[Deal Blog] Games on Demand Sale Price Comparisons - Sale vs. Gamestop vs. Best Buy
When Major Nelson announced the Games on Demand sale prices on his
blog, there was
a lot of negative backlash, since most of the games were old family titles or other “bargain bin” games that were overpriced or worthless in the eyes of the commenters. There’s some truth in that analysis, yes. Many of the titles won’t appeal to the core gamer, and others are so old or over stocked that they have long hit the “bins” at your local Gamestop. Some of the family titles have easy achievements though, a value to some in the achievement community. Anyways, I decided to compare these
sale prices vs. Gamestop used prices vs. Best Buy used prices in US dollars. I will discuss some variables afterwards.
Games on Demand sale - June 19th-25thTitle – Games on Demand Sale Price – Gamestop Price – Best Buy PriceBionic Commando - $4.99 - $4.99 - $7.99
Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WW II - $4.99 - $7.99 - $12.99
Bolt - $4.99 - $14.99 - $12.99
Bomberman Act: Zero - $4.99 - $3.99 - $4.99
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs - $4.99 - $17.99 - $17.99
Conan - $3.99 - $4.99 - $7.99
Dark Void - $4.99 - $5.99 - $7.99
FaceBreaker - $4.99 - $6.99 - $9.99
Kameo - $4.99 - $4.99 - N/A
Meet the Robinsons - $4.99 - N/A - N/A
Open Season - $4.99 - $9.99 - N/A
Perfect Dark Zero - $4.99 - $1.99 - $4.99
Prince of Persia - $3.99 - $4.99 - $4.99
Rockstar Table Tennis - $4.99 - $2.99 - N/A
SEGA Superstars Tennis - $4.99 - $1.99 - $4.99
Surf’s Up - $4.99 - N/A - N/A
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter - $4.99 - $2.99 - $4.99
Tornado Outbreak - $4.99 - $7.99 - $9.99
Virtua Tennis 2009 - $4.99 - $6.99 - $17.99
Viva Pinata Party Animals - $4.99 -$9.99 - $9.99
Tally:
(Sale price is) More expensive still: 5 Games
The same - 2 Games
Least expensive - 13 games
As always, there are tons of variables to consider. First and foremost, this is merely a sale for the Games on Demand, whereas the two retailers are regular priced. Best Buy frequently holds Buy 2 Get 1 free sales (
this week, in fact), and Gamestop does on occasion too. Best Buy also has weekly sales on select pre-owned titles, and Gamestop has other promos throughout the year sometimes.
With a digital download, you are sacrificing a physical disc and case (this isn't guaranteed with used games either though). On the plus side, you can buy these digital games any time of day from the comfort of your home, and since it’s digital, there's no need to worry about cracked or unreadable discs. If the particular game you want is advertised for sale in your country – you can buy it, no need to check inventory and drive to one or more stores. The obvious downside is you can’t re-sell the item, but how much were you expecting back on these titles anyways?
Regional game prices and availability is another thing to consider. Games in South America, Australia, and other regions are grossly overpriced compared to the US and UK. What might not be a bargain to us may be great for others with Games on Demand and this sale.
Some of these games are actually quite good, regardless of what they retail for now. I think people should concentrate their rants towards XBLA games that are 1200 MSP and terrible rather than decent Games on Demand games
only discounted to $4.99. I got SEGA Tennis for $0.99, but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be a good 400 MSP purchase for someone else.
In conclusion, I think this is a decent sale. Yes, anyone with eyes can see that Games on Demand titles are usually vastly overpriced. You have to keep in mind though it's more than just a game, it's also a service; download games from your home and play without having to swap discs. Combine that with these sale prices, and I may just purchase my first Games on Demand game.
What will you buy in tomorrow’s sale? I 1000’d
Cloudy already, but had so much fun with it I might pick it up for good.
Virtua Tennis 2009 is also on my radar; I also have VT3 unstarted but VT4 1000’d. There are others in the back of my mind, but I still have a big backlog despite dumping a ton of games at Best Buy these past few weeks.