I found this out the hard way last night looking for a copy of Etrian Odyssey.
I'll have to play the first before the second though so I'll end up buying it. Electroplankton is something I've always wanted to play but haven't gotten around to doing and probably won't at that price.
I don't see why publishers even LET their games become rare when the platform itself is still around.
For instance, the people that made Clubhouse games. If people are paying THAT MUCH for it, the Publisher is absolutely NUTS to not re-publish it. Call it a "Platinum Edition", and tag an extra 10 bucks on its original price (to take advantage of the fact that people are obviously willing to pay more for it), and sell it to the craving masses who are more than willing to throw their money at you rather than a stranger on eBay.
I can understand (obviously) publishers not re-publishing games from prior generations... but the DS is in OUR generation. And unless there's something important I'm missing here, the squeals coming from Demand on these games means that the Publisher could still make a LOT of money if they actually created more supply.
Exactly what i was thinking, In Australia when Guitar Hero 3 became absolutely massive, there was a huuuge demand for it and no one could supply, you would try and buy it and get told it was going to be another 2 weeks, go back and they would tell you another two weeks, Why wouldn't they stock pile for a while before they released the game? Ebay bids on the bundle were through the roof!
Aye, it's boggling. I mean, you're literally sitting on a gold mine. Every time that one sells on eBay, every time that someone decides to get a competitor's game instead because yours isn't for sale... you've lost potential revenue on your investment. It's one thing if they're still making them, and they're making so many that they can't keep up (though immediately investing in more infrastructure would be wise at that point). But to have huge demand for a current generation game and to just sit on it? It seems foolish. I mean, you're bleeding potential profit both ways... but in the latter case it's exceptionally unjustifiable to me.
I have my doubts here. Electroplankton is relatively easy to come up with new as nobody really bought it. That second article claims prices as Amazon as evidence but that is well known to be a format where people make shit up. Of course it also includes Castlevania and Advance Strike DS, and both of those are also rather common.
So I have my doubts here.
Well the prices are high but not completely off.
Clubhouse Games and Etrian Odyssey both go for like 30-40 bucks on ebay, slightly more for a new copy. I tend to consider ebay prices to reflect reality, so judge for yourself whether that's valuable or not.
Jengo on
3DS FC: 1977-1274-3558 Pokemon X ingame name: S3xy Vexy
I think at this point, Atlus games having low print runs is part of their business strategy.
If the game's a hit, they win, and it becomes highly sought after.
If it's not, they don't suffer a huge loss.
It has to be part of their strategy. They're a very small, niche publisher with very limited resources. They can't afford to overproduce (or over-budget) and then have something bomb. They have to keep their budget and their expectations conservative.
The only instance I've seen them really bump things up production-wise has been for the first two Trauma Center games (the NDS and Wii games). Second Opinion is their best selling game ever, at it sits at around 250,000 copies sold in the USA, I believe.
I can't believe Nintendo would let Tetris DS go out of print. I mean, I just...my mind can't fathom the idea. Tetris is a handheld staple, and Tetris DS is definitely among the best entries of the series (hands down my favorite). Now I see it going for $50 on Amazon. Crazy.
I bought Etrian Odyssey 2 last evening even though I'm only on the second stratum of the first one. Whenever I see the name "Atlus" printed on a game's cover I take it as a sign to research the hell out of the game quickly and make a damned fast decision on whether or not to buy it. I know that if I don't it'll way too late, and even when I do it's still already too late. This is the dilemma I'm facing with Summon Night: Twin Age, and I'm thinking of buying it anyway and keeping the wrapping on it and the receipt until I make a decision.
Bullio on
0
ViscountalphaThe pen is mightier than the swordhttp://youtu.be/G_sBOsh-vyIRegistered Userregular
I can't believe Nintendo would let Tetris DS go out of print. I mean, I just...my mind can't fathom the idea. Tetris is a handheld staple, and Tetris DS is definitely among the best entries of the series (hands down my favorite). Now I see it going for $50 on Amazon. Crazy.
I bought Etrian Odyssey 2 last evening even though I'm only on the second stratum of the first one. Whenever I see the name "Atlus" printed on a game's cover I take it as a sign to research the hell out of the game quickly and make a damned fast decision on whether or not to buy it. I know that if I don't it'll way too late, and even when I do it's still already too late. This is the dilemma I'm facing with Summon Night: Twin Age, and I'm thinking of buying it anyway and keeping the wrapping on it and the receipt until I make a decision.
Tetris going out of print it THQ's fault. They are a company full of asshats who hate good tetris variants like tetris grand master. I wish god would smite their shitty licensing of that wonderful franchise. Tetris worlds was an abomination as the one on XBLA is barely decent.
I think at this point, Atlus games having low print runs is part of their business strategy.
If the game's a hit, they win, and it becomes highly sought after.
If it's not, they don't suffer a huge loss.
It has to be part of their strategy. They're a very small, niche publisher with very limited resources. They can't afford to overproduce (or over-budget) and then have something bomb. They have to keep their budget and their expectations conservative.
The only instance I've seen them really bump things up production-wise has been for the first two Trauma Center games (the NDS and Wii games). Second Opinion is their best selling game ever, at it sits at around 250,000 copies sold in the USA, I believe.
See, I could understand that for a first (test) run... but once you know you have people clamoring for it, why not ramp up production? Produce a second, MUCH larger batch (that reflects the true audience you now know want it) and rake it in! That's what I think these companies should be doing. To do otherwise is pretty much letting your money be consumed by others in secondary markets as the original owners get bored of it while others who've never owned it are ready to find any avenue they can to get it.
The DS is filled with games that are awesome and either got really low print runs or one medium sized one.
AW: DS, Clubhouse Games, Tetris DS all from Nintendo.
Atlus on the other hand has actually been printing decent amounts of most of their DS titles. EO is the only one worth playing that is kinda, sorta hard to find, but not really.
Capcom has had a hard time gauging demand for PW. The first one had two small printruns that sold the fuck out while the colossal third print run made the game easy to come by. Now it is JFA and to a lesser extent T&T that are the ones that are hard to find (Of course there are JPN versions readily availible)
I guarantee with all the web buzz mixed with Sqaure Enix's low expectations that TWENY will soon be one of those games to find, if it isn't already.
Clubhouse Games is one of the best DS titles out there. The damn cart lives in my DS. I bet it costs so much because it's out of print and there is absolutely no reason to sell it. It's not like it had a particularly small run either.
Also, it's like a guide to getting along with old people. It taught me how to play dominoes and contract bridge. Grandma and I have never had so much fun together.
I wonder if these games are considered rare over here in the UK, cause I can go down to my local Game and buy like ten copies of Etrian Odyssey and Classic games right now.
I think at this point, Atlus games having low print runs is part of their business strategy.
If the game's a hit, they win, and it becomes highly sought after.
If it's not, they don't suffer a huge loss.
It has to be part of their strategy. They're a very small, niche publisher with very limited resources. They can't afford to overproduce (or over-budget) and then have something bomb. They have to keep their budget and their expectations conservative.
The only instance I've seen them really bump things up production-wise has been for the first two Trauma Center games (the NDS and Wii games). Second Opinion is their best selling game ever, at it sits at around 250,000 copies sold in the USA, I believe.
See, I could understand that for a first (test) run... but once you know you have people clamoring for it, why not ramp up production? Produce a second, MUCH larger batch (that reflects the true audience you now know want it) and rake it in! That's what I think these companies should be doing. To do otherwise is pretty much letting your money be consumed by others in secondary markets as the original owners get bored of it while others who've never owned it are ready to find any avenue they can to get it.
My guess?
Because retailers judge a game's success and subsequent reorders on how well it sells within the first 2 weeks or so.
If it doesn't sell well in those first few weeks, they don't reorder more copies from the publisher.
Niche games, like Atlus games, or games that become popular by word of mouth or in subsequent months from release, they may not get a second chance.
Publishers aren't selling directly to consumers through the typical channels. They're selling to retailers. If retailers don't reorder, then the major channel for a publisher's sales disappears.
What publishers could do to avoid this problem is just offer their games for sale directly from their own websites. And many of them do. But the market that visits their websites regularly to see if they have some otherwise unavailable game for sale is pretty small and probably wouldn't be enough to justify a new print run anyway. As a matter of fact, many publishers keep a small, extra sum of copies of each of their new games in storage for two reasons. One, they have a 'backup' supply if some game, not expected to sell extremely well, turns out to be a hit, they have a few extra copies to ship to retailers while they start up subsequent print runs. Secondly, if their game doesn't sell extremely well at retail and they can't sell copies to retailers, they can still offer the extra copies on their website.
As a side note, companies, even Atlus, will reprint games and ship to retailers if they get reorders. They made multiple print runs for Second Opinion, a game that managed to be their best-selling game ever. They also did subsequent print runs of the NDS Trauma Center game.
But I really think that most of it has to do with retailers.
I can't believe Nintendo would let Tetris DS go out of print. I mean, I just...my mind can't fathom the idea. Tetris is a handheld staple, and Tetris DS is definitely among the best entries of the series (hands down my favorite). Now I see it going for $50 on Amazon. Crazy.
I bought Etrian Odyssey 2 last evening even though I'm only on the second stratum of the first one. Whenever I see the name "Atlus" printed on a game's cover I take it as a sign to research the hell out of the game quickly and make a damned fast decision on whether or not to buy it. I know that if I don't it'll way too late, and even when I do it's still already too late. This is the dilemma I'm facing with Summon Night: Twin Age, and I'm thinking of buying it anyway and keeping the wrapping on it and the receipt until I make a decision.
Tetris going out of print it THQ's fault. They are a company full of asshats who hate good tetris variants like tetris grand master. I wish god would smite their shitty licensing of that wonderful franchise. Tetris worlds was an abomination as the one on XBLA is barely decent.
This says it all. Why the fuck it isn't in the states is beyond me because it would sell.
Sweet Lincoln's mullet! That started out at "Oh my God!" speed and progressed to plaid before the end. And speaking of the end, was he playing invisible fucking tetris over the credits?
tarnok on
Wii Code:
0431-6094-6446-7088
0
ViscountalphaThe pen is mightier than the swordhttp://youtu.be/G_sBOsh-vyIRegistered Userregular
I can't believe Nintendo would let Tetris DS go out of print. I mean, I just...my mind can't fathom the idea. Tetris is a handheld staple, and Tetris DS is definitely among the best entries of the series (hands down my favorite). Now I see it going for $50 on Amazon. Crazy.
I bought Etrian Odyssey 2 last evening even though I'm only on the second stratum of the first one. Whenever I see the name "Atlus" printed on a game's cover I take it as a sign to research the hell out of the game quickly and make a damned fast decision on whether or not to buy it. I know that if I don't it'll way too late, and even when I do it's still already too late. This is the dilemma I'm facing with Summon Night: Twin Age, and I'm thinking of buying it anyway and keeping the wrapping on it and the receipt until I make a decision.
Tetris going out of print it THQ's fault. They are a company full of asshats who hate good tetris variants like tetris grand master. I wish god would smite their shitty licensing of that wonderful franchise. Tetris worlds was an abomination as the one on XBLA is barely decent.
(AWESOME LINK)
This says it all. Why the fuck it isn't in the states is beyond me because it would sell.
Sweet Lincoln's mullet! That started out at "Oh my God!" speed and progressed to plaid before the end. And speaking of the end, was he playing invisible fucking tetris over the credits?
yep. Every day I wish THQ would fucking die because they won't let this wonderful game come to the states. The also deserve a smack upside the head for stopping tetris DS from being reprinted.
Kind of reminds me of one time when i was on ebay.co.uk, and someone had a copy of the Megadrive/ Genesis game Landstalker for £100 (~200USD), claiming it was ultra- rare, and SOMEONE BOUGHT IT!!! I laughed for about 3 days. I know lots of people liked that game, but i thought it was an uncontrollable piece of shit. I still have a copy somewhere- should sell it, right?
Having said that, i hear EO is a fantastic game, and it might be worth a high price if no other copies are available.
Actually, I read a couple of articles recently that talked about profit margins and how the current publishing system works in retail, how devs and publishers handle it, and how digital distribution is becoming a more significant distribution channel for developers than the traditional means, etc. I can't find the article off-hand but I'll see if I can find it somewhere..
As far as Atlus, I've read a few articles over time about what they do, and it makes sense. I've also seen sales numbers for most of their recent games, and I can see how and why they run their business the way they do. They publish niche games, and they know it, so they budget for it and publish for it, so that they can succeed when most of their games hit around 50k sales (in the US).
I wonder if these games are considered rare over here in the UK, cause I can go down to my local Game and buy like ten copies of Etrian Odyssey and Classic games right now.
Etrian Odyssey is actually not out here for another month or two.
Yes, I'm talking about the first one.
Tetris DS is puzzling. There is an abundance of them at Toys R Us, Future Shop, local grocery stores, or anywhere I look. It is strange to think that people are paying 50$+ for it just a few hundred miles away.
@Xagarath
Are you sure on Etrian Odyssey? I just bought it last week in Gamestop here in Dublin- official Euro release. Or has it been held up in the UK because of a facepalm moment like the BBFC labels on the Metal Gear PO UMDs?
@Xagarath
Are you sure on Etrian Odyssey? I just bought it last week in Gamestop here in Dublin- official Euro release. Or has it been held up in the UK because of a facepalm moment like the BBFC labels on the Metal Gear PO UMDs?
I wonder if these games are considered rare over here in the UK, cause I can go down to my local Game and buy like ten copies of Etrian Odyssey and Classic games right now.
Etrian Odyssey is actually not out here for another month or two.
Yes, I'm talking about the first one.
To be honest most UK DS games aren't valuable, just have games that are difficult to find.
Mario & Luigi: partners in time, Warioware Touched, Tetris DS and the Mario games (NSMB, Kart, party and 64DS) are probably the most expensive here, selling for about the same used as they were to buy. But thats because of popularity of the games are still generating high price demand, not rarity as all these titles are still in print.
In my area, games like Viewtiful Joe, some of the budget range RPG's, Devilish and Meteos are difficult to find but not expensive to buy. Obviously different ares in the Uk will have a different selection of rare titles.
I have clubhouse games but that's because I just paid like $45-50 bucks for it on amazon. I only paid that because I wanted to get it in time for an upcoming trip but I figure I'll get my money's worth out of it over time..
it's only like 450 pts on goozex though if you can get one there, I don't even think the queue was that long
starting to consider those EO games though they look pretty cool maybe I should nab the second one before it gets expensive
Posts
I'll have to play the first before the second though so I'll end up buying it. Electroplankton is something I've always wanted to play but haven't gotten around to doing and probably won't at that price.
Aye, it's boggling. I mean, you're literally sitting on a gold mine. Every time that one sells on eBay, every time that someone decides to get a competitor's game instead because yours isn't for sale... you've lost potential revenue on your investment. It's one thing if they're still making them, and they're making so many that they can't keep up (though immediately investing in more infrastructure would be wise at that point). But to have huge demand for a current generation game and to just sit on it? It seems foolish. I mean, you're bleeding potential profit both ways... but in the latter case it's exceptionally unjustifiable to me.
Well the prices are high but not completely off.
Clubhouse Games and Etrian Odyssey both go for like 30-40 bucks on ebay, slightly more for a new copy. I tend to consider ebay prices to reflect reality, so judge for yourself whether that's valuable or not.
It has to be part of their strategy. They're a very small, niche publisher with very limited resources. They can't afford to overproduce (or over-budget) and then have something bomb. They have to keep their budget and their expectations conservative.
The only instance I've seen them really bump things up production-wise has been for the first two Trauma Center games (the NDS and Wii games). Second Opinion is their best selling game ever, at it sits at around 250,000 copies sold in the USA, I believe.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
I bought Etrian Odyssey 2 last evening even though I'm only on the second stratum of the first one. Whenever I see the name "Atlus" printed on a game's cover I take it as a sign to research the hell out of the game quickly and make a damned fast decision on whether or not to buy it. I know that if I don't it'll way too late, and even when I do it's still already too late. This is the dilemma I'm facing with Summon Night: Twin Age, and I'm thinking of buying it anyway and keeping the wrapping on it and the receipt until I make a decision.
Tetris going out of print it THQ's fault. They are a company full of asshats who hate good tetris variants like tetris grand master. I wish god would smite their shitty licensing of that wonderful franchise. Tetris worlds was an abomination as the one on XBLA is barely decent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwC544Z37qo
This says it all. Why the fuck it isn't in the states is beyond me because it would sell.
See, I could understand that for a first (test) run... but once you know you have people clamoring for it, why not ramp up production? Produce a second, MUCH larger batch (that reflects the true audience you now know want it) and rake it in! That's what I think these companies should be doing. To do otherwise is pretty much letting your money be consumed by others in secondary markets as the original owners get bored of it while others who've never owned it are ready to find any avenue they can to get it.
AW: DS, Clubhouse Games, Tetris DS all from Nintendo.
Atlus on the other hand has actually been printing decent amounts of most of their DS titles. EO is the only one worth playing that is kinda, sorta hard to find, but not really.
Capcom has had a hard time gauging demand for PW. The first one had two small printruns that sold the fuck out while the colossal third print run made the game easy to come by. Now it is JFA and to a lesser extent T&T that are the ones that are hard to find (Of course there are JPN versions readily availible)
I guarantee with all the web buzz mixed with Sqaure Enix's low expectations that TWENY will soon be one of those games to find, if it isn't already.
Also, it's like a guide to getting along with old people. It taught me how to play dominoes and contract bridge. Grandma and I have never had so much fun together.
I have that.
It's awesome, you have a gallery of Tingle pictures that are so horrible they would make good avatars.
My guess?
Because retailers judge a game's success and subsequent reorders on how well it sells within the first 2 weeks or so.
If it doesn't sell well in those first few weeks, they don't reorder more copies from the publisher.
Niche games, like Atlus games, or games that become popular by word of mouth or in subsequent months from release, they may not get a second chance.
Publishers aren't selling directly to consumers through the typical channels. They're selling to retailers. If retailers don't reorder, then the major channel for a publisher's sales disappears.
What publishers could do to avoid this problem is just offer their games for sale directly from their own websites. And many of them do. But the market that visits their websites regularly to see if they have some otherwise unavailable game for sale is pretty small and probably wouldn't be enough to justify a new print run anyway. As a matter of fact, many publishers keep a small, extra sum of copies of each of their new games in storage for two reasons. One, they have a 'backup' supply if some game, not expected to sell extremely well, turns out to be a hit, they have a few extra copies to ship to retailers while they start up subsequent print runs. Secondly, if their game doesn't sell extremely well at retail and they can't sell copies to retailers, they can still offer the extra copies on their website.
As a side note, companies, even Atlus, will reprint games and ship to retailers if they get reorders. They made multiple print runs for Second Opinion, a game that managed to be their best-selling game ever. They also did subsequent print runs of the NDS Trauma Center game.
But I really think that most of it has to do with retailers.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
i'll bet you have your own share of rare games over there though that aren't on the list
Sweet Lincoln's mullet! That started out at "Oh my God!" speed and progressed to plaid before the end. And speaking of the end, was he playing invisible fucking tetris over the credits?
0431-6094-6446-7088
yep. Every day I wish THQ would fucking die because they won't let this wonderful game come to the states. The also deserve a smack upside the head for stopping tetris DS from being reprinted.
http://www.gameolosophy.com/Games/Seven-Incredibly-Fun-Budget-Games-for-the-Nintendo-Wii.136561
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-Q7a6SxIBk
猿も木から落ちる
that's hilarious!
Kind of reminds me of one time when i was on ebay.co.uk, and someone had a copy of the Megadrive/ Genesis game Landstalker for £100 (~200USD), claiming it was ultra- rare, and SOMEONE BOUGHT IT!!! I laughed for about 3 days. I know lots of people liked that game, but i thought it was an uncontrollable piece of shit. I still have a copy somewhere- should sell it, right?
Having said that, i hear EO is a fantastic game, and it might be worth a high price if no other copies are available.
http://product.half.ebay.com/Etrian-Odyssey_W0QQtgZinfoQQprZ55675241
idk why >_>
lol :P
Actually, I read a couple of articles recently that talked about profit margins and how the current publishing system works in retail, how devs and publishers handle it, and how digital distribution is becoming a more significant distribution channel for developers than the traditional means, etc. I can't find the article off-hand but I'll see if I can find it somewhere..
As far as Atlus, I've read a few articles over time about what they do, and it makes sense. I've also seen sales numbers for most of their recent games, and I can see how and why they run their business the way they do. They publish niche games, and they know it, so they budget for it and publish for it, so that they can succeed when most of their games hit around 50k sales (in the US).
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Etrian Odyssey is actually not out here for another month or two.
Yes, I'm talking about the first one.
Are you sure on Etrian Odyssey? I just bought it last week in Gamestop here in Dublin- official Euro release. Or has it been held up in the UK because of a facepalm moment like the BBFC labels on the Metal Gear PO UMDs?
My mistake- seems it just came out this month.
It is out, I've seen it in tons of shops.
Mario & Luigi: partners in time, Warioware Touched, Tetris DS and the Mario games (NSMB, Kart, party and 64DS) are probably the most expensive here, selling for about the same used as they were to buy. But thats because of popularity of the games are still generating high price demand, not rarity as all these titles are still in print.
In my area, games like Viewtiful Joe, some of the budget range RPG's, Devilish and Meteos are difficult to find but not expensive to buy. Obviously different ares in the Uk will have a different selection of rare titles.
it's only like 450 pts on goozex though if you can get one there, I don't even think the queue was that long
starting to consider those EO games though they look pretty cool maybe I should nab the second one before it gets expensive
...I never thought Clubhouse Games would have gotten rare, but now that you say it, I don't know when the last time I saw a copy of that was.
...and I bought my copy of Electroplankton at Nintendo HQ in Redmond, WA before they packed up and moved to New York.