Fifa 10 takes top chart spot. But at what cost?

The weekly charts were released yesterday morning with EA’s yearly update of the franchise firmly taking the top spot.

One problem with this is in the way it has gained the spot in the first place.  There have been many reports over the last week of supermarkets going head to head in a price war with each other to try and gain market share for Fifa 10.  This has lead to many specialist retailers and chains that specialise in gaming IP’s to be outraged at the price Fifa 10 was being sold for.  Tesco came out with Fifa 10 being marketed for £24.97 whilst Asda and co were retailing the product for around £24.99.

These sort of aggressive marketing tactics can only be bad for the games industry and push traditional retailers to one side as supermarkets make their money up on bread and milk to subsidise and de-value a game where it is not needed.  Fifa 10 is a very popular game and is always guaranteed to sell millions of copies so why is this price point necessary?  What is the point if not to get rid of the competitors, who are very knowledgeable but cannot compete with that sort of price cut.

Consumers will always say that this is a good thing but I have to somewhat disagree.  In the short term it is great.  You get a game that is cheap but in the long run what will the damage be?  If the competition goes and the supermarkets remain will you get the same pricing again for these titles?  Will you get the same selection that a traditional games retailer can supply?  Of course not, supermarkets are in it for the lions share and to gain footfall.  If these retailers go under from the greed happy supermarkets then you can say goodbye to these cheap price points.  With no competition in their way, they will be able to charge full RRP and make you suffer.  Games aren’t for these people, their staple profits come from food and drink which are marked up depending on the mood of the public.  If we are going through a depression then alcohol gets marked up.  If you do not believe me then this was actually aquoted from a manager from Morrisons.  The selection will always be top 20 and you will have to rely in online purchases to chase those titles down.

Leave your thoughts here on what you feel about this situation.  I admit it is nothing new but is something that needs to be addressed before we lose our retail industry once and for all.