Curmudgeon Gamer
23 September 2007
Cheapskate
For all the kvetching about prices (some on this very blog), this really is a decent time for finding cheap games. Just this weekend I found Shadow of the Colossus for $10 at Wal-mart and took advantage of the 3-for-2 deal at Toys R Us to pick up three PSP games (Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Remix, Lumines II, and EA Replay) for an average of less than $7.50 each. Heck, I even spotted Taito Legends Power-up for the PSP for $13 brand new in GameStop. After the other pickups, I couldn't really justify any other games, so I'll just have to wait on that one.
Labels: game stores, prices, ps2, psp
--jvm at 15:43
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25 July 2007
Game Price Trends since 2004
Someone recently suggested I look at game prices, especially since the advent of $60 PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 games. The results are up today at Next-Gen.biz. I used mostly public data on the top 10 and top 20 lists since June 2004, with some additional data provided by NPD.
To my mind, the upshot is that Wii games are holding the $50 floor while $50 and $60 Xbox 360 games are filling in the top 20, pushing the average price of the top-selling games higher. PlayStation 2 games are getting pushed out, removing the main downward pressure from console games. Only the Nintendo DS presence in the top 10 and top 20 is pulling game prices below $50.
Additional bits that didn't go into the article:
Edit: Fixed link. Blogger's WYSIWYG interface hates URLs with ampersands.
To my mind, the upshot is that Wii games are holding the $50 floor while $50 and $60 Xbox 360 games are filling in the top 20, pushing the average price of the top-selling games higher. PlayStation 2 games are getting pushed out, removing the main downward pressure from console games. Only the Nintendo DS presence in the top 10 and top 20 is pulling game prices below $50.
Additional bits that didn't go into the article:
- NPD was very helpful providing more data. While I didn't get everything I wanted (understandable), they did take a sample spreadsheet from me with a formula in it and apply the same to months for which unit sales data is not public. I especially need to thank David Riley of NPD for his patience and effort helping me.
- The public NPD data on the top 10 and top 20 is easiest to get from this page on GameDaily.
- NPD apparently revises their lists, but the published lists don't reflect this. For example, Bully for the PS2 placed #9 in October 2006 according to published charts. It actually placed #3 on the October 2006 list I got directly from NPD. There were some other very minor changes here and there, mostly transposing two games (say #2 and #3 switching).
Edit: Fixed link. Blogger's WYSIWYG interface hates URLs with ampersands.
--jvm at 08:25
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