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The Switch from Plastic to Cardboard: Corporate Greed or Something Else?
Before I begin, let me say that as long as the games themselves meet or exceed the high quality they already have, the packaging doesn't matter all that much to me. This commentary deals solely with the issue of the changed packaging alone. So without further ado... When I got my NGPC in early June, I was impressed by two things before I even turned it on for the first time. First: Like most people, I was surprised by how small the unit actually was. Second: The game packaging impressed me. The plastic shell cases and full-color manuals screamed quality. These things gave me a very good first impression, and needless to say I was even more impressed once I started to actually play the games! This brings us closer to the present and to a recent announcement by SNK that the plastic shell cases are to be replaced by cardboard. The nice, sturdy plastic cases that everyone seems to think are great are stepping aside for what SNK calls a cheaper, more eco-friendly solution. You could almost hear the "GROAAAAN!" coming from NGP players around the globe. Immediately afterwards, some started to even question if this meausre was a matter of simple greed. In other words, some felt that SNK was sacrificing quality in the name of larger profits. However, does this accusation really make sense? Think about it: if SNK really wanted bleed their customers for more money without giving them (us) something more, would it be wise to do something as noticable as changing the packaging? Raising the price of every future game by 50 cents would be less noticable and yield bigger profits. The savings from switching from plastic to cardboard has to be a matter of only a few cents per unit. Even if it were as large as $1, if 1 million copies of a given game were sold, that would only yield an extra $1 million. Yes, that's a good amount of money, but in corporate terms, that's a drop in the bucket. ...I also don't think that any one NGPC game has sold 1 million copies yet, and I'm fairly certain that the savings per unit isn't even near $1. This alone shows that this wouldn't be a way to drive up profits by a truly significant amount. And it seems fairly certain that SNK would know that people prefer plastic to cardboard. So, if this were a matter of simple greed, then what SNK would be doing is disappointing their customers in order to get a few more cents per sale. Not smart business, is it? Clearly, something else provided a more compelling reason to make the switch, but I don't think this "eco-friendliness" of it alone was the driving factor. According to rumors, some retail stores said that they did not like the plastic cases. Why, you ask? Who knows. The bottom line is that the NGPC needs retail support to stay alive, because Web sales alone won't permit it to thrive. Like it or not, retail stores need to kept happy, since nobody is forcing them to stock NGPC games. Apparently, retail store owners like cardboard better, so cardboard it is. However, the new cases will supposedly resemble the old ones. (source: Sector NGP) This raises questions as to why stores would be happy with cardboard and dissatisfied with plastic, since both cases have the same basic design. Although I can't provide an answer to that, I also cannot say why certain things survive or fail on the retail level. Without the retail aspect of this issue, I'm not sure if the switch would have ever taken place. My theory as to why it happened however, is threefold. SNK themselves said that it is cheaper to make cardboard cases, so that's clearly a factor, but I also wouldn't call that greed. Second, cardboard IS more eco-friendly, since trees can be replaced and oil (used to make plastic) can't. That's responsible and good for general public relations. And third is the retail aspect that I discussed earlier. Decisions like this are made for a variety of reasons. Every smart and reputable company doesn't try to take advantage of its customers, because a good reputation is a free and extremely influential marketing force. As for more shady companies, it's been shown in the past that they take advatage of their customers in more subtle ways. And the few companies that try to cheat their customers in a very open way have often paid the price with drastically decreased sales, and some have even had to cease all operations. After all, a customer who feels cheated is a customer who takes his or her business elsewhere. |
