$59.99 PC Games, will it last?

[F'Angus]

That Completely sucks if they plan to keep the prices that high up, I don't tend to buy games over 40 anymore I just wait till the price has gone down again.

 

[Mcface]

I'm sure they won't go back down, but I don't agree with it being purely because production cost has gone up. I think they just realized they can get away with the price increase anyway, and almost all of the games in this price-range so-far for PC has made tons of money, that wouldn't have changed if it was at it's previous level.

I'd be willing to bet it's because there is less money being made in the PC game market.
It used to be cheaper because it was easier to put out, since the code was already formatted for PCs, and they are generally easier to code and program games on.

But with the thousands and thousands of pirates, it no longer makes sense to charge less. They need to charge the people who actually pay more, to make up the difference between the 20 thousand people who will steal the game.

Well, atleast we got to page 2 before the old reliable "blame the pirates" nonsense came out. I guess we should expect DS games to increase by $10 too because I hear the piracy on the DS is bad.

10 thousand games pirated, times 50 dollars = 500,000 dollar profit loss.

here are some pirate numbers.
1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (4,100,000, Nov. 2009)
2. The Sims 3 (3,200,000, June 2009)
3. Prototype (2,350,000, June 2009)
4. Need For Speed Shift (2,100,000, Sept. 2009)
5. Street Fighter IV (1,850,000, July 2009)

I'm pretty sure 4 million stolen games is more than enough to cause a price change.

Did they poll pirates to get those numbers?

No, it is according to BitTorrent tracking records.

..and those records became available to EA and other publishers how? How accurate are they? Do they show what people did with their downloads?

What are the sales of those games in respect to the piracy numbers?

How is raising the price fighting piracy?

Look this isn't about recovering lost sales, it is idiotic to claim that all those downloads were paying customers anyway. It is about them charging what they think you are willing to pay. You can throw out justifications all you like but at the end of the day of MoH didn't sell at $60 they would lower the price and that has nothing to do with pirates.

Im saying its a possibility, at the least it's a valid reason someone could use.
But there is no real reason PC games cost less than console games. They sell far less legit copies compared to their console counterparts, and they are easily pirated. Of course the price is going to increase over time.

Piracy is not a valid excuse for anything, stop blaming piracy. Besides, the new scapegoat is used games, haven't ya heard?

Piracy has always been with us and will always be, what has changed recently is that gamers are willing to accept all kinds of anti-consumer DRM to combat piracy. Stop blaming piracy lest you want higher prices and worse DRM all while doing nothing to change pirates.

The reason they claim that console games needed an extra $10 slapped on them was because of licensing fees. Did ya miss that too.

Yes, both ways which get minimal to zero profits to a company who spent tons of money and hours into something, is not the cause of anything. Cool argument bro.

 

[mythgraven]

Will greed last? Is that even a question??


Whiskey Echo!!
mythgraven

 

[.Warheart]

Won't buy them for that price. Good thing there are stores that only sell CD keys.

 

[fix-the-spade]

]do you see them bumping up their prices like some games have?

The blockuster publishers will try and bump up the cost whatever platform, so PC game prices expanding to match consoles seemed inevitable, at least for the big franchise titles.

For PC gaming as a whole though, games are still a lot cheaper, especially from PC specialising devs like Valve or CSC.

Regardless, I've never paid more than £30 for a game, rrp be damned.

 

[Delusibeta]

All games are made on PCs.

What if they made it on a Mac XD

Spoiler

Just i case you didn't get it im joking, im well aware that a Mac is just apple re-branding their line of PCs and software and im well aware the issue is moot anyway.

Wouldn't be surprised if Telltale makes their Mac versions on Macs.

Anyway, as I alluded to in my previous post, $60 are really nothing new, they were regular occurrences in the days of Monkey Island and we've been really spoilt in the last decade or so. However, Garak's first point is basically right, it's the publishers probing the market for price increases. The obvious action is to not give a damn about RRP and bargin hunt. If a developer finds the vast majority of his sales came in at a £10 Steam deal, they will probably act accordingly. Also, buying games with lower RRPs will help.

 

[Mcface]

I'm sure they won't go back down, but I don't agree with it being purely because production cost has gone up. I think they just realized they can get away with the price increase anyway, and almost all of the games in this price-range so-far for PC has made tons of money, that wouldn't have changed if it was at it's previous level.

I'd be willing to bet it's because there is less money being made in the PC game market.
It used to be cheaper because it was easier to put out, since the code was already formatted for PCs, and they are generally easier to code and program games on.

But with the thousands and thousands of pirates, it no longer makes sense to charge less. They need to charge the people who actually pay more, to make up the difference between the 20 thousand people who will steal the game.

Well, atleast we got to page 2 before the old reliable "blame the pirates" nonsense came out. I guess we should expect DS games to increase by $10 too because I hear the piracy on the DS is bad.

10 thousand games pirated, times 50 dollars = 500,000 dollar profit loss.

here are some pirate numbers.
1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (4,100,000, Nov. 2009)
2. The Sims 3 (3,200,000, June 2009)
3. Prototype (2,350,000, June 2009)
4. Need For Speed Shift (2,100,000, Sept. 2009)
5. Street Fighter IV (1,850,000, July 2009)

I'm pretty sure 4 million stolen games is more than enough to cause a price change.

Did they poll pirates to get those numbers?

No, it is according to BitTorrent tracking records.

..and those records became available to EA and other publishers how? How accurate are they? Do they show what people did with their downloads?

What are the sales of those games in respect to the piracy numbers?

How is raising the price fighting piracy?

Look this isn't about recovering lost sales, it is idiotic to claim that all those downloads were paying customers anyway. It is about them charging what they think you are willing to pay. You can throw out justifications all you like but at the end of the day of MoH didn't sell at $60 they would lower the price and that has nothing to do with pirates.

Im saying its a possibility, at the least it's a valid reason someone could use.
But there is no real reason PC games cost less than console games. They sell far less legit copies compared to their console counterparts, and they are easily pirated. Of course the price is going to increase over time.

Piracy is not a valid excuse for anything, stop blaming piracy. Besides, the new scapegoat is used games, haven't ya heard?

Piracy has always been with us and will always be, what has changed recently is that gamers are willing to accept all kinds of anti-consumer DRM to combat piracy. Stop blaming piracy lest you want higher prices and worse DRM all while doing nothing to change pirates.

The reason they claim that console games needed an extra $10 slapped on them was because of licensing fees. Did ya miss that too.

Yes, both ways which get minimal to zero profits to a company who spent tons of money and hours into something, is not the cause of anything. Cool argument bro.

Let me ask you, why are you so concerned about the bottom line of game companies? Are you concerned about the bottom line of companies in other industries?

I could careless, I would prefer it if it went down, obviously. I was just stating possible reasons as to why it won't decrease, and why i think more than the block buster shooters will follow.

 

[badgersprite]

Move to Australia and see how expensive games can really be.

$120 for new console games?! RRRRRAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!

 

[joshthor]

i think it will continue, eventually becoming the norm. i think its really lame. console gamers pay the extra 10 dollars to go for the licencing fee for thier console, which helps pay for the console. however, pc gamers no one has to pay that fee.

in games like modern warfare 2 ( i dont know about medal of honor) we dont get anything for our extra 10 dollars. in fact, we get a poor console port with no moddability, and even worse, no freedom (through dedicated servers and the like).

im not whining about the extra 10 dollars, thats pocket change. its one or two meals max. im complaining because we get nothing for our money. if they are gonna charge us the extra 10 at least they should give us something for it. every cent of that goes back into the developers/publishers pocket. they should give us a SDK, or at least dedicated servers, stuff that many pc games give us for free.

 

[IkeGreil29]

PC gamers are usually more hardcore and smarter when it comes to purchases, especially with the ability to buy games off of Steam. So... unless it's a stinking good game, I doubt those will sell much with their starting price, especially since the digital distribution system lowers the price due to no packaging and sale of an actual CD. Of course, those that have the benefit of a huge fan base and those who are known for awesome games, like Blizzard, might actually get away with it. I dunno, to tell ye the truth.

 

[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.

 

[zehydra]

I would just like to point out that this is not at all recent. This has been going on for at least 3 years now.

 

[Cryo84R]

Did 99% of the posters in this thread feel that WOOSHING sensation going right over their heads?

 

[Gindil]

Regular price for new PC games here are about, this is in Norwegian money, 399kr, that is the normal price, which equals to about 69$, (BTW, 69$ is the price for MoH atm in stores).

EDIT: Console games cost about, 499kr(82$) some places, can range up to 699, which equals to 120$.

My god...

What the hell are these people smoking for prices like that?