Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance came out in NA in October 2005. Fire Emblem: Awakening came out in NA in February 2013.
In October 2015, ten years after its release, the average price for a used copy of FE9 on Amazon was $150. New-condition copies were in the $350 range (though that's more of a collector's thing than just wanting to play the game). Both prices can be expected to fluctuate with demand due to the fixed supply, so there's a certain amount of luck involved in when you decided to try to find a copy. There is no other legal way to play this game except to pay one of these prices (unless you already have it), and the game's publisher will not be compensated in any way by your purchase.
Today, ten years after its release, FE13 is $40 in the eShop. That is the most it will cost regardless of how many people are trying to buy it because there's a literally infinite supply of the game, and there have been numerous opportunities in the past decade to grab it for even less than that. Used physical copies are running a little bit more expensive than that, due to the limited supply, but are still in the $45-50 range because for those who just want to play it, the option of dropping $40 on a digital copy exists. Buying a digital copy does support the publisher, rather than going to a middleman who is selling a used copy.
This is what we mean when we talk about availability: Broadly speaking, it's a lot more viable for people to buy digital copies of games well after the height of their popularity than it is to buy physical copies under the same circumstances. Saying this, the comparison between these two games is likely to change next month when it's no longer possible to buy FE13 digitally (so actually, buying a few used copies now might be a half-decent investment, if you're looking for a gamble), but the fact remains that FE13 remained readily available to interested players for much longer than FE9 did, something that can be attributed entirely to the eShop. Hypothetically, if the eShop remained active for longer instead of being shuttered prematurely (as I mentioned earlier, there's zero reason old systems' storefronts need to be shut down when they can be based on the same servers/accounts as contemporary systems'), that would remain true indefinitely. Even now, there's a clear cutoff after which FE13 will no longer be readily available, so anyone that's been on the fence about it knows to make the decision while they still can, as opposed to nobody really knowing when new copies of FE9 would stop being produced and the price would start climbing.
Like I said, they may end up being expensive But I can still get them But only the physical versions And I dont see it as being hard to find or needing luck You just need extra cash
As for Awakening, its cheap on the eShop right now So, if you get it before the shop closes, thats fine. But if not, those prices with also start to rise. And then continue to rise Its only cheap because the eShop version is cheap
But once the shops are gone, thats it for digital copies Thats why I think physical makes thing more available Theyll always be there, even if theyre expensive Digital is there, but can disappear, or be hard to find. For example, I have digital games Ill never be able to play again on my Wii because my Wii doesnt work. Even if I get a new Wii, Im not sure Id be able to recover my digital games Or get new digital games. But due to my physical copies of my games, Ill still be able to to play those as long as I still have a working game disc Thats how I feel, at least That said, I like physical copies since I can switch with friends and family, anyway
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