High Street cheaper than 360 Games-On-Demand

Microsoft’s digital service to offer premium prices – but has retail got the shelf space to compete?
Though we’re yet to hear the specific price of each title heading to Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Games On Demand service next week, Joystiq is claiming that all titles will be priced between 1,600 MS Points (£13.50) and 2,400 MS Points (£20).
This is good news for bricks and mortar retail – MCV research has shown that nearly all of the titles due to arrive on the service next week can be sourced for significantly less on the High Street.
Taking eight of the titles that will form the debut offering for Microsoft’s Games-On-Demand service, MCV used online price comparison site GamesTracker and phoned a number of GAME outlets to find how much physical copies currently cost:
* Assassins Creed – £14.99 (High Street); £8.99 (Online)
* Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion – £14.99 (High Street); £9.94 (Online)
* Fight Night Round 3 – £14.99 (High Street); £6.19 (Online)
* Perfect Dark Zero – £4.99 (High Street); £4.99 (Online)
* Prey – £? (High Street); £4.99 (Online)
* Rockstar Presents Table Tennis – £4.99 (High Street); £4.34 (Online)
* Sega Rally – £9.99 (High Street); £7.39 (Online)
* Viva Pinata 2 – £? (High Street); £7.98 (Online)
As the results show, at the very least retail looks to be competitive with Microsoft’s price. In the majority of cases retail looks to be significantly cheaper, particularly when shopping online.

And these prices don’t take into account the savings that can be made when buying pre-owned.

However, one obstacle that High Street retail might face is shelf space and stock availability. MCV was unable to obtain prices for two games – Prey and Viva Pinata 2 – as none of the ten stores contacted had any stock of either title.
MCV contacted Microsoft was unable to confirm the UK Games-On-Demand pricing at the time of writing.
In further Games-On-Demand news, three additional titles have been added to the North American Games on Demand selection that won’t be appearing on the European service next week – 2K Games’ BioShock, Namco’s Ridge Racer 6 and Konami’s Karaoke Revolution American Idol Encore.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/35301/High...ames-On-Demand