Outrage as GAME raises price of Call of Duty Black Ops by £5

Leading UK retailer GAME has taken the greedy move of increasing the price of Black Ops by £5. An e-mail sent out to all those that pre-ordered warns them not to worry about the price increase as they will pay the original amount. The price of the title has increased across all formats at GAME as well as the supposed RRP. What a disgrace!

[NYC_Gamer]

well people will buy the game anyway

[ico92]

5 quid isn't gonna stop the millions of people from buying it

[IaMs12]

Thats the problem 5 now, 5 later, 5 now and again. It all adds up, and quick too

[acky1]

Isn't this what happens all the time? Pre-order prices fluctuate according to demand, popularity and other parameters and if you hit on at the right time you can get it for the cheapest price? If not, unlucky.

It would be an outrage if the folks who had pre-ordered before the raise were charged the extra but this just seems like the norm.

Who buys from Game anyway? Seriously, you're gonna be paying over the odds with them from the get-go. Game should start selling at competitive prices or they ain't gonna last much longer!

[SonyPS360]

That's the problem. What will stop them doing this again?

[acky1]

Whoops, missed the part about the supposed RRP being increased, thought it was just Game increasing the price...my mistake, misunderstood. Title should probably be changed to 'Black Ops RRP raised' and Game used as an example within the article.

I guess they do it because they can, it's so popular tonnes of people will pay a lot of money for it.
The only way it will stop is if it loses it's popularity and sales aren't as good as expected.

Online fees could follow if black ops is as successful in the multiplayer department as previous instalments...scary thought.

[AndrewRyan]

Back in the day I used to make about 4 dollars an hour minimum wage, now if I was working minimum wage I would be making 10 dollars an hour. Do you really expect prices to stay the same? When I was a kid I bought my hockey stick for 7.50. Now I buy them for about 100 dollars and more.

[zeddy]

asda.

[gunnerforlife]

Tesco is a lot cheaper! the Asda round mine has like 45 pounds for a ps3 game :/

[Lykon]

shelly on the tills at asda has had her boobs done, she is hot

[DavidMacDougall]

Yeah i was thinking asda too, people will just change where they buy it from, unless it sells out GAME is the last place i'd go.

[Gago]

They know damn well people will still buy it

i would

[RankFTW]

I'll just stick with Shopto.net, get all my games there pretty much.

[Chuk_Chuk]

Just wanted to point out that whether you pay £26 or £50 for black ops activison will still get the full ammount per game.
Example
say that for every game sold activision make about £30 (most likely not that high)
Buy game selling this for £50 Game makes a £20 profit
For the supermarkets selling this at £25 they make a loss per game but activison will still get the full £30. Whats the point you ask. The supermarkets hope to attract customers to buy other products instore as well this Black ops and this is known as a Loss leader. http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

My point is even if you find yourself a cheap deal, this doesn't affect activisions profits in any way.

[bviperz]

This is how it starts. Soon, the monthly subscription model for CoD will begin.

[DOMination]

This news story is inaccurate. GAME are taking £5 DEPOSITS on the title.

[mastiffchild]

Activision put it up last year but the retailers sucked it up and the supermarkets even ended up having a price war meaning week one you could get MW2 for £25! There will be no such error this time round and this is just the very first showing that retailers aren't swallowing Activision's unilateral raises themselves this time out. This time the five pound rise is gonna be very real and it's moves like this that make you wonder where the true value is in the COD franchise today.

All the happiest reports I've seen of BO celebrate the fact it's more like COD4 than MW2! Well, considering they're both pretty similar to begin with(just tweaks in the MP to rebalance the game that was better to start with)why exactly do we settle for buying a "new" one each and every year? COD4, WaW,MW2 and BO are all basically the same game in different skins and with increasingly slapdash SP campaigns and maybe a mode or two to justify their releases. If it's worth celebrating BO being more like COD4 wouldn't it be best to, IDK, play COD4?

Whatever, it's my opinion that they don't put enough into a COD game to justify yearly releases at full retail right now. I know I was a bit glib about the lack of change from one to the next but do you really think a COD sequel has as much work in it as any other new game you might buy? I don't and even if I did think they'd done ENOUGH to make a new one worthwhile I still wouldn't say they deserved that we pay MORE than we do for any other game!

I'm not bashing COD-I actually like the series more than most here will admit even if it's still not my favourite shooter-I just don't think it's value and that , while the market leading shooter online and across every platform is STILL without dedicated servers in 2010 ffs, it isn't even moving forward enough to merit a normal price release let alone one where we pay more than for another game.

I don't want to support Kotick, fair enough that's my look out, but even without him I just couldn't buy BO this year when I don't think it's any kind of value and I think if we keep accepting them dressing up what could have been profitable premium DLC as padded full price releases we'll get bent over for decades to come.

[CombineElite]

That's right keep milking the series and keep milking the gamers.

Modern Warfare 3 will be $70 bucks plus $5 a month to play online.

Black Ops 2 will be a MMO selling for $75 and will cost $1.99 per bullet.

[mikhail_tisoy]

i just check my local eb and it cost $154 thats a 30 dollar increase (114 USD) WHat the **************!!!!!! !!! this is outrageous am not buying this crap how the hell can they get away with this **** sad part is its still probably gana sell millions FUUUUU kotick

[256bit]

wow wow wtf!?!! why are games so expensive over there? do game companies now look at EU for more cash? how much is a regular movie theather? 40?

[blumatt]

Is that really how much it costs where you live?? Damn!! I would never pay that much for a game. Well, I might for GT5. lol But that's because it would be worth it for all the features it has. haha But other than that game, hell no.

[NewsForMe]

They know only a small amount will cancel. That will easily be made up with the increase. Is that only the standard edition?

[Akagi]

CoD, the scourge of the gaming industry.

[Gago]

its the retailer not activision

and its ignorant people like you who are the scourge

you hate cod thats cool, but why are you here

butthurt cuz black ops is getting 5000x more attention your favorite game, does it fuel your nerd rage

[Jacobite]

"its the retailer not activision"
lol You believe that mmmmmm
"butthurt cuz black ops is getting 5000x more attention your favorite game, does it fuel your nerd rage"
honest you like 10 year old or something

[Eamon]

If only the cod craze would die. Seriously, the only amazing cod games were COD2 and COD4.

Now it's Kotick on a milking spree.

[Livin_in_a_box]

Milkillionaire!

Halo: Reach reference for you there...

[Eamon]

LMAO, Killionaire is just awesome to hear on Multiplayer.

[Lykon]

i can't wait till it comes out, and all the reviews are done and the usual screen shot comparisons and graphics wars are all done...because then maybe some interesting news will filter through on N4G again.

[MGRogue2017]

wtf is this site talking about?? The game is retailing at £44.99 on their website. It's been at that price for ages..

[tdrules]

Very clever of them, encourages you to preorder over buying on release.
good business decision, not that I'll be buying from GAME though

[toaster]

I'm willing to bet they'll charge $60 on Steam. I refuse to buy a standard edition game that's over the $50 archetype for PC games. Console gamers can get raped in the butt for cash but I won't stand for it.

[hiredhelp]

well it servs all thoes of you who bought mw2 right.
thoes thousands of people protesting against the £5 rise. said they wouldnt buy the game guess wots happened now. you had the game now you wanting black.op's why complain of the price hike when you let them get away with it the first time.

you see its quite simple if you dont like something dont buy it.!!
this the only way people make anything

1 person will not make a change 100 peeople will not make a change a 1000 people may may not make a change .

but if at least 1 in 3 people said no. then we can make a change not just to a increase in price. but to most things.

on last note people open your eyes on this game. really is it that much better.
DLC at 7.99 or 11.99 thats unlock because the dlc is already on the game.

[Armyntt]

Why does it serve us right? I bought the game had many hours of fun with it. I guess, knock on wood, im lucky that i havent played too many games with the glitches. Just because you didnt like doesnt mean a million others did.

[tigertron]

I bet it'll be £45 in store. Typical GAME...

[RankFTW]

Try £50 in store.

[MarcoGT]

I never buy from game anyway, too expensive so a waste, last game I got from game was GTA 4 special edition when it came out and will get GT5 signature because can only buy from game but all other games I get for much cheaper somewhere else.

Hoping to get COD BO for about £30 from tesco or asda last time I got MW2 for 32 pounds from asda, it'sworth no more than that.

[ian72]

I also got MW2 for £32 from Asda. Sainsburys was sold out at £26. I get most of my new games from Asda or Tesco as they are usually a lot cheaper. I never buy new games from Game or Gamestation they cost too much in those shops.

[LeShin]

If you're stupid enough to buy this game, then you deserve it. Can't wait until the price gets hiked up to £50 in the next iteration. I have better games to spend my money on...

[hiredhelp]

thanks all it needs is for people to see whats going on here. the gaming industry be much better. for us the consumer.

[iamgoatman]

Just pop down to your local supermarket on release day and pick it up a lot cheaper. My cousin got MW2 for £26 on 360 from morrisons.

Anyway, GAME are rarely ever the cheapest for new releases, so if you want to pre-order just get it from Amazon or shopto for a few quid less.

[mastiffchild]

I hope they do that for gamers this year but Tesco didn't with Fifa this year and they usually do. I, sadly, imagine the recession has finally bitten oiur supermarket price wars and BO will be full retail at the big stores this time round. Hope I'm wrong for all those wanting to buy the game this year, I hope I'm wrong.

[NickX]

I've got a gamestation and GAME down the street from me. But whenever I go in their I'm surprised at their prices. They wanted 30 pound for Red Dead Redemption (used) so I went across the street to CEX, and I got it for 22. CEX also offer on average about ten pound more if you're trading in newish games like Halo Reach.

GAME and Gamestation rip you off with used prices, never use them.

[theEx1Le]

Gamestation used to be great, till the company that owns GAME took them over :(

[MGRogue2017]

When trading in games at Gamestation or Game.. Just price match 'em with CeX, That's what I do,

You always get £10 more than you'd normally get when trading in with them. :)

[silvacrest]

always has a supermarket price war in the uk, MW2 was £25 in most supermarkets on release day, i expect the same for black ops

[SonyPS360]

Brilliant how supermarkets are better at selling these games than the specialist retailers.

[PirateThom]

They don't make any money from game sales though. The fact they don't rely on them is why they're so cheap.

They use games on the basis anyone who comes into store to get a game, may decide to do their shopping there, while game stores are reliant on their games to make money. If a specific game shop tried to price match supermarkets, they simply would not be in business.

[Hades1337]

Fuck that, the supermarkets will be selling it dirt cheap on release day.

[MexicanAppleThief]

Lol, and they wonder why the supermarkets are taking away Game's sales. Thanks god for online sites, way cheaper than instore prices.

[Ronster316]

The trade in prices that they offer you are pathetic.

If i was to get this day one then the best option is clearly ASDA or Morrisons (afterall, most Tesco's don't put new games on their shelves until around 5 days after their release, lazy good for nothing.......)

[ian72]

Tesco around here have new games on shelves straight away. Its the shop I use most for games. I got MoH for £28 at 12.30 early morning (30 minutes after launch). I did have to buy a 20 pound PSN voucher to get MoH for that price, but I needed a PSN top-up anyhow. Without the PSN voucher, MoH would have been £37.70.
I do agree GAME are a joke with their prices.

[Odin777]

FUCK CALL OF DUTY!!!

[NickX]

You want to fuck Call of Duty?.

[Odin777]

I want to fuck it with a sledgehammer.

[Close_Second]

...$130 in New Zealand. I wonder if this means it will be even more here?

No mind, I will never pay full price for a COD game again. MW2 saw to that.

[SonyPS360]

The same is true with Gamestation (it has the same parent company).

[ultramoot]

There's about 20 million people that probably don't give a rats a** about the £5 raise in price. And that is why they'll always get conned into buying overpriced products. Sad but true.

"A retard and his money are soon parted."

[Snack_Raccoon]

This article must have made a typo because it's being advertised as $44.99 on GAME.co.uk

Which isn't anything new, they did the same for MW2 (and GTA4, among other games) I'll just buy it somewhere else.