Why do Nintendo games never drop in price?

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EverNight

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I mean I'm sure they are the best sellers on their systems and they are of very good quality but their not *that* good. They are certainly not that much better than a Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age, Uncharted 2, Oblivion, etc.

Does Nintendo have the ability to force stores to hold a certain price on their titles? Or are they really deciding on their own to STILL not discount say Twilight princess (A LAUNCH GAME) when any other system's 5 year old 1st party title would be no where near full price at this point in time?

What's the deal?
 
I used to think that was true, except that is only true of the titles that sell well. For example, "Sin & Punishment" has dropped like a rock. "Metroid: Other M" hasn't dropped as much, but Amazon has it for 50% off right now.

Some others you can get for decent sale prices. For example, I've seen NSMB and SMG2 go on sale for about $35.

But some games never seem to drop. That's why I ended up using one of my $20 K-Mart coupons on Twilight Princess, because it never dropped in price.
 
Yeah, it's because their games sell well for a console's entire lifetime.

Annoying, as I still haven't played Super Mario Galaxy and Galaxy 2 because of this.

Think about it - Anybody buying a Wii at any point in the system's lifespan will likely want the Mario games, the Zelda games, the Smash Bros game...why wouldn't Nintendo want to maximize profits on key franchises?
 
Huge portion of their market it's kids and casual gamers. Parents, soccer mom's etc. probably don't shop around for deals much, they just buy the games they want (or their kids want).

The kids market is huge and is why the games keep selling through the console's whole lifetime as there is an endless supply of kids reaching the age of wanting games like Mario etc.

I really think it's the kids. All consoles have great games. Anyone buying a 360 at any point is likely to buy the Halo's, Gears of Wars, Mass Effects and other games just like the Mario's and Zelda's on Nintendo's console. I think parents are just more likely to buy whatever games their kids are begging for and the younger user base on average for Nintendo skew's that.

Also, lack of third party competition probably has something to do with it. From the N64 on the Nintendo consoles have gotten fewer and fewer AAA third party games relative to the competition. Thus there first party games aren't competing against a huge array of 3rd party games that drop price etc., giving yet another reason not to drop prices.
 
I remember Pikmin 2 was like $10 at one point so they definitely drop but the core franchises rarely ever do because of the reasons everyone has already cited.
 
Nintendo makes games that live on. No other company does. They know this. Sure theres amazing games out there, but nothing will ever match the quality of a Nintendo game. When Nintendo actually tries to make an epic game, its usually epic in spades.
 
[quote name='TaM4ever2003']Nintendo makes games that live on. No other company does.[/QUOTE]

I'd disagree with that. How many times has Square been able to successfully re-release FF1 & FF4? How many people still play Diablo 2?

I can't say I'm really all that into playing Super Mario World or Sunshine at this point. Nintendo makes great games, but lots of developers do.
 
[quote name='Puffa469']Why would you discount what still sells well?[/QUOTE]

Again moot as games like Call of Duty, Halo, Gears of War etc. sell well for pretty long periods of time and still get put on sale a lot more often.

Though no doubt the Nintendo stuff sells longer at full price than anything else due to the kid factor and parents not bothering to shop around for what their little crotch droppings want.
 
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It's too bad Nintendo didn't have a Player's Choice line for the DS and Wii. It's crazy that a game like Mario 64 DS that came out in November 2004 is still full MSRP.
 
Nintendo games nowadays tend to either stick at full price for a long time if they sell well or they drop quickly after launch and possibly stop printing copies if they do poorly. There are quite a few Nintendo games on Wii and DS that are still at their launch price years later and others got the boot to being eBay/GameStop fodder if you were late to the party.
 
Because Nintendo hate you, and all the people that use their stuff.
They want to squeeze every penny out of your pocket they can get, then bring something else out thats really the same thing only shinny and new and tell you they love you and you should show that you love them by buying this thing aswell.

Nintendo are joining apple in the 'Our customers are so stupid they buy any old shit we bring out' game. To be fair though, their right.
 
I've always wondered this myself. All of the other generations of Nintendo consoles had the Player's Choice lineups, and it has been completely absent this gen. I would totally love to buy a copy of Twilight Princess for the Wii, but if I already own it on the Gamecube (the superior version btw), why would I buy it again for $50?

Super Mario Galaxy sales have had to plummet since the release of Galaxy 2, so it seems like a drop would make sense in order sell more copies.
 
It would be nice if Nintendo brought back Player's Choice. I'd also be happy if they reprinted Gamecube games for $20 with the logo on them "Can be played on Wii."

Gamecube games like F-Zero GX, Super Mario Sunshine, or Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Player's Choice versions of Wii games will probably appear some day.
 
There are two factors involved:

1) Nintendo is a consistent maker of quality games. With a few exceptions, you know you are going to get a quality game.

2) Nintendo is one of the few video game makers who make games which are appropriate for the younger set. When I just had the PS2, there weren't a whole lot of games I felt comfortable letting my now 5 year old son to play. With Nintendo, I don't have to worry as much about that. And since Nintendo makes quality games, I don't have to gouge my eyes out when I'm playing with him with these games.
 
[quote name='JasonTerminator']Yeah, it's because their games sell well for a console's entire lifetime.

Annoying, as I still haven't played Super Mario Galaxy and Galaxy 2 because of this.

Think about it - Anybody buying a Wii at any point in the system's lifespan will likely want the Mario games, the Zelda games, the Smash Bros game...why wouldn't Nintendo want to maximize profits on key franchises?[/QUOTE]

Gotta love Gamestop B2G1 for used Nintendo Games. Picked up Metroid Other M, Galaxy 2 and Legend of Zelda Collectors Edition worked out to under $30 each. This was back in November.
 
Kids and their parents are gullible and typically will not shop around.

Also, as another poster pointed out, there's not many quality 3rd party titles to create any kind of competition.

And lastly, I believe Nintendo has input on how much a retailer can charge. When you do see deals, the retailer is given a break on the game so they can offer the deal (at least that's what I believe I had read at one time).
 
Nintendo has been pulling this for as long as I can remember so unfortunately nothing new here. I'm kinda curious though where Twilight Princess and Mario Galaxy rank these days in sales numbers .
 
Maybe the question should be "why do all the AAA-titles on non-Nintendo platforms drop to such low levels"? I am often amazed about how low the prices on a lot of top-titles can get. You could argue that a good game never loses its value, so it might be logical that Nintendo keeps the prices of a lot of its games at the same level.

Btw: not sure how it is in the US (I live in the Netherlands) but a lot of Nintendo's games do drop in price here eventually. It's just the flagship titles that are almost never dropped in price.
 
[quote name='beantherio']Maybe the question should be "why do all the AAA-titles on non-Nintendo platforms drop to such low levels"? I am often amazed about how low the prices on a lot of top-titles can get. You could argue that a good game never loses its value, so it might be logical that Nintendo keeps the prices of a lot of its games at the same level.[/QUOTE]

It's simply a supply/demand thing. The supply of AAA titles on PS3 and 360 are far higher than on the Wii, so the demand drops over time as new games come out.

Looks like a few 1st party Wii games have dropped, at least on Amazon:

Kirby's Epic Yarn ($29.99) $20 off
Metroid Other M ($19.99) $30 off

All of the Mario games and Wii Sports games still are no more than $5 - $10 off.
 
Even if the nintendo is not so much good in quality, but because of the demand for many people, they will not put the price down. Prices are also based on its demand, not just in quality.
 
I always thought that it was because Nintendo had less 3rd party developers and thus controlled their prices better. Activision/Treyarch control the CoD pricing moreso than Sony. Games that drop are because they are poorly received (i.e. Metroid Other M).
 
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