View Full Version : To bundle or not to bundle - Japan vs rest of the world
Nicola
05-25-2007, 01:47 PM
Famicom, sold with pads.
NES, sold with killer applications.
Super Famicom, sold with pads.
Super NES, sold with killer application.
and so on.
Why do you think that Nintendo, for example, didn't put a game in bundle with his consoles in Japan?
Price reduction?
Leaving the choice to the Japanese customer that knows what to choose?
Cultural difference (for sure)?
Giving more visibility to the games?
Afaik bundling whith killer applications helps a lot...but then I think about PlayStation that came out with no games everywhere to be later bundled again...
What do you think about these bundling strategies?
xtremegamer
05-25-2007, 02:57 PM
I would almost think by not bundling a game with the system would be a better marketing stratagy. Think about all the parents who go in to buy systems for their children without them present. Then they have to pick out a game to go with this new system but do not know what game to choose. More than likely they will pick up a couple games to ensure they get a game their child would like. Just a thought.
thegardentool
05-25-2007, 03:02 PM
For the price of these new systems, I want at least one game. When I bought my 360 it cost too damn much. It's probably the last new console I'll ever buy.
Poofta!
05-25-2007, 03:09 PM
For the price of these new systems, I want at least one game. When I bought my 360 it cost too damn much. It's probably the last new console I'll ever buy.
well the 360 came with an arcade game, and a bunch of demos...
what about the ps3 =-]
bangtango
05-25-2007, 07:02 PM
well the 360 came with an arcade game, and a bunch of demos...
what about the ps3 =-]
Demos are no substitute for a game. Just a tactic to get people to buy more software. Not a bad idea but give me an actual pack in game and I'll stick with previews (or reviews) from web sites and game magazines to get an idea of what I want to buy.
I assume rising development costs would be why you don't see much in the way of legitimate pack-in games anymore. Someone at the company looks at is as spending a LOT of money for a game that is just going to be given away for free. From their point of view, why not sell the game instead and try to make some of the money back? If the game is good enough to sell a system, the company feels they are wasting it by giving it away with the hardware.
If the game isn't that good, well why pack it with the system and give everyone a bad impression right out of the box? As for the alternative.......It isn't like you can just put out a compilation of old games for a pack-in either, like a Sega Genesis compilation, because some people want to see what the new system can do compared to their previous one.
Sweater Fish Deluxe
05-25-2007, 07:22 PM
I would almost think by not bundling a game with the system would be a better marketing stratagy. Think about all the parents who go in to buy systems for their children without them present. Then they have to pick out a game to go with this new system but do not know what game to choose. More than likely they will pick up a couple games to ensure they get a game their child would like. Just a thought.
Or think about all the parents who go in to buy systems for their cildren without them present and don't know that the system doesn't come with a game, so their poor kids have to make do with no games for their brand spanking new system.
When I bought my Dreamcast, I couldn't afford to pick up a game with it (mostly because I'd just bought a Neo Geo Pocket with two games like a week before), so I had to make do with the demo disc for a week until I could pick up a real game. Thank god it was a great demo disc.
Of course, if Sega had included a pack in with the system and charged and extra $40 for the system, I would have had to wait a week to get the system anyway.
If the pack-in game is really free, then I'm all for them, but if having a pack-in makes the system cost $30-50 more than it would otherwise, then I don't see the point.
A second controller, on the other hand, should always be included. Only packing the system with one controller is bullshit.
...word is bondage...
TurboGenesis
05-25-2007, 08:46 PM
what about the ps3 =-]
The PS3 is come with a movie :roll:
I really think pack in games is great. Its bang for buck and gives everyone something to 'test drive' their console.
RPG_Fanatic
05-25-2007, 09:39 PM
The PS3 is come with a movie :roll:
I really think pack in games is great. Its bang for buck and gives everyone something to 'test drive' their console.
Only the first 500,000 PS3's came with the free movie.
Nicola
05-26-2007, 02:33 PM
Nobody replied to my main question: why did they bundle in USA but not in Japan?
maybe they did and we just don't know about it
jajaja
05-26-2007, 03:24 PM
Afaik Wii does not include any games in Japan, but in Europe and US (maybe the rest of the world too) a game is included. Why its like this in Japan i have no idea. Maybe to keep the price down to a minimum.
I enjoy pack-in games tho :)
thegardentool
05-26-2007, 03:36 PM
well the 360 came with an arcade game, and a bunch of demos...
Only the premium or hard drive came with the arcade game. I bought a core because at the time, premiums were still hard to get. Each Wal-Mart was suppose to get 6 of each, but that was a lie. Some Wal-Marts only got 6 total, while some received more cores. I was unlucky to be the first core even though I should have been the last premium. Damn Wal-Mart allowing a mother and son to buy 2 systems because they were "two seperate people." The clerk thought it was bullshit but his manager told him to sell them two.
I did get the arcade game a week later when I bought a hard drive but ah well. I already had two release titles and a 64MB memory card by then.
Nicola
05-26-2007, 03:48 PM
This question makes me wondering if there is more behind...I'll post the question on other forums too.
It's like that when Nintendo release a console in Japan, at least at the beginning of the lifespan, there are no games bundled. Then comes the bundles. Maybe they think that japanese people will buy anyway, while western markets need a killer application bundled...
PlayStation release in Europe didn't include a game, just a demo cd.
did the Game Boy have Tetris bundled in Japan?
Nicola
05-26-2007, 04:17 PM
Nope.
As for the PlayStation, at launch it came with demo CDs everywhere but Japan. So there was a software bundled.
ccovell
05-26-2007, 10:01 PM
I think it does come down to culture and tradition.
I can easily picture in my mind an addled American parent (or gamer) saying in a game shop: "You mean I have to pay $150 for a game system, and NOW I have to shell out $50 more for a game to play on it?"
whereas over in bubble-era Japan...
"I'll take the Super Famicom for 25,000 yen, and Dragon Quest V for 10,500 yen. Thank you."
(the thing to note is that in fashion-conscious Japan, it still is a bit unseemly to complain about prices when you're in a shop.)
RugalSizzler
05-26-2007, 10:54 PM
why did they bundle in USA but not in Japan?
The fact they know how stupid people in the west is to buying items. Like when the SNES came out you had the orignal SNES with Two controllers and one game or a controller deck ( as they like to call it ) which had only one controller.
The controller deck was like 50 dollars less I think and the combined prices of a new controller and new Super Mario World would probably have been $80.
Generally it is way to get more money out of consumers.
In Japan they release items a tad bit early and the system allways have two controllers. They also gave you a chioce of game when they release the system. Not everybody went home with SMworld in Japan.