Does anyone keep track of when games go out of print?

Viper187

Viper187

CAGiversary!
Being Cheap Ass Gamers, we all want the best prices on games. With the current generation, that usually means picking things up at their lowest price before they go out of print for good. I've seen some sealed 360 games priced outrageously by 3rd party sellers. There used to be plenty of copies to go around and prices stayed reasonable. Times change, I guess. :(

So is there any way to keep track? I mean you never know what to expect. There are 2006 titles still being stocked at some stores, while random newer titles already appear to be OOP. Destroy All Humans was released December 2008. It's barely a year old, but nobody seems to be stocking it anymore. Am I actually going to have to shell out $40-$50 on ebay for it? Tales of Vesperia also seems to have dropped off the radar. Amazon ran that deal on it in early December (or Thanksgiving week?) and hasn't restocked since.
 
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It's not just a matter of if it's OOP or not, it's a matter of how much people care... if there's 10,000 copies in print and only 5,000 people want it, it'll still be in stock for awhile despite being OOP... I don't know about games, but quite a few DVDs stay in-stock at the retail level for months, even years after their print runs end.

Long story short, there's really no way to tell when a game will suddenly get pricey, sealed or not. Just do your best.
 
Tales of Vesperia :360: is one that is OOP, recently available cheap ($15 on BF) and is going for close to $50 for a mint used copy FYI.
 
As quick as Vesperia sold out on Amazon, etc. you'd think it would be headed for a Platinum Hits release. I picked up Destroy All Humans from a site that still had it in stock though. How did you even know Vesperia was definitely OOP? and why did it disappear so goddamn fast when Amazon was the only one that put it on sale real cheap?
 
Amazon was the only site that had Vesperia in stock. They had it on sale for $15 and sold out. After Christmas a lot of people got Xbox 360 as present and want to get some RPG. The demand increased and the price went up.
 
You keep track of OOP games by looking on Amazon. Its a lot easier than keeping track of how many pairs of Gucci shoes I own.
 
You know. I really should have realized this shit was going to happen. It's happened with plenty of recent Namco titles, sadly. I wish I'd thought of it in time to pick up the game on the cheap. Far as Namco goes, I hope they finish the damn Splatterhouse game they're supposed to be working on soon. The Ridge Racer series is evil though. I won't waste my time hunting a copy of 7 after spending 12 hours stuck on a completely unfair race on 6.

I noticed THQ games have a tendancy to go OOP and through the roof sooner than expected too. Someone should really try to speculate on this stuff a little. It'd be helpful to bargain hunters.
 
They go OOP because of people like you who won't buy games at full price, so stop complaining.

I mean, if you were a video game publisher, and not enough people were buying their game because they are too cheap to buy it at first, why would you keep printing it?
 
[quote name='Viper187'] It'd be helpful to bargain hunters.[/QUOTE]

Just as Darkslime said above, its you "bargain hunters" that are the problem. if you're gonna be a cheap ass, you are not helping the publishers and these titles aint gonna get reprints. games cost $50-60 because of the massive production costs involved, so fork out and support quality games.
 
:roll: Arakias and darkslime

If I actually supported every publisher whose games I may have a passing interest in by buying them at full MSRP(Darksiders, Dante's Inferno, God Of War III, Red Dead Redemption, I Am Alive, etc, etc, etc, etc), I would still be stuck in the days when I had only a handful of games to play at a time and I scrimped and saved to get the 'next big thing'.

fuck that. I'm on CheapAssGamer because I'm a cheapskate gamer who only supports select few publishers/devs(namely Rockstar and THQ). I also only buy very few games at MSRP anymore because so many companies seem to be releasing glitchy games that're only deserving of being bought at bargain bin prices.

If you're not going to properly develop a game and release it when it's bound to possibly crash/freeze, then fuck you you don't deserve my money.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']:roll: Arakias and darkslime

If I actually supported every publisher whose games I may have a passing interest in by buying them at full MSRP(Darksiders, Dante's Inferno, God Of War III, Red Dead Redemption, I Am Alive, etc, etc, etc, etc), I would still be stuck in the days when I had only a handful of games to play at a time and I scrimped and saved to get the 'next big thing'.

fuck that. I'm on CheapAssGamer because I'm a cheapskate gamer who only supports select few publishers/devs(namely Rockstar and THQ). I also only buy very few games at MSRP anymore because so many companies seem to be releasing glitchy games that're only deserving of being bought at bargain bin prices.

If you're not going to properly develop a game and release it when it's bound to possibly crash/freeze, then fuck you you don't deserve my money.[/QUOTE]

Exactly! There are so many games that are total crap it's unreal. When I find something really good, I'm willing to pay more for it, but that's sort of rare lately. I'm actually planning to buy SW Force Unleashed a second time, when the Ultimate Sith Edition comes down despite already owning the original. I swear only 1 team at each developer is actually worth a damn, if that. I can't stand the controls on anything Capcom does except the Devil May Cry series. I wonder what, if anything, they're working on now. I liked Dead Rising as a whole, but Capcom just did a press release saying they're delaying Dead Rising 2 and others for no reason other than the other games being released at the same time competing with them or some crap. That almost pisses me off enough to wait for DR2 to get under $30 when it finally does get released.
 
That was probably the main reason some of these games that got majorly delayed(God Of War III, Red Dead Redemption) got pushed back to March and April was because they didn't want to try and compete in such a crowded playing field. To me, if your game is good and one that people have been waiting for, then you only hurt your sales by delaying it just because you feel like you can't compete. It also says to me that you don't have any confidence in your game to be any good and make the sales despite having lots of competition.

The last game I actually paid MSRP for and felt like I was robbed when I finally got it and played it was Mercenaries 2. How the hell Pandemic went from Mercenaries 1 and the fun gameplay in that to the glitchy, buggy mess that was/is Mercs 2 is beyond me.

They recently got shut down by EA and in all honesty, I couldn't be happier about it. If you're going to make a game that screwed up, you don't belong in this business making games in the first place.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']If you're going to make a game that screwed up, you don't belong in this business making games in the first place.[/QUOTE]
That's too harsh. Game developers make mistakes just like any worker in any field. It's often when Devs try to experiment with a new mechanic of gameplay they can't creat the game properly due to programming and design issues, and as a result are hated for making a buggy and scrwed up game. Other times they are praised for introducing a new gameplay feature to the gaming world.
 
I'm not saying that IATCG's opinion is wrong, but what I am saying is that cheap asses aren't exactly helping the fact that there aren't any reprints and you shouldn't complain about it if you're going to keep your cheap ass attitude.
 
[quote name='Nebenator']That's too harsh. Game developers make mistakes just like any worker in any field. It's often when Devs try to experiment with a new mechanic of gameplay they can't creat the game properly due to programming and design issues, and as a result are hated for making a buggy and scrwed up game. Other times they are praised for introducing a new gameplay feature to the gaming world.[/QUOTE]

I guess Pandemic never heard of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it', since they broke what was already a pretty damn good bunch of play mechanics. I couldn't even stomach the game enough to finish it, though what I did play of it I had some fun with, though not as much as the first one.
 
you know the game is out of print if:

all the online retailers are OOS of that specific title

youre probably wondering why your local game crazy still has 3 of them in stock. they're probably been sitting on those 3 copies for a very long time. if youre an online retailer, your market is pretty much vast compare to a b&m store.

as 62t said, just because its OOP doesn't always mean it has value. its never easy to keep up.

but enjoy the games' value while its OOP cause greedy mother fvckers like this company will ask for a reprint. a week later, the value of the games are gone.

one thing to know is that when a nintendo game goes oop, they almost never reprint them. of course the ace titles like mario and zelda will remain in print for god knows how long.
 
[quote name='phear3d']
but enjoy the games' value while its OOP cause greedy mother fvckers like this company will ask for a reprint. a week later, the value of the games are gone. [/QUOTE]

I second this opinion.

Also as phear3d said, Nintendo games are the best ones to hold on to IMO. I always search for the best deal on a Nintendo game right when they go out of print and snag a copy or two, especially AAA titles. Such as I have Twilight Princess 3 times over, one for Wii which I do believe is still in print and 2 for Gamecube one being sealed. Sealed one is for the collector in me and to perhaps fetch a penny if i can part with it down the road, Wii copy to play with Wii controls and Gamecube copy to play with real controls heh.

I also have a Smooth Moves, Metroid Trilogy, and a large chunk of DS games. :D
 
Nintendo games seem to hold their value the most, so if you buy a mario game at full price for $30 on the DS down the road it will probably be worth at least $20 if you sell at the right time. These games are generally a good investment. Your not going to lose a lot with mario games, you won't buy a game for $30 and then have it drop down to less than 5 within 6 mos like some movie games do.

Some Nintendo games do drop but your pretty safe with Mario and Zelda, but offshoots like rythem heaven (which was available for 9.99 on amazon this holiday season) and fossil fighters probably won't hold their value for long. Pokemon spinoffs don't fetch much either, but if you get the RPG and keep it sealed you can probably double your investment in the future when it goes out of print.

The best way to buy a game is to watch prices on ebay/amazon. I don't personally watch amazon much because sellers there overcharge beyond what the market will pay, completed auctions on ebay are a much better indicator of value. If online stores are sold out, then chances are your desired game went out of print and you should grab it fast.

You can also check stock using gamestop.com but I suspect most of us do that anyways. If it shows that several gamestops within my area have my desired game, I can probably wait for a price drop because there are still a lot around. My area tends to have a good stock of RPG games because well, basically no one buys them here. The latest madden or halo will be gone on release day though, so if your going for that you better preorder. Those that are buying RPG's here are probably the store employees, who are buying the game when it first comes out.
 
If publishers kept pricing more reasonable and steady, I'd have more reason to buy at MSRP. For example, I pre-ordered and paid $60 for Infinite Undiscovery, only to see it in stores literally a month later for $40, before I even opened my copy.

And there's the :360: Atlus games that came out at MSRP $60, Zoids and Operation Darkness. The latter wasn't great, but fine, whatever. The former? A game that was 10 hours max with no color customizations for the greyish Zoids unless you paid extra in the Marketplace was unacceptable to me for them to price at $60.

You want me to buy :wii:Animal Crossing at MSRP? Then offer me more than the cheaper DS version. Or the pre-ordered Ar Tonelico 2 I bought at MSRP that they took 2-3 months to ship to me, and have a major bug where you might be unable to complete your game at one of the last bosses? Although it was only a $40 game, so I have less beef towards it. Same with Mana Khemia, which I have on both :ps2: and :psp:, the latter is supposedly broken on some PSP systems, which massive load times.

Then there are games that were a steal at MSRP. Etrian Odyssey 1 and 2 are examples. At $30, I had some of the most fun 50~100 hours (each) in a long time. And I gladly paid MSRP on God of War Collection ($40), even when I have both games on PS2. And I'd gladly pay MSRP on Puzzle Quest. All the above, I'd pay more than the MSRP.

tl;dr: If they want me to pay MSRP, set the MSRP correctly, and not make us pay for their failures, and keep the value of the games for a decent amount of time.
 
[quote name='62t']Amazon was the only site that had Vesperia in stock. They had it on sale for $15 and sold out. After Christmas a lot of people got Xbox 360 as present and want to get some RPG. The demand increased and the price went up.[/QUOTE]

Yes, but it actually took a LOT of time for it to sell out. It was available for at least 2 days at $14.99 as part of the X360 deals/specials IIRC over the Thanksgiving weekend. I'm glad I pulled the trigger when I did. Although, it is easy enough to find a used/complete/mint copy at Gamestop, and wait for the inevitable discount such as 20% off or B2G1 and get it for a reasonable amount.

[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']:roll: Arakias and darkslime

If I actually supported every publisher whose games I may have a passing interest in by buying them at full MSRP(Darksiders, Dante's Inferno, God Of War III, Red Dead Redemption, I Am Alive, etc, etc, etc, etc), I would still be stuck in the days when I had only a handful of games to play at a time and I scrimped and saved to get the 'next big thing'.

fuck that. I'm on CheapAssGamer because I'm a cheapskate gamer who only supports select few publishers/devs(namely Rockstar and THQ). I also only buy very few games at MSRP anymore because so many companies seem to be releasing glitchy games that're only deserving of being bought at bargain bin prices.

If you're not going to properly develop a game and release it when it's bound to possibly crash/freeze, then fuck you you don't deserve my money.[/QUOTE]

:applause::applause: I agree completely. Another point of irritation are developers/publishers that put out these ridiculous "limited"/"collector's"/"super duper (non)unique" versions of a game, or worse, the bastards that try to milk you for additional "download only" content that should have been in the $60 game in the first place. If a publisher wants another $5, $10, $20 or more of my money, sometimes available WHEN THE GAME IS RELEASED, first off fuck them, secondly then it had better be God damn substantial content not just some bullshit skins or a couple of crap extra levels.
 
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[quote name='phear3d']you know the game is out of print if:

all the online retailers are OOS of that specific title

youre probably wondering why your local game crazy still has 3 of them in stock. they're probably been sitting on those 3 copies for a very long time. if youre an online retailer, your market is pretty much vast compare to a b&m store.

as 62t said, just because its OOP doesn't always mean it has value. its never easy to keep up.

but enjoy the games' value while its OOP cause greedy mother fvckers like this company will ask for a reprint. a week later, the value of the games are gone. [/QUOTE]

Games should keep getting printed as long as they sell decent. I don't think there can ever be too many copies to go around. I despise sellers like Hitgaming Video Games on Amazon trying to get $90+ out of so many random titles. Half of which most people probably wouldn't consider worth $30. That's just stupid. Something like Final Fantasy VII that was actually an amazing game should be worth something, but crap games shouldn't end up costing more than the original MSRP. Game/movie soundtracks are something else I consider horribly overpriced, especially with Amazon etc's ability to sell burned copies legitimately. I've paid more for most of the soundtracks I have than I did for the goddamn games/DVDs themselves.
 
I believe I still have my Tales of Vesperia sealed from when it was on Amazon for $15. Plus that was back when 10% via ECA still worked. Hopefully it is still sealed. Though sometimes I a game to look at the instructions, but more and more I keep stuff sealed until I play it. For occasions just like this. Happened with my $3 copy of MGS Twin Snakes, Pikmin 2, Fire Emblem, and others. Its what happens when your backlog gets over triple digits. Not bragging, its f-ing sad. CAG has turned me into a Benjamin Franklin of video games.
 
[quote name='elessar123']If publishers kept pricing more reasonable and steady, I'd have more reason to buy at MSRP. For example, I pre-ordered and paid $60 for Infinite Undiscovery, only to see it in stores literally a month later for $40, before I even opened my copy.

If they want me to pay MSRP, set the MSRP correctly, and not make us pay for their failures, and keep the value of the games for a decent amount of time.[/QUOTE]

Publishers don't control the price once it hits stores. I'm sure they can hem and haw but nobody is going to tell Best Buy or Wal-Mart that they have to keep games at $60 longer than the market will bear.

I completely agree with you on the second part though. There's no reason for some of these less than AAA titles to be released at $60. Nobody is buying Rogue Warrior at $60 but they might've snagged some people at $40. LocoRoco and Patapon were huge successes partially because they were released at $20.
 
Anyone know what the deal is with NFS Undercover (360)? The PS3 version was being sold for $10 on black Friday, but I've never seen the 360 version under $25. Am I going to have to pick that up sooner rather than later or is there a good chance it'll be around awhile?
 
[quote name='Viper187']Games should keep getting printed as long as they sell decent. I don't think there can ever be too many copies to go around. I despise sellers like Hitgaming Video Games on Amazon trying to get $90+ out of so many random titles. Half of which most people probably wouldn't consider worth $30. That's just stupid. Something like Final Fantasy VII that was actually an amazing game should be worth something, but crap games shouldn't end up costing more than the original MSRP. Game/movie soundtracks are something else I consider horribly overpriced, especially with Amazon etc's ability to sell burned copies legitimately. I've paid more for most of the soundtracks I have than I did for the goddamn games/DVDs themselves.[/QUOTE]Games ARE kept in print as long as they "sell decent." Tales of Vesperia obviously was not selling if it was for sale for $15 on Amazon. When it goes OOP the price gets marked up and the few people that still want it buy it for the marked up price because that's all that's available. If the publishers / GQD notice this trend it might get reprinted or they might be busy with something else or the demand isn't as high as you think.

I really don't see how any of your whiny bitching and moaning is valid OP, but good luck and keep on truckin.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']Buy games to play them, don't expect them to pay for your retirement years.[/QUOTE]

Buy games for whatever reason you want. It's not like everyone uses every single thing they buy for functional reasons.
 
The problem here is that stores only have so much space for games, and in order for them to get new releases in, something has to give, which means games that have been out for a few months get clearanced if they don't sell or get price drops. Show me an industry where every item of every product sells out at full price, games are no different than any other industry.

I have so many games that I don't have to buy anything for full price for at least 2 years or a lot more. I won't be buying video games for much longer if DD, and charging for extras keeps up, though on the Wii and DS which are the only 2 systems from the current gen that I own this does not happen, you are still paying for the full game and getting just that. There are a few games on the Wii that tried it, but failed miserably. I absolutely refuse to pay to download games or extra content for games (especially at full retail price). I probably own enough games right now to last me a lifetime, which is a good thing because I definitely don't like where the gaming industry is heading.
 
[quote name='SaraAB']The problem here is that stores only have so much space for games, and in order for them to get new releases in, something has to give, which means games that have been out for a few months get clearanced if they don't sell or get price drops. Show me an industry where every item of every product sells out at full price, games are no different than any other industry.

I have so many games that I don't have to buy anything for full price for at least 2 years or a lot more. I won't be buying video games for much longer if DD, and charging for extras keeps up, though on the Wii and DS which are the only 2 systems from the current gen that I own this does not happen, you are still paying for the full game and getting just that. There are a few games on the Wii that tried it, but failed miserably. I absolutely refuse to pay to download games or extra content for games (especially at full retail price). I probably own enough games right now to last me a lifetime, which is a good thing because I definitely don't like where the gaming industry is heading.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I hate this too. I'm also afraid of what Natal will do to 360 games. I'm really hoping developers will continue to give us the option of using the goddamn controller. I feel that was Nintendo's biggest mistake, and it's the reason I hardly own any Wii games.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']Buy games to play them, don't expect them to pay for your retirement years.[/QUOTE]

I buy games because I have space on my shelves to fill.
 
[quote name='Viper187']Yeah, I hate this too. I'm also afraid of what Natal will do to 360 games. I'm really hoping developers will continue to give us the option of using the goddamn controller. I feel that was Nintendo's biggest mistake, and it's the reason I hardly own any Wii games.[/QUOTE]

Which wii game doesn't require the use of a controller?
 
The Wii may be inferior but I am having just as much fun with the Wii and DS as the next guy and I am not paying an arm and a leg to do it. And no, I don't buy any of the stupid plastic accessories either. With all the bull that microsoft is pulling with the Xbox 360 I am really glad I don't own one. There are plenty of Wii games that use the controller well and plenty that do not.

I don't think natal is going to be so hot among hardcore players if its required, the games that use it will sell less. 360 gamers don't want to get up and move around the room to play (though that is only required in very few wii games) people buy the 360 because it has a normal controller and as something they can play after work and relax while playing. The games should definitely have the option of using the normal controller, because its not necessary to split the fanbase between those that have natal and those that do not.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']Buy games to play them, don't expect them to pay for your retirement years.[/QUOTE]That has NOTHING to do with ANYTHING in this thread...
 
What the hell? I've been waiting for Lost Odyssey to drop to around $20, but I suddenly notice nobody is stocking it. Is it OOP or is it possible there's a platinum hits version or something on the way? I've never seen the damn thing go below $29.99 at any sites. :(
 
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