Originally Posted by
Saracen
Personally, I'd rather buy the card 'bare', because the issue I have, as with any bundled "inclusion" is what it's "worth". To me, a game is only "worth" £40 if that's either what I can get for it if I sell it (and good luck getting £40 for a bundled game) or if I would have bought the game anyway, and it would have cost me £40.
As I rarely buy games on release, and rarely have, I rarely pay anything like initial release price.
I remember having a chat with the MD of a software company, some years ago, about an OEM version of his software that was bundled with very popular hardware, and despite the £60 retail price of the retail version, the revenue per bundled OEM copy was approx £5. "Why do it then?", I asked. Because it gains market penetration and brand recognition, was the answer. He was playing the long game.
While games are a bit different, my suspicion is something similar is going on, which is why I'd rather buy a bare card and srlect my own games unless the bundled game is one I would definitely go out and buy anyway.
Note: Despite quoting you, jim, this comment is a generic reply not aimed at your comments. The quote just set the context.