Overdue market correction starting?

[Tige]

http://www.dvdempire.com/index.asp?userid=99365301531061&tab_id=3&site_id=2&site_media_id=0

I've long thought the video game industry believes it is somehow exempt from many factors faced other businesses.  While myopic debates swirl within  game communities of why certain games fail or succeed compared to one another there are more forces at play.  Computers and software have become more prevalent and are no longer considered the hobby they once were.  The novelty status used to cover alot of crap.  Hopefully more action like this will have an impact.  No more pathetic finger pointing between developers and publishers (real or manufactured) when a product fails or does not meet expectations.     

[Riggswolfe]

Two comments:

1) The company is apparently relatively small and has problems keeping up with the big guys like Bestbuy. If there is a market correction I'd say that it is simply another example of how things are moving to the super stores.
2) The comments on that page were so far from being professional that it totally turned me off of that DvD Empire company. I wouldn't buy something from them now if they were the last company on Earth selling DVDs.

[HaemishM]

There is not a huge selection of games; it is a new release industry (majority of sales are in the first two weeks of release).

There's the whole goddamn problem with the video game sales industry right there. They follow the movie trend of trying to get people to buy in the first week of release. It works for the movie industry because of all the secondary revenue streams they have in place: DVD's, second-run theaters, broadcast rights, payperview rights, cable syndication rights, as well as merchandising and product promotions. The video game industry has none of that. They don't keep or sell back catalogs of games. They let the retailers sell used games and get nothing for it, which feeds from their lack of back catalog sales. They are just now trying to get into cross media licensing, such as with movies and TV shows and comics and books. The video game industries best response has been the subscription-based game, which is eventually going to kill PC gaming at the retail level for good.

For smaller outfits like this, the distribution model is going to kill them, because it's built on moving shittons of units instead of small quantities or lots of things. They CAN'T compete, not with brick and mortar and not with the Amazons of the world. Direct downloads is the only way a smaller, non-brick and mortar outfit will work, and that has the problem of not being trusted by the publishers because of piracy.

[Mandrel]

Maybe if they were diligent in updating their website I'd feel bad for them.  They rant about "providing service to their customers", but can't bother pulling Asheron' s Call 2 from their website?  Hell, they still have it as a pre- release sale.

[Alkiera]

2) The comments on that page were so far from being professional that it totally turned me off of that DvD Empire company. I wouldn't buy something from them now if they were the last company on Earth selling DVDs.

I had a longer post, but it got eaten when my proxy server crashed.

Professionalism sucks.  I'll take candor and a real knowledge of what the heck you are trying to sell me over professionalism and uselessness any day.  Professionalism is interested in selling you as much as possible, whether you'll want it after you've bought it or not.  Candor is usually associated with an interest in actually making the customer happy, as opposed to making a sale.  Candor doesn't mean not being polite, it's possible to be polite and unreserved... professionalism is a know-nothing point-of-sale robot.

--
Alkiera

[Sky]

There's the whole goddamn problem with the video game sales industry right there. They follow the movie trend of trying to get people to buy in the first week of release.

Amen, preach it.


I guess I'm finally over not being able to buy Alien Crossfire from Firaxis. Sid, what the hell is your problem, anyway? Sell back catalog through your website, numbnuts. Then there was the time I was trying to buy Silent Storm, before the Gold version came out and it was literally gone. Not online, not in B&Ms, it vanished from our space/time continuum.

Aren't these things cheap to print once they're developed?

[Riggswolfe]

Professionalism sucks.  I'll take candor and a real knowledge of what the heck you are trying to sell me over professionalism and uselessness any day.  Professionalism is interested in selling you as much as possible, whether you'll want it after you've bought it or not.  Candor is usually associated with an interest in actually making the customer happy, as opposed to making a sale.  Candor doesn't mean not being polite, it's possible to be polite and unreserved... professionalism is a know-nothing point-of-sale robot.

The guy had some points and some logical arguments about why he was taking video games down. But it wasn't presented with candor. It was presented as whiny bitching. Candor I can take. Whiny? Not so much.

[Riggswolfe]

I guess I'm finally over not being able to buy Alien Crossfire from Firaxis. Sid, what the hell is your problem, anyway? Sell back catalog through your website, numbnuts. Then there was the time I was trying to buy Silent Storm, before the Gold version came out and it was literally gone. Not online, not in B&Ms, it vanished from our space/time continuum.

Aren't these things cheap to print once they're developed?

God, I want crossfire and an extra copy of alpha centauri both, right now! In fact, if I could sue my ex for anything it would be to get her copy of Alien Crossfire that I bought her.

[Sairon]

Until video games reaches technological equilibrium games will continue to have a short shelf life.