[quote name='gizmogc']A new game (since this will be $30 retail) will cost EB roughly $22 to purchase directly from Nintendo. Each game they sell, they make $8.
When they are buying back your cheap games that they sell for $4.99 they wind up losing quite a bit.
Example
You trade in 3 GBA games that retail for $4.99. They give you a free Nintendodogs.
So far they are losing the entire $30. IF, and thats a big IF, they sell your $4.99 games, they make $15. So now they are only losing $15. But in reality,if this starts to become widespread, not everyone will trade in uber cheap games. ...just us CAGs[/QUOTE]
giz is making some good points but this is even worse for EB . . . it doesn't take a genius to figure out how good this deal is for CAGs.
They WILL sell the $4.99 games but mainly to people trading them in again!
Anyone coming in is going to see that they are getting $10 for each game and that EB sells some GBA games for $5-6 each. But the games don't really leave the store.
One amazing fact about this deal is that the more people participate in it the better it gets for consumers. I just "dumped" 6 cheap games at an EB (actually 5 because one I parted with Cartoon Network video sells for over $10--but I got it for $2 and my son didn't care about it) . . . at the same time, I cleaned out 4 cheapies from the store 2 $5 and 2 $6 games. But now the games I traded in are there for someone else to buy!
The only thing I would disagree with is that EB likely has a deal with Nintendo on this one so EB is likely getting these copies of Ndogs for less than wholesale . . . maybe they are getting them for $15 . . . so, EB breaks even on 3 $5 games and makes money on 3 $10 games.
But these deals are also about traffic for EB and impact for Nintendo DS sales.
N has decided to make a big push with Ndogs and will take a loss on some sales at EB (will likely discount it heavy at other stores) in order to push this game "streetwise" . . . the association is interesting. Of course bastards like me who cancel a preorder are working against their plan but most (like me) are going to keep at least one and will tell many people about the game and the system.
That is why they aren't keeping Ndogs for Xmas sales . . . they want to get the DS into more hands and also current ones dusted off as the holiday buying season rolls around.
Also, don't be concerned with EB getting "stuck" with a bunch of cheap games at the end of this promo . . . these are probably some of their best sellers (consistent volume) at least in mall stores. I see tons of parents (and grandparents) wanting to buy a game for little Johnny and these cheapies allow them to leave with something even if they have no idea what they're doing. And GBA PO games are going to keep selling because of the huge installed base.