Games going back UP in price???

What the.... why are games going back *up* in price?? It's one thing for them to go on sale, then go back to regular price when the sale's finished, but...

Secret Agent Clank was $20.00 at Future Shop for the last couple months. I just checked and it's back at $40.00! Admittedly, Future Shop was the only store that had it at that price, everywhere else (including Wal-Mart which is supposed to have the lowest prices) kept it at the $40.00 range. I thought it dropped in anticipation of it becoming a Greatest Hits title; that's usually the pattern with price drops like God of War: Chains of Olympus, Daxter & Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron, etc... Still, why did the price drop for so long, then go back up??

Another game I noticed is MadWorld (Wii). The price dropped to $40.00 at Wal-Mart, then Best Buy, even EB Games, and finally Future Shop all had it at around $40.00 for the last few weeks. But when I stopped in at Wal-Mart, the price has suddenly gone back to $54.00! And Future Shop has it at the $40.00 range, but it says "Sale Ends: 5/15/2009". So we'll have to see if it also goes back up.

I've been buying games long enough to know that prices fluctuate, and sometimes they do illogical, stupid price changes. But I've come to expect some level of consistency from the major chains. And in general, prices for games go *down*, maybe after a certain timeframe (6 months, 1 year) or if a sequel is released, the first game drops in price. And of course there's the Canadian exchange rate... don't even get me started on that.....

Maybe it's some kind of supply & demand issue? I know that's what EB Games uses to justify their prices changes.

I hate games pricing. On one hand, there's this shell game policy, and while it can be nice to get some good deals, it's so punishing for those who want to buy a new game. On the other hand, there's Nintendo's first-party games policy: PRICE DOESN'T DROP. EVER. EVEEEEEERRRRRRR...... aside from some flukey doorcrasher sales, their games stay at the same MSRP for *years*. Mario Kart DS has dropped maybe $5.00 in price since it game out, years ago??

Drives me nuts.




later
don