There are so many things wrong with this video I don't even know where to start...
I agree, video games are expensive. You know what else is expensive that'd I'd really love to have? Gold. A shit load of gold. I think the price of gold should be brought down simply because a large amount of people like having things made of gold. It would make the overall sales of gold so much more! Don't even get me started on how many cool things you could do with gold if you had a large supply of it. Jewelry for days, my friends.
Do you start to see where it sounds a little ridiculous? games are expensive, yes, but that doesn't automatically mean the prices should drop. Can you give solid evidence that a less expensive product will provide more profit on a consistent basis within the industry, or is the reality more so that it'll sell more copies but have no real effect on the dividends? This is where your logic falls short, Mr. Sterling, in that you voice an opinion but have no real proof of the model.
Then the example. Oh boy, the example! Games sales are down from last year? No shit Jim! MvC3, Portal 2, Mortal Kombat, Dragon Age 2, Crysis 2, Bulletstorm, Rift, DC Universe Online, Dead Space 2, Magicka & a Call of duty Map Pack. What have we had this year? Soul Caliber V, FFXIII-2, The Darkness 2, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Mass Effect 3, Street Fighter x Tekken, Ninja Gaiden 3, Armored Core 5, Xenoblade Chronicles & Prototype 2. To me, this year's line-up isn't as bombastic. Yeah, they're solid games, but only three of those had a huge hype train. Even having less overall blockbuster titles, the games in 2011 were far more significant than the games in 2012 as an industry. Last year was just better, period. I would dare say it'll have better profit margins for quite a few years just because of the titles that came out throughout the entire year. Using 2011 as your benchmark is just idiotic. It was a perfect storm of AAA titles and nothing more.
The last thing I found very ignorant was the complete overlook of the trends in other media. You know what else used to be expensive? Books, movies and music! A lot of things have gone down in cost because A) We've perfected the production of them over many, MANY decades -and- B) They've gone wholly digital as their main source of acquisition. I could be wrong in the latter point but I'm pretty sure the majority of consumers still get boxed copies of games, where as most consumers in other areas almost always get their products digitally. Movies are possibly the exception (though in five years that statement will probably be 100% true), then again, movie theaters provide the possible niche service to cover those costs. The problem with video games is that even though there are some digital services, the majority of copies are still in hard copy form. Look at a lot of wholly digital games, however. They almost always hit the black because they have little to no production costs. Lots of MMOs that run free-to-play that are mediocre at best run smoothly because of low production costs. I don't think going 100% digital will solve the problem we face with pricing, I'm just saying it'd help quite a bit and is probably the quickest solution to the growing costs of games.
Then again, we have the huge outcry of not owning our video games when they're digital, so apparently developers just can't win either way sometimes...
All in all, your episode -- and, in fact, the past few episodes -- had a questionable message and your sloppy presentation and lack of data just leaves me aghast and questioning whether your opinions are even grounded or if it's all just more sycophantic pandering to the public by another "internet celebrity".
I agree, video games are expensive. You know what else is expensive that'd I'd really love to have? Gold. A shit load of gold. I think the price of gold should be brought down simply because a large amount of people like having things made of gold. It would make the overall sales of gold so much more! Don't even get me started on how many cool things you could do with gold if you had a large supply of it. Jewelry for days, my friends.
Do you start to see where it sounds a little ridiculous? games are expensive, yes, but that doesn't automatically mean the prices should drop. Can you give solid evidence that a less expensive product will provide more profit on a consistent basis within the industry, or is the reality more so that it'll sell more copies but have no real effect on the dividends? This is where your logic falls short, Mr. Sterling, in that you voice an opinion but have no real proof of the model.
Then the example. Oh boy, the example! Games sales are down from last year? No shit Jim! MvC3, Portal 2, Mortal Kombat, Dragon Age 2, Crysis 2, Bulletstorm, Rift, DC Universe Online, Dead Space 2, Magicka & a Call of duty Map Pack. What have we had this year? Soul Caliber V, FFXIII-2, The Darkness 2, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Mass Effect 3, Street Fighter x Tekken, Ninja Gaiden 3, Armored Core 5, Xenoblade Chronicles & Prototype 2. To me, this year's line-up isn't as bombastic. Yeah, they're solid games, but only three of those had a huge hype train. Even having less overall blockbuster titles, the games in 2011 were far more significant than the games in 2012 as an industry. Last year was just better, period. I would dare say it'll have better profit margins for quite a few years just because of the titles that came out throughout the entire year. Using 2011 as your benchmark is just idiotic. It was a perfect storm of AAA titles and nothing more.
The last thing I found very ignorant was the complete overlook of the trends in other media. You know what else used to be expensive? Books, movies and music! A lot of things have gone down in cost because A) We've perfected the production of them over many, MANY decades -and- B) They've gone wholly digital as their main source of acquisition. I could be wrong in the latter point but I'm pretty sure the majority of consumers still get boxed copies of games, where as most consumers in other areas almost always get their products digitally. Movies are possibly the exception (though in five years that statement will probably be 100% true), then again, movie theaters provide the possible niche service to cover those costs. The problem with video games is that even though there are some digital services, the majority of copies are still in hard copy form. Look at a lot of wholly digital games, however. They almost always hit the black because they have little to no production costs. Lots of MMOs that run free-to-play that are mediocre at best run smoothly because of low production costs. I don't think going 100% digital will solve the problem we face with pricing, I'm just saying it'd help quite a bit and is probably the quickest solution to the growing costs of games.
Then again, we have the huge outcry of not owning our video games when they're digital, so apparently developers just can't win either way sometimes...
All in all, your episode -- and, in fact, the past few episodes -- had a questionable message and your sloppy presentation and lack of data just leaves me aghast and questioning whether your opinions are even grounded or if it's all just more sycophantic pandering to the public by another "internet celebrity".
