| Slimebeast said: Wow, what a hard task! Just a funny angle on this, but basically you were slave labor at one point - first the shop owner paid you in relatively cheap games instead of cash, then the consumer robs you by expecting a dirty cheap highly competitive price and finally Ebay rips you off with a high sellers fee. It's interesting to see how many obstacles there are at every part of the chain. With those margins you'd basically have to rob a trailer full of games and you'd still not become wealthy! |
It is a very interesting learning experience (primarily why I'm doing it). I think I will start dealing in hardware primarily until I get my site up. It has less fees taken out and there is less of a time investment.
So far the experience is teaching me that the gaming business is flawed at more levels than at the manufacturer level. Consumer expectations have forced everyone (developers, publishers, and manufacturers) to respond by looking at alternative forms of monetization.
This to me reveals the biggest reason why the two successful consoles this generation were successful. MS primarily for monetizing their online network and Nintendo for seeking a new market not burdened by the ever increasing expecations.
Sony's strategy seems based entirely on monetizing the hardware. Most people seem to think that Sony simply don't produce as good of products anymore or they lack innovation as a whole and I do not think that is necessarily the case. I believe their main issue is simply that they are working on an outdated business model. They are likely one of the best out there at this model (I find their products to have crazy value); however, I think the market is geared much more toward services and content anymore.
How do you breathe again?
