Dear Future Gamer

This is going to seem like a total turn-around, but the sudden drop in game prices by the high street shops isn't necessarily a good thing from all angles. I was a touch dismayed to find this means that while Sony may eventually be forced to see sense and drop trade prices, many independent shops will have been forced out of business by then. Small shops have no profit margin left at £30 a game and are actually running at a loss if they try to compete. HMV, Virgin, etc, can afford to subsidise this loss for as long as it takes Sony to realise this is a more realistic price, a luxury your small shop can ill afford.

Games have been grossly overpriced for well over two years now and I can see why the big shops have tried to bring pressure to bear on Sony in an effort to increase sales. However, I can't see them shedding too many tears if their local small competitors go under. In fact, most of the small shop owners feel this is the main reason why they're all doing it and that it's a conspiracy. Paranoid this may be, but who can blame them?

A likely consequence of this is the transfer of all game sales to large high street shops where you haven't got a snowflake in Hell's chance of getting a try before you buy. I, for one, prefer to do my business with independents wherever possible as I find that the staff actually have a clue about games and aren't simply bored kids on YTS schemes or middle-aged people who think all videogames are Space Invaders. Once all the independents are out of the way, the market will be ripe for price rigging, like with all other leisure products, and nobody will be better off.

Worse still, Sony may muscle it out, the prices will then go back up and nobody will have been the long term winners, except for the big corporations of course. I only hope Sony will realise this quickly and respond by moving to restructuring their pricing policy immediately. I don't hold out much hope, but you never know. I'm now off to join the Piggy Air Force.

Michael Foster

FG: That's a very good point well made, Michael. The recent price drop may not be great news for the independent retailer, but it is for gamers. Just how the independent retailer fights back, I don't know, but the next six months are going to be interesting.