Price slashing will 'confuse and disappoint' consumers

[wraggster]

The recent price war conducted by some supermarkets on the release of FIFA 10 earlier this month has been branded as "stupidity" by SimplyGames.com director Neil Muspratt, who has told GamesIndustry.biz that he believes the practice will only service to confuse - and ultimately disappoint - the consumer.

Speaking in an exclusive interview in the build-up to what the industry hopes will be a busy Christmas period, Muspratt explained that while the recent hardware price cuts were good news, he expected the new higher RRP of Modern Warfare 2 to become the standard in future.

"The price reduction of hardware is excellent news and so far it's certainly had a profound effect on our sales," he explained. "I see this as being one of the key Christmases in the lifecycle of the consoles especially Xbox and PlayStation as, arguably, Nintendo's installed user base is already further on than those guys, so the price reductions of hardware is excellent news for the industry.

"With regards to software pricing it's early days as we're only just in to Q4 but do I see higher RRP prices in terms of software a sign of things to come? Yes I do."

However, the lack of consistency around recent pricing - and particularly the slashing of FIFA 10 to just GBP in some supermarket stores - is causing him to worry.

"As a retailer I have some concerns though because I don't know that those higher trade prices will be properly reflected in the ultimate selling price," he said. "The stupidity with [the aggressive price slashing of] FIFA10 is perhaps also a sign of things to come and shows that retailers still believe that this particular entertainment format is ripe for crazy discounting."

But while some independent retailers claimed to buy their stock from such supermarkets because it was cheaper than getting it from distributors, Muspratt was sceptical that it was a widespread practice.

"I don't think that there are many independents that do that on a massive scale. I think those quoted as saying that have really been making the point that it is quite ridiculous that they could go out to supermarket and buy this title far cheaper than they can from the official distributor.

"There's absolutely nothing anybody can do to control that. Nobody can set prices as that's illegal, and no publisher is going to limit the planned day one numbers in order to control price. We just have to have to hope that the big players can recognise and respect the importance of what they do regarding price and also recognise that it is important that we send out fairly consistent messages to consumers.

"Selling this title for GBP 25 or less when in a few weeks the year's biggest game [Modern Warfare 2] is coming out at double that price cannot, in anybody's mind, be seen to be a consistent message to consumers.

"It's a fairly lazy excuse that by slashing the prices of games the retailers are giving the customer what they want. Of course they are in the short term, but what it means is that same customer is going to be very disappointed when they turn up two or three weeks later to buy the next big game and it’s up to twice the price."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...oint-consumers

[symbal]

I completely agree with this, how can the average person possibly wrap their head around realising the fact that one store can be cheaper than another, you know i'm really scared of a future where i can save a load of money by shopping somewhere else.

[fpcreator2000]

I completely agree with this, how can the average person possibly wrap their head around realising the fact that one store can be cheaper than another, you know i'm really scared of a future where i can save a load of money by shopping somewhere else.

Ditto.

[rokobungi]

All I read was "boo hoo we want more price fixing to boost gaming products perceived value."

[symbal]

Actually this reminds me of this old idea where the people in charge wanted everything to be equal so no-one had to suffer, i remember it begins with a C.. was it community? Commitment? no i remember now it was Communism and if my history's right all the public lived happily ever after, so i'm sure this game pricing thing would work miracles on a free economy.

[ojdon]

Actually this reminds me of this old idea where the people in charge wanted everything to be equal so no-one had to suffer, i remember it begins with a C.. was it community? Commitment? no i remember now it was Communism and if my history's right all the public lived happily ever after, so i'm sure this game pricing thing would work miracles on a free economy.

One word: No.

[JDvorak]

Well if the supermarkets can make a profit off of discounting a game and the retailers or discount game shops are paying more from their distributors than the supermarkets sell it for then what distributor does the supermarket have? And shouldn't the game shops be shopping around for the same distributor to sell them the games as the supermarket? This makes no sense unless the supermarkets are taking a loss on the games which I am sure they are not. Plus most supermarket games I have seen here in the USA are not selling the latest and greatest games but a mix of older games for consoles and handhelds for $9.99 to $19.99 plus tax. They have the latest DVD's for $19.99 and a lot of discount DVD's. Point is how many of you actually run out on day 1 for the latest and greatest video game like you might a newly released movie? DVD's have a pretty consistent price as do music CD's but video games can be anything the publisher wants to charge on launch day. Then if the game is good it will stay up there in price and not show up used. If it is bad it comes down fairly quickly in price and lot's of used copies surface. So again how many of you would pay a crap load of money to get a good game on launch day? Or pay a lot of money when you kid wants a certain game for Christmas that just came out? Or do we use the kid as an excuse to talk our spouse into getting a game we really want? Why the hell is Beatles Rock Band so expensive anyway?

[symbal]

Actually supermarkets do often make a loss on things like this, obviously they can't afford to sell too many so they just use these items to get you in the shop and hope you buy more products while you there and become a repeat customer, stores show they will get an overall raise in profits so this will never stop unless the competition commission gets involved.

[mike_jmg]

boo hoo, I want more profit and I need them to raise their price too so mine wont look that much expensive

[mib_]

They should just sell all the games for £25. I'd buy a lot more games at that price point...

and £50 for Gran Turismo 5? f*ck off PD. I'm waiting till it drops