Jimquisition: Limited Collector's Complete Edition

[Adventurer2626]

Jim, Jim. Jimmy, Jim, Jim, Jimmy, Jim, Jim, Jim. You know that that we love you and thank God every night for you. It's ok, don't let the vocal minority get you down, because the silent majority is behind you. Most of the time. Mostly. Probably. Anyways, absolutely agree, good job. Stomping down mole hills (Gamestop) doesn't kill all the moles (lack of incentive for buying new).

 

[Arnoxthe1]

You know, I don't care if the publishers are "with us" or are trying to make some money. That's true for ALL businesses and that's fine. However, as a business, I also expect them to make sound business decisions. Decisions such as forcing your customers to have Origin to play your games aren't good business at all and just bad for everyone involved. Actually, i think that's something that all businesses should learn someday. You don't have to rip off your customers to make a lot of money.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Sure certain aging franchises have gained more and more fans over the years and I think that has led to record breaking sales for a few titles but overall there are less people out there TO purchase a CoD game now than there was at this point last generation. I know I didn't get into CoD until recently when my wife got me into it. It also has the added quality of being primarily an online game and people don't want to have too steep a learning curve.

The thing is, the industry as a whole is making dynamic strides in terms of profits. It's not just "aging" franchises, it's not even necessarily top-tier titles. They're screaming that they're going broke but are posting record profits.

I agree with you completely about Saints Row 3 but THQ is the one that's responsible for the butchering of that title.

I have no excuse with that one, save that my mind wandered. I'm aware of the actual publisher and have used their website to register complaints. To be sure of that, they have a convenient product pull-down. But yeah.

As an investor, I know that Gamestop needs to keep it's investors happy but they also have a responsibility to their consumers.

I'm not particularly with you here. While I believe the "consumer" should stand up for themselves, I don't see why Gamestop or anyone else has the responsibility to hold the hands of a consumer base that will not stand up for itself.

You have to admit that Gamestop has quite a racket when they've bought up all the other game stores then require the consumer to either pay them ahead of time for their game OR pay $2 short of the new price for a used copy.
I respect myself enough to just not shop there but some people are limited to what's local and some people just dont know any better.

See, I've never seen this in play. Plenty of places around here offer used games at better prices. And I live in a tiny town in a tiny state. Maybe this is the case, but I find it hard to believe. I do afford for there being gamers who live in smaller communities than mine, but the larger tendency is for them to exist in larger areas. The areas you're more likely to find Gamestops.

As far as people who just don't look around, that is their own doing. You can tell them to go elsewhere. People not strictly limited by location have many choices, including half.com/ebay, which has been an INCREDIBLY popular site for ages. Stores only stay competitive if we don't actively reward them for not being competitive. We really need to keep up our end of the supply/demand cycle. If we don't, we kind of deserve what we get.

Meanwhile, if I have the hankering to buy used (I rarely do to be honest, I'd rather buy new), I'll shop elsewhere. Be it locally or through the web. Consider it "leading by example."

Note that this still isn't so much a defense of Gamestop, but an explicit statement that we can't expect any different if we don't stand up to them. Gamers as a whole sometimes cheese me off for that reason. All the outrage at Project Ten Dollar, but people snapped up games like Mass Effect 2. The boycotts against many of the COD/BF games, that never come to fruition because even the ones calling for the boycotts bought the games. The protests of broken titles from Bethesda, but even the PS3 version gets solid sales. The outrage at Origin, but people will buy Mass Effect 3. For that matter, the outrage at multiplayer, etc. We come off as a group prone to throw tantrums at the drop of a hat and possessed of no self control. And maybe we are. The Gamestop deal is no exception. People often scream about how bad Gamestop treats them, but go back. They accept the reported horrible customer service, awful practices, etc.

Maybe it's not just gamers. We as a nation seem to be a little too complacent as a whole, but things seem particularly worse when it coems to gaming.

You're absolutely right.
Everyone complained about rrod and yet we all know at least one guy who bought a replacement for one he sent in for repair. I think the thing is that the kind of gamers that go to game forums are enthusiastic and are probably enthusiastic about the other things in their life as well...at least the kind of people who are around here it seems. I know I'm enthusiastic about my dignity as a consumer and that's not just with video games. It's one of the reasons I'm not poor anymore. It's also one of the reasons I refuse to shop at gamestop, or buy games that have online pass. It's one of the reasons I didn't buy Skyrim on the ps3; the other reason being I played the Fallout games on the ps3 and got tired of the constant hard shut downs.
You're right, the consumers should stand up for themselves and I'd like to think I do. As for the ones who happily pay $2 short of new for a used game or tell people that they're over-entitled because they expect a $60 (Bethesda) game should work, they're going to buy enough to make it profitable. But for how long? I know I'm starting to get fed up and if I have to choose between a console with crappy hardware or one with crappy support, I'm not going to bother.
As for the Gamestop thing; it might just be the gentrification of NYC but that's where I live and I know that in my neighborhood alone, there were a few game stores that I shopped at but now there's just a Gamestop. But that's been happening with all kinds of stores. In the 80s, Broadway had some really unusual & unique stores (one was actually called Unique) but now it's like any other super-mall in America. Even St Marks is like that now. I guess it's what happens when a culture becomes too dependent on consumerism: everything becomes disposable and/or requires a substantial monthly fee. For the lower class it almost becomes like slavery. I remember when I had part time minimum wage job at a car rental company the manager kept telling me that I had to get a cell phone. Eventually I told him that they didn't pay me enough that I could afford one so he should either give me a phone, pay me more, or just stop complaining. I'm way off topic but if someone living on min wage pays every monthly fee someone tries to sell him on, he's just working; for nothing of any sort of future.

 

[Terramax]

I wouldn't say all publishers are badguys. I'd like to say I'm doing my bit to support Rising Star Games, who're releasing games which usually wouldn't see the light of day (Dodonpachi, Deadly Premonition).

Not only that, these games start at around £20-25 as well so it doesn't take a huge chunk, and they sometimes even come with extras (like a soundtrack disc).

But, indeed, limited editions are getting a bit over the top now.

Something Jim fails to mention about limited editions is that we feel left out for not being at the front of the queue.

I preordered Catherine ltd ed but had to cancel at the last minute due to lack of money, and now to buy a copy of the ltd ed will cost an extra £30-40, and it hasn't even been out in the UK for a month.

Limited copies are actually punishing to consumers in a way.