Why are Wii games so freakin' expensive??

[Dusk]

sc94597 said:

Dusk said:

sc94597 said:

Instead of clarifying your statement you just let it be. Okeydokey. If what were "factual"?

I already explained Xenoblade and The Last Story through shortages ( that is what the graph shows.) Nintendo does more than just shortages though. They take advantage of retailer inelasticity of demand to make deals that keep the prices of said games high for longer than other games.

Nintendo games get much more shelf space and retailers keep them on their shelves longer than third party games. This is partly because of inelasticity of demand, but also because of the deals Nintendo makes and the perceived values of Nintendo games. Other games that NOA have been involved with also benefit, like Monster Hunter and Dragon Quest. Notice that when these games released for other systems their prices decreased much faster. This was because there were no bulk retail deals and third parties wanted to replace retail space with something else. You could still find games like metroid other m at these high prices not because there is high demand but because of Nintendo's predictions and retailer deals. Meanwhile stores that didnt have these deals put the game in the bargain bin because of low demand and they weren't restricted by Nintendo with regards to bulk purchases.

The used market is affected by the equilibrium price of the new market. Not entirely, but partly. If a game retails at $50 for two years then the equilibrium price in the used market is going to be higher than a game that only retailed at $50 then got a price drop after a year. 

I'll take a picture of the Gamespot near me and show you are wrong that statement is.

With regards to which statement? I made a lot of them. I can also take a picture of Metroid Other M being $40 at the local Walmart (new) and $12 in the bargain bin at the local Target (also new.) Likely because the latter wasn't strangled by some deal or they finally sold all of their stock. Why would any of this be if the market is determining prices and not Nintendo's influence on retailers?

I already mentioned how eight Gamestops within ten miles of my location (in a medium sized metropolitan area - Pittsburgh, PA) have multiple copies of Skyward Sword in stock, but also price it at $55 (New) and $45 (used.) There obviously isn't a shortage in the local market, as there are dozens of accessible copies in the immediate area. If demand exceeded supply so much so, in this scenario, then there wouldn't be so many available copies, unless their price is overvalued for most people - that is - and most people don't value Skyward Sword at $45/$55.

Why is the case that they over-value the games passed the market equillibrium? Because they know that even though the game will be on that shelf for maybe another year or so, its price won't drop. So when it does eventually sell, they will get it for that $55/$45. Why won't the price drop? Because for Gamestops competitors (Target, Walmart, Best Buy, etc) they like to buy items in bulk. Part of their bulk deals with Nintendo is that there is no buyer's protection (meaning if the value of an item decreases rapidly Nintendo won't let them sell it back.) That means they either take a huge loss, or just wait it out over the years with a highly priced game because somebody will buy it (see the Metroid: Other M scenario.) Additionally, Nintendo makes shelf-space deals, in which the retailer MUST put their games in that space by contract, and Nintendo controls the supply to favor their first party games. Even if the game isn't highly demanded, it is going to be there for ages, and its not going to decrease price unless more new Nintendo games come out, and the retailer says, "okay, let me take a loss, because "Mario XYZ" is coming out and I need the shelf-space for that. Throw Metroid Other M into the bargain bin." This is all precisely why you find Nintendo games either $30 + or in the bargain bin, at bulk retailers - regardless of their demand curves.

I missed the part where you spoke about eight gamestops. I would be very pleased to see those pictures. In my area, Calgary, a city of just over 1 million people and I have only seen a couple new skyward swords, none at Gamestop, only at a little local store that deals mostly with older used games. Anyway, they were around $100 each. They are probably more now if they are still there because the Canadian dollar has dropped more since I was there about a year ago. I haven't seen any used copied of skyward sword in a long time. If you can get one of those, feel free to send it my way.

I was more referring to the shelf space of Nintendo games and such. There is hardly any wall at all for Nintendo anymore and the games on it are equally Nintendo as much as Lego games (pretty much the only third party support now).