o.pwuaioc wrote:Have you ever actually talked to a small game store owner? I know several who would love the chance to sell this game, and people have been asking about it already!
I have and I bet they wish they could sell this game. However, if wishes were horses, beggars would ride. Small video game stores cannot muster up the economy of scale that Gamestop (which is essentially the Walmart of gaming) can. If Nintendo needs someone else to mitigate their risk, it cannot, sadly, be the mom and pop store.
Though I will not be surprised to see this game shop up in mom and pop stores if the game drops in value quickly after release.
Maybe now Nintendo will acknowledge Metroid has a fanbase?
o.pwuaioc wrote:Have you ever actually talked to a small game store owner? I know several who would love the chance to sell this game, and people have been asking about it already!
I have and I bet they wish they could sell this game. However, if wishes were horses, beggars would ride. Small video game stores cannot muster up the economy of scale that Gamestop (which is essentially the Walmart of gaming) can. If Nintendo needs someone else to mitigate their risk, it cannot, sadly, be the mom and pop store.
Though I will not be surprised to see this game shop up in mom and pop stores if the game drops in value quickly after release.
You're still rather misinformed here. There are 16 Game Champ stores in New York City/Tri-state area. I can personally attest with my own eyes that their midnight opening for MW3 had a huge line. Not every non-Gamestop store is a tiny mom & pop shop.
But finally, it defeats what you said earlier - if they want to sell it because they think it would generate revenue (although game stores in general only make a few dollars on each game), then they wouldn't necessarily be asking Nintendo for money for shelving space.
While they're closed tomorrow, what you're saying doesn't sound like it is actually informed by knowledge of how these stores work. I could be wrong, so I'll call them tomorrow and check.
You guys realize that vendors don't actually pay for space in the retail stores, right? They just have to have a product compelling enough that the store is willing to put it on their shelves. The reason Nintendo was worried about bringing it over is that they were worried that not enough retailers would see it as compelling enough to allocate space for. Now they have one, and I imagine the conversation went something like "We promise to order 200,000 copies of Xenoblade as long as you make it exclusive to us". So Gamestop swooped in and purchased the exclusivity intentionally.
Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.
^That's why I said what Flake was saying didn't seem based in reality. But as myself am not a store owner, I couldn't say one way or another for fact. (Just seemed highly, highly improbable, compared to where else I've worked and general knowledge.)
MrPopo wrote:You guys realize that vendors don't actually pay for space in the retail stores, right?
Not entirely true, sir. Vendors often have to pay a premium for preferential shelf spaces, i.e. not being put in the back of the store. It can sometimes take the form of discounts on the wholesale price of the product shipped to a retailer, free promotional products, or (as it often is) a straight monetary deal.
Maybe now Nintendo will acknowledge Metroid has a fanbase?
How is it that a game like this has difficult time finding shelf space, but yet retailers find room for shovelware? do we have the soccer-mom's to blame for the shelves being full of shitty games?
o.pwuaioc wrote: There are 16 Game Champ stores in New York City/Tri-state area. I can personally attest with my own eyes that their midnight opening for MW3 had a huge line. Not every non-Gamestop store is a tiny mom & pop shop.
Pretty sure that Game Champ cannot generate sufficient economy of scale to match Gamestop and thus mitigate risk for Nintendo. Good for them on having 16 stores. That's not bad. I mean, they'll be Gamestops / closed within two years most likely but still it's better than most small game store brands are doing these days.
Maybe now Nintendo will acknowledge Metroid has a fanbase?
o.pwuaioc wrote: There are 16 Game Champ stores in New York City/Tri-state area. I can personally attest with my own eyes that their midnight opening for MW3 had a huge line. Not every non-Gamestop store is a tiny mom & pop shop.
Pretty sure that Game Champ cannot generate sufficient economy of scale to match Gamestop and thus mitigate risk for Nintendo. Good for them on having 16 stores. That's not bad. I mean, they'll be Gamestops / closed within two years most likely but still it's better than most small game store brands are doing these days.
A bit bitter, aren't you? They've actually been growing, but hey, what do you know?
This isn't the first time Gamestop was the only retailer to carry a game that would otherwise have not been released in the US. Chaos Wars, The Settlers II 10th Anniversary, Mega Man Star Force Dragon, Chulip, Syberia (DS) and F1 2009 (Wii). They also were the only major video game chain that was carrying the import of Shenmue II.
