How many people are getting the "wait for the price drop" mentality?

jedimike

Member
Typically, I buy my games either on release day or within the first week. I somehow felt "obligated" to give the devs the best price for their game. Money isn't a big issue for me... I don't mind paying a few extra dollars to have first crack at the game. But lately, I've decided to wait for the price drop on a lot of games. I'm just not in a hurry anymore. Mainly because I already have a huge backlog of games, but also because the price drops are coming so fast these days. Usually, just waiting 4 weeks will save you $10-$20.

Somebody is going to get screwed... I've just decided it won't be me all the time. Too many consoles... too many games... too much competition... and not enough shelf space = great budget gaming for patient gamers.
 
I've had this mentality for quite a long time now. Buying a game in the $40-50 range is a real rarity for me.

Don't feel like you're taking money from the devs by doing it, and don't give pity money if you don't think the game is on the level with the best of what that price range offers. It's totally the publishers' fault a game flops if they don't attempt to match their pricing with people's percieved value of the game.
 
I still buy games I want as soon as released. I just buy less games period now. I'd rather save money by cutting out 50% of the crap games I'd normally buy, rather than wait a month for a game I really want to drop by $10.
 
Considering all the sales which are happening lately it isn't a bad idea to wait a week or two.

Usually most games go on sale for around 35-40 bucks at Target.


I agree with Kpop. Less buying of games I kind of want and only buying games I really want.
 
Depends on the game, but yes I'm trying to save money in the long run. I'll be getting LOZ on day 1, but RE4 I'll be renting and waiting. Halo 2 I got on launch because the early days of an online game are often interesting.
 
I basically buy games as soon as I want them and as soon as I can. Not too often do I buy the games the day they come out (although I have a few times), but when if there's a specific game I've got in mind, I'll more than likely go pick it up, regardless of how long it's been released.
 
I never pay full price for PC games. 99% of the time PC game prices start dropping (at least temporarily) within a month of their release. For console games its becoming a pretty rare thing as well. Thanks to Wario64, I don't usually have to wait very long for good console game prices!

It does help that I have such a backlog of game now that I don’t mind not playing something right away.
 
I buy a game on release if I'm 100% sure I know I want it and if I don't have any other recent purchases to steal away my time. Otherwise, I prefer to wait, especially with Q4 releases (anyone who buys more than one or two new, full-priced games during Q4 is either pathologically impatient or simply rich). If something comes out and I'm busy with other games, I can easily wait for it.
 
Usually if I don't buy a game at launch, I don't get it. I say I'll wait for a price drop, but by the time it comes around, something else comes out that I'm willing to pay $50 for, so I never play a lot of those "fringe" games.
 
Wario64 said:
I live by the price drop

:lol

Yes, you certainly do. And thanks to you, and CAG, and Deal Rush, and such, I hardly ever buy games at full price anymore. I think the only game this year I paid a full $50 for was Pikmin 2.

Consoles I usually pick up relatively early before a typical price drop, but that will change, seeing as how money will be short in a few months.. an example of this would be the PSP. I have an interest in the PSP, but not enough to pay full price for it. Maybe when it's $75 or $100.
 
Wario64 said:
I live by the price drop

Yeah, thanks to this bastard, I end up getting games I'd never consider buying, because shit, $5?
 
I always wait for price drops on the $40-$50 games unless its something that's really worth it (Metroid Prime, RE4, GTA, etc).
 
My gaming time has reduced drastically in the last year, so yea.. it's rare (see: resident evil 4) for me to pay full price for a game. I get so pissed when I pay 50 for a game and its $20 a few months later before I even got around to opening it.
 
I need incentives--such as excellent preorder bonuses and making them collector/limited edition to entice me-- for me to go to such great lengths as buying games on release day at full MSRP. Companies always look out for themselves, and so I will do the same and look out for myself too. For regular games, which accounts for like 99% of the stuff, I seek discounts to make the middleman's profit as slim as possible and the upper bound on the price I pay is close to the wholesale unit price. Companies still get their sales either from us or from the retailers; so might as well trim the fat as much as possible.
 
Metroid Prime remains my favorite game, yet for some bizzare reason I haven't gotten around to buying Prime 2 yet. Now I find myself thinking "eh, it's not exactly selling by the millions, I think I'll just wait for the price drop". Meanwhile I'm swinging by Gamespot during my lunch to pick up RE4. Reason to live: regained. :D
 
I stopped buying games at release some years ago. 4th quarter is usually the exception tho.

When you have as many games (backlogged) as I do, sh!t just isn't that urgent.
 
I don't usually buy games when they first come out anymore. I'm usually just too busy and have a backlog of games. Patient gamers save on a lot of doe.
 
Shig said:
I've had this mentality for quite a long time now. Buying a game in the $40-50 range is a real rarity for me.

Don't feel like you're taking money from the devs by doing it, and don't give pity money if you don't think the game is on the level with the best of what that price range offers. It's totally the publishers' fault a game flops if they don't attempt to match their pricing with people's percieved value of the game.

IAWTP
 
I was always a launch day guy. But I work at Blockbuster. So I took MGS3 a beat it, waiting for the price drop to add that classic to my collection.
 
For me it depends on the game. The big, Triple A titles (Halo 2, Half-Life 2, Doom 3, etc.) are generally mine on the day of release. Others I hold off on for those times of the year when it seems like nothing new is coming out. Then it's a good time to catch up on some missed games.
 
I always have a lot of games I think of buying when they drop in price. If I bought every possible game I find interest in at normal price though, I would be living out on the streets by now. Nowadays, I rarely buy a game at full price.
Even if I almost only import my games nowadays (which means getting games for less than half the price you're paying for a PAL version here in Sweden), I've been buying cheap games.
I don't really see much of a point with buying a game at full price, when I already have a big backlog do play. It's better to play the games I already have, THEN buy the game I wanted to buy...and at that point, it has already dropped in price.
 
I live by this mentaility since I have limited funds and I hav e more then just a videogame hobby to support.
 
I always wait for the price drop. I think there were two or three games that I had to have on release day and paid full price for last year.

Good luck with the publishers charging more money for the next-gen games. More and more people will be waiting for price drops.
 
As a newly-married graduate student (read: poor person with responsibilities) I wouldn't be able to buy games at all if not for sales and price drops (and even then I depend heavily on Xmas giftcards). I can't really think too much about helping out the devs right now, as much as I may want to.

CAG has saved my gaming habit!
 
Shig hit the nail on the head. How can you charge so much for a game that honestly doesn't deliver half that value? I buy used primarily now. I think the last new game I got was PoP and SC b/c they were 2 for 1 at BB. Otherwise, I either buy used or games that are on special. Then again, I've admittedly slid into the casual gamer demographic. Not necessarily with my taste in games, but my devotion to them. But the new hardware (PSP and new consoles) has revitalized my interest, and I could conceivably be paying full-price again in a few months. But once lots of PSP games his the used shelves, I'm going back to being a cheapskate. PEACE.
 
I rarely ever play games as soon as I buy them, so it's completely worth it for me to wait on a price drop. I finally picked up Final Fantasy X-2 over the summer for $15 new, and I still haven't played it due to graduate school.
 
Let me add that I have no problem running out and buying cheaper games like Katamari Damacy, Technic Beat, and Gradius V the day they're released.
 
heavy liquid said:
I always wait for the price drop. I think there were two or three games that I had to have on release day and paid full price for last year.

Good luck with the publishers charging more money for the next-gen games. More and more people will be waiting for price drops.
That might even lead to cheaper games right from the start. But of course, with that would have people waiting until the next price drop to get it for fifteen instead of twenty.

If games were cheaper overall, I'd probably buy more. I probably wouldn't have bought BG&E if it hadn't been 29.99, but I'm sure as hell glad I did.
 
The only games I pay full price for these days are games that throw in bonuses as part of a limited edition (Phantom Brave; SMT: Nocturne). The only exception in recent months was Growlanser: Generations, which I bought solely to support Working Designs--I won't get around to playing the game until March at the earliest.

EDIT: when I say "full price," I mean "$40-$50." I bought Gradius V at $30 on the first week of release, gladly.
 
tedtropy said:
Metroid Prime remains my favorite game, yet for some bizzare reason I haven't gotten around to buying Prime 2 yet. Now I find myself thinking "eh, it's not exactly selling by the millions, I think I'll just wait for the price drop". Meanwhile I'm swinging by Gamespot during my lunch to pick up RE4. Reason to live: regained. :D
Same here. I consider Metroid to be one of my favourite licenses, second only to Zelda. I loved loved LOVED Prime. Yet I know if I just wait till mid-summer, I'll find it for $20. There's like no doubt.
 
Pimpwerx said:
Shig hit the nail on the head. How can you charge so much for a game that honestly doesn't deliver half that value?
Really, it's not even a matter of total value, it's a matter of pricing to get people to buy a game in the first place. For example, Katamari Damacy is something that, if I were to put enjoyment into monetary quantifications, I got around $40 out of... but I wouldn't have known that if I hadn't even played it, and I wouldn't have played it if it where priced at $40 initially.

$19.99 was the sweet spot of percieved value for me, and the game probably did at least 10x better than it would have at $40, because the price was consistent with what people were willing to risk on it.
 
not really but there's not many AAA games I'd fork out top dollar for these days. (and these are US imports)

Of late:

Paper Mario2
RE4 (with bonus T-shirt)
Metal Gear Solid
Metroid Prime
Katamari
 
The upside to waiting is that there's always a good game to get at the right price.
 
I'll generally wait -- mostly because I don't have much time to play games other than the ones I'm reviewing, so why go broke -- but also because with some games you just KNOW the price drop is coming.

Of course, for some games it's just not. Metroid Prime 2 was mentioned above -- the first major price drop that's going to see is when it goes Player's Choice and hits $30 like six months from now. It's not about how many copies the game SOLD, it's about how many are left on shelves...
 
I'm surprised more people don't wait for sales. It seems like it is either buy it at launch for full price or you feel obligated to wait for it to become greatest hits.

I bought Metroid Prime 2 for 37 bucks two weeks after it came out. PoP2 for 32 about 3 weeks after it was released. You can bridge the gap between the two (buying at launch or waiting for greatest hits) by waiting a couple weeks and then buying. The price average is usually between full price and greatest hits (35 bucks) and you only have to wait 2-4 weeks and not 6 months.
 
I only buy games if I'm going to play them right away. If they are going to sit in a big pile for 3 months, I'll wait and save myself some money.
 
Largely this depends on where your stationed in life. Back in High School I had no problem buying something like Roadrunner for full price. Now I wouldnt touch it unless it was 9.99 or under :lol I have more responsbilities.
 
as long as i have money and want to play the game, i pay full price at launch... though i shy away from preorders... those things are evil...

though with some games in unintentionally wait... i remember i swore i would never buy remake or re0... then i got the pure evil pack this week... heh...
 
i'm playing less and generally buying less, so i wait for price drops. i was tempted to jump on the next day shipped preorder for RE4, but i'll wait until it drops, and pick up a tv tuner card so that i can play this box of games i haven't even opened. Besides, i've got tons of CDs to get, and i get far more value out of them than i do a game that i'll beat, shelf, and maybe never touch again.
 
I buy most games when they come out, since a lot of the games I like have a tendecy to get rare. If a game is real popular though, and not a must-have I will wait for a price drop.
 
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