November 11, 2006 -
Tough talk from GameDaily editor James Brightman yesterday.Here at GamePolitics we like tough talk, especially when it's on the money. Even more so when it's about the money.
Brightman looks at GameStop/EB's online bundle pricing for the Wii, and finds that it registers high on the gouge-o-meter: a $249 console plus $450 of bundled games and accessories adding up to $699, nearly triple the price of the Wii itself.
This is nothing new, of course. We complained about the same predatory retail practices during the Xbox 360 launch last year. Can this be legal? Apparently so. GDB spoke with Bob Freitas, an attorney who specializes in tech and anti-trust issues. Freitas said:
The most common way that something like this would be looked at would be a problem with so called tying arrangements, where someone will condition the purchase of one product on the purchase of another...
But, there have been a lot of changes in the law.. that have resulted in the anti-trust law prohibitions against tying arrangements just not being as strong as they used to be...
It's pretty tough to mount an anti-trust based attack on most forms of product bundling.
Entertainment Consumer Association (ECA) president Hal Halpin, who knows a thing or two about retailing based on his former career as head of a game retailers trade association, explained how can consumers fight back:
What our (ECA) members and what consumers should do, in my opinion, is vote with their wallets... they should go to retailers and support the retailers that don't (bundle).
From the ECA's perspective, this is actually the first time that it was raised as a potentially questionable legal matter... It's certainly worthwhile looking at because if it's of concern to our members it's of concern to us. And oftentimes it just plain out sucks...
The industry's inevitable move to digital distribution may change or even eliminate the bundling equation by the time we reach the next round of consoles.
Full disclosure dept: The ECA recently acquired GamePolitics.
Comments
Granted forcing you to buy a bundle in an online preorder is BS it is an appealing alternative when you figure the average parent buying it as a x-mas present will probably opt for the bundle since the base system comes with nothing. The bundle makes it easier on the average ignorant consumer.
Until Sony Nintendo and Microsoft start putting out their own "bundle" this is going to remain a popular alternative.
Though I agree, it matter less and less as the system grows older. Then again, another thing is that as the system grows older the bundles are much more reasonable: they're no longer trying to force $300-$400 worth of merchandise on you, which is probably the main problem here. This 'deal' forces people to buy more then they might want, and in the worce cases give you no control over what games or other items you get. You could be stuck with $100+ of games and accessories you didn't want, and you have to take that or you get nothing so you're SOL either way.
It's unfair because the system isn't a necessity so they can make you buy whatever they see fit, rather than what you actually want, if you don't like it they'll send you somewhere else.
Yes, both practices kind of suck on the receiving end, but we wouldn't have this problem if enough consoles existed. I guess I find solace in the fact that the first run consoles always have deplorable quality, so I can laugh at the clowns who spend $2,000 on a PS3 that breaks in two months. XD
That said, there is an eeriness to how powerful GameStop and EBGames have become. Both are very questionable companies in their own right and I don't like how the industry as a whole continues to give them exclusivity deals or doesn't crack down on their bilking of customers.
No console maker would ever do that unfortunately. What, is someone not going to buy games for their new console? They're counting on those guaranteed game purchases with a system to start feeding back into selling the systems at a loss.
I don't think bundling is a "problem" either. If someone wants something that badly that soon, they'll pay, end of story. I still don't get why people are paying so much for PS3's on ebay or waiting in line for days. All that time and money for Resistence or NBA '07? WTF?
Anyways, comsumers should get a choice.
its not happened yet,think of GP and the ECA as fair whether friends ..
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Bundles are a bad idea unless they are priced correctly after the system has been out 2 or 3 years.......................
To me, the best thing they could do is offer a coupon with every system for one free game of your choice from their library. That way, everyone goes home happy.
There is never a requirement to these though. If a person wants just the unit, they can have it. Companies that force the bundles are a joke though.
It's very true for those companies that have an economic excuse.
Nintendo, on the other hand...