Thanks Mikey! I couldn't have explained it any better!! ;D
IMO, If it weren't for the internet, these import game stores would actually CARE to travel to cons.
IMO, If it weren't for the internet, these import game stores would actually CARE to travel to cons.
Quote from: PyronIkari on March 08, 2011, 01:58:02 PMQuote from: EJAY420 on January 04, 2011, 01:07:21 AM
EA and CAPCOM seem to be in the BAY.
Lemme add in some stuff about this.
There's really no point in a game company going to a convention. Think about it from their propspective. Even if invited, why would they care/want to go to the convention? As far as promotion goes, there are much better conventions they can go to promote (PAX, E3, CES). Anime Expo gets NiS and Atlus only because they are both local to AX and because of promotional things they can do specifically for cons. I won't delve into Atlus because I shouldn't be spreading secrets, but NiS goes to promote their upcoming(pending) anime ventures. Both companies are heavily routed into a very niche culture that is subversed along with the anime con scene as well. They are both TINY TINY TINY TINY TINY companies(just in case you didn't get the emphasis... they are small. I'm talking under 40 employees state side).
On the other hand you have companies like Capcom/EA which have hundreds (thousands in EA's case) and doing something like Anime Expo or Fanime are minor things to them. Although the attendees are big, comparatively to something like E3 which is exclusively for games the market and promotional value isn't there.
Now for game stores and the such. I'm not so sure why you are very interested in having them come to the convention. Games and hardware for games new(especially imports) cannot be dealed down nor negotiated for price. In terms of software, importers make very little per disc. Let's do some fun math.
6800yen, if you go by the market exchange rate today
82.6 yen = 1dollar.
So if you were paying straight rate, 82.32 for a game new. (not a sp edition or anything, just your avg new release). Now tack on importing fees of shipping/customs weight fee etc, you're looking at roughly 90$ to b ring a single game here for someone to purchase. Phantom Breaker is currently 94.99 at JVG. So they are making about 4$ profit on that game.
So, how many games do you think they sell at your average con. Let's shoot... incredibly high, and say they sell 200games at the con. 8$. Now booth fees, shipping costs, etc. etc. etc. So they wasted a weekend to make roughly 200$
On a more realistic scale, they sell at most half of that. So they probably end up losing money. If you want to buy import games, the internet exists. You can go to Japanvideogames.com and buy everything + more there than they would have at the con. You can also special order, buy retro games etc. If you're buying domestic games... just go to any local game shop and buy them.