I'm curious about this. Funcoland was amazing! I miss it dearly. I miss the availablity of retro games in the neighborhood. Kinda sucks that this will be strictly an online thing but makes sense. Floor space is expensive and if they aren't making money on $60+ new merchandise, it makes no sense to replace it with $5 and $10 retro games that won't make them profit either.
Supply and demand go hand in hand, gentlemen. More sellers means lower prices...or sellers go out of business and liquidate and we're all happier anyway.
Not exactly. They aren't making money on $60 games because almost nobody is. While game revenue is very high, profits are overall very low for everyone in the game business. In some cases a $60 game might net the store $15 margin, maybe, and with that they have to run a store. Profits on game systems are often as low as $1! So those are basically a loss leader for everyone in any situation.
If you take a copy of Mario/Duck Hunt that you paid some kid $1 for and you sell it for $10 you make as much profit as you do from a copy of Madden. This is why these stores are so aggressive in seeking your trade ins and selling used games. There is almost no profit at all in the basic model of selling new games in a mall store. That's why nobody does it without suplimenting it with service plans, publisher kickbacks, used sales, etc.
And supply and demand...geese, come on. Supply and demand is a significant factor in things like lumber or gasoline but with an industry like this there are many more factors that overall make a bigger difference. Anything aimed at Collectors is usually so rife with market manipulation from day one that supply and demand is only a small factor, slightly more significant than sun spots.
