This is fantasic news. Hopefully I won't have to fight my way through all of the indies in Asda trying to secure stock. This can only be win-win for the consumer.

Ill be there tonight picking up a copy. Hopeully this price slashing will continue througout the remainder of the year across all the big titles.

Two birds with one stone. Great for the consumer and another blow for the rip off indies.

Wow, this does surprise me, I expected Fifa to drop as its an annual event but for another blockbuster to drop less than a week later is unusual. This just became a must buy!

"There could be a view that in doing so it highlights a reduction in retail trade margin requirements going forward, thereby benefiting the content providers. In the final analysis, the consumer wins, and if that means more software is sold then how good is that?”

We'll see if Rod is still saying this when the Supermarkets go back to him when they have the lions share of the market and demand reduced cost prices. They've done exactly the same thing with DVD and Music. Sell at a huge loss, grow share and then demanded that the publisher/labels/studio's give them a cost price that makes margins at these silly prices.

He's right that it's good for the consumer, however the flip side to this is that the percieved value is now massively reduced in the customers eyes.

'How come this was £27 last week and now they're charging £40! I'm being ripped off!!!'

Any chance we will see the new COD discounted to £30 from the ridiculous £55 price tag?

ill just repeat what i did last week with fifa, buy from all surrounding supermarkets and sell for a small profit but lower than i could have sold if i bought all my stock from gem

Hi all,

We understand this is a very hot topic, and one that invokes fierce debate - which we're all in favour of. But please refrain from calling each other names. In most cases, your comments will have to be deleted. Apologies for the frustration, but we have to be fair to all.

Tim

Henry, my heart bleeds.

Get into your head, no one owes you a living.

'short-sighted'?

The consumer is not concerned whether a supermarket gains a higher share of the market and neither should the publishers or developers, as if more people buy the game then they won't lose out.

There only appears to be one sector that is 'short-sighted' and it wouldn't be a great loss considering your attitude. It shows that your don't give two hoots about the consumer.

Modern Warfare 2 will definitely get a price slash on launch weekend, no doubt about it.

I know the consumer doesn't care about market shares etc. I was just pointing out what will happen.

The Publishers are loving the price war because of increased volume. The consumer is loving it because of cheap prices.

However the Supermarkets won't put up with losing money indefinitely. They'll be coming back and demanding lower cost prices.

For the record I'm not an Indie. The only issue I have is the percieved value from customers. The customer is king.

The same thing happened to DVD and Music. Supermarkets sold these at a loss until the consumer thought that this was the 'real' price.

Now you only have HMV on the high Street if you want to buy any music that isn't in the Top 20. In the end choice is greatly reduced.

But by all means fill your boots. It'd be rude not to!

JB, im going to have to disagree with you on that one, I just don't think they have the balls to reduce what is commonly known as the most anticipated game ever! And I think Kotick would probably blow his top if he heard one of his company's products selling for less than it RRP. But hey I might be wrong.

THIS NEEDS TO STOP!! No wonder indies are dying out as its the publisher unknowingly are wiping them out,such a joke that trade prices differ giving a false economy.JOEY PUBLIC will soon moan when they got nowhere but charity shops and landfill sites to get shot of old games..Consumer loses out somewhere and pays for it.May join exodus and may be its the distributors that need to close down as publishers force high prices on games to retailers at stupid prices in the first place.As supermarkets sell more and demand more they will force a cheaper price and so the publisher themselves see less profit.More publishers will follow suit eventually,cutting their own throats.Not a good business ethic to stay afloat,demise of some publishers maybe?
AND RELEASE DATES? Such a joke when they send out streetdate embargoes ,then all the big stores and online retailers will ship their games and people get them on TUESDAY!!! OPERATION FLASHPOINT for instance available on some places stating ,SHIPPING NOW!! ok no embagoe on this but still takes the mick that they gaurantee nextday to one of my regulars,who,s playing it as i post this!!! from usual suspects of course.

It is a very frustrating time.

Consumers win No doubt about it - just though i would add this point before JB the boo boy starts crying again.

Indies are frustrated, Disties are frustrated after the hard work they put in on this title.

I am very suprised to this happen on this title. More of a cult anticipated by the true gamer than a £27 piece a shit from asda whilst you get your ginger creams and milk.

I can hardly see the developer and publishers been happy about 5 years hard graft planning and creating the cult title's launch. to see it washed up on asda's shores @ £27

Although Indies moan and hate this happening. We are in a recession and its good to get every1 spending. And i can honestly say this didnt effect how many units of fifa i sold last week.

Apart from Indies and Disties could end up struugling if this keeps happening - I can see GAME and GAMEstation getting frustrated too as they support publishers more In Super(INDIE)markets

Dont owe you a living.

This is the end of indies

Evolution is here.

Oh yeah my local indie has just broken street date now.

What a load of bollocks

Sorry for the confusion Warick, my comments were aimed at henry ford's deleted rant.

I agree with most of what you say as far as the high street is concerned, but there is also the matter of internet shopping to contend with. It is true that HMV are the only music specialist on the high street, but if I want any music outside the top 20, I'll shop online. If I bought this game online it would be £29.85, so they are not actually slashing prices by that much.

In any case, if these prices became the norm, more consumers would take risks with games that they wouldn't otherwise buy. I wasn't going to buy this until I saw this advert. Wouldn't 2000 sales at £27 be better than 1000 sales at £40? Even if the developers and publishers got a smaller cut per game sold.

This industry is f***ed up completely. Next the supermarket buyers will say that all AAA products can only be sold at 25/27 squids and they will still demand their 30/40% discounts from this price. The publisher margin will diminish and will not be able to afford to do the big budget titles.

Publishers are playing with fire for letting this happen.

This is market forces (of doom) as they say...

i dont think anyone owes me a living jesus grow up man, or are you just some kid posting on here ? what i saying is my hands are tied, if a games costs me £32.30 + vat and supermakets sell for £25 it financially impossible for me to sell this title at the same price without loosing money and eventually closing down, i dont mind competition at all, but when games are sold below my cost price its all over, im not looking for simpathy, of course you have to get the best deal you can, im a consumer also and i shop around, its just a frustrating buisness, when your squeezed to death, all these games could be sold at a resonable price with profit for all, but supermakets dont want anyone else in the market. statements like killing 2 birds with one stone cheap game and another blow for rip off indies is short sighted and ignorant.
ok jb im so pleased your buying your game from a supermarket at a low price, but there is no need to slam honest people trying to make a living in a difficult industry, maybe you also support clothing shops who use child slaves since the price is so low ? so long as your ok, great attitude

Thats a fair point.

I wasnt going to get this game at fisrt, what with Uncharted 2 out next week, and Eyepet out the week af... i mean, big manly killing game 17 out the week after.

But for under £30, plus if it isnt amazing, a good-ish trade in at one of the bigger stores, it'll be worth it.

Esp as i missed out on trying Fifa due to lack of stock. Same reason, wasnt so sure about it as im in the Pro Evo camp, but for £25i was willing to try it.

im tired of arguing with the public who dont understand how difficult it is to make a living doing this, ill stick to mcv in magazine form
this is getting boring now, we try to offer the best deals and customer service we can, call outs for wirleless networks etc etc, i cant keep rowing with people, its just sad

ha. this is crazy indepents are ment to help each other. i can see ur point but its really not alot u can do about it. alot of people still will only buy from indys rather then the big boys but gotta grab a bargin really in a long run it should affect suppliers as well so maybe it might help if it gets them to lower trade price only time will tell.
wax on wax off

Ok i agree with the comment knowone owes Henry a living but the same can be said of you JB but sure you you would not like your job being threatened by another firm under cutting what you did people are just trying to make an honest living.
No need to comment just play your great games at the great price you paid. Dont slag off people for wanting to have a level playing field i'm all for healthy competition but if price wars becomes more of an issue the last thing i want to do is start to lay off the staff i employ who rely on their jobs enough firms have gone down this year as it is don't be a fool to wish someone out of business as you dont know how many people it will affect.

These guys that are on here saying that lets all go to asda and buy cheap game's dont uinderstand how hard it is to run a store in this industry in saying that these are ppl that will sit on the net for hours trying to savin money (scrooge!) if everyone was like you guys there would be no shops left no shopping center's etc.... Why dont you guys leave this website to guys that are in the indusrty??

There will always be shops and shopping centres as a lot of products are better bought in person, such as clothes where you can try them on or food.

There is no reason for buying a game in a store over the internet at all. It's hardly being a scrooge looking for the best price for a product you are after, and it certainly doesn't take hours to look at a price comparison site.

I used to work in the industry too, but now work in IT, so I can see both sides of the argument. It just seems that certain retailers are not very adaptable. The last time I went to an indie they traded in a game for £5 and put it on the shelf for £15, hardly consumer friendly.

Market share is Market share it means nothing to our customers and nothing to me as an Indie.

If Supermarkets want to sell new games at these low prices then so be . We keep getting told by everyone on this site that it is progress and deal with it.

So perhaps this is what we have to.

Joe Public (even idiots like JB) will desert Indie shops and the High Street to follow the cheapest price they can get from the supermarkets

As an Indie Owner we must also save the pennies so GEM, Koch, Centresoft who charge us £32.33 + VAT for games that supermarkets are selling for £25-£27 beware as we have all had enough.

As from now we will be sourcing the best deal we can from any Distie including GREY and Supermarkets

GEM, Centresoft etc are not loyal to us because its the same Publisher who grant supermarkets the deals to sell these games at low prices who pull the strings at GEM and Centresoft.

Henry Ford and all you other Indies out there Protest at the Supermarkets by Boycotting GEM and Centresoft and take advantage of the great deals on the high street, Supermarkets and Amazon.

2007 - 2008 and spend was 80% GEM and Centresoft and 20% Amazon and Supermarkets

2009 - so far is 25% GEM and Centresoft and 75% Amazon and Supermarkets.

Sales are the same like for like but our profit has gone up by 40%

INDIES do the math

i think the main points being missed here are jobs

what we are looking at here is supermarkets being the only shops to buy items from in the future and with internet shopping as well we wont have any shops left if we dont have a stable retail market where its good to shop around then the high street as we know it will collapse and once the supermarkets have control then they can charge what they like, but more importantly is people wont have jobs, familys will be on wellfare and no one will be able to buy anything anyway. people work in shops, people need jobs shops employ people those people then go and buy from other shops and the world goes round and round

ps
we have now cancelled orders of flashpoint and will no longer be making preorders of stock from the main distrubuters until this his been sorted

@henry ford, always liked reading your comments matey i will see you at adsa tomorrow.

@JB if you had a job which i doubt !
you wouldnt like it if some one took your job and work for half the pay. as a indie i invested over £40.000 in my small business and work had to earn a honest living, all my games are sold at the best price i can sell them for and when we pay £36.80 for fifa and tescos sell it for £25 we get annoyed because we would like to offer you as a customer the same great deal. we dont want to rip you off.
i always give good money for preowned games , and i sell at a good price as well once i have cleaned the games and reboxed so you have a nearly new game to play and when you have scratched your game, we clean them for you, when your console wont work we fix them for you, we you are short of money we trade you games in for, we are part of the local comminty and we look after our customers. the profit is our wages for being there and we do deserve that. we dont think the world owes a living . people who have there own shops ie indie went out to make a living for them selfs.

@mcv

this is meant to be a trade site so we can chat about the games industry. comments posted by customers sometimes have a vaild point but idiots who have a pop at indies just for trying to earn a living should be stopped from posting.

good luck to all my fellow indies out there dont let the bastxxds get you down

Great news for the gamer, why should prices be fixed high. My moto shop around.

Try blaming the wholesalers like GEM & CS, when they have the market so dependent on them they can charge indies trade high prices. More compettion is what needed not inflated prices.

I see the insults are coming thick and fast.

As somone who represents the majority consumer, the consumer who wants the latest games at the lowest price, something that the indies cannot provide, all the insults in the world arent going to make a bit of difference.

@jb no insults from me JB, if you read what i say i am agreeing with you in some part that we as indies want to be able to offer you the game at the same price as the supermarkets. i think games should be cheaper but what i am trying to say to you is dont think indies are ripping you off when we get charge £36.80 for a game we sell for £39.99 business is about making a profit and providing a service at the same time and the one thing a indie can do that supermarkets cant is help you when you have a problem ie repairs and trade ins and lets not forget tescos sold grand theft auto iv at £44.99 when it came out last year and we were selling at £39.99 for preorders then

Its the publisher.

They sell to asda, tesco and morrisons. They also sell to centresoft and gem.

They make money from us indies and sell to nationals at cost.

Publishers should demand level playing fields and show some backbone, else this industry will decline faster than we think.

Retail needs stable RRP's more than ever with the threat of digital downloads, piracy, & supermarket price wars.

Every true game needs a reliable indie - enough said

Many Publishers have a sliding scale for discount. Which is circa 10-15% off trade. They have a number of caviats inplace in order to achieve the maximum discount.

Even if Supermarkets achieve maximum discount they still lose money selling at these prices.

Publishers cannot dictate pricing instore.

Supermarkets killed DVD and CD with a similar 'strategy'. Games are next on the list unfortunately

Adapt diversify, indies have had it there way for along time with all the high prices and price fixing. Now it time for the gamer to benefit.

Indies want it handed on a plate. You all sound like a broken records. Different when your charging more than the RRP. Which is sheer greed, not making an honest living.

seems codemasters are quite happy to sell there game at well below RRP -

Discussing supermarket price cutting, Codemasters CEO Rod Cousens told MCV magazine today:

“It is free market forces at work and it is a matter for retailers to make decisions which they consider to be beneficial to their business.
"There could be a view that in doing so it highlights a reduction in retail trade margin requirements going forward, thereby benefiting the content providers. In the final analysis, the consumer wins, and if that means more software is sold then how good is that?”

good luck when the games specialists pre-order your next (kind of) big title.

i know as an indie store we are going to be a lot more cautious on buying lots of stock for day one.

About time prices were brought in line with the rest of europe.

When I buy my clothes from retailers who use child labour I feel very good about myself. I mean why should I pay more than £3 for a winter coat!

Its about time Indies started selling games at a loss.

I also enjoy asking wheelchair bound folk for races.

Sorry, got possessed by the spirit of Marty for a second

Its coming to an end for indies and the likes of Game, supermarkets want the market just like they did with music and film, and the publishers are just kidding themselfs, if they think that the likes of tesco, arent going to turn around and bite them in the arse, its all cosy at the mo, and the supermarks are helping the publishers to stop one of their most hated practises, THE TRADE IN.. as supermarkets currently dont do this, so the more asda and it fellow supermakers , close down indies, the better it is for the publisher.
In bed with the devil, so dont expect to see any change in trade price from Gem, centersoft, as their part of the problem, in the publishers eyes (all those nasty indies trading in helped along by trade). its a bit like cracking a nut with a jcb, only what will the publisher do when they only have JCB to sell to...

did anyone see this on the news JB is the new consumer king, he helps us poor fools who cant count and cant shop around, didnt anyone see the ceremony on tv ? JB is like a modern day super hero,
he rights the wrongs of evil businessmen trying to make a living !
and protects children form evil indies who prey on children,
i salute you jb thanks for helping all us sheep out as we dont know how to shop around

indies do not rip customers off, we have to pay £37 for new stock.
if we all close down customer will not be able to exchange there old games at the supermarket will they. then they loss out.
i am know selling other thigs in my shop so the game customer losses out in the end.

not only the gamer will shop around for these ridiculous, pointless, and damaging price cuts. as an indie ill be buying restocks from asda as its roughly £8 cheaper than gem.
asda will up their price next week, then the indie will be able to sell it cheaper + greater profit margin as they would of done with gem stock.

will modern warfare 2 be another victim? more than likely, this will no doubt lead to broken street dates and indies queing up at midnight at their local supermarket to secure cheap stock.

JB,
What a short sighted idiot you are! If all the Indies close, and the supermarkets have the majority of the market for seliing games, what planet are you living on if you think that they will not just hike their prices because they can as you cannot get the game cheaper anywhere else? Also, will Supermarkets ever start trade ins/ NO!! Finally, look at the returns policy for the supermarkets... I think that you will find find that the game you have bought from them is excluded from their returns policy so you cannot take it back to them for a refund or exchange just because you don't like it!!!!

Gavos, a few things:

1/ The supermarkets will always offer lower prices as entertainment medium is a loss leader for them and a way to push up the overall basket value of their customers.

2/ I've never had any issues with returns at the supermarkets. In fact their polices are far more customer friendly than any indie I've used in the past.

3/ I don't trade games, prefering to sell them online as I get a higher return. High street trade-in values are naff so big deal if trade-ins on the high street go under.

4/ Buying online will always be cheaper than the high street so even if the supermarkets did decide to hike up their prices, so what?

Me shortsighted? LOL. Maybe you should think before you post you idiot...

It's sad that it's come to this but Indies WILL suffer at the hand of the almighty supermarket and downloads.
I personally can't see any alternative.

Trade-in's are ok but I can't see indies surviving on this alone as hardware suppliers are now trying to introduce downloads, hence nothing in the future to trade.

As a consumer then I shop wherever is cheapest.
I'm not a wealthy man so price for me is king and I've never traded a game in my life.
I've bought 3 Xbox 360 games and 2 PSP games in the last 2 months and all have been online. No retail outlet that I've contacted has been close in terms of price.
However....if I was in the high street and I saw an indie selling a game for only £2 or so more then I'd buy it there to keep trade local. The internet offers me no such temptation.
I have vouchers for GAME which I haven't used because I look at their prices and don't want to waste a gift card on overpriced stock (when compared with online).

I know it's a lot of effort but I am a web-surfer so if I see an indie (or anyone) offering my game cheaper then I'll use them.
My advice would be for indies to get their stock on the web and start to advertise where rival retail is eg on Saturday afternoon's plant someone outside Game/Gamestation/Asda/Tesco/HMV and hand leaflets out with the your prices/services. Then if someone enquires about a product, get the person on the street to call the store and give a deal (if possible). That way there's some marketing presence and an intent to get some trade.

The high street/retail park is a battleground and I hope the indie survives.