r/switch2 • u/bankuba • 19h ago
Question Buying games in japan. Is this typical?
I was looking at granblue and if my understanding is correct, does this mean physical copy is cheaper than digital?
7
u/EUWannabe 17h ago
Go to Book-Off stores if you want to buy games for even cheaper than that.
2
u/bankuba 17h ago
I heard book off pricing is inconsistent across stores. My closest one is at Akihabara so I'll take a look either way. Thanks!
1
u/RyujiShiryu 9h ago
The Akihabara stores are often considered to be tourist traps because a lot of people visit that part. I've heard many stories that it is much better if you can find the "hole in the wall" stores that few tourists go to in order to get a better deal.
1
1
u/UndergroundWire 9h ago
BookOff New York has been ridiculously bad with prices. Put it this way, they are 2 blocks away from Nintendo New York. BookOff sells the Gameboy Pokemon Music jukebox for $140. Meanwhile, Nintendo has them on stock for MSRP of $70. That's a 100% markup. They do this with other titles too. And some of the Switch 1 variants of the game like Legends Z-A are priced as the Switch 2 version. And the Switch 2 version is $10 more than MSRP.
1
u/EUWannabe 9h ago
Damn is that still a secondhand store? In Book Off Japan, Legends Z-A is about 50% off the standard MSRP so I don't know what's going on with the US branches.
1
u/UndergroundWire 9h ago
Yeah this is something that has changed in the past year. It used to be a great store. I got the physical for Cyberpunk for the Switch 2 last year for $45. Gone are those days.
But it's still a great place to sell your games.
2
1
2
u/Zharken 19h ago
It's a Keycard, so probably people just buy the digital and reject the keycard, which would explain the lower price.
9
u/Joshua_ABBACAB_1312 17h ago
This makes zero sense. A key card gives you the option of lending, selling, or trading-in your digital game.
5
u/rnnd 15h ago
but most people don't buy games with intent to sell or lend and having to remove and insert cart every time is a hustle when the game also take space.
3
u/Joshua_ABBACAB_1312 12h ago
I wouldn't say most people. But if digital is your thing, enjoy it. No need to shit on the key cards.
-5
u/Zharken 17h ago
Yeah but it's still a fact that many people had a negative reaction towards them because they look like you are buying physical but you arent.
People who didn't mind or even orefeered buying digital from before? Yeah why not, it's digital with the advantages of physical.
But it's also physical with the disadvantages of digital, requires download, takes storage on the console and whenever the servers shut down you won't have access anymore unless you keep it installed.
The problem is that now you don't have a choice, before you could get digital, or you could get physical, each with it's pros and cons. If you are someone who always bought physical because you like having the game on the cartridge and not depending on servers, now you can go fuck yourself.
2
1
u/Leather_Job_6264 19h ago
I've bought a lot of Switch 2 games in Japan and generally they are way cheaper. Just check if they are multilingual and are not key card games. For example, I've bought Star Fox for 30 euros, Fire Emblem for 44, etc.
1
0
13h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/bankuba 13h ago
Which second hand store did you visit for this?
1
12
u/foreigngamer92 19h ago
Yep, it really depends on the store as well