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Game Pricing Trends Examined

Posted by simoniker on from the waiting-for-the-bargain-bin dept.

jvm writes "Over at Curmudgeon Gamer, there's a new article, 'A Preliminary Game Price Study', that tries to address the question 'How does the price of a $50 game drop after its release?'. Data, graphs and discussion are provided for almost fifty games across the three big consoles (PS2, Xbox, GameCube) over a span of nearly six months. Among other observations, two price drop periods are noted since the beginning of 2004, and for this data set it appears that Xbox games were discounted more on average than GameCube and PS2 games."

6 of 53 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Interesting by TykeClone · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Actually, I think that any software in the bargain bin was paid full price for by the retailer when purchased - you're just looking at excess stock that they're attempting to "get what they can" for.

    --
    A fine is a tax you pay for doing wrong and a tax is a fine you pay for doing all right.
  2. Missing data by GeorgeH · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It would be nice to compare sales data with price drops, to figure out how popular a game has to be to command the $50 price tag.

    --
    Why can't I moderate something "Wrong" or at least "Grossly Misinformed"?
    1. Re:Missing data by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The suggested retail price of a game is set before it ever hits the market. $39.99 games don't shoot up to $49.99 if they become popular.

      However, what you suggest would be very useful in determining at what price certain games sell best, as determined by retailers (important - they are the same folks that NPD track, not the pubs and not us customers). From the graphs, it appears that the sampling of Xbox games that were analyzed sell better when discounted, since the prices drop somewhat earlier than for games on the other consoles (indicating retail market reactions to possible slow uptake at a high price), and they drop lower and stay lower over time (indicating that the lower prices do more good than harm for the retailer, indicating possible overstock and/or continued slow uptake). The less dynamic graphs of the comparable sets of data for the other two consoles shows that less drastic cuts are enacted by the retailer, because they are not required to keep that stock selling.

      A flatter, higher graph is what I'd like to see for my games, if I were a publisher.

  3. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  4. As a former EB games store manager... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I have to say that this study doesn't say much.

    EB issues "price changes" across the board every few weeks. This accounts for the drops that are seen.

    As for Xbox games being discounted more, I would say that this sample size is way too small. Also the focus on "top tier" games shows fewer drops for PS2 games.

    Let me explain. From working at EB, I know that there are an unbelievable number of "trash" PS2 games that are released. Most of you have never even heard of these games (RTX Red Rock, Seek & Destroy... etc.) these games run at $30-$50 for about a week and then plummet in price, often to under $10 in a month. Had some of these been included, the results would be different.

    Also, microsoft's extremely agressive pricing of it's first party games CS and PGR2 also has an effect on the xbox graph.

    As for gamecube... well. You folks at slashdot seem to want to always focus on the fact that the GC is hanging in there on the hardware side. Which is 100% true. Unfortunately, the GC get's KILLED in software sales. The average PS2 owner has 9 games, the average XBOX owner has 13, but average GC owner has only 5! (Gamenews daily, Feb04)

    One last comment about the bargain bin, the reason that they are full of xbox games.... surprise! Because they sell! Everyone is sick of seeing all the old PS2 games (*many* of them sports games). So the bins are about 50% xbox 40% ps2 and 10% GC.

  5. Re:The Best Times to Buy by Belgand · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I find it rather interesting that E3 doesn't apparently show any effect on pricing. Perhaps this pricing change is more commonly shown in hardware though, but I would nonetheless expect games to drop in price.

    The lack of PC data though is rather odd. PC games and console games are increasingly existing in the same space. The major difference being that the used market for console games seems to be rather large while the PC used market is much smaller. As well PC stock tends to be available longer. From my own informal observations (i.e. I just bought a Gamecube a few weeks ago) console games seem to hit the shelves, sell, and are then either discounted down, start showing up used (possibly forcing a decrease in price?), or re-released at a cheaper price (e.g. Nintendo's "Player's Choice" line). I really wonder what the effect of the used market is on new game prices. Some, more recent titles, show very little change (perhaps $5 cheaper for the used product) while older games are offered either at modest or serious discounts depending on total price and general popularity. Super Smash Bros. Melee is still around $25 with the new title selling close to the $30 mark, while the slightly newer (and critically acclaimed) Eternal Darkness has dropped in price to ~$13 or so. I was unable to even find new copies for sale.

    Demand thus seems to be the likely factor that drives many of these price cuts. Yes, popular games will drop with time or in order to snare the last few holdouts by making a popular game available at a lower price. On the other hand older games that are still popular command relatively high prices in comparison (IIRC I paid $40 for the Diablo II Battle Chest about a year ago, a relatively high price for a game that's four years old).