Who pay full-price game anymore ?

[bug_of_war]

Last year, I would have said mostly used games due to me having limited money (year 12 and all), but recently I've had to qualms with paying full price, and this is when full price is higher than $60. I've gotten so use to games being $100 (Australian standard price 2005 - 2011) that now when I see games for $90-$80 (and sometimes even $70) I just think, "cool, it's cheap". So yeah, more recently (now that I have a larger disposable income) I've quite happily put money down on full priced games because I want them. Granted, I'm not going to pay full price for an older game, or a game that I'm on the fence about.

 

[Auron]

console gamers, as a Steam user I only really pay full price for games I want to completely support. The last game I bought without any discount was Far cry Blood Dragon and before that it was Farcry 3, it's becoming more rare every year though with the sales. We don't really have trade-ins though so I do make my purchases more intelligently overall unless it's on seasonal sale.

 

[1UPZ]

If a game I really like comes in a special edition I usually buy them full price.... 50% of the time.
The other 50% I look at eBay and look for cheapest possible brand new.


If a game I like only comes in standard edition, I usually buy off eBay or online, save $5-$10 bucks including shipping.
Once every 2 years if I have some standard games I don't want to keep, I trade that in for new games.


I buy a lot of used games though, even games I only slightly like... In my area, $20-$30 for a good quality use game.

In summary.
- I buy all sorts of games used and new.
- Special edition games that I like, usually will pay full price using online store to save a few bucks.
- Used games I tend to convince myself to buy even if I only slightly like.


Now... with the new generation DRM and used game policy... MS and some developers are literally fighting a human trait... Which is buying things as cheap as possible, using various methods to do so.
They are basically becomming like Car dealerships where if you want a brand new car you have To buy from dealership.
The irony is... Used cars can be purchased from anyone, either dealerships or owners... With the latter having the seller pocket every cent possible and no cut to the car makers.... Sometimes if you purchased the car on a company/worker discount, you can actually sell and make profit.


Another thing... I love browsing eBay and various stores for classic games from the past...
And able to play them today.

Gaming in the future pretty much will erase that or limit it strictly.
Either you cannot find or play the game once server has been out down or you have to pay premium to buy digital downloads.



Virtual console on Wii U is fine and all, but playing classics on my SNES have that feeling... Nostalgic or not I suppose big corporations don't care....

 

[MrHide-Patten]

60 Bucks too much, aww isn't that cute. Live in Australia for a bit and then come back to me. I import from the UK, 60 bucks is chump change for a game.

 

[uzo]

I pay full price for some games.

My machine is only mediocre, so frankly I'm not going to get as good an experience as someone else buying a new release game. Hence, I don't buy new release games. Despite being an insane Fallout fan, I didn't get Fallout 3 until I had a PC that could do it justice. Likewise with Oblivion, and Skyrim.

Games I will/do buy full price:

Grand Strategies
Hearts of Iron, Victoria, Europa Unversalis, Crusader Kings (new DLC incoming today I believe The Old Gods HURRAAAHHH!!!!)

Taleworlds Hack n Slash
Mount & Blade, Warband, With Fire & Sword, Napoleonic Wars (hopefully Bannerlord will be *climaxes*!)

Note - both these series of games (the Grand Strategies, and M&B) both are dated. M&B looks like the bastard child of Morrowind and GoldenEye 64; and the historical simulations amount to staring at a map and a series of spreadsheets for hours on end. Neither are graphically 'up there'. They're functional, with no bells and whistles. And that what I appreciate about Paradox games and why they're the only developer I will pay full price for. For CKII, the DLCs I have purchased as soon as they were released BECAUSE THEY ROCK. I don't feel like I'm paying for functions that should have been in the original because they do actually expand the game quite a bit - playing as an Egyptian Emir is very different to playing as a Scottish Count, or a Venetian Patrician. I look forward to the next DLC where I can play as a godless heathen - a Norse chieftain, or a Mongol Khan.

That said, I'm not really a fan of the Sunset Invasion DLC (Aztecs invading Europe and holding their own against European cavalry? puh-lease! they might as well have said a small Dalek force crash lands in Nassau and proceeds to exterminate the Holy Roman Empire.

 

[Lunar Templar]

two words for you my friend

'Steam. Sales.'

:3 hope that answers your question

 

[idarkphoenixi]

By full price I assume you mean the standard for mainstream games (£30 or £40). Almost never, at this point. The last one was probably Skyrim and that's only because I was 99% sure I'd love it. Mostly, when I buy a game new it's already going cheap (£15-£20 I'm much more comfortable spending). In fact, I just recently got the Rising Storm game for around £12 and I'm having an absolute blast. Games like this give me far more replay and enjoyment that 90% of the bloated AAA titles that spew out.

The prices main developers expect people to shell out is borderline insane, especially considering how most those games have very little replay value. I hear good things about games like Tomb Raider but I know I'm only going to play it once maybe twice on hard, that's simply not worth full retail price to me.

It's not getting any better either. Now, that only covers the "basic" package. You want collectors editions, or "premium" editions? Well that's going to be another £5-£10.

On a side note, has anyone seen Steams price for Total War:Rome II? 45 fucking pounds! 45!
Places like Zavvi are selling the physical copies for almost half that price.

 

[badgersprite]

Even when you buy games that aren't used, there's a pretty high chance that you won't end up paying full-price for them, because game prices depreciate after launch, and not everyone is right and ready to play a game immediately after launch.

I don't think I've paid top dollar for any game this year, simply because I'm lagging a bit behind on gaming, so, by the time I'm ready to pick up a new game, I'm going to go to the ones from last year that I heard a lot of good things about but haven't had the chance to play yet. I'm still catching up on games, although I have put in pre-orders for Pokemon X & Y. I will get those on launch, and there are some games coming up later this year that I'm excited enough for to get as soon as I can.

And, there are still plenty of games I own that I have yet to finish, so I'm probably going to do those first when I have the time.

 

[Treeinthewoods]

Not all the time but usually a few times a year for something I really want I will pre-order. The majority of the games I have are purchased during a sale of some sort but there a few in the mix that cost full price.

 

[FoolKiller]

I'm guilty of Jim Sterling's expected pattern. I wait till I can get a new complete edition of the game for approximately 30 dollars. I have enough games that I can wait till its cheaper.

The problem that the industry hasn't seemed to figure out is that its super saturated. They expect you to buy all their games new on release date. Now I'm not normal because I like almost all genres but on any given week I would want to play 1 or 2 of the new releases. It's not even a money thing. It's a time thing. If I play an RPG it could take 2 months to play through. During that time there were probably between 10 and 20 new releases that I would be interested in trying if not playing through. So I fall behind the times. Hell, I still haven't gotten around to Oblivion.

 

[Iwata]

I simply wait for games to drop in price, which takes only a few months these days. Either that, or get the used in the case of games which don't drop.

 

[badgersprite]

I'm guilty of Jim Sterling's expected pattern. I wait till I can get a new complete edition of the game for approximately 30 dollars. I have enough games that I can wait till its cheaper.

The problem that the industry hasn't seemed to figure out is that its super saturated. They expect you to buy all their games new on release date. Now I'm not normal because I like almost all genres but on any given week I would want to play 1 or 2 of the new releases. It's not even a money thing. It's a time thing. If I play an RPG it could take 2 months to play through. During that time there were probably between 10 and 20 new releases that I would be interested in trying if not playing through. So I fall behind the times. Hell, I still haven't gotten around to Oblivion.

Right. Games still think of themselves as being like movies or like television, when really they're more like books. When a film comes out, a lot of people go and see it when it's in the theatre and at its most pop-culturally relevant, so they see it at around the same time. When a show is on television, it airs live. Not everyone watches it live, but there's still a definitive sense of place and time around when a show airs, and when its at its most relevant. Most people who are interested will try and watch it relatively soon after it airs so they stay caught up with the next episode and can talk about it with other viewers.

But books? Unless it's something hugely popular like the latest Harry Potter book or the latest part of A Song Of Ice And Fire, people don't all go out and buy books at the exact same time. Some people aren't going to get around to reading your book until years later, when they have the time or the interest to do so. Games are a lot more like that. Even games like MMOs or multiplayer games that you would think have a definitive sense of place and time still pick up new players who were years late to the party.

 

[Altorin]

logically, someone must.

not me though, in general.. I think the last games I bought at the full initial retail price... Starcraft 2 HoTS, Skyrim, Gears 3.. other then that, it's mostly been used and ultimate collections (which I buy new). I buy DLC if the game is amazing.. heck, I bought the DLC for Assassin's Creed 2 when I RENTED the game (back when it was possible to do that).

 

[xPixelatedx]

I was wondering, here on the Escapist, is there a lot of people who pays full-price game?

If I know I will Love a game, I want an immaculate case/disc for it to put up on my shelf and display to the world... I am also not a fan of turning in my games for credit; I'm a collector. So yeah, I'm exactly the kind of person who would buy an Xbox One or PS4 because I don't care about used games, and I was going to buy both, to.

[HEADING=1]Until I found out they aren't backwards compatible[/HEADING]

That's the problem with being so anti-consumer when coming into a new generation. Eventually you will find a way to piss everyone off. I mean, I don't care about used games or always online... that's pretty rare for a gamer! I fill in a very specific nitch they needed. But they screwed it up. Because, spending so much time and effort into making your video game console 'an entertainment hub' apparently doesn't account for the ability to play video games. No, lets make sure people can watch that prehistoric TV-majig thing, but games from one generation ago? That are still being sold as new right now? pfffffft, too old man, too OLD!

 

[Windcaler]

Actually a $60 dollar game is often for AAA standards or the equivilent of a blockbuster movie. The problem with these games is they often, but not always, cant be niche titles. They have to appeal to a mass audience if only to break even but we constantly see publishers not understanding the audience these games are aimed toward and expecting it to sell millions over realistic figures.

On PC we often get what I would call A quality games for around $30 and then we get what I would call B quality games as low as $15 or $10.

This has always been one of the failings of consoles in recent generations. You generally only get AAA games released on them because smaller devs that still make great games cant afford the lisencing fees, let alone any patching costs. Im sure a smaller multiplayer title like natural selection 2 and killing floor would do great on consoles but theyre made by indie devs that cant afford the additional expenses

As far as paying full price for $60 games, yes I tend to pay full price when I can. I like to reward developers when they make a great product and before I do any purchase I go and look the game up and do some research to determine if it will be worth my money. I will even look at their websites to see if I can get their game directly from them to cut out middle men like steam. That said, I dont buy many AAA titles because theyre so unfocused. I like games that fall into a niche and know their audience because when I happen to be in that audience they turn out to be great games that Ill play over and over and over again

 

[Doom972]

Only if it's a game that I'm exceptionally hyped for. In that case I would preorder a special edition.
Otherwise, I don't buy games for more than 20$, and even then it needs to justify its price (most games that I want are worth $10 to me).

 

[Drake666]

*snip*

That said, I dont buy many AAA titles because theyre so unfocused. I like games that fall into a niche and know their audience because when I happen to be in that audience they turn out to be great games that Ill play over and over and over again

Well said! The last 3 games I really liked were Tropico 4, FTL and Super House of Dead Ninja. These games are focused on what they can do well in their respective niche and they're well appreciated by the public.

However, I long for this summer Steam sale so I can buy Bioshock Infinite at a more resonable price. I hear the game's amazing. So, sometimes, the AAA industry can still make good game