Not too long ago, I would consider us to have been in probably the best time period for physical media (For consumers) just in that the upfront costs on launch, were lower than they'd ever been thanks to Best Buy Gamers Club and Amazon's bundle in services for 20% discounts. After Best Buy announced the end of their program, so too did Amazon (Now both simply offer a $10 credit on some games). That was lost, and maybe needfully so. But I'm curious for those who are in the retail space and made orders, potentially even run their own game shops. What kind of margins are you looking at? Is there economy of scale working for you, does your volume of sales allow you to get better pricing?
I'm curious if discounted or razor thin margins, subsidized by a low/moderate monthly fee is something that's even feasible for anyone outside of the biggest supply chains. Or was it even feasible for them? I realize they were not making money on those sales, or if they were it was minimal and probably was absorbed by the time/work/effort and time loss due to it. So at best break even which doesn't yield the kind of results they care to invest time into.
To get to the point
What price do you have to charge as a relatively small game store owner/operator, to break even for the game itself independent of operational costs? (Feel free to PM me on this if you're not willing to share publicly, I won't share either). And are you required to sell some titles at MSRP or at least in line with allowed promotional parameters? Where and how are you placing orders for games for retail sales, are there minimum purchase requirements (Again does economy of scale factor in?).
I'm curious if discounted or razor thin margins, subsidized by a low/moderate monthly fee is something that's even feasible for anyone outside of the biggest supply chains. Or was it even feasible for them? I realize they were not making money on those sales, or if they were it was minimal and probably was absorbed by the time/work/effort and time loss due to it. So at best break even which doesn't yield the kind of results they care to invest time into.
To get to the point
What price do you have to charge as a relatively small game store owner/operator, to break even for the game itself independent of operational costs? (Feel free to PM me on this if you're not willing to share publicly, I won't share either). And are you required to sell some titles at MSRP or at least in line with allowed promotional parameters? Where and how are you placing orders for games for retail sales, are there minimum purchase requirements (Again does economy of scale factor in?).
