Did This $4.99 Circuit City Sale Hurt The Value Of Superb Video Games?

[aren]

As we all know, a lot of games were marked down from $9.99-$49.99 (sticker price) to $4.99. Doesn't it seem like a games value has been ruined?

Let's take Viewtiful Joe for the GameCube for example. Before this huge sale, I would have valued the game at $29.99 that's very enjoyable. Now, that people got it for $4.99, why should some people expect it to buy it more than $4.99? Let's say I got the game for $24.99 a few weeks ago and I want to trade it, who would want to trade me anything of that value rather than the $4.99 games? Or even offer to buy it for $4.99?

Should we value the games we got at $4.99, or what they should be? Some people are treating games for $4.99 and it shouldn't be done that way. Has this sale ruined many games, or is this just a phase that will move on? I hope people don't bring up this sale every time I want to trade or sale a game that was on that list. Some of these games could have been game of the year contenders, but with poor advertising and low shipments, they failed to make that extra leap to sell well.

People better will treat these video games with what they should be valued at and not a $4.99 price tag.

[Jeremy]

Well, the Best Buy $5 sale didn't hurt, so I doubt this one will. At the end of the day, they're all games in my library, and I'll play them when I'm in the mood to play that game, $5 price or not.

[nakkato]

Price does not equal quality.

I bought most of my DC games for $3 a piece.

And it won't hurt their (monetary) value in the long run... companies just use sales like that to clean out the excess stock.

[LOL]

If you wanted to talk about superb games, you shouldn't have used Viewtiful Joe as an example.

[K3V]

In the short term, prices will drop on eBay while it gets flooded with CC profiteers. Once the big sell-off is over I'd expect prices to level back out.

[Roufuss]

Some of these games could have been game of the year contenders, but with poor advertising and low shipments, they failed to make that extra leap to sell well.

I don't really recall any of these games at the sale coming out this year, except for Megaman X7, and that's FAR from a GOTY contender.

I can't actually think of any AAA game, outside of Disgaea and Viewtiful Joe, and possibly Ikaruga. Everything else was about B level quality.

[Diff-chan]

Economically speaking, a game is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

With regards to Rez, Disgaea, or Viewtiful Joe, people have typically paid more than $5 for it and they will in the future, so no, the value of these games are not hurt.

With regards to junk like Red Faction 2, Zoocube, and Epheremal Fantasia , almost nobody bought the game in the first place, and its been rotting on the shelf for years at its normal price point. If people buy them when they are $5... we have determined the value of the game.

So, to answer your question The Chronicle, no, it doesnt hurt the value.

People are also looking wayyyyy too deep into this. It's just a sale that CC is doing because they've accumulated too much crap they need to get rid of before holidays (so they can stock their warehouses with games that will move). Its not a sign of the apocalypse, its not a sign of an imminent crash, its not a sign of anything. Its a sale.

[Schlep]

After going through several Circuit City's yesterday, it's easy to see why some of the good stuff didn't sell in the first place. I mean, there were several times where I had to search behind stacks of Mary Kate & Ashley or Jimmy Neutron to find games like Rygar or Unreal Championship, etc.

I noticed cases where they'd have stacks of 007 games that they just put in the same row since they're all James Bond games. 2-3 Agent Under Fire's on top with Nightfire and Everything or Nothing in the very back.

If they ever figure out that they need to either put their stuff in cases, or have enough space to display each game, they'll do a lot better. Maybe that's what this sale is all about.

[MarsKitten]

Ah the pains of being a brick and motar. Shelf space my friends is a valueable comodity. More so than old B releases.

MAKE ROOM FOR THE NEW B RELEASES!

[Bacon McShig]

I for one am horrified by the notion of games going down in after-market price. You mean I, and many others, would be able to afford more games?! NOOOOO!

Like the others said, in either the case of price or of percieved value, this sale's effects will be very temporary.

After going through several Circuit City's yesterday, it's easy to see why some of the good stuff didn't sell in the first place. I mean, there were several times where I had to search behind stacks of Mary Kate & Ashley or Jimmy Neutron to find games like Rygar or Unreal Championship, etc.

I noticed cases where they'd have stacks of 007 games that they just put in the same row since they're all James Bond games. 2-3 Agent Under Fire's on top with Nightfire and Everything or Nothing in the very back.

If they ever figure out that they need to either put their stuff in cases, or have enough space to display each game, they'll do a lot better. Maybe that's what this sale is all about.

Maybe if they didn't pay their employees on commission, thereby basically punishing them for any time not spent on trying to sell the customers crap they don't want... time that could go towards making the store halfway shoppable for people who don't buy new TVs or PCs every time they set foot in a store, which I would venture is *shock* probably the majority. Buying new releases there, you better have some time to kill on a treasure hunt. Not to mention the arduous process of checking out... the reciept alone takes 10 minutes, and if you're writing a check, jeez, bring a book.