Viper1 said:
darkknightkryta said:
Viper1 said:
darkknightkryta said:
It most likely is though. I can only really speak about Square Enix games since I looked into their financial statements, but the reason Hitman, Tomb Raider, and Deus Ex wasn't profitable was because of that retailer insurance. I don't see why other publishers don't make those deals with retailers, it lets them stuff channels. I actually see games hit the bargain bin way faster now than they did back in the PSX/N64 days. Back then a game stayed full pirce until it became a greatest hit and if it didn't, it just got discontinued. From what I know Nintendo doesn't do that which is why their games stay full price until they cut the price themselves.
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True, Square Enix did engage in price protection rebates but Ubisoft has not. SE engaged in that pricing scheme because they believed they would make up the difference via DLC. Definitely a gamble that didn't pay off.
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But we don't know if Ubisoft had price protection or not. Assassin's Creed doesn't need it, nor do most of their bigger titles, but that's not to say they don't have protection in place. Or maybe they had to with Zombie U since it's a new IP on an uncertain console. I doubt Gamestop would just take large volume of copies without the safety net of discounting. We ultimately don't know and if the title has been discounted soon after launch, they most likely did.
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SE is an exception, not a rule. As I noted before, retail consignment policies are incredibly rare. Why would ZombiU be an exclusion for Ubisoft? Why would they not apply it to all their titles as SE did?
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I also mentioned that Ubisoft may have to have it for all their titles, but for the most part, their titles sell through their shipments. I also mentioned that if the opposite is true, retailers might have demanded insurance for Zombie U, which is an exclusive for an uncertain platform. Retailers may have been scared about being able to have a sell through of their shipments. Other publishers most likely offer insurance, I honestly don't believe Capcom would have wanted Resident Evil 6's price to drop down within a few months of release and I doubt retailers would want to loose that much money to clear out inventory considering how small their profit margins are on games. We honestly don't know what goes behind the scenes with publishers and retailers. I mentioned Square since they mentioned shipping insurance on on their financial report as a reason for not making money.
