, all the down at 5... ;D

-F

Ketch · Jun 01, 2005, 04:13 PM // 16:13

Here in Canada, they continue to be sold out everytime I go to future shop. Haven't been to a best buy yet.

But the price at another store we have here Electronics Boutique, (EB), RAISED the price. I have never seen that before.