CMON Adopting a Minimum Advertised Price Policy

icv2.com/articles/news/view/37589/cmon-inc-adopts-mapp

Following in the footsteps of Asmodee. Better jump on all those CMON kickstarters, turns out there may actually be a discount for prepurchasing now.

CMON already had a MAPP for newer titles (check prices with online vendors). I think this just extends it to all of their games/releases.

Does everyone think they deserve to be Apple? I love how it's touted as being "good for the consumer."

If you charge more, people will obviously believe it's a better product, right?

stormseeker75 wrote: If you charge more, people will obviously believe it's a better product, right?

A Veblen good is a material commodity for which the demand is proportional to its high price, which is an apparent contradiction of the law of demand.

GW seemed to be the first to pull this crap back in 2001. And their sales fell, even though they were still making a profit. Kirby posited that there were no actual pricing ceilings for consumers.
What good did that do for GW, where is kirby now?

It seems ffgs relationship with gw during those years taught Peterson this, and took that with him in his new found place at asmodee. And they all spouted it was to help the BandM shops when its plainly obvious its about their own bottom line.

They too will learn this lesson, eventually.

The best thing to do is just vote with your dollars. Consumer ethics has to play a role somewhere, since we do have the upper hand in the end by our choices.

Its a changing market dictated by consumers. Manufacturers attempts at price manipulation can only work so well if you don't buy their products.

I'm glad none of this is relevant to me since none of these companies produce a.product I feel inclined to buy. And even if they did, I'd laugh and go elsewhere since these are not commodities.

This isn't about making people think its worth more necessarily ( although that's part of it ) . I think its about making CMON more attractive to big chains like Barnes and Noble. Places like that want a MAP policy.

It also keeps the perceived values of their Kickstarter pledge levels high.

charlest wrote: It also keeps the perceived values of their Kickstarter pledge levels high.

Good point.

I'm getting pretty tired of this industry. It's all just fucking overwhelming. There's so much content coming out from these companies. There's way too much commentary in the form of reviews, play-throughs, videos, whatever. There's too much. I legit miss the good old days.

Have they had a Kickstarter where the volume of stretch goals and exclusives hasn't made backing a no brainer already if you have any interest? Did I get those tenses right?

I agree with you 100% Steve. It's like that with video games too. I see new stuff coming out and I just feel stressed out and overwhelmed by it. And really not very excited unless it is associated with Warhammer, Cthulhu Wars, or Nintendo. This is why I am happiest right now consolidating my gaming time, money, and energy into just a few things rather than trying to take it all in. There's just no point- at least not beyond my job of keeping up with and writing about the new games. Every now and then you get an Escape from 100 Million BC. But usually you are getting closer to Fireteam Zero, or a perfectly decent game that has no discernible quality that places it over another. Almost all of CMON's lineup fits that description, barring Black Plague...which didn't survive for me because there are similar Warhammer titles.

As for the pricing, it IS good for the consumer. It encourages you to save your money and spend it on something of value instead of another mediocre board game.

This is 100% a marketing strategy to increase the perceived savings of their Kickstarters, which is their primary source of revenue (and R&D budget). It's a _smart_ move.

Regarding Kickstarter, has there ever been one where the more that was pledged over the funding cost...the cheaper the product for each consumer became? I would far prefer a sliding economic scale like that over a bunch of doodads and whistles tacked on.

My last couple of games have come from WargameVault, a Print 'n Play shop that sells games for about $2 - $20. An Infamous Traffic is the most recent.

My son has a 3-D Printer now, So things may get very interesting if they start including printing specs for gaming pieces.

The manufacturers are propping up Big Box stores, which apparently need propping up. All I see people buying there is the Bigger Blacker Box.

My shopping has changed dramatically. Where once I would buy several boardgames and shop around online for the best deals...

Now I don't buy board games, hardly shop online at all, and about once a month buy a few items from my local GW at MSRP(!).

Similar to Barnes, there are only a few key gaming franchises in my house that we make any purchases on: Games Workshop, Nintendo, Pokemon, and Street Fighter (which, admittedly, as a Nintendo owner...there isn't much to spend on here...c'mon Street Masters!)