Major Publisher Has A Dig At Supermarket Practices

The MD at an unnamed major publisher has recently spoken with trade magazine MCV of his dismay regarding Sainsbury’s request for publishers to lower the cost price of games to accommodate the expectations of customers. The fuel to this fire could have been contributed by these comments Sainsbury’s non-food MD Luke Jensen said to MCV earlier this month:

“This is a journey we need to take together, and if it’s not one we take together, it’s a journey that won’t happen. I’ve heard people in the entertainment industry complain about the fact that prices are being driven down, but the fact is that what is happening is happening. The customers are leading the charge, we have to follow.”

However the MD of the publisher in question responded to these remarks by stating that:

“The grocers played a key part in destroying value in music and DVD and I can’t believe they’d even have the cheek to suggest that we should want to follow suit to drive their share ambitions."

“I hope all publishers can see the folly in this. Sainsbury’s needs to think about adding value to the category and taking a responsibility to support an industry which takes huge risks on its behalf.”

We know we are in difficult financial times and it’s understandable that all businesses want to make good profits but hopefully the publishers and the supermarkets can work something amicable out from all of this.