Current Sales by Toy's R Us in BC, Western Canada.

Buy 1 DS Game, Get DS for $99

Buy 2 DS Games, Get 1 Free

Along with the previous thread in the US (same game deal if I recall correctly), why is Toy's R Us clearing out Nintendo Wii and DS games?

Normally, a sale like that gets other retailers to respond.  However, Best Buy, Future Shop and other retailers here haven't even responded and do not have any special sales so far for Wii and DS games.

Did Toy's R Us maybe overstock DS and Wii games?   Maybe not as many customers are purchasing these games?

Is their business in trouble and they want to get as much cash flow as possible? (This does not seem as likely - otherwise they would also put other games and hardware for sale as well.)

Any thoughts?

Special relationship with Nintendo?

Those kinds of sales are getting more systems sent to them from Nintendo, and TRU has been one of the few retailers to strongly support them through the years so they're getting rewarded for it.

@DKII - I wonder if that is the case. It does make sense.

Though businesswise, if you're taking a $30 cut on the DS (which by all accounts sell well anyway) - you should be making at least the additional $30 on the Wii or other games.

Otherwise you're just giving it away, without any tangible benefit - since the Wii will sell out no matter what. If they are getting more systems than other retailers - it would make sense if the expected marginal profit on those systems (ie average purchase if you include games) is more than the $30 discount they are offering.

Eg. Wii ($30 profit + $10 profit on a game purchase).

well these special offers are probably will make ninty send more stock to them

The "Buy 2 Games Get A 3rd Game Free" promotion is also available on PS2 and PSP games, not just DS.

to bad I don't live in BC

I'm pretty sure it's all the Canadian stores, but if you're outside Canada, you're out of luck. I wouldn't be too upset about it though; we never got the Galaxy gift card promotion or the "Buy Any 2 Games Get A 3rd Game Free" promotion.

I hadn't bought a videogame from Toys R' Us in years. A promotion like this might get me back in the store. Maybe.

I have shopped at TRU at least 10 times this year, and maybe twice in the 5 years previous to that. So in my case it's working