$59.99 PC Games, will it last?

[Zenode]

HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!!!11!!! 60 DOLLARS IS SO GODDAMN EXPENSIVE

We pay 100 bucks a pop for new games (110 even) over in Australia here, you guys ***** and moan all you want, you aren't being ripped off for gaming as much as some countries....Currency exchange has nothing to do with it, its basically dollar for dollar US now. So stop whinging about how its 60 bucks when you could be paying much MUCH more for games.

 

[MolotoK]

I will only pay full price for a game if I'm sure that I'm going to like it. (i.e. Shogun:TW)

I would love to try out F1 2010, but I'm not going to blow 50bucks on a racing sim without at least having played it once. I would consider buying it if there was a demo version.
Same is true for Starcraft 2. I never really got into the original Starcraft but I would give Starcraft 2 a try if it wasn't so damn expensive. I would for instance pay 25? for the single player versions and then pay another 25? for multiplayer, if I like the single player.


Give us more demo versions / free weekends if you want to sell full price games!

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

The prices will go up. The cost to make a game now is enormous. PC games are not special, their price will go up, it's a matter of time.

That extra $10 on console games is supposed to cover the licensing fees, something the PC doesn't have.

I think that depends on how the game was made. Someone mentioned MoH costs $60 on PC, probably because it was expensive to make, and it was built on the PS3, not on the PC.

You can make a game for the PS3 without paying the license fee. Now, if you want to sell the game for the PS3, then you have to pony up cash to Sony. The same goes for Microsoft.

Case in point, a game sold on the PC does not pay a license fee to Microsoft or Sony. If a game is sold on the PS3, a license fee is paid to Sony but not Microsoft. The fee has been used time and again to justify why the cost of games increased (when the increased cost of development is just as plausible). Unfortunately, the actual fees charged are omitted from the 360 and PS3 Publisher License agreements available to me, so I cannot say for certain what the platform holders expect to be given out of any given game sale.

 

[Jumplion]

Eh, I'd prefer it if they were cheaper, but I just wait for STEAM sales during holidays and stuff to get a good deal. The cheaper prices on PCs is a great advantage over the consoles, and I prefer to pinch every cent I get for future games that I want, and being that there is a bunch I want for my PS3, the $60 charger, I'm going to have to pinch every penny.

 

[Flying-Emu]

It's going to stay like that as long as people pay for it.

And I'mma keep paying for it.

 

[Xanadu84]

I'm betting that as Digital Distribution grows in popularity, prices will drop a bit. There is still competition amongst developers, and as it gets cheaper to distribute, prices will eventually reflect that.

Why would prices drop? Right now there is competition between retail stores and developers (though that is debatable considering you can't get Super Mario Galaxy from anyone other than Nintendo).

Prices would drop...a little, and not as much as they could, mind you...because of overhead. We have a few developers out there still, competing for business. When DD becomes more popular, that cuts out the developers need to make physical discs, ship, distribute, etc. So competing developers will cut prices a little for more business. Maybe that sounds optimistic, but for the pessimist, leave it to those assholes to raise the prices just long enough so that dropping the price back down to the original standard is seen as a price drop to reflect the fewer expenses to distribute.

 

[captaincabbage]

Meh, Americans still pay less for a full price game than we do in Australia, so quit your bitching.

$59.99 USD is about $80 Australian dollar or so. We usually have to pay around $109.99 AUD, which is at least $75 USD.

Seriously, I'm bloody tired of hearing Americans bitching and moaning about how 'expensive' stuff is overin the states. On average it's cheaper than in Australia, so nut up or shut up.

Instead of telling us to stop bitching, maybe you should do more. Maybe you should have done more before the prices got that high.

Or, maybe you should just quit bitching anyway. Sure prices are high here and in the states. Sure you can whinge all you want 'till the cows come home, but it's not going to change a damn thing. Game prices are always going up due to a combination of inflation, piracy, greed and Producer/Developer self-righteousness.

And what do you mean by 'Doing more before the prices rose'? What was I supposed to do? Am I supposed to go to my local EB Games and ask the manager to put the prices down because I don't want to pay that much? And he's supposed to just drop the prices off all of his games and in turn, his profit margin and the profits of the developers? You really think He'll listen? Instead of wasting my time complaining to a multinational conglomerate that doesn't give a shit, I'd rather spend my time actually working at my job, so I can pay my rent, my car loan and buy a game to boot.

As far as I'm concerned, I'm fine with paying $100 AUD for a game. It keeps the businesses and Game Developing Industry going and I've never had a big problem with paying that ever so often.

 

[WanderingFool]

Seing as I pay that much for the dozens of console games for several years, not bothered by it...

 

[rabidmidget]

$60? For a pc game?

Wow, that's amazingly high, it's not like they cost $100 here in Australia. Seriously though, that must REALLY suck for you.

 

[banksy122]

This is too all the Australians who think Americans are just bitching(I am Australian too btw). Our games may be over 100$ but our min wage is something like $12, Hell I work at Mcdonalds and get $13.57p/h, where as in USA it is anywhere between $5-$8, or even less in some states and some jobs, like a waitress .Do some math and you will see that they are actually still paying more then us.

 

[asinann]

The only developer that's been selling at 59.99 is Acti-blizzard. I'm getting Fallout New Vegas release day for 49.99. That's why I refuse to buy anything that Activision touches.

 

[mrdude2010]

except when i went to walmart in july to pick up borderlands, COD MW2 was still $60 so there goes your whole "quick price drop" theory

 

[mrdude2010]

the reason mass effect 2 went down so quickly is because it's nota multiplayer game. you can download it for free (illegally of course) without any adverse affects to your playing, where as if you illegally download something like MW2 you're missing out on 2/3 of thegame. your only option is to buy it so they charge more.

 

[banksy122]

Snip

Except Waitresses rely on tipping. Which accounts for a large percentage of their earnings. Invalid example.

Ok, but the rest of my post is valid.

 

[gsf1200]

No, it won't last. The price will go even higher.

 

[nono195]

games prices are going up because they require more work. Its not inflation

So what does it mean when the price gets reduced?

Usually it means that the developers are doing something different or aren't making some AAA title with next gen graphics. Usually.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

As long as what I'm paying for has an appropriate amount of content to make it worth the 60 bucks. That kind of why I prefer digital distribution anyways due to the lowered price, although I wish developers would take advantage of that so that we could do away with the waste generated from packaging/materials and the cost of being held in stores.

Lower price? Isn't Medal of Honor $59.99 on Steam too?

Nope, it's $69.99 at the moment.

 

[Dr. Whiggs]

what the market will bear.

That's like four times in a row you've said that, Milton Friedman. Point made.

On topic, who knows?