Miguel_Zorro said:
thranx said:
i never once said they make a killing. I said they make money. you said they make no profit or lose money. I do not see that happening as i do not see gamers buying enough other items to offset that, it would be a bad loss leader item. Unless you disagree with that. When you go buy games what else do you buy with them?
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I agree that it's a bad loss leader (in this case, it's more like a "break even" leader). My girlfriend is not a fan of the category for their business. We talk about this often. She states that in her business, the highest margin is on a few categories, such as consumables (blank DVDs,etc - especially printer toner cartridges). They also make a few bucks on certain gaming accessories. They stay in the gaming category because:
- Even though they're not really making money on it, they're not really losing money on it either (unless you account for staff time, and things like that).
- They want to maintain the relationship with companies that are very important to their business - in this case, Sony and Microsoft.
- It's a traffic generator - so even though you or I might not buy other things along with our games, some people do. Most of their business is online, and it gets people to the website. While browsing a store or website, people do often buy additional products. They sold Uncharted 2 online for $10 off on release day. They sold out of their inventory, and even though they lost $5 per unit, they did make enough on additional items purchased to make it up.
I'll note that when I go into Best Buy, HMV, etc to look at games, I do buy other stuff from time to time. If I buy a DVD, they make a little bit of money on that.
This is why so many companies are getting into used games - the profit margins are so much bigger for the retailer.
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