$59.99 PC Games, will it last?

[[Gavo]]

Well, this didn't go in the direction I was expecting.

I'm not whining about the price, I was just noting a price increase in blockbuster games, while pretty much every other game is unaffected. I guess what I was wondering was that, for example, Infinity Ward sees that New Vegas is $49.99 and realize they would probably have more sales that way.

Nice not to see too much pirate trolling, though.

 

[DSK-]

Unless I seriously want a game desperately I will buy it full price; but normally I will wait till the prices drop. If I can be patient.

 

[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.

oh yes because everyone knows that a guy with no cash who didn't pirate the game suddenly has 50 bucks to spend on the game. /sarcasm. you expect people to have money to buy it and have interest. if they didn't pirate it and didn't buy it, that isn't a loss in profits. if they pirated it and had no money or had no interest in buying it then it isn't a loss of money either. they wouldn't have spent the money anyway.

Did you even read what I said? They charge the people who pay MORE, because the people who steal it wont pay a dime. Of course the pirate wont care about the price increase.

 

[deleted20220820]

DELETED

 

[bam13302]

yea, prices are gona rise for games, as they have and will
..at least.. thats my view

 

[Akihiko]

Piracy numbers would just be an excuse though. It won't affect sales that much, as the majority of people who pirate a game either don't plan on buying the game anyway, or want to test it out to see whether they should buy it. In the latter case if the game is good enough, it might lead to an extra sale anyway.

As mentioned before, Activision just wants to get as much money as they can out of people. They'll increase the price as long as people will continue to buy their games. It's unfortunate that other publishers are catching on.

I have to say though, in the UK Medal of Honor for PC was released at the same price as the general pc game price. We weren't so lucky with Activision games though. They sold for the same price as a console game.

 

[Signa]

... $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.....

When was Monkey Island 2 made? '91? At the beginning, Guybrush says "Those guys wouldn't know a good story even if they paid $50 for it. This was alluding to the fact that the gamer had just paid $50 for the game they were now playing.

The only time games cost more is if they were stored on silicon, so your SNES games were a bit more.

OT: I swear, I'd never thought I'd hear so many people crying "Please developers! Fuck me in the ass HARDER!!!" Garak is the only one here that seems to understand what is going on. We are paying $50 because we will pay $50 for a game. People have proven through the success of the 360 and PS3 that we will pay $60 now too. It's only a matter of time before they try $70, and it is NOT because of inflation.

The only time I'll pay $60 for a game is if it's the collector's edition of a game I know I'm going to LOVE. Oblivion, Sacred 2, and Unreal Tournament 3 were all the most recent CEs I bought. Turns out I really jumped the gun on 2 of them. Only Sacred made me feel like I didn't rip myself off.

 

[Sabiancym]

Price too high? Don't buy it. Find a new hobby.

I don't call GM and complain that cars are too expensive. People need to grow up.

 

[DannibalG36]

They are bumping up their prices. Because they should. More work, time, and money goes into making games these days.

....It will probably last, but PC gamers will ***** and moan and complain about how its SOOOoo expensive and it's just wrong to charge more for things.

Kinda like every other consumer in the world.

Fortunately, the PC is the easiest games platform on which to acquire free games.

DISCLAIMER: I am NOT a pirate and have ALWAYS obtained my games legally (i.e., by forking over my hard earned money to Steam).

 

[spartan231490]

deal with it, thats what u pay on a console.

 

[Dana22]

Meh, I once have bought a game for 125$.

 

[Jaranja]

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.

They realized that companies, like Activision, can get away with charging monstrous amounts of money, for map packs, and thought, "What's the problem with bumping up the price a little bit?".

 

[SelectivelyEvil13]

Once again folks, the cost of producing a product has very little to do with the price. Both Final Fantasy XIII and (insert generic shooter) sold new for $60 but the development costs were certainly very different.

Fast forward to now when the generic shooter is still selling for $60 and Final Fantasy XIII for less.

It's all about what the market can bear, if they think you would pay $100, they would be charging it.

I agree with you, as there is a great disparity between the budgets and hype of different games, and yet the price is adjusted accordingly to how long people willingly pay the highest possible amount for that product.

I am one to play PC games all that much, but what I do like about them is the modding and the more attractive price range by comparison to the console counterparts. However, as someone who does not have the computer ready to outperform or match the console games with stunning graphics, I find that the lower price also helped with the lack of guaranteed continuity for performance across any PCs. Not every computer can run Oblivion the same, so that lower graphical ability was part of the compromise for me.

DRM, mandatory online connections, and Games for Windows Live requirements can be onerous factors that affect PC game sales, even with the cheaper price in some circumstances. The rigidity of some PC games has repelled me from titles that I would otherwise look into, and that higher, non-refundable price tag is not making me want to take the chance.

 

[thiosk]

My banannas were 1.29 per pound today
this is madness

 

[Rewdalf]

It's not just the economy, it's all the fancy new graphics.
While I don't hate them, they really take away from our games these days...
So much development is being put into making them look pretty that there's less content, but the price still goes up...
So I just buy the console ones, since my PC isn't that high-end either...
If I wanted to keep buying PC games I'd have to get a new computer each year.