At first this may sound like an advertisement and I suppose it kind of is, but at the same time it's a joyous revelation and a small step towards something I called for last year: buying new games direct online at a lower price point than a traditional retail store. Video games available through Amazon.com are finally eligible for free shipping and the occasional price discount. Up until now Amazon had outsourced the sale of toys and games through Toys "R" Us, meaning that while the items were for sale on Amazon's website, the actual shipping and pricing of those items was controlled by the toy retail giant. For a variety of reasons (most of them legal) the two companies finally parted ways a few days ago and Amazon took over the sale of video games. Now the games enjoy the same free shipping options as DVDs, music, books, and other such things.
In the interest of disclosure I remind you that anything you buy after clicking a green link here on PTB earns me a little commission which is used to help keep this place running, so naturally I have a vested interest in commenting on this change in Amazon policy. As part of the bigger picture, however, I'd like to see Amazon's marketplace success used to encourage more publishers to offer their games for sale directly online. Amazon is still a retail operation, albeit a fairer operation than, say, GameStop. As I said previously on this matter, without a retail middleman both publisher and customer walk away happier and with a little extra money in their pockets. Amazon's policy change is a great step in the right direction, but I think we can do better still.
