Not uncommon. Retailers are allowed to set their own markups, I believe.
Standard retail price for an MMO over here is generally no higher than £17.99, but retailers seldom charge less than £24.99 during the pre-order periods, especially when preorder incentives are involved and doubly so if they happen to get one of the popular items.
title says it all and I don't care whether your a hater or a fanboi universal price drops in the first month of release......BAD SIGN!
Not for a subscription-based MMO. Cryptic/Atari probably, at best, make $15 from the sale of the game. They get that directly your first month of subscription. This is Cryptic/Atari cutting out the middleman and passing the savings on to you.
Agreed, not a good sign. The free trial this early, when many bugs still need to be fixed, is worrisome as well. Not to mention opening the spam gates via free trials.
I'm still hopeful that things will work out though.
WoW did the same with each expansion. As we know from history WoW failed and is the biggest financial failure the industry has ever seen. Blizzard then filed for bankruptcy and it's stocks plummeted to just four cents a share. World of Warcraft would become known as one of the biggest failures of all mankind and the reason for World War III and the subsequent extinction of humanity.
title says it all and I don't care whether your a hater or a fanboi universal price drops in the first month of release......BAD SIGN!
This is normal. Price drops from early game to later sales represent first and second wave marketing efforts. The game made way over ROI in first sale, so now they are cleaning up profits. Primarily a function of the retailers, Cryptic makes the same amount per box.
World of Warcraft would become known as one of the biggest failures of all mankind and the reason for World War III and the subsequent extinction of humanity.
German, Russian and Japanese troops running at US Marines, wielding bayonets and screaming "FOR THE HORDE!!!"....
Ozzy Osbourne and Mr T jump out and start trashing them all in a Rambo-esque testosterone fueled rampage....
Suddenly, Shatner pops up, throws fireballs around while telling them to "boldly go to hell".....
Thank you. That mental image was just what I always wanted.
All games MMO or otherwise have price drops within a month basically retailers bulk order more than they need then have a surplus, they then try to clear out at a lower rate to make room for new stock. Digital downloads they dont need to do it but to keep sales up some do anyway.
I mean if your digital download is $10 more than the box people may still buy the download at that price for convenience, however when the box drops to half that price who will want to buy your download?
MMOs are not like single player games. The price drop is acceptable a bit after release because they are looking for subscribers and the initial investment is probably covered by the current playerbase.
Op fail. Sorry.
And lots of troll fail in the replies as well. Thanks for playing though. See you in other threads.
Comments
I am in the wrong business. Should have been a psychiatrist. Would have made a fortune treating you for denial.
You can't make money off your own mental issues. he's right, it's par for the MMO course.
Standard retail price for an MMO over here is generally no higher than £17.99, but retailers seldom charge less than £24.99 during the pre-order periods, especially when preorder incentives are involved and doubly so if they happen to get one of the popular items.
Actually, Jedi is right. Unless you're Blizzard and your product is called "Warcraft" this is completely normal.
UO did the same.
I bought SWG for ten bucks three weeks after launch from Best Buy.
Guild Wars was twenty bucks within weeks.
Hell, you can get GW - packed with all of it's expansions and extra content - for fifteen bucks FROM ANET.
CO is only ten bucks in stores.
Hell, even EvE has been cheap forever.
So, who's really in denial here?
I'm still hopeful that things will work out though.
Actually illegal in the US or UK for it to be any other way, hence the price drops. Cryptic already made their money.
Manufacturer (Cryptic) makes something, sells it for $10 to the distributor.
Distributor (Atari) sells it for $20 to the vendor.
Vendor (Best Buy, GameStop) sells it to me the customer for $30.
Dumbed down, but that sorta like that.
This is normal. Price drops from early game to later sales represent first and second wave marketing efforts. The game made way over ROI in first sale, so now they are cleaning up profits. Primarily a function of the retailers, Cryptic makes the same amount per box.
Yeah, my 73" TV was about 6 grand when I bought it. TWO WEEKS LATER, the same TV was 999.
Ozzy Osbourne and Mr T jump out and start trashing them all in a Rambo-esque testosterone fueled rampage....
Suddenly, Shatner pops up, throws fireballs around while telling them to "boldly go to hell".....
Thank you. That mental image was just what I always wanted.
http://is.gd/8L4N0
Film at Eleven.
I mean if your digital download is $10 more than the box people may still buy the download at that price for convenience, however when the box drops to half that price who will want to buy your download?
Only when it comes to doomed ones. Like STO...
Your denial of reality really is amusing at times...
Op fail. Sorry.
And lots of troll fail in the replies as well. Thanks for playing though. See you in other threads.