Jimquisition: Videogames Are A Luxury

[webkilla]

jimquisition's point that games are indeed luxury products is... well... its a good point

and the 'logic' that "if poor people can't afford games, we don't care, because our products are lxuries" is so silly. I mean, people not buying your product is bad. You want people to buy your product.

you might sell a 100K units of a game at 60$ a pop - but if you sell 200K units at 40$ each you've made a lot more money.

 

[daxterx2005]

If things don't change, videogame market Crash #2 is inevitable.

 

[Epona]

Videogame market Crash #2 is inevitable.

Wait, what happened during the first one? I get the impression it was in the 80's, and subsequently, I was too busy being not born at the time to notice things like that.

Retailers wanted nothing to do with games, game consoles or computers during that period. One game, ET for the Atari 2600 was so overprinted that they buried the extra copies in the desert because the market was dead and there was no way they were ever going to sell them.

In order for Nintendo to sell the NES they had to lie to retailers and tell them that their product was a toy, that is where the little robot came from. They named it Nintendo Entertainment System to make it seem more like a VCR and the front loading tapes were designed to that end. Most of the space inside those "tapes" was wasted.

It can happen again if people just stop buying.

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

Videogame market Crash #2 is inevitable.

Wait, what happened during the first one? I get the impression it was in the 80's, and subsequently, I was too busy being not born at the time to notice things like that.

The videogame industry effectively died until the birth of the NES several years later. Not good. Very bad.

 

[ShinobiJedi42]

That's why I am always at least a year behind most video games, except Skyrim and ME3. I simply can't afford to buy games at full price, so I have to wait until they are on sale for cheaper. I would love to have Uncharted 3 and a number of high profile games but they are not getting my money because I just can't afford it. Although, last christmas I did get six games for 30 bucks off of Steam. That was a nice deal. Steam is the only reason I own as many games as I do. I only just now got Arkham city for 15 dollars lol.

 

[Epona]

Retailers wanted nothing to do with games, game consoles or computers during that period. One game, ET for the Atari 2600 was so overprinted that they buried the extra copies in the desert because the market was dead and there was no way they were ever going to sell them.

In order for Nintendo to sell the NES they had to lie to retailers and tell them that their product was a toy, that is where the little robot came from. They named it Nintendo Entertainment System to make it seem more like a VCR and the front loading tapes were designed to that end. Most of the space inside those "tapes" was wasted.

It can happen again if people just stop buying.

The videogame industry effectively died until the birth of the NES several years later. Not good. Very bad.

So....let me just get this straight....retailers weren't interested in selling computer-related materials and, subsequently, it was impossible for game developers to make anything, games became massively unprofitable and, as a result, they weren't made any more? Is that right?

Oh and:

One game, ET for the Atari 2600 was so overprinted that they buried the extra copies in the desert

Frankly, I think this would have happened anyway....

I don't care for your tone (it's text, maybe I am misreading it though). Go look this stuff up for yourself if you don't want to believe anyone else.

 

[Davroth]

When my budget got tighter, videogames were indeed first to go. Now I emulate the experience by watching let's plays on YouTube. And playing LoL.

I also put some money into the Humble Indie Bundles mostly because I like to see them continue doing that, even if I only care for like one of the games in the bundle. ^^

The last new game I bought was the latest Zelda, and I kinda regretted it. I got hit with the Zelda fatigue it seems. (Or maybe that swordplay wasn't such a great idea after all)

Anyway, yeah, the industry is kinda making a mess right now, and it will be interesting to see how this plays out, even if it ends up being unpleasant for everyone.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Retailers wanted nothing to do with games, game consoles or computers during that period. One game, ET for the Atari 2600 was so overprinted that they buried the extra copies in the desert because the market was dead and there was no way they were ever going to sell them.

In order for Nintendo to sell the NES they had to lie to retailers and tell them that their product was a toy, that is where the little robot came from. They named it Nintendo Entertainment System to make it seem more like a VCR and the front loading tapes were designed to that end. Most of the space inside those "tapes" was wasted.

It can happen again if people just stop buying.

The videogame industry effectively died until the birth of the NES several years later. Not good. Very bad.

So....let me just get this straight....retailers weren't interested in selling computer-related materials and, subsequently, it was impossible for game developers to make anything, games became massively unprofitable and, as a result, they weren't made any more? Is that right?

Oh and:

One game, ET for the Atari 2600 was so overprinted that they buried the extra copies in the desert

Frankly, I think this would have happened anyway....

I don't care for your tone (it's text, maybe I am misreading it though). Go look this stuff up for yourself if you don't want to believe anyone else.

I think he was saying it sucked so bad that they could have tried giving it away for free and most copies would have still wound up in a landfill somewhere -- which is true, there's a reason that and Superman 64 are always the top two games on any list of the worst games of all time.

Honestly, the problem the first time around was a market oversaturated with crap, not so much price. It's why Nintendo was so strict with their licensing policies in the NES days; consumer confidence was low, and that Nintendo Seal of Approval actually meant something.
That's not to say greed run amok wasn't the reason that it crashed last time, it just took the form of obscene amounts of shovelware moreso than obscene pricing.

 

[remnant_phoenix]

Once again, Jim brings the righteous truth.

Are video games a luxury? Yep.

Do publishers have every legal and ethical right to charge what they please for games? Of course.

Are we seeing an industry that is suffering because the AAA-game pricing model is (barring a few exceptions) fixed at $60 USD (even more for AUS and I don't know how much it is in Europe/Japan/anywhere else)? Absolutely.

Pricing models need to change. I paid 1 measly U.S. dollar for Fruit Ninja on iOS. Mathematically, the amount of enjoyment I should have would be 1/60 of the enjoyment I would experience from any given AAA-game purchased at release. But I know that I have received MORE entertainment and enjoyment from Fruit Ninja than I would recieve from DOZENS of day-one AAA games I could have (but didn't) purchase.

If publishers aren't careful, the AAA industry could collapse. Only indie games, casual games, and the AAA games that are guaranteed big money-makers (like COD, Assassin's Creed, etc.) will remain. And then stagnation and franchise fatigue will rob those games of their fun, and then...wait, now I sound like a end-of-the-world doomsayer on a slippery slope, so I'll just stop there.

Still, it's definitely a cause for concern regarding the health of the AAA industry.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

I don't care for your tone (it's text, maybe I am misreading it though). Go look this stuff up for yourself if you don't want to believe anyone else.

I'm not doubting you, I'm asking because I don't know. If I was arguing with you, I'd be presenting an actual alternative to what you're saying. Unless I had a sudden desire to look incredibly stupid.

Ah. In that case, see my post above. The market crashed because it got oversaturated with really terrible shovelware, the absolute worst example of which was E.T..

 

[GonzoGamer]

Jim certainly said it better than I ever did.
I can afford the luxury now but I couldn't always; and if there hadn't been affordable used games back when I got back into the consoles, I wouldn't have bothered and I wouldn't be buying new games now. Even then, I did fall in love with some titles and would occasionally save up for an upcoming title that I was looking forward to.

Great video. Only question: do I get a writing credit?

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.374224-Games-are-a-luxury-item-So

I kid, but that is two weeks in a row where the topic has come straight from the forums. A special thanks line in the credits might be a good idea for videos like that.

Yea, I also sometimes feel that Jim is taking the words right out of my mouth. But that's a good thing. It gives me hope and it shows that not all game journalists are just sellouts for the publishers, retailers, and platform developers.

 

[punipunipyo]

"Fuck the poor, and let them eat cake.."
Yeah! totally, this IS quoted(paraphrased) by some one who knows history! Totally agreed!
*****, Perfect Bonus, Trophies earned, Couldn't said that last thing better my self! nice job Jim!

Oh, for those who HAVE NOT HEARD, If you are looking for a good shooter game, and all that's out this year looks too expansive, or too DLCy... Play Tribes:Ascend!!! it's SOOOO UNDER RATED!~It's a F2P (FREE TO PLAY) MMO shooter! The game is TAD P2W-ish on the arsenal side, but as far as skill/fun/XP-gain-speed, it's done a (to me) better job than ANY OTHER MMO FPS games out there!~ give it a run, if you see potential in this game, but want to use better weapons... pop 20 bucks (cheaper than other games out there) to get you buffed with 2-3 classes, you can even test out weapons in practice mode too!

 

[Zom-B]

I wonder if there's a non-corrupt way to have critics set game prices. i.e. the better a game is rated, the more it's allowed to cost.

Ugh, that's a terrible idea. All it would do is make shitty games that no one wants cheap and the good games out of reach for even more consumers.

I can't envision any scenario where pricing a game based on how "good" it is wouldn't be misused, abused or just plain fucked up.

About one days worth of work, for minimal wage, can get you the money for a new AAA game. (Even in Australia)

Sales are low when 'so so' games are being released.

*yawn

Cry me a river.

What an ignorant comment. You clearly don't understand that for many, many people who would like to play video games that that "one days worth of work, for minimal wage" can mean the difference between paying a bill or eating for a week or making rent. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that you still live at home and have no idea what real day to day living expenses are like.

The truth is I pay what I think a game is worth. If I find $60 too much then I simply wait. He brought up Dragon Age. The Ultimate Edition with all the DLC is now on sale for $20 brand new and $15 dollars used at my local game shop. Sure it isn't the newest game on the market, but its still a great game.

As do I and I wish everyone did. Too many people, I believe, buy a game day 1 or at least within the first week because, not because they wish to spend $60. For a lot of games now, if you don't buy right away you miss out on a lot of stuff like multiplayer having enough people on the servers to make it fun, timed offers and even less tangible things like hype and being current on what games you've played.

If people just waited when a game came out and made a better informed decision, we might actually have longer sales cycles and less hysteria over pricing.