"80% of games are crap", says online retailer

[wraggster]

via CVG

Online retailer DVD Empire has quit selling games, blaming selfish publishers, slim margins, slow distribution and the fact that "80% of games are crap" as reasons for its decision.

"The video game industry only cares about mass merchandisers like Toys-R-Us, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, etc. They completely ignore the needs and wants of the medium to small game retailers," the company says on its website. "You may not care whether or not we make money, but we cannot continue to pay to sell video games."

"We all know how fast games devalue in prices; this is due to the fact that 80% of the games created are crap. So take the fact that we only make $5, now if the price of a game drops $20, we are now losing $15 every sale," the statement continues.

"The game industry releases many bad games, and word of mouth spreads fast to the consumer. All of those bunk games sit on our shelves. If we do end up selling them, we lose more money."

DVD Empire then lists several conveniently-numbered reasons why it has decided to stop selling games, including the "video game industry does not care", "we do not receive price protection", "we are not big enough to return products", "distribution is dumb", "games are better suited for brick and mortar retailers".

And the only positive? Apparently 20% of games are indeed, fun - though there's some questionable inclusions on DVD Empire's 'quality game' listings.

Do you agree or disagree with the article above. ?

[Poem58]

I don't know about the financial aspect...but given everyones differing tastes...it really not hard at all to believe that only 20% sell well. Especially these days when reviews are easy to find. back in the mid 90's and before you'd have to get a magazine awhile after a game was out to know if it was any good...now it's within a few day of release.
Remember Atari's ET? supposedly the worst game in history (I had and played it and didn't think so) but it sold tons due to lack of rating knowledge in today's market it would have bombed almost instantly.

[Zion]

I agree, 80% are crap

[atani]

I would even venture to guess the 80% number is a bit too low really. I think more like 90% of all games out are crap, doesnt matter if it is PC, console or handheld!

Almost all games are just crap sequels or just rips of another game out there. Anything original doesn't sell very well. Granted there are a few exceptions to this rule, but most times the games that are good are gone from the shelves when you go looking for them and there is no ETA for replacement stock.

Mike

[Boardman2411]

id actually say that more than 80% of games are crap, but its mostly down to personal opinion

[muffinman]

80% seems a fair figure of crap games however id say there were a higher percentage of crap games

[Aryn]

I would have to agree that most games are crap, but I believe that the amount of crap out there, while still excessive, is significantly lower than 80%. Anyway, I find myself usually being disappointed by games that received good reviews whereas if I wait 2 months used copies of the games become available and I can hear more honest opinions from friends and retailers.

[GazeboflossUK]

Most games are absolute rubbish. I'd say around 85% of games aren't worth buying.

[Shrygue]

In my opinion, some 91% of games aren't good at all.

[dthpsc]

I'm gonna have to agree, and I think it's a fair decision for them to stop selling games if they're losing money. With the ease of creating games these days, there's a whole lotta $#@! coming out (just like movies and music).