http://disqus.com/by/jdiggitty/enTue, 20 Oct 2009 12:15:35 -0000http://thepowerreview.com/blog/2009/10/19/and-the-halo-killer-is%e2%80%a6-halo/#comment-20633718<p>Here's a little information for those who don't know or never thought of it. Retailers do not set gaming prices. Gaming is on a distribution model. I run a small distribution comany (not gaming) but have looked into it and quickly gave up the thought. I still have buyer accounts with 2 of the largest distibutors, don't use them, but I'll share with you what we found out. I'll generalize on my specific case.</p><p>I cannot buy games directly from MS or the creator. They're contractually obligated to go through the distributors. This is pretty much the only way to get new releases. When you go to the distibutor you'll find out a game which sells at $59 retail will cost you $55-56. Buy 1000 and get a price cut to $53. This is PER title and NOT total order!</p><p>This is why you don't see many small indie gaming stores selling many new games. Imagine wanting to get 5 copies of Borderlands. That'll cost you $275 to gain $20 total. Now take the time for inventory, shipping, the space it takes up, time to sell, the time you're paying an employee to sell it and you've likely lOST money.</p><p>Now consider you have to pay $53k just to make an extra $2 per game(which a small company couldn't do anyway cause by the time they got through 1000 games the street price would be considerably lower) and you'll understand why you never see a store with an extremely low price on a new release. Its how companies control prices on their products. And why Gamestop has their used game structure, cause they HAVE to do that to make any money</p><p>Not justifying the price of ODST, just some info for anyone interested. </p>jdiggittyTue, 20 Oct 2009 12:15:35 -0000http://thepowerreview.com/blog/2009/10/19/and-the-halo-killer-is%e2%80%a6-halo/#comment-20629816<p>I can understand your personal angst about this but I think you are seriously overreaching with some of these claims. The reason Halo fans aren't "up in arms" over this is because they knew EXACTLY what they were buying. As I'm writing this there are over 1million unique players on Halo3 in the last 24hrs. The 2.2 million 1st day sales makes a bit more sense given that.</p><p>As for Halo Wars... its doubtful to me how many people got "tricked" into buying that. There was a great deal of media preview of the gameplay way before release. There's no way a Halo fan couldn't have been exposed to that. Plus, unless my timing is off, I remember G4 running a review before release day. And. its hard for me to put a lot of credence to a misleading commercial when there is a demo of the game out. Lastly, FLIP THE DAMN COVER OVER!</p><p>I do agree with what your article is implying though. Sales do not indicate quality. McDonalds sells a crapload of burgers and Nickleback sells a crapload of music. Doesn't mean its good or good for you.</p><p>If you want to talk feeling tricked into a game, can we talk Brutal Legend?</p>jdiggittyTue, 20 Oct 2009 11:05:25 -0000