Ads for some national chain retailers have been leaked onto the web. So far, Target and Best Buy are stores of interest that have been posted. Here are all the DS and Wii specials they’ll be having for Black Friday (day after Thanksgiving).
Best Buy
DS Lite Bundle w/ Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass ($150)
DS Lite Bundle w/ Nintendogs ($150)
Sonic and the Secret Rings – Wii game ($20)
Brunswick Pro Bowling and Rapala Fishing Tournament – Wii games ($20)
**There are also other, unspecified games ranging from $5-$15**
Target
Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree – Wii game ($28)
Boogie – Wii game ($28)
Pirates of the Caribbean – Wii / DS game ($28 / $17)
Star Wars II – DS game ($17)
**There are also a variety of DS Starter Kits on sale**
The interesting thing about this is what each store is putting on sale, and how big the sale is. Target has a very small number of sales on Wii games compared to other systems. For example, Target has sales of over $10 off on games like The Orange Box, Call of Duty 4, Gears of War, and the newest Tony Hawk game for XBox 360 and PlayStation 3. Target has a total of 13 sales for 360, and only 4 for Wii.
Sale needed / No sale needed.
Need I say any more?
This goes to show that retailers are having a tougher time moving XBox 360 and PlayStation 3 games compared to Wii games. They know that the Wii games at $50 will sell with minimal promotion, but even the hottest 360 and PS3 games need to be put on sale. More evidence that Nintendo is in the position they wanted to be all along.
For information on the sales for Circuit City, Toys ‘R Us and Gamestop, check out this post.
All sales info courtesy of Black Friday Ads.
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November 22, 2007 at 1:57 pm |
The question isn’t how many games are moving off the shelves. Yes Wii games will move faster because of their lower price, but their lower price means less revenue per game sold right? The demand curves are different for intra-console games let alone inter-console games! There are PS3 games for $60 and some for $40. The question is, have they reached equilibrium price, and do they want to? Video game prices are both taken from the market and decided on by the seller because there are relatively close substitutes for each game but no direct ones. Corn is corn, Doom is Not Unreal Tournament. But they are both first person shooter games right? Since there are no direct substitutes for any single game I’ll consider each game a monopoly (so no supply curve). Now throw average total, average variable and marginal cost into the mix! Well, here may very well be one of the main reasons for price difference! Each game takes quite a bit of time to make but it’s different for each game, and since there is no output until the game is shipped, we will consider the cost of designing the game (modeling, programming, story design, etc.) a fixed cost. The variable cost will be how many copies are made. So marginal cost will be how much more it costs to make a copy than the last one. Socially optimal price would be where the price equals the marginal cost; I wish they could produce at that price! Problem is, at that price they would have to forget everything they spent designing the game! Then we wouldn’t have video games because everyone would go under
. So they likely go towards the fair return price, which is where average total cost meets demand. But Doom, Unreal Tournament, Halo, etc. still have to compete! (Going out of monopoly mode) So they stick with the market price that is closest to their fair return price. (Remember, there are several market prices for video games.) Whew. So why do PS3 and XBOX360 games cost more on the shelves? Because they take longer, and hence cost more to design. Also, they have different demand curves. If the game is really any good, the price will stick. Now, why do some games need to be on sale while others don’t? There are two factors: the retailer bought too many, or the game company took the wrong market price. Sometimes a combination of both.
November 23, 2007 at 10:14 am |
Not necessarily. It could mean that the games are in high demand, and by putting a high demand item on sale, a retailer will draw traffic to their store to sell that item, and hopefully a couple others, since the person’s in the store already.
November 23, 2007 at 11:18 am |
I understand that, but the point he was trying to make was that “the games needed to be on sale”, implying the original price was too high. The point I was trying to make was that the original prices weren’t necessarily too high. But you’re right that is another reason they could be on sale.
November 25, 2007 at 5:46 pm |
In that case, you’re completely right. I like when everyone is right.
December 11, 2008 at 12:36 am |
This better be the best game I ever play!