I’ve Had Enough Retail
By Mike Mason
I’ve Had Enough… is a regular feature by Cubed3’s Mike Mason, discussing some of the more irritating practices of the games industry. This time: are sneaky, money-grabbing retail techniques becoming more prevelant?
“What’re ya buyin’?”
The question of Resident Evil 4’s merchant has been resonating recently, only more than anything else it’s been making me think about how games are being sold to us. Some of the approaches taken by publishers to appease retailers are, to my eyes, getting gradually worse.
Special editions are a relatively recent occurrence, only coming into gaming full throttle, as I recall, this generation, sparked along by the likes of Halo 3 and its bulky Spartan helmet. Then, around the same time, came the collectors tins. The art books. All sorts of fancy gubbins to entice people into paying out a little extra for their anticipated game. In theory, and I suppose in practice for huge fans of particular series, it’s a fantastic idea – you get your game and a small pile of cool, somewhat exclusive swag alongside it to gaze upon fondly. The cynic inside me creeps out, however…
How much is this stuff actually worth? When is it going to be of any real use whatsoever? By bundling in something like, say, a pair of night vision goggles in the case of the game you’re most likely spamming grenades on right now, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, does that give the publisher reason to throw an extra £80 or so onto the price? Well, if they’re actually of decent quality – I’ve yet to see either way – maybe that is alright. Okay, how about an additional £20 for an art book or a disc of interviews and developer footage that will end up on the Internet sooner or later? Going back to Modern Warfare 2, an indication that special editions have maybe gone a little far: even the game guide has a special edition for this one, just in case you’re unable to use your eyes to navigate through Google to discover how to unlock some tasty achievement points.
My stance on special editions is that they’re simply a way of gaining more shelf space by spreading out a few different versions of the same game. A happy side effect is that more money can be charged, which everybody can rub their hands in glee at. On top of this we’ve now got Game Of The Year editions out on some titles that have done well for themselves. To be fair, these can be great value for money, in one way by including downloadable content packages on disc – Fallout 3’s is just £30 and includes all five extra DLC scenarios – but ultimately are probably just there to eke out a bit more coin from their successes while blocking competitors’ products from shelf space. These multiple editions prove that it’s not only within games themselves that the videogame industry has aspirations towards the film industry; it’s an approach that’s been taken with DVD releases for years, constant special editions. When the media combine, though, it makes for some of the better, more sensical and worthy offers on the table – for example, pairing Stranglehold with Hard Boiled on Blu Ray or Ghostbusters with the original film’s Blu Ray release.
[Continues...]
Pages: 1 2
I am of the opinion that special editions and pre-order bonuses are, for the large part, simply a cheap tactic of trying to combat piracy. If people don’t think the game itself is worth paying for, they may prefer the idea of getting a special edition with some extra grubbins. In this way the retail version is a better package than a pirated version. Of course that isn’t the only reason!
I feel content going for the standard edition, at the best price available.
I get enough useless tchotchkes from press events and packs, so no need for special editions, and I think I can live without a golden gun, a special knife or a limited edition baseball bat.
GAME had Batman Arkham Asylum for £40, and a free “Scarecrow Level”. I paid £32 at Morrisons, sans Scarecrow pack. Would I pay £8 for that level if it was DLC? No freaking way!
Freebies and miniscule extra content can make me choose one shop over the other if they’re both the same price, but I’ll easily choose a discount over a fucking golden chainsaw gun.
If they put out a nice steelbook I can usually cough up another fiver, because I have more money than sense.
This does not mean I have a lot of money, though.
I hate the fact the GAME and Gamestation are both owned by Gameplay Ltd, it’s a monopoly on game specific high-street retail and with Gameplay’s demon spawn companies obtaining the majority of pre-order and exclusive bonuses, the consumer masses will follow them along into hell.