Digital is a concern for them, but in reality it really comes down to one thing. They don't beat competitor pricing. I am a cheapassgamer and I search for the best deal and the one time in recent memory where I wanted to buy a game (Control), I wasn't ready to buy it on Black Friday. Gamestop had the holiday sale recently, but it wasn't in stock near me. I ended up paying more on ebay for it, but it's still $20 cheaper than their used price. Their website is horrible for inventory tracking on mobile phones.
@neurogia: Ding Ding Ding!!! All they have to do is offer the best price and people will buy there. Their sales are not actually sales for new (er) games. I preferred Amazon when they had 20% off new releases, and now with gcu gone, I've gone to the hell hole that is Walmart for my last two purchases (Fire emblem and astral chain). I think the last game I bought from GameStop was tetris effect when it was first on sale for $19.99.
@Barighm: Yeah I see them (Horizon Zero Dawn, Dead Cells, Into The Breach) I paid like $14 for Dead Cells, do you know how much value I feel like I've gotten from that game?? It's immeasurable. Even Skyrim with all it's bugs, was a great investment. If they would have had loot boxes, I would never have put 100+hrs into it. That tells me the developer doesn't care about the consumer and instead wants to nickel and dime them.
@astrokidwell: I would argue that Overwatch is not a complete game since it's multiplayer only. I played it and ended up trading it in. I mean even counterstrike was a mod of a single player game. Blizzard could have made a story mode for overwatch, but they're lazy and money hungry as well and have shareholders, so instead they have MERCHANDISING! Tell the backstory of the characters with comics, sell action figures, etc.
My main issue is that whether it's loot boxes, or "live service" games, or releasing a game with day one DLC, or a day one patch with bugs bugs bugs b/c the devs rushed the game out the door....the one main factor is that the games don't have soul and everything is done to appease shareholders rather than the consumer. A few companies get it, the vast majority do not. Just look at Bioware the past few years.
@gamer112696: CD Projekt Red makes great games, with DLC that adds actual content and cosmetics, but isn't a loot crate. At least get rid of the randomness of what you are buying. If you want to price the ultra rare cosmetic $99 go for it and see who actually wastes their money on it, but when you have a surprise grab bag it's such a money grab it's sickening, and parents can't watch their kids 24/7.
I remember when they just made complete games and we didn't have cosmetic bullshit to waste money on. JUST MAKE SOME BETTER F'ING GAMES!!! More people will buy them, stop being so greedy.
@chubby170: The problem is America is capitalist, so companies have no incentive to make their products in the US. Their only reason for existence is to make profit. At the expense of American workers and our economy. SO they outsource jobs and materials from the cheapest locations. Tariffs don't help the economy, unless they force MS and Sony and Nintendo to make the consoles here. They might be more expensive, but the workers hired, helps the economy and raises the spending power of labor.
@Bread_or_Decide: Nintendo is not a "premium brand". Premium brands don't lose money like they have in recent years. "Premium" is just a marketing ploy. There are really no "premium brands" in video games. The cost of entry for VR made it "premium" for some, and now it has lowered.
Spiderman released in September and didn't drop until black friday, just like xenoblade chronicles and every other game not released that week. God of war was even longer from its time of release. I say this because I was tracking the drops because I was going to buy them and wasn't going to pay full retail.
Pirating will make the situation worse? For whom? Not me. I'm about to mod my switch and then my next nintendo purchase *might* be a new switch if they come out with a switch pro. Their online services are non-existent, so I have no need for multiplayer in 99% of the games I play. You know what stops piracy? Reasonable pricing of games that are almost 2 years old. This is how capitalism works. You pay the "premium" full price at release if you want it right away, and with all the bugs and false promises developers spew about features and non broken gameplay I don't know why anyone would. Then the price drops over time as demand lowers. The game has sold 1.73 million copies on a system that has sold 34.74 million units. That's not a game that is in demand.
sweet_jcs' comments