Is it a sign of the times? JB Hi-Fi’s half year results were released today. It was a reasonable second quarter for the tech retail giant, bolstered by hardware sales, but software sales are clearly on the decline.
According to the results, JB Hi-Fi’s hardware sales were up 4.7% in the quarter, with the result specifically naming console sales — alongside fitness gear and appliances — as the reason for that growth. Software sales, however, were down a massive 10.8%.
But given the majority of JB’s sales are centred around hardware, it added up to an overall 1.4% growth in sales for JB. CEO Richard Murray was pleased with the results.
“[T]his was a pleasing result for the half year given the combined headwinds of a challenging first quarter sales result and the the cycling of both digital switchover in visual and the launch of new gaming consoles in the second quarter last financial year,” he said.
But the rapid decline of software sales is a clear warning sign. Are consumers buying hardware in stores and then buying the games themselves online? Or is mobile gaming part of the problem? It’s difficult to say, but stores like JB Hi-Fi have traditionally used video games as a loss leader for other products and a sales decline in software might be the proverbial canary in the coal mine. Games retail is an interesting business. Traditionally stores like EB Games and JB Hi-Fi will sell consoles at low margins, the idea being that those same consumers will come back to buy video games. Will the story remain the same when people are less likely to buy video games at brick and mortar stores? That’s the question. Other retailers like Target, Kmart and Big W have already threatened to reduced its stock of games in stores, maybe we’ll start to see JB Hi-Fi follow suit.
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107 responses to “JB Hi-Fi Selling A Lot Of Game Consoles, But Maybe Not So Many Games”
We would sell a LOT more software if Nintendo would actually supply us with enough :l
Yeah for a console apparently not selling (WiiU) I had a hard time getting Hyrule Warriors, Bayonetta 2 and Pikmin 3. The same seems to be true of 3DS software. Why on earth they did not supply more Limited Edition Majora’s Mask over standard too…..
…because then it wouldn’t be LIMITED!
I find with the PS4, Im buying more Digital games because I can get it “nearly” straight away, and I dont have to leave the house 🙂
Yep, me too. I don’t own a single PS4 disc, I just ended up going 100% digital. I love having everything available to play immediately, which works well with remote play on the vita too. It’s worth upgrading the HDD too (I’ve got a 2TB in there).
Yep, but funny when I’m using remote play & I have to go into the other room to switch discs
The only problem with Digital content is its price. I am waiting for the day to buy a digital download code from JB or EB for the shop price not the digital download price. Far Cry 4 and GTA V was $30 more expensive on the PS4 and Xbone stores than for a disc copy at JB. I am only buying digital atm but ill wait for sales, I don’t want discs and I don’t want to pay a premium for something that costs less to produce.
PS3PS4/Xbone/Wii U’s got no gaems.Maybe 2 years ago. I’ve got a pretty decent pile of shame for my Wii U.
Yeah me too.
My pile of shame: Bayo 2 & 1, Pikmin 3, Wind Waker HD…
Damn MK8 and Smash Bros. Wii U!
Rayman Legends, Darksiders 2, NFSMW, MK8, Revelations (though not really since I already did it on 3DS), Splinter Cell Blacklist, Hyrule Warriors, Bayo, AssPirates, Game & Wario, Ninja Gaiden 3, Captain Toad.
Terrible.
Currently on Hyrule Warriors. I can’t even keep up with the DLC!
Got Darunia’s tier 3 weapon last night though! Pumped.
Agh, haven’t even picked up Bayo yet. And you’ve got a treat coming up with Pikmin 3. I wish I could do that one fresh again.
Get on that Bayonetta goodness. It is far from overrated but in fact under appreciated.
Really. I have a Wii U and have a stack of games I am struggling to get through.
Bayonetta, Wind Waker, Pikmin, MK8, Wonderful 101 (not even touched yet). It is like the best console of the 3 and I am a Sony fanboy.
Dude you’re talking to one of the biggest Nintendo fanboys on the site. It was a facetious comment, sending up the “PS3 haz no gaems” running joke of way back when. Which we partly saw across the board this time around, with all the consoles launching with very little in the way of games. Sure, things have changed now, but the comment falls in line with the JB results.
That’ll learn me to joke around with things 😛
To he honest I didn’t take note of the usernames etc. I will give you credit for the joke as it is indeed a quality facetious comment. I must of been slow the other day, I tip my hat sir.
Haha, didn’t mean it in a “don’t you know who I am” sense at all, although to be fair, running around as another black-and-pink K probably doesn’t make it any easier anyway 😛
Well, considering the price of the PS Store (not sure about XBox Live Marketplace, but Sony would put their prices down I’m guessing if Microsoft were cheaper), is still $99.95 for a lot of games, people probably aren’t going online for their games.
I’d say it’s more that despite Destiny or Dragon Age, there’s still not a great deal of new games to buy on PS4 or Xbone. It won’t be until this year that a lot of high profile games come out that should boost sales. Simply put, 2014 was a barren year for games and it showed, but the new consoles are still providing popular
As a recent PS+ subscriber, I’m finding I don’t have the time to finish the free games, let alone purchasing new retail ones. I’m also hesitant to buy knowing that in a year or so the game may well be available for free via PS+.
These days I’m happy to wait to play a game that’s critically acclaimed and continue with the games released a year or so ago. I suspect there may be others like me.
I follow a similar line of reasoning. I buy up a few games when a steam/origin sale is on and then I play them until the next sale. Unless I can get a new release very cheap I leave them until they are half price.
Am doing the same thing, I’ve just purchesd titan fall now it’s worth $12 on the US xbox store, Same with need for speed rivals,also bought wolfenstein and aliens late on steam half price, I’m just happy to wait 🙂
I still haven’t finished Rainbow Moon that came with PS+ 6 months ago! Arrrgg!
This console gen has been all digital for me – apart from a few collectors editions. Even then I wait for a sale, and buy the same game digitally. I’ve already upgraded my PS4 because of it. If Xbone ever release any games I might have to do the same for that rig too.
Interestingly enough, JB define their ‘software’ category as games, music, and computer programs. So a 10% decline could in fact refer to a 20% decline in music, and a 10% rise in games software. Of course those figures are speculation, but show the potential difference of averaging figures across departements.
But but but…. Everyone wants a solid disc copy of a game these days guys!!! Remember???
I would. If it wasn’t 60% cheaper from my online stores.
I’ll keep buying my games in-store while I have a 750kb/s download connection. Thank you JB-Hifi!
Meanwhile I struggle with 400kb/s cause idiots.
OK, so a sympathy upvote there but here’s hoping you get some awesome internet soon. I am grateful for every kilobyte I get!
Thanks. 🙂
It is full speed ADSL 2+ but the rip off merchants at TPG claim that is within reason. Though it is obviously bad wiring as friends of mine further on the same exchange get 600-800kb/s.
I’m an old fogey. I like to have my game disc on my PS4. I’ve only started with the online stuff for games like Walking Dead and my PS Plus “freebies”.
Same.
Same here. Plus, the price On PSN is really off putting. The normal price on PSN is almost always more expensive (sometimes as much as $20!) than physical copies sold at JB, I can never understand why? Am I paying for the convenience? Shouldn’t digital games be cheaper as they don’t incur shipping and packaging fee? Isn’t that the whole idea?
Nope, you’re just paying an Australia Tax cause they think you’ll pay it…there is no reason for the discrepancy in cost…which was there even as our dollar was over parity with the USD.
Sony don’t have a single clue when it comes to price parity.
i only buy retail cause its cheaper, if digital was cheaper id never leave home
If they were a loss leader on games in order to push hardware, then surely selling hardware without taking the hit with games is an improvement for them.
I thought that retailers made next to nothing on hardware and made all their money on games…
Game hardware, sure. What about TVs, microwaves, computers and even coffee machines? They’ve branched out quite a lot.
@Trjn, @Zambayoshi
That’s essentially what most game retailers do. The idea is that when a customer buys a console, it instills the idea in them that that particular store will be able to provide them with what they need for that console in future, i.e. games and accessories. However, specialist stores like EB Games and large chain stores have different goals to attain from this.
EB Games, for example, tend to sell their games at RRP to make a profit (which is the real reason EB’s default prices tend to be more expensive than chain stores as there still isn’t a lot of margin in new games, rather than some irrational desire to screw people on pricing, which far too many people actually believe), while also selling preowned games, accessories, video game related paraphernalia and game guarantees which have a larger profit margin. JB HIFI, on the other hand, will happily price fairly competitively and can take a loss on their games because every time someone visits their store, they see it as a chance that they will purchase items with more margin (like headsets), or a LOT more margin (like a TV to play the console on). The idea is that if you can buy pretty much everything you need for your gaming at JB, why would you go anywhere else?
I thought Manufactuers lost money on Consoles and made money on Games.
I thought Retailers got screwed on Game Pricing with tiny Profit Margins and made Money on Extended Warranties, Hardware and 3rd party stuff.
Go back a few years and JB was the cheap option on a day 1 purchase. These days target and big w seem to be undercutting them on a lot of big releases.
Yep, this. I’ve been into JB many times over the last 18 months or so and never purchased a game there unless it’s not available in other stores. The prices are higher than other retailers and much higher than I can get games for online.
But also I’ve increasingly transitioned to digital for everything. Generally don’t buy games locally much any more as it is, and when I do and it’s a CE I really want I tend to pay the extra and get it from EB as I’ve had much better experiences with preorders through them than JB.
Yep, pretty much this… My local is pretty horrible for any sort of sales, to the point that even EB Games were a better and more cost effective option, that’s how bad it can get.
I’ve always used JB as the store to pick up those games where you have a passing interest in, but not until it hits $20 or so… I’ve still got a few games on that list and they are all still full RRP at most JBs I’ve hit up, despite the games been quite a number of years old now, they just don’t seem to do that anymore.
Yeah exactly. This is a major reason why people don’t buy from, JB anymore.
They were the leading retailer in cheap games, but over the past couple of years they have jacked up the price of everything. They are not nearly as expensive as EB Games, JB still undercuts them in price, but Big W and Target are often undercutting JB on day 1 prices.
And no mobile gaming is 0% not a factor.
Actually as someone who drops by both JB and EB at the local shopping centre the “not nearly as expensive” as EB doesn’t really hold up these days.
Most games that aren’t on sale usually have a mere difference of between 5 bucks to 5 cents on their catalogues. And their sales buck per buck are pretty much on par.
AFAIK the only real differentiator between JB/EB these days is the exclusive freebies for the LE’s otherwise it’s pretty much practically the same these days =(
It still is in my area to some extent.
The local Target and Big W almost never have stock on day one and when they do it’s not all that much cheaper. For example Destiny was $79 from Target and $69 from JB. Big W is either the same as JB or only a few dollar less. I would go to them more but they are much further away and JB is happy to price match them.
Plus after many years of being a customer, my local JB gives me a lot of left over codes and special edition items for free (If they didn’t sell out or get enough pre-orders)
exactly this…they just hoped to have sucked you in and you always think they are cheapest.
They used to be my goto local store for games, but lately places like Big W have cheaper launch prices for games or I just buy digital in the case of PC games.
Plus I’ve gotten a lot pickier with my purchases, I only buy what I have time to play rather than buying every new release that might interest me.
That’s where digital is hitting me. It’s really good at taking advantage of my poor impulse control. It’s there 24/7 so all it takes is a moment of weakness or a sale that adds up to roughly retail price.
I’ve just given myself a rule that I only add to my digital wallets with prepaid cards rather than the credit card, so most of the time I only buy enough balance to pay for what I want, not leaving much leftover for impulse purchases.
I think the big question is where does this level out? I mean unless it utterly failed to the point where they had to turn off the PS Store/XBOX Store there was always going to be a decline simply because a new way of purchasing came along and further fragmented the audience.
At this point I would say those buying physical and digital have chosen there sides so this could very easily be the biggest part of the drop. We’ll see a converts later down the track but this isn’t like Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD where the two sides battle it out until one gains enough of a lead to kill the other and force the remaining holdouts to convert. There are still plenty of reasons to buy physical copies, especially given the pricing on both the XBOX and PS Stores.
I ship around so my money goes wherever the cheapest price is, could be online could be in-store.
The last time I bought anything new from JB Hi Fi was the big special edition of MGS HD on PS3, that’s how long it’s been.
I did pick up Yakuza 3 for $5 preowned a month ago. What a deal, had the OST too!
Well JB Hi Fi lost a customer on PS4 launch day when they refused to price match Big W because “they increase the price of chocolate to cover their loss on games”.
actually lol’d at that hahahahahahhahaa
This is why I don’t understand them continuing to price match. With EB price matching made sense because their standard price was a joke designed to get suckers to pay too much with all the rational people just price matching to get JB’s price. However JB offer a price where they make a little money and everyone wins as standard. Going under that is generally a bad idea for them and it only wins the loyalty of customers who cause them to make either next to nothing or lose money on each sale.
By continuing to price match they put themselves out for the sake of sales I don’t think they really need or even want. They were having no problem selling PS4’s on day one but because they normally offer price matching they put themselves in a tough spot. Lose money on the PS4 or piss off a customer. I’m guessing they pissed off a lot of customers that day.
I mean by all means take advantage of their price matching, as a consumer you’re your own number one priority, but it just seems weird to me that they continue to price match. I guess they’re worried about the bad PR of taking it away.
JB Hi Fi didn’t price match on launch of ps4, cause there were no one to price match that had stock available. You cant price match something a competitor doesn’t have 🙂
I like buying digital if the price is the same or cheaper than a physical copy from a local shop but sometimes with nzgameshop they are a lot cheaper so I go with them but you have the week or so wait for the game. Digi its there day one don’t have to leave house or swap disks which is worth paying few extra $$ for.
What would classification ratings have to do with this, if anything?
The ‘usual suspects’ are all probably going to fall into the R18+ bracket if they don’t already fall into the MA15+ bracket by the end of generation, surely.
Just sayin.
I still like having discs personally. Also the cost of digital games seems to still be higher than retail (somehow), so I’ll keep buying physical copies for the foreseeable future.
Personally, I doubt it. I think people are buying the hardware locally (so they have the extra protections and ease of local warranties and the Australian Consumer Law protection) and are then buying the games online from compatible reasons such as OzGameShop.com.au.
Comes as no surprise when some games five years after release are still being sold at full RRP yet are virtually given away online.
I still prefer disks, the nice stacked collection in the entertainment unit, being able to lend out copies to mates/return the game to EB after 14 days for all the money back If it sucks. Plus I always prefer forking out cash for something I can actually hold.
The only recrnt exception wqs dyibg light as I am not waiting a month longer for the disk version when the digital is just sitting there taunting me 🙂
I’m just going to put it down to the usual cycle when there a generation change. People move to new hardware so obviously those sales explode. But there’s few big games to drive software sales. People not ready to upgrade console yet also use the chance to hit the second hand and discount bins to play any missed games from the last few years.
I think a few of the big names to come out alter this year will reverse those software figures.
I find I’ve been buying less partly because I’ve bought some digital that I used to buy retail (mainly stuff that I’m going to put hundreds of hours into like a Battlefield, PES, etc).
But also, and I’m not sure if this is actually reality or just my perception, but it seems like games haven’t been getting discounted as soon or as heavily in recent times. I seem to recall at the peak of the PS3 / 360, games would be down to half price within a couple of months of launch. I generally divide games I want into stuff that I’ll buy day 1, or stuff that I’ll wait until it’s half price. It seems that on PS4, the games that I’m waiting to pick up half price (e.g. Shadow of Mordor GTA 5) just aren’t getting there. Once they get down to that price I’ll buy them, but until then they’re not going to get those sales from me and, presumably, others who are waiting for discounts.
This is big problem. Why GTAV and Saints Row 4 were priced at $79 is beyond me, this push by publishers to make $79 the new default price for games is going to backfire because I’m quite happy to wait. For my part at least JB’s biggest problem is opportunistic pricing by publishers.
I’m happy enough for $79 to be the new price for a genuine new release. But for re-issues like GTA V and The Last Of Us (which is one of my all time favourite games but I’ve already finished it 3 times on PS3 so can afford to wait for the PS4 version) I’m not going to fork out that kind of money. I’m happy to wait for them to be about $40.
Yeah agreed – the only remaster I will happily pay full price for is Dark Souls II, back in 2010 GTA would’ve been that game though and still is for a lot of folks which is why they can get away with it
Maybe all the crazy console deals last Christmas have a bit to do with it too. Some deals had up to 7 games (some really decent – last of us, Farcry 4, Forza horizon 2, halo mcc to name a couple for their respective system) in the deal which is more than enough to keep ppl going for a while. Perhaps they gave away too much? I’ve never seen console deals like the ones seen last Christmas ever before.
I always prefer buying a physical copy. A lot of people are buying games from UK retailers now too for cheaper prices as well. A console sales boost at his point in expected but i imagine that will be temporary and should increase more this year then drop back down once people have bought their new consoles.
That’s a good point re UK (and other foreign) retailers.
It’ll be interesting to see if that trend starts to change now that the dollar is on the slide after being very high for a few years.
It’s already changing for me, it’s been almost a year since I bought a game on ozgameshop because the savings haven’t been worth it to wait for postage.
Me too. I was buying a few games a month from Ozgameshop last gen. Nowaday’s I’m just waiting for sales on PSN for PS4 (US or AUS) and buying then. Saves waiting a few weeks, and the savings are about the same anyway.
With me, I’ve slowed down because previously I was buying a lot of PS3 games that had been released for ages cheaply from ozgameshop, but now I’ve basically caught up and am looking at full-price or near full-price games, along with a falling dollar. I think I’ll wait and just play backlog games for a while.
Yeah, I think backlog has been a part of my slowdown too. I’ve definitely held off pulling the trigger on some games I would have just impulse bought in the past, because of my conscience nagging me to play through at least a part of my pile of shame.
Same boat here. I did get a few games for christmas and I think my girlfriend still used ozgameshop for those but last I checked ozgameshops current prices are either equal or a dollar or two more than JB Hi Fis so I’ll be going back there for most things now. I used to still shop there for games if it were something i wanted right now or if I had vouchers.
+ 1 for username …… +1 000 000 for delisting Josh Smith ! Soooo over rated !
Josh Smith is the biggest bone head in the nba, waste of what could be a decent player.
Yeah, I buy steam keys and xbox live from Ozgameshop, which they email the code for in a couple of hours, but not physical games.
I’ve bought 2 ps4 games from Jb in the last couple of months. Normally I wait until I see a good discount and then go for it. I dislike having digital copies of games because I like seeing a stack of game boxes next to my ps4. My only digital games are from ps+.
Personally I prefer disc based games, and I regularly get games from JB or make EB price match.
I find that launch day titles are cheaper at JB then most places
Take Dragon Age on launch day
$79 – JB
$99.95 – EB
$99.95 – PSN
Same with Assassin Creed. Plus I have found if you look closely sometimes they mess up alittle and will stick a PS3 price on a PS4 game (I got Far Cry for $69 at JB launch day) it was just one with the $69 price tag all the others had $79
But then the smaller games and Vita games PSN is the way to go, Walked dead games are $20-25 on PSN compared with $49 for a disc
Same goes for alot of the RPG games on vita
Another reason for disc based is that I always have it there, one day Sony with decommission the servers for PS3 – PSN access (not in the near future but it will happen in maybe 10 years)
how will you access your gems then? (I still whip out my N64)
I dont want to pay money to play something I own (PS Now), plus no NBN it will be hard to fully stream a game
It’s worth noting that JB usually post software sales as including dvds and music so it might not necessarily mean that games software is down.
That’s a good point to make. Should clarify that in the article.
I thought this was an article about a big console sale at JB Hi-Fi…I’m pretty disappointed.
The pre owned market probably has a lot of movement due to lower quality games that are also quick to finish.
I look in from time to time (PS3 still) but it’s seldom worth buying anything there. The cheap games tend to be the ones everyone has – Assassin’s Creed series, Battlefield etc – and most other games are still $49.
I think there’s two things – first, now that they’re an establish player in the games market, they’re not doing the aggressive pricing that they used to when they entered it. Secondly, they’re probably getting pounded by the falling dollar and the publishers being US/European based.
Also, last year wasn’t a great year for console games – and PC games haven’t been a store purchase for a long time.
The main reason I’m buying 90% of my console games digitally is the home sharing I can do with my gfs x1, just by setting her x1 as my “home” x1. She gets all my live privileges and access to all my games even when I’m playing them at the same time online on my own x1. Buying 1 digital copy is still cheaper than buying 2 physical copies.
I only ever buy games on disc I know she wont have any interest in playing eg Dying Light. The rest are all digital.
Maybe JB should look into setting up a deal with MS and/or Sony, they could sell game codes, not just sony and ms bucks.
Digital games are still full price mostly on console digital stores?
Yes for the most part. Although, they get decent discounts eventually. In the countdown to new year sales I got Titanfall Deluxe Edition for $15AU, should be able to get close to that for my disc.
Same for me but I have 2 PS4s in the house so i can play MP with my kids. The only issue is when they want to play each other, one has to use my profile.
Digital is still more expensive but its still generally cheaper than buying the game twice. Wish i didnt have to download them twice though. 2×10 GB is ok but some are more than that.
Yeah, that’s bummer about having to download twice. I just copy the game to an external and then to the other x1.
It’s not rocket science, its math; you can get games cheaper elsewhere.
I’ve bought a PS4 about a month ago and have played it twice. I’m not enjoying Killzone at all.
I’m in no massive rush the try Plants vs Zombies, which I got for free.
I’m in no massive rush to try Injustice, or First Light that I’ve gotten free via PS+.
I’d like someone to hurry up and buy my copies of Drive Club and LBP 3 that I got free with the console.
I have way too many PS3 games and I’ve started to see the negative side of PS+ subscription, when a year ago I was a massive supporter of it.
I won’t buy a PS4 game at anything other than a very low cost as I made that mistake with the PS3. I have a dozen PS3 racing games that I bought for $20 to $60 that are barely touched – I just won’t allow myself to do the same with the PS4 – especially when the games are effectively the same + improved graphics. It’s just not worth it.
On top of that, we’re handed Steam sales and Humble Bundles every 5 minutes so even if my notebook can’t effectively handle the AAA titles, my next notebook will for sure.
You really don’t seem like the kind of person who would have ever enjoyed owning a PS4. So I am totally confused as to why you even bothered to purchase one.
I’ve had my PS4 since launch and loved every minute of it since.
That’s a fair albeit not totally accurate comment.
I was pretty confident that I wouldn’t buy a PS4 for a while – but of course I had the itch. I’ve been a gamer for the last 30 years or more so there most definitely is a desire. I bought the PS4 when the priced dropped through a DSE deal ($409 including 3 games) – and at that price point it made too much sense to buy it.
To a degree I do regret buying the console – not because I think it’s bad in anyway, although the lack of media features does annoy me, but because I don’t really have the time to justify a new console, and don’t utilize PS+ to the extent that would justify the costs.
I was just giving my reasoning as to why I don’t think i’ll be buying many retail based games this generation – and it boils down to not wanting to spend money on items that will reduce in value before I have available time to spend on the games.
To put this in perspective, for the PS3 I bought around 200 retail based games, this gen I will try to be around 10 to 20 percent of that.
I’ve used my ps4 FAR less than my xbox one. But if I only had a ps4 I would have used it a lot more as there’s some great multi plats that are already out.
No, mobile gaming has nothing to do with it. Seriously, you think people are spending 10+ hours a week playing Candy Crush during their free time?
I play mobile games to fill in time gaps of 10 minutes or so, sometimes not even that. Like when I’m taking a dump. Mobile gaming will never replace good ol’ fashioned playing a game on a sweet TV screen. Never.
Firstly, 10 minute sessions can easily become 30 minute sessions. And a habit of playing a casual game once a week can easily become a once or twice a day habit. My point being that for many it’s quite easy to go from 10 minutes a week to 10 hours a week playing a simple casual game.
Secondly, some people do (at times) prefer playing casual games. Casual games are typically, in my experience, less demanding than AAA titles.
If I play Battlefield 1943 I have to concentrate or I’ll get killed. If I play Age of Booty my level of concentration is far lower. And due to the relative simplicity, I’m quite sure that i’ll win the game and get the mental reward for doing so.
For sure Battlefield is the superior game in terms of graphics, sophistication, excitement, variety – but quite often gamers just want to relax and have fun as opposed to take on a stressful challenge.
They don’t sell as much games because they aren’t the cheapest anymore. It used to be them but now it’s Target and Big W for new release AAA titles. Sometimes they are too stingy to price match and give you a bullsh!t excuse. For hardware sometimes they have great sales but I find the other stores like Harvey Norman and Dicksmith have better deals if you look out for them. Especially Dicksmith. JB HiFi have lost that competitive edge where they were always the go-to place for deals but now they are too profit driven like all the companies that get really big.
I’ve bought a lot of console games over the years. I would never pay over $69AU for a new game unless I have a couple of others to trade in at the same time.
I used to like the “Free if you trade in 3 games” offer at JB-HiFi. You used to be able to buy semi-recent games for $39-$49, play through them and then use them for this deal. You would then take that new game and trade it in a month or so later with a couple of other $39 games towards the next round of new games.
I find this cycle has gone now. The games on the trade-in list have considerably shrunk over the years. You really have to buy a new game in the first week or so to get the best price-matched offering such as $69 for COD:AW. The games don’t seem to reduce much under $59 especially for PS4 and when they do you can usually get them cheaper online.
JB never seems to have many sales either. EBGames are horrific for retail prices but at least do have a lot of sales throughout the year. I picked up The Last of Us Remastered, Alien Isolation and Drive Club all digital in the Sony sales. Nothing physical from JB HiFi for six months at least.
Yeah I was addicted to the 3 for 1 deal, and it allowed me to play a lot of PS3 games that I otherwise wouldn’t have bought at full price. But at the end of the day it’s not suitable for me anymore. Really because you have to find the time to finish the game quickly and also prior to the game being patched in many cases. I played Crisis 2 on day one, but have since learned that the A.I. improved dramatically following a patch several months after launch. I would have been better off if I had bought the game once it had dropped in value to $20 and then sold it on ebay for a few dollars less. I also got disappointed by the trade in prices of some racing games – they plummet even with the first couple of weeks of release.
Yip, it did make you shoot through the games quickly so you can trade them in whilst they retained some value. Sometimes I ended up buying games cheap just because they were on the 3 for 1 trade in list, and not even playing them.
A lot of churn and burn. Those days seem to have gone now.
I still like the discs because I can re-sell them when I’m not playing it anymore in ebay or gumtree or worst case in-store trade-in.
The problem with digital game ownership is the lending and a trade-in value.
You can’t lend it to your friend for a certain amount of time or sell your owned digital games.
When you have a console upgrade, you pretty much lost all the previous generation games, especially with current next gen consoles are not last-gen compatible.
Digital store makes sense for PC because it doesn’t have compatibility issue.
The only gripe about having discs to play is the loading time because some current gen consoles play the disc’s content instead of copying the whole disc into the HDD.
Someone might have touched on it in the comments (can’t read them all!) but its frequently now Dick Smith, Big W and Target offering cheaper prices on the big AAA games when they get released – I picked up Call of Duty from Target for $65 for the Day One edition whereas JB was at least $80 if I remember correctly. I won’t even bother to mention EB Games, I can’t believe they’re still in business. They all rotate their sales, I did pick up NBA 2K15 for $59 the other day from JB. It’s very easy these days to work out which retailer has the best price for a game, takes 10 seconds of web research. In the past it was waiting for the catalogues or having to physically go into the store to find the price. PlayStation Store has good sales, but $99 dollars for a digital game is a joke and there’s no competition unless Sony allow Amazon or others to offer digital codes in Australia so there will always be a need for physical copies and physical bricks and mortor stores at this stage.
I still buy physical games for my Xbox One, mainly from JB. The appeal of digital is there, but JB are just cheaper then the digital store.
The only retail game I’ve bought digitally on console so far was Halo MCC so yeah never again.
I’m really waiting for retail to fucking collapse and die so that we’re not seeing digital game prices being jacked up to match retail. ESPECIALLY ‘direct from publisher’ downloads.
How much did JB pay for this ad?