Why Are DS Games So Expensive?

[Scrustle]

This topic has been bothering me for a while now. Why the hell are new (as in not used) DS games so expensive? No game worth getting seems to ever go down in price. For a while I've been looking at a few DS games, Spirit Tracks (which I've decided against now) and Okamiden. And both of them are STILL at the full RRP of £30! Why?! Does it have anything to do with the piracy surrounded with the DS? I don't really know much about the DS piracy apart from people use those special game cards and load pirated games on to them.

 

[Fayathon]

Good games on the DS are few and far between, or at least the market is saturated with shovelware, so to lower their prices is to lower their game's 'quality' to that of games the likes of "Barbie Horse Adventure" or some shit. That's my theory anyways.

 

[StorytellingIsAMust]

I don't what Okamiden is, but Spirit Tracks is a Zelda game, and the name brand of Zelda can pretty much allow any price Nintendo/stores want because Zelda fans will still buy it (their logic, not mine).

 

[Lukeje]

Because people are willing to pay that much. It's that simple.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Because Nintendo needs to pay for all the lawyers working R4 cases.

Seriously, the bill is pushing resolutely into the hundreds of millions, it has to be...

 

[emeraldrafael]

You mean the new 3D ones, cause thats about increase in technology.

Other then that, i dont know what you mean. I remember Pokemon Black/White came out for 35 USD, and i was happy about it for the amount I was paying to get it. I got Custom Robo Arena new for 25 USD, Izuna legend of the unemployed ninja for about 25 USD, and Zoo Tycoon for 15 USD (though I picked it up after it had been out for a while. The Pokemon HG/SS with pokewalker being 40 USD was a bit ridiculous since the pokewalker was just a tomigachi pedometer, what they charge to replace them.

I suspect youre talking big triple AAA it has to be good to make money or has a higher expectation due to pedigree titles. naturally those are more expensive (especially Nintendo Flagship titles like Zelda, Mario, Pokemon, Metroid) because the company expects more from them to get back the cost of making the game.

 

[flaming_squirrel]

Brought one of the original DS's about a week after release, since then owned a grand total of ~8 games for it, 6 of which were pre-owned.

Aside from the issue of 95% of the games being complete and utter bollocks the price is just unjustifiable. You're paying (proper) console level prices and instead getting a sprite adventure which could have run on the SNES.
I've never seen a statement by Nintendo or any publisher stating why exactly they think such high RRP's are defendable, but would love see such a thing if it existed. My guess would be because the target audience are primarily children who will be begging their parents to buy them that Barbie Horse adventure, so they can simply get away with it.


Then there's the 3DS and how it causes my eyes to bleed.

 

[iamnoobie616]

While they may be overprice, people still buy them.And I doubt Nintendo cares anymore, they probably have enough money to buy the earth and all of heaven and hell.

 

[TaboriHK]

They have to get their money somewhere.

 

[Twilight_guy]

"it's the economy, stupid"

It's what people will pay for them, plane and simple. Game companies aren't immune to the effect of economics so they play by the same rules we do: supply and demand.

 

[Susan Arendt]

Depends on the game in question, of course. Higher-profile games will cost more because they can. People will pay $40 for a new Zelda game, so Nintendo would be foolish to sell it for less than that. Later, it can be used in a bundle to help push a particular kind of DS - maybe a new color, or just as a little boost to sales.

Part of the pricing comes from the fact that cartridges are still more expensive to make than disc-based games, though naturally DS games are physically small, so it's not like we're back in the days of N64 games being so much pricier than PlayStation titles.

 

[Strain42]

Aren't DS games the cheapest you can usually get right now except for all the awesome $.99 app store games?

Your average DS game is $29.99, on rare occasions (mainly big Nintendo titles like Mario, Pokemon and Zelda) it goes to $34.99, but that's still cheaper than most games.

 

[Something Amyss]

This topic has been bothering me for a while now. Why the hell are new (as in not used) DS games so expensive? No game worth getting seems to ever go down in price. For a while I've been looking at a few DS games, Spirit Tracks (which I've decided against now) and Okamiden. And both of them are STILL at the full RRP of £30! Why?! Does it have anything to do with the piracy surrounded with the DS? I don't really know much about the DS piracy apart from people use those special game cards and load pirated games on to them.

Handhelds have been notorious for this over time. There are exceptions, but when the Game Boy and GBA were the contemporary systems, the same was true of them. There's already a smaller demand, but it tends not to do down with time as fast.

Actually a lot of niche titles for consoles do this, too. Sure, once the next couple gens come along, the prices drop, but the smaller titles that never sold as well often stay high compared to big titles released around the same time.

 

[EHKOS]

Well....there is an extremely well made DS emulator that ran Pokemon B/W on release day. But the main thing is, if you look at gamecube games, they are also extremely high priced. Mario Kart DD and...well, alot of the Mario franchise is still expensive.

 

[Bad Jim]

I may be talking out of my ass, but perhaps it's because Nintendo has what is essentially a monopoly on handheld gaming. They can set their prices that high because people will pay for it, as there are very few alternatives out there.

I don't think so. There is the PSP. More importantly, the smartphone offers plenty of gaming delights, lower prices and is less weight to carry around.

I'd say it's because anyone who forks out money for a handheld gaming device, when they already have a smartphone, has money to burn.

 

[DarkRyter]

Thirty bucks is relatively cheap.

Oh wait, that's the pound symbol.

Holy shit, you're getting ripped off.