Best Buy's Pre-pwned Program - Blue's News Comments

Best Buy's Pre-pwned Program
[Oct 01, 2005, 01:22 am ET] – Share – Viewing Comments

Best Buy tests used video game sales on CNN Money describes a new program being tested in four Best Buy stores in Illinois and California, quoting an industry analyst as saying: "We think there is a reasonable chance that Best Buy will expand used video game product sales to most of its 700+ stores during the next two years." The article does not seem to distinguish between PC and console games, though Gamestop, the major competitor mentioned in this field, does not actually sell used PC games. The article discusses implications of such a program, like the possibility that this would spur higher prices due to increased tech support falling on publishers or accelerate the push toward more widespread digital distribution. They also hear from Epic's Mark Rein on the topic:

Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games, creators of the "Unreal" franchise as well as the upcoming Xbox 360 game "Gears of War," has vociferously argued against retail sales of used games in the past. The expansion of a major retailer into the field, he said, is disheartening.

"We pay to be in Best Buy's flyers," he said. "We pay market development funds. Publishers drive gaming traffic to these stores. To have them resell the games, with developers having no participation, that's just wrong. That's just fleecing us."
...
"Are they going to sell used copies of Microsoft Office -- and if not, why not?," asked Rein. "Why is that Microsoft (Research) has no objections to you reselling a copy of 'Halo,' but if you try it with Office, they'll come down on you like a ton on bricks?"

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49.

Re: Inflation is a fake concept
Oct 1, 2005, 19:30

Bluesreader

49.

Re: Inflation is a fake concept Oct 1, 2005, 19:30

Oct 1, 2005, 19:30

Bluesreader

Actually, inflation is a measure of the relative cost of goods. A dollar buying you more or less of a good would appear to mean (if the good hasn't changed) that the dollar is worth more or less. The dollar itself doesn't inflate in value, it is a standard to which the value of other things is converted. Inflation in the dollar is a merely a reflection of the value of other goods. A dollar for a match yesterday is the same as the dollar for a match today. I'll leave the time value of money out of it for now.

Now if a game was $50 and is still $50 then there hasn't been any inflation there. You could argue that the quality of games for the $50 has increased and therefore the game is 'cheaper' than what it would have cost for such a game in the past but that is iffy (well arguable).

It is only when you try to compare the costs of goods relative to each other that you have o bring in dollars and thus the dollars value can appear to inflate or deflate but the fact remains that $50 to someone making $50G in 1985 is the same as $50 to someone making $50G in 2005, i.e. a certain fixed portion of their income. Whether that gets you better or different goods is where inflation comes in.

Since games' sale price drops over time (people won't pay the original price after a few years in most cases, even if the game is brand new, unopened) and the good itself hasn't changed (it doesn't spoil like milk say), it can be said that the pricing and the value are not necessarily bound together. Then it is very hard to claim that games have gotten cheaper because of inflation since the the charge relative to a person's income has not changed (for new games). Whether the dollar gets you more or less of other goods is immaterial.

Inflation as used by the government is an overall average and doesn't take into account a lot of other factors which is why some people claim it is fake. Fact is, if something costs more, it does and if it doesn't, it doesn't. Period. Milk costs more, DVDs cost less, and games cost the same. All pricing is an arbitrary human invention, based on perceived values and inflation is just an attempt to measure the relative change in these perceptions.

Games aren't cheaper unless we all agree that we'd exchange a lot less of some other goods for them, which I haven't seen any evidence of. Or we see a price drop