Wal-Mart Ranks Last in Video Game Pricing Survey (Reuters)

I like how the wal-mart lady finds it so hard to believe. A simple comparision between it and basically any other store will prove it to her I'm sure.
 
It suprises me a little that they are not cheaper than Gamestop and EB. Granted they don't seem to have many deals, but the survey didn't sound like it took into account deals like those posted regularly on this site, but more the "everyday" prices. On the flip side, they do seem to take longer to mark their games down.

The one problem I have with the study is that they only benchmarked 30 games. That doesn't seem to be enough to make grand conclusions. Not that the results would be different if they looked at more games, but they would be more meaningful in my eyes. I mean, 30 games out of how many? There are almost 800 games for PS2 alone right?
 
overall, walmart is just a little, little bit cheaper (.88 instead of .98) but when they have DC games for $30 still and PC/GH/PH games still at $50 it does not bode well.
 
lol...

as far as regular pricing goes, BB is the best IMO, and the GGC makes it just that much better. 2nd would be target.
 
Wal-Mart's prices suck, for the most part. It seems like they never drop the prices of ANY of their games.

My Wal-Mart might be an exception, but it's a complete wasteland when it comes to video games. I can only remember getting one game there, Spider-Man for the N64, and that was because it was the only place that had it in stock. IIRC, it was $30...that wasn't bad, but the rest of their prices are terrible. $30 for a GBA launch title? $40 for a PC game that's dropped to $20 everywhere else? No thank you...
 
Considering I walk into Wal Mart and see them selling games for $49.92/88 that Best Buy is clearing out for $9.99 I'm not surprised. 30 games is in fact a fair number or titles to be used for big box stores, especially Target and Wal Mart. Their display cases only hold what, 120 games? Of those 120 how many have a PS2, Xbox and Game Cube version?

Wal Mart is incredibly slow to mark stuff down. Target and Best Buy are the best, but then again... we all know that.
 
LOL, in my Wal Mart they have ff7 for $50 and titles clearly marked GH for $50, The worst thing I have seen there is a Pc version of age of empires 1 still retailing for $50
 
My local K-Mart is the worst. They are the ones with the old PC games for $50. I think they have about half a dozen of the first Harry Potter game on the PC for $50 still. When they reduce stuff, they re-tag it, but the price only drops $2-$3, which isn't even worth looking at.

I remember when I went to buy Asheron's Call years ago, Wal-Mart had it for $20, K-Mart had it for $55(!!!!!).
 
Hate to defend walmart but they do have a MASSIVE inventory, so it's likely that items from a generally moderate sales environment (aka dvds, video games, etc.) will not get marked down regularly as they make most of their money selling worthless generic plastic crap manufactured in china, where the overhead is higher.
 
[quote name='dragonfireflys']Hate to defend walmart but they do have a MASSIVE inventory, so it's likely that items from a generally moderate sales environment (aka dvds, video games, etc.) will not get marked down regularly as they make most of their money selling worthless generic plastic crap manufactured in china, where the overhead is higher.[/quote]

I understand that point. But at the same time, they have games from a year ago that are still regular priced. I feel like they could take the time to adjust prices at least once within a year.
 
[quote name='PsyClerk']My local K-Mart is the worst. They are the ones with the old PC games for $50. I think they have about half a dozen of the first Harry Potter game on the PC for $50 still. When they reduce stuff, they re-tag it, but the price only drops $2-$3, which isn't even worth looking at.

I remember when I went to buy Asheron's Call years ago, Wal-Mart had it for $20, K-Mart had it for $55(!!!!!).[/quote]

if you go check now, that harry potter game should be $2.

k-mart FORGETS to mark down, and then puts some insanely cheap price on them. Retarded? Yes. Fun finding a game like no one lives forever 2 for 1.99? YES.
 
I don't go to Walmart often (maybe 4 - 6 times a year total) but since I first shopped at a Walmart 8 or so years ago I have NEVER found a video game deal there.

They advertise how they have these low prices but I never see any low prices on games there.

Since Target opened up in my area about 3 years ago, I go there to look for cheap games and have been much more successful in finding cheap games there.
 
I've read this article, and I'm not that suprised. Wal-Mart seems to be behind on price reductions quite a bit. I was at the one in Murrieta recently, and they were selling Panzer Dragoon Orta for $29.99, while EB was selling it for $19.99. Quite a few of their games tend to run $10 higher than other places such as Best Buy and Circuit City, and they rarely do the drastic markdowns Target does to get rid of stock.

Wal-Mart also has a problem with shoving older titles in piles at the bottom of their cabinet, and not displaying the prices on them (they should at least be on the spines of the case). That's why I don't really frequent Wal-Mart as much as other stores.
 
[quote name='BlueStorm781']Wal-Mart also has a problem with shoving older titles in piles at the bottom of their cabinet, and not displaying the prices on them (they should at least be on the spines of the case). That's why I don't really frequent Wal-Mart as much as other stores.[/quote]

I thought that was just at my Walmart! The whole bottom of the shelves behind the glass are stacked with games, and you can't see the prices on any of them. Also, they layer the games in, so you can't even see the spines of the ones in back. It's really rediculous...
 
After I said I never go to Walmart, I ended up going to one today.

The prices were worse than I thought, with nothing for the next generation systems under $20.

The worst was New Legends for Xbox. $49.xx and I saw it for $2.99 new at EB a few weeks ago.
 
when Wal-Mart has a YMMV clearance they are great though. a year ago they had both GBC Oracle Zelda's for 9, Shenmue II sealed for 5, RTX Red Rock like a week after it was released for 10 and a ton of other really good games for cheap

I do shop at Wal-Mart a lot, but no where near as much as I used to. They are a pain with the large crowds
 
[quote name='trustcompany1013']wal mart isnt the place to go for video games, granted....but...no1 shops there for other stuff? im there all of the time whenever i need something else cheap[/quote]

I can't stand Walmart, hardly ever shop there. I would rather go to Target.

I think this article is something we have all known for a while. Walmart just doesn't compete in game pricing. I guess their strategy is to beat the original MSRP by a few cents or maybe a buck or two. With other items that works, but with games that change in price so quickly, it doesn't. I find Best Buy and Target to be the best with EB and Circuit City close behind.

Although lately they have had some decent deals posted here.
 
Well i am not defending walmart, but just stating the truth.

Yes walmart may charge more and they can and get away with it.How? Well to put it simply it just the volume @ which walmart sells . Walmart is the largest retail supplier of videogames in the US.

"Wal-Mart sells 25 percent of the computer and video games purchased annually in the United States, a share worth $1.58 billion in 2001, according to the Interactive Digital Software Association and NPDFunworld, the industry's data clearinghouse.

With that kind of clout, the discount retailer can exercise considerable influence over the kinds of titles that find their way into consumers' hands, simply by determining what goes on "

That 2001, i couldnt find the story with the latest market share but needless to say it not shrinking.

http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,55955,00.html?tw=wn_story_related


yea i do believe out of everyone they should be the cheapest consideirng they buy so much volume.
 
[quote name='BigNick']Instead of CAGBOT, maybe we should call you CAG Master of the Obvious.....[/quote]

cagbot knows where you live.
 
not hard to bilieve, i haven't bought a game from walmart for a long long time. their prices just suk, the last time i bought a game from walmart was....ummm....was.....well it wasnt for one of the next gen consoles. probally a n64 game or something.
 
[quote name='dragonfireflys']Hate to defend walmart but they do have a MASSIVE inventory, so it's likely that items from a generally moderate sales environment (aka dvds, video games, etc.) will not get marked down regularly as they make most of their money selling worthless generic plastic crap manufactured in china, where the overhead is higher.[/quote]

Not really. They just re so freaking huge they can buy way more than anyone even target. Walmart is 4 times the size of target. Don't forget sam's club either. The major part of sam's club existence is clearing out walmart's extra inventory.

Another thing needs to be cleared up. China does not make many goods. China actually buys from other shady type places and relables them as made in china. When it comes from china nobody asks any questions.
 
[quote name='cagbot'][quote name='BigNick']Instead of CAGBOT, maybe we should call you CAG Master of the Obvious.....[/quote]

cagbot knows where you live.[/quote]

that's gonna be a big hole to dig cagbot.
 
No! It's become sentient and self-aware! As well as smarter than most of the posters on the board!!!
THE RISE OF THE MACHINES HAS BEGUN!!
 
Walmart probably sells a lot of games, because they're selling to 'Joe SixPack' and family, the people who say, 'Oh, the new Harry Potter game is out, lets get that for little Johnny.' And these people aren't as likely to be as, well, anal about game prices as we are. And if they drop a hundred bucks at WalMart before getting a game, they're probably still saving money versus many other stores, so they can afford to pay a few bucks more on a game. I hate Walmart, but I shop there all the time. For most products, they are much cheaper--a frozen pizza that Food Lion has for 1.25, and Lowe's has for 3/5 bucks, WM has for 98 cents. I'll put up with a lot to stretch my money 25%+.
That said, I don't think I've ever bought a game from WalMart, although I do browse the section when we go there. I know that most of the games I'm looking at can be found cheaper in an equally convenient store.
 
i stopped regularly shopping at wal-mart when they decided that they knew better than i did what i should listen to and started censoring cds. now i go probably twice a year, and all i see is crap marked down 5 cents or less than target, give me a break. To me, not having to walk into a filthy store surrounded by people that clearly hate their kids and their life is worth far more than a dollar or two. i do find it hilarious that they devote more space to 40 dollar N64 games than xbox or gamecube though. the only good thing is now you can check out your own stuff and avoid the 300 pound cashier with gas.
 
Easy there my cheap ass friends......Walmart can be very usefull to the prolific cheap-ass. A couple of months ago I took advantage of the cc bargin bin and came out with some good games. I then took about three of them and went to walmart and returned them for store credit. This pretty much got me a free game as the store credit I received was double what I paid for the games. Seek and ye shall find! :twisted:
 
LOL. I've only ever gotten 1 game at WalMart and I made mondo bucks on it.

Summer of 2001 they had 2 copies of Tokyo Extreme Racer 2 for DC for $20 a piece. I picked one up, played it, thought it was kinda ok, looked on eBay and saw a copy selling for $60! I listed that one and ran out to see if they still had the other one, which they did, which I bought.

The opened copy sold for $80. Sealed went for $116.

The real question here is not why WalMart was cheap in this case but why on earth someone paid $116 for a Dreamcast game. I never saw it go for that much again.

Tim
 
I don't think I've ever bought a PC or console game from WalMart.
They do have the Eyetoy for 43.xx or so, which is a few bucks cheaper than where I've seen it otherwise...Then again, the GGC, and Reward Zone membership, brings BB's price to a competitive level.
I do agree, they have such purchasing power they act as de facto censors; also, my local store is just so friggin' LOUD with that *$*&#& overhead speaker constantly jabbering with someone hollering, and that &$#*& 'WalMart TV' every four aisles. I've actually stopped in an aisle, looked up at the speaker, and said 'For Christ's sake will you SHUT UP!' I got some stares that day.
 
Traditionally, after video game machines have been on the market for a few years (and a more casual gamer becomes the target buyer), average retail prices fall. (Casual gamers are less likely to pay $40 or $50 for a video game.)
Click to expand...

OMG I think they have been visiting our site :eek:
 
[quote name='cagbot'][quote name='BigNick']Instead of CAGBOT, maybe we should call you CAG Master of the Obvious.....[/quote]

cagbot knows where you live.[/quote]

BigNick knows where you live. BigNick has a can opener too.
 
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