Buying brand new close to release date then selling after completion? Waste of money?

M

Monorojo

CAG Veteran
So I have been out of the gaming world for a few years but I am about to take the plunge and buy my first console in 5-6 years. I know I should probably wait for the Wii U but I am going to buy something in September and it will likely be either a PS3/3DS/360/Vita.

Now what I am asking for with this topic is an honest critique of the methodology that I plan to utilize in terms of acquiring new games.

Keep in mind I want to be at the cutting edge of gaming, so I will be buying games that are newly released only (A week or two maximum post release date, but I'll be more flexible around the Holidays),
Now my question is, would it be wise to buy brand new games at retail price and then selling used on craigslist or this site? Are there better alternatives?

Say I buy a Lollipop Chainsaw today, and over the next week or so I beat the game and play it til my heart is content. After about a week or two, I see now reason to hold onto it anymore as the likelihood of me replaying the title after I've obtained all the achievements and beat on all difficulty modes is incredibly small. Will I be able to get a good chunk of what I paid for it back from a resale a few weeks later? $65 would be the intial cost and I am hoping for at least $40-45 when i sell it, which I will then use on my next gaming purchase. Is that realistic and in an odd way being a cheap ass gamer?

Now if the game is an classic masterpiece, I'll hold onto it and put it in my collection. If it is merely good I'll get rid of it. If the first console dries up with upcoming releases, I won't sell the console but I'll simply buy the next best alternative (Say a 3DS) which has the most games I look forward too in the future.

So does this make sense to go about buying and selling games in this manner or does it seem illogical to any of you for any reason? I kind of feel like I am overcomplicating the issue but I want to be as efficient as possible (I'm an econ major after all :))

Thank you for your time and any insight you may provide me!
 
Games go on sale so quickly nowadays that if you waited a few weeks you'd be able to get most newer releases for $40ish, so it really isn't worth it unless you are getting say, a $20 gift card or something along those lines for buying it at $60.

With your plan you'd be losing $15+ for each game you did that with, which just sounds like an expensive rental to me.

You might as well just get Gamefly or I believe Blockbuster also has some sort of unlimited game rental service.
 
[quote name='Monorojo']So I have been out of the gaming world for a few years but I am about to take the plunge and buy my first console in 5-6 years. I know I should probably wait for the Wii U but I am going to buy something in September and it will likely be either a PS3/3DS/360/Vita.

Now what I am asking for with this topic is an honest critique of the methodology that I plan to utilize in terms of acquiring new games.

Keep in mind I want to be at the cutting edge of gaming, so I will be buying games that are newly released only (A week or two maximum post release date, but I'll be more flexible around the Holidays),
Now my question is, would it be wise to buy brand new games at retail price and then selling used on craigslist or this site? Are there better alternatives?

Say I buy a Lollipop Chainsaw today, and over the next week or so I beat the game and play it til my heart is content. After about a week or two, I see now reason to hold onto it anymore as the likelihood of me replaying the title after I've obtained all the achievements and beat on all difficulty modes is incredibly small. Will I be able to get a good chunk of what I paid for it back from a resale a few weeks later? $65 would be the intial cost and I am hoping for at least $40-45 when i sell it, which I will then use on my next gaming purchase. Is that realistic and in an odd way being a cheap ass gamer?

Now if the game is an classic masterpiece, I'll hold onto it and put it in my collection. If it is merely good I'll get rid of it. If the first console dries up with upcoming releases, I won't sell the console but I'll simply buy the next best alternative (Say a 3DS) which has the most games I look forward too in the future.

So does this make sense to go about buying and selling games in this manner or does it seem illogical to any of you for any reason? I kind of feel like I am overcomplicating the issue but I want to be as efficient as possible (I'm an econ major after all :))

Thank you for your time and any insight you may provide me![/QUOTE]


Your first mistake is not taking the time to find games on the cheap. Lollipop chainsaw is $44.99 at amazon---there is not reason to pay $60 for it.
 
Wow is it normal for more obscure titles like Lollipop Chainsaw to be on sale just a few days after release date in today's industry?

I'm looking into gamefly it seems pretty legitimate, I am currently searching the site to see if there is an option to buy the game you rented and not return it (If it was a masterpiece or something I want to hold on to?). Then that may be pretty much ideal...

EDIT - There is an option and they even send out the case. That is very awesome!
 
[quote name='Monorojo']Wow is it normal for more obscure titles like Lollipop Chainsaw to be on sale just a few days after release date in today's industry?

I'm looking into gamefly it seems pretty legitimate, I am currently searching the site to see if there is an option to buy the game you rented and not return it (If it was a masterpiece or something I want to hold on to?). Then that may be pretty much ideal...

EDIT - There is an option and they even send out the case. That is very awesome![/QUOTE]


Toys R Us has been selling a handful of preorder at $44.99. Lately Amazon has been matching those prices (Game of Thrones, The Witcher 2, Lollipop Chainsaw, NCAA 12, and others all were $44.99 at release day).

Many other retailers offer store credit when you preorder games--Best Buy and Amazon have been the most lucrative and consistent.

Obviously bigger titles (Madden, COD, etc.) tend to get the biggest incentives


If you can wait 4-6 weeks to purchase games (from the date of release) there is almost no reason why you can't get every single game for $40 or less.

If you have the time to play and beat games quickly you should be able to get read of them for around $30. But as someone else mentiond that makes for an expensive rental.

If you must play games as soon as they release and you have no desire to keep them after getting all the acheivements I would suggest gamefly or redbox. If you're trying to build a collection I would just follow the deals on this website as many games hit a sweet spot of $19.99 or less as soon as 3-6 months after release.
 
If you're just buying a console, your better off buying all the great games that have already come out for it for cheap. Also, most games these days can be found for $40 or less within the first 3 months of release, so paying more is a waste in most cases.
 
The problem is, even though you can typically get a new release for $40 with pre-order bonus or sales, the overall gaming market value has dropped. It is catching on quickly to wait for the $40 price point and re-sale and trade in values are reflecting this.

Have you considered joining Gamefly or going with some other rental program? Even if you go to your local Blockbuster, Redbox or other video store and pay $5 for a week, you'll come out ahead. Then, if you really like a game and wish to pick it up, you can wait until your ready for another playthrough when it will be cheaper.

Otherwise, I suggest doing what watcher said. There are so many great games you could get on the cheap since your getting into the console market now. Maybe stick with just a few of the top releases you really want to get into.

A logical way to do this would be to start a series that will build up to the new release on the horizion your interested in. Say your looking at Halo 4, play the other 6 games in the series first or maybe Assassins Creed III, you've got 4 games in front of that. You can pick up earlier games in series' really cheap because of the latest coming out.
 
Yeah, so many games hit $40 within a few weeks of release you're probably better off to wait. Also don't expect to be getting $40 on trade-ins of the new release games.
 
[quote name='GBAstar']Your first mistake is not taking the time to find games on the cheap. Lollipop chainsaw is $44.99 at amazon---there is not reason to pay $60 for it.[/QUOTE]

I was really looking forward to lollipop chainsaw but it's not even worth 15, let alone 45 or 60. So sad....


As for your new system I would wait till november for the wii u personally, but if you can't wait buy a ps3 it has the best upside out of the systems you listed. Not to mention uncharted 1 - 3 already out and a bevy of great other games to go along with it.
 
If you buy from Best Buy you can usually get the best of both worlds. They have been doing $20 credit for pre-orders lately and they have a 30 day price adjustment thing (I believe it's 45 if you're Silver). If the game goes on sale within 30 days of purchasing it, all you have to do is take your receipt to the store and they'll refund you the difference. Doesn't matter if you opened the game or not, just take the receipt.

Since Best Buy has been on a role lately (IMO anyway) they are probably the best place to buy new release from. If a game happens to go on sale somewhere else and you already bought it, you can just price match a new copy and then return it with your old receipt lol.
 
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