*slow handclap*

Well done ASDA, yes really well done. You'll be a hero for 5 minutes with this kind of offer.

These deals are good, but should be restricted to one per customer, which I am sure Asda are not doing.

This would stop other retailers price fixing and pretending they are helping the consumer.

im sure they dont have many copies, its just to get you in store, we have had people with copies from play on wednesday, but i will restock at asda if they have any and as usual take 10 of my mates up with me to clean them out, thanks asda

You don't have 10 mates do you?

Nice one Zildjian.

@3 Most of us really don't care any more. If your going to do it then please do so but you don't have to tell us all about it and to be honest if most of the Asdas are anything like where I live they will have absolutely S**t loads which means hopefully you'll get stuck with the 10 your buying and trying to sell at a higher price LOL

How does it make sense to sell something at negative margin, when all companies, big & small, are feeling the pinch... Or do they get bulk discount that enables them to do this, squeezing out us indies.. Where does the support of the distribution & software houses lie? I do realise its a free country & market forces.. but even so...

From what I know being a part of the retail industry it is actually illegal (I think !!) for them to sell to Asda at a different price than they sell to you but as we all know there are ways around this with various selling schemes like buy x amount at the same price and get x copies free etc

@6 Not meaning this in a bad way but I'm sorry its the way of the world. Not saying I think its fair but its the same in every industry / business which is why smaller firms even more so now have to look towards differentiating what they supply rather than trying to compete directly.

why cant I post?

Amazon price 39.97
Independant price 27 (Asda) + markup = 35?

still cheaper than

great price, carry on chaps!

@6

It's called a "loss leader" where Asda will sell the product at an intentional loss to a) increase footfall into the store, which in turn causes b) increasing the sale of other products where they make larger profits (e.g. groceries).

At present there is no support from distributors and as Subliminal said (post 5) Asda will have a large bulk which means it's hard for people to genuinely buy them out of stock before a large proportion of potential customers will get their hands on the game.

Although as Henry said (post 3) buying at £27 and selling at £30-35 is better than buying at £35ish wholesale and selling at £35 to remain competitive (all just ball park figures)

Centresoft are Activisions official supplier & they sell to Indies @ £32.33 Trade (£37.98 incl VAT) A reliable source at centresoft has said that Asda £22.97 (£27 Incl VAT) is about £5 cheaper than Activision sell to Centresoft.

How do Activision feel about their product being cheapened as a LOSS LEADER, Oh thats right they don't care about what it sells for as long as they sell.

What will happen to Distribution when all Indies stop buying Day One Stock ??????????????????

this incase you didnt realise this is a trade site, and before this was online it was a magazine, where all indies and people in this business would chat and discuss business,
WHICH was not available to the public!! just because you dont like me buying from asda doesnt mean i cant write about it.Im expressing my concerns about the way this industry is and how we now trade,its not the way i want to trade but the way im now forced to trade, so people buying wii fit for 69.99 and selling on amazon for 130 is illegal ?? i dont think so, ebay would be shut down by now.Sorry but i will take all the people i can to clear out supermarkets as they are selling below cost price and it kills my competiton at the same time, like it or not i do this week in week out, if you dont like comments from indies go back to ign

this is exactly what i mean, i wont rip people off, i will only sell cod5 for £4-£5 more than i paid at Asda, sorry its called survial, or my shops closes and my kids dont get fed, simple as

Their vegetables are rubbish. Their stores look like crap. And everytime I go into an Asda I have to have a bath. Which takes 30 minutes. I get paid £10 an hour. So travelling to the store, finding the game, arguing with the checkout staff and having a bath costs me £10. So it's really £37 from Asda. Not such a good deal after all!

Exactly, i will only add £4-£5 on to the price of the stock i buy from asda tonight, its only to keep my shop open, if i dont i cant feed my wife and daughter, people on hear are so harsh, and talk as if no-one gets hurt, ok business is business but there are real people behind these stories, and i dont want to go out of business !!!

@12

If indeed you are correct in your summations of pricing:

It would open a whole can of worms regarding why would a parent company sell to a subsigdery at a higher price then that subsidgery had sign off on selling at a lower price than their cost thus leading to major losses and contravening HMRC requirements for companies to not sell below market value.

Mmmmm.

For the record Henry- I totally agree with you. Your back is against the wall which is why thousands of people like you are doing the exact same thing to keep their heads above water, it really sucks!

The only good thing is that the atmosphere, knowledge and service at your store will be 100 times better than ASDA - unfortunately the consumer will tend to go for lower price for something like a game (with the exception of Julie :P)

@11
I know what a loss leader is... I worked at ASDA on nights a year or so back and had an arguement with HO, via my manger, about the pricing structure.. Seeing as we had to work off margin to get our bonus.. Selling stuff at a neg margin is crazy... The 'guns' they use told us we were selling games at neg margin... As for footfall & people buying more, most didnt, they came in paid their cash n left.. So aagin it makes no sense. Now I am an indie owner, I see it from the other side and it still makes no sense..

Now if Centresoft et al are selling stuff at different prices, does that mean we can get our money back on the unsold stock they have stuffed us with, knowing that ASDA have a better mark up and are very aggressive..

Rant over..

The sad fact is that they are cheapening the games market, just like they did with the book market when they sold Harry Potter for a stupid price, for the consumer short term it is great, bargain latest releases.
In the long term will producers invest so much into a product if the return is so low?

Asda will get loads of customers from this like they did with HP, I guess at some point next year I will be using my supermarkets as wholesales as the others are going to try the same.

I wonder how Asda would feel if I bought the game from them, but did all my other shopping at Tesco's...

these offers r crap as 99% of people who go 4 them cant get them as they have stock that lasts about 5-10 mins.
pointless

Ok questions to Activision -

Is this really helping you to promote such high quality games as Call of duty 5?

customers now expect to pay about £30 a game from now on and how do you expect to keep the high cost price at around £37?

Just wait until your games are not so high profile im pretty sure the real game stores will not be as supportive when you need them.

Hope this gets sorted out soon for the benefit of the games industry it is harmful to all of us.

would you rather promote your games on HD screens with staff that can give good advice. Or next to the nappys and baked beans in your local cattle market.

@22
Having just come back from Asda in Wigan I can state that's not the case (at least not this time). I got to the store just after midnight and queued until 00.45 before getting my copy. There were only around another half dozen customers after me and I'd estimate that they still had at least a couple of dozen PS3 copies (they were filling orders straight out of the boxes - although I couldn't see how many XBox copies were left the staff did say they had many more of those than PS3).

@22

Sorry to burst your bubble for at least this title, went down to asda with a friend who was picking it up and they had about 100 of eah behind the counter for the night sales and they said they still had quite a few more.
That could have been a lie I guess, but they seemed pretty adamant.

So what if it's cheaper in one store??
If you want it buy it from anywhere you can!
Balls to saving a bloody tenner an hummin' and harrin' over these frequent price wars.......

Got mine last night and they only had 100 copies of each. Big que as they only sold at customer services. So they increased footfall but nobody went into the actual retail area. Most people were annoyed at how bad they handled the que and won't be going back unless they sell at silly prices again. As for all the people going in over the next few days they are going to be equally irratated by the lack of stock. So I can't see how ASDA will get the benefit they are after for this.
Seems to me supermarkets are wrestling for the christmas trade with these silly offers. Gears was sold cheap at ASDA and Sainsburys. Sainsburys sold Fable for £30. However these prices don't last past release week.
As most of you already pointed out, all these kind of stunts will achieve is to lower the publics percived value of games which in the long run is not good for anyone.

Thanks Activision.

Its was really nice of you to sell us (indies) COD WAW for £37 then sell Asda stock that they can retail at £27.

I feel sorry for the staff at Centresoft, who must be taking a lot of flack from this.

Well done Activision for taking a premium title and turning it into a market share grabbing, market value destroying bargain deal of the day.

Well, just rang my local ASDA which opened at 8am and they're out of stock. Guess what? Game and Gamestation nearby. I wonder where that stock went?

Retail makes me sick sometimes, but it's reality.

@ 28

Sorry mate, but ASDA will more than likely get it at £37 as well... As one of the posts above says- it's illegal to sell at different prices to different people, they may make a saving on bulk orders but ASDA are just selling at a loss -> not alot publishers / distributors can do...

(I'm not stating this as fact, just what I figure)

I just find it amazing that it alway comes back to comment like in 23. GET REAL.

Im really sorry and I woudl hate to see all the Indies die out but people do not need advise about buying Games !! Most games get demos so people can try them before buying and those that don't are normally pretty high profile.

I know a lot of people that would rather pick a copy up from next to the nappies and save a tenner than see it playing on an HD screen !!!

Lets also get real on another point does anyone really believe that Activision etc really care who sells the game they get the money either way and I'm sure they are more worried about the player base installed on XBl for example and cheaper copies means a larger installer player base.

In all honesty depite whats said above does anyone really think Activision etc even blink an eyelid about this.....

In todays age it is surely mainly about number of units shifted and installed player base on XBL and PSN. Cheap prices help titles like COD achieve this with people buying the title who would not normally consider it at the £39.99 price tag.

Just my 2p worth !!!

@30

It's not illegal to sell at different prices to different people. All wholesalers and distributors across all industries do it as a matter of routine. It's normal, and perfectly logical, business practise.

I've got sympathy for indies, but the comments from them on these sorts of MCV stories reduces it. Stop whinging, grow up and face up to the realities of the world and concentrate on adjusting your businesses to survive the current market realities.

Honestly, it's like listening in on a playground argument...

Just a normal day in an indie shop.

1. Can I have World at warcraft in PS3.

2. Need for Speed Dub edition.

3. Y boards

4. GTR Ivy.

5. Its got a two in it.

6. That one on telly.

7. ISS

8. The one where they cut the sheep in half.

9. Fever 2008

10 It's got a man on the front.

Answers

1. Call of Duty World at War

2. Midnight Club PS2

3. Wii Fit

4. GTA IV

5. Farcry 2

6. Professor Layton

7. PES 2008

8. Professor Layton

9. Fifa 2009

10. Gears of War 2.

If your workers on your National Retailer's shop floor are confident they can answer questions like this everyday - in the quest to service every single customer and online can create a search engine that will magically conjur up the answers then - yes, you're right - we don't need indies for the armies of mothers and grannies that invade my store each year.

Until then. Tough ****.

I'm sure there are a very limited number of people out there who do need to have an advisor to hand when they go shopping. However, for the majority of us who know what we want to buy, or are able to turn on a PC and head over to Metacritic, cheap supermarkets are miles ahead of dark, gloomy, expensive indies.

Did Centresoft ship this to Asda ?, I thought Asda were supplied by EUK....

Perhaps it might be an idea for MCV to get an interview with one of the publishers whose games have been sold on the cheap to get their perspective.

We would get their take on the thing and perhaps answer a lot of questions people are putting out.

If they are selling to supermarkets cheaper then afterwards perhaps Centresoft etc might badger the publishers before they go out of business (why they haven't done this already is beyond me)

It is not illeagal to sell to one peson at one price and another at a different price. This practice is wide spread thoughout all sales products from estate agency services to newspaper adverts. It is how it is organised. Example - purchase 1 copy of a game = 35 pounds. Purchase 10 copies = 33 pounds. Purchase 50,000 copies = 22 pounds.

Buy 1 copy from ASDA = £27

Buy 300 copies from Centresoft = £37.51

Buy Woolworths and their 500,000 copies = £1

It's what's referred to in the games industry as the **** ed up economies of scale.