The End of $60 Games?

[vicious796]

It may be sooner than you think.

http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/why-end-60-video-game-near-181412574.html

The argument makes valid points but I still don't foresee a massive dropoff anytime truly soon - not with the newest consoles right around the corner. Still, it would be nice to see new games sell for 40 bucks or so.

[zherok]

I don't think XBox Arcade or the PSN Store enjoy remotely the throughput of say, the App store, Steam, and their many counterparts. Bigger investments are still more lucrative at the end of the day for consoles, even with a handful of notable successes on both platforms.

And I think whenever people bring up mediums like browser or portable games, they seem to suggest that these are somehow replacing conventional gaming, rather than simply bringing gaming to a place that otherwise wouldn't have had it.

You might like Angry Birds, but you probably don't play it on the big screen at home. And at $3 or whatever it's not likely offsetting any home purchases.

I'd agree that it'd be nice to see more titles willing to aim at lower price points. It's already incredibly common on PC platforms. And a huge sale driver, not just of games that would end up in the console's arcade sections, but more expensive productions that either have passed their prime at the $60 mark and just plain smaller endeavors that don't really deserve the full price sticker but still aren't merely $10 offerings. I mean, PSN still wants me to think GT5 Prologue is worth $30. I can currently buy the full game off Amazon for around $32, and the DLC filled edition for $7 more than that. Catching up to more market savvy retailers would really help the console makers, since they'd be bypassing the middle men almost entirely with those sorts of things.

[TMRNetShark]

Skyrocketing costs?

How about just making GOOD games that will sell at $50 instead of many games (good and bad and in the middle) that have to sell at $60? The first time I was stung by a $60 game back in early 2006 just made me cringe. Then PC games hit $60! It's seriously a vicious cycle that will make me stop buying physical mediums and purely buy Steam games.

If Valve makes a console, I'm willing to predict that they will win the console wars because it'll just be like the new Xbox/PS but with a 1-2 TB harddrive and no disc drive. Buy all your games online and download them (even with Steam sales)... good idea right?

[Hadouken]

If Valve makes a console, I'm willing to predict that they will win the console wars because it'll just be like the new Xbox/PS but with a 1-2 TB harddrive and no disc drive. Buy all your games online and download them (even with Steam sales)... good idea right?

For someone like me, this would be a useless console.

[HSSDamian]

Wait what? Games were that cheap??
Here in Australia, new releases cost around $100+
I remember buying FFXIII for $129.95 about 5 months after it came out.

[Saras]

And I think whenever people bring up mediums like browser or portable games, they seem to suggest that these are somehow replacing conventional gaming, rather than simply bringing gaming to a place that otherwise wouldn't have had it.

Replacing? No. Makes them more pissed of at 60 buck shit games, yes.

Oh, what concerns handhelds, tablet/smartphone games are indeed replacing them.

[AceHigh]

- Psychologically, $60 just sounds expensive. This isn't anecdotal, this is common sense.  Unless you're financially independent, $60 outright repels a vast slice of the entertainment consumer populace that the games industry desperately needs to convert to grow and survive.

That one is interesting. While a decade ago 60USD would translate to around 600NOK, today it's only 350. So from my perspective the games have gotten much cheaper. Especially with digital distribution where I can buy with prices fixed on US price and not Euro or even much worse: Norwegian store shelf price. That is another reason Origin store can screw itself.

So if you Americans compare with roughly a decade ago, don't you feel some inflation? That maybe 60USD today isn't as much as it was back then?

[vicious796]

Wait what? Games were that cheap??
Here in Australia, new releases cost around $100+
I remember buying FFXIII for $129.95 about 5 months after it came out.

Things have always been that expensive there, though. Have you noticed a raise in game prices over the past... say... 5 years?

- Psychologically, $60 just sounds expensive. This isn't anecdotal, this is common sense.  Unless you're financially independent, $60 outright repels a vast slice of the entertainment consumer populace that the games industry desperately needs to convert to grow and survive.

That one is interesting. While a decade ago 60USD would translate to around 600NOK, today it's only 350. So from my perspective the games have gotten much cheaper. Especially with digital distribution where I can buy with prices fixed on US price and not Euro or even much worse: Norwegian store shelf price. That is another reason Origin store can screw itself.

So if you Americans compare with roughly a decade ago, don't you feel some inflation? That maybe 60USD today isn't as much as it was back then?

60USD today is worth less than it was back then, sure, but we haven't increased our median salary at all over the past few years either. In fact, I think it's gone slightly down from near 40k to near 35k (not the full 5k, just saying the difference between 37 and 36).

[costi]

- Psychologically, $60 just sounds expensive. This isn't anecdotal, this is common sense.  Unless you're financially independent, $60 outright repels a vast slice of the entertainment consumer populace that the games industry desperately needs to convert to grow and survive.

That one is interesting. While a decade ago 60USD would translate to around 600NOK, today it's only 350. So from my perspective the games have gotten much cheaper. Especially with digital distribution where I can buy with prices fixed on US price and not Euro or even much worse: Norwegian store shelf price. That is another reason Origin store can screw itself.

So if you Americans compare with roughly a decade ago, don't you feel some inflation? That maybe 60USD today isn't as much as it was back then?

For me it's the opposite - the shelf price in Poland is around half of regular Steam price, and usually less, since we are tied to the Euro region. Average price for a new PC game is around 120 PLN, while 60 EUR is around 250, and 60 USD is about 200 PLN.

[TMRNetShark]

- Psychologically, $60 just sounds expensive. This isn't anecdotal, this is common sense.  Unless you're financially independent, $60 outright repels a vast slice of the entertainment consumer populace that the games industry desperately needs to convert to grow and survive.

That one is interesting. While a decade ago 60USD would translate to around 600NOK, today it's only 350. So from my perspective the games have gotten much cheaper. Especially with digital distribution where I can buy with prices fixed on US price and not Euro or even much worse: Norwegian store shelf price. That is another reason Origin store can screw itself.

So if you Americans compare with roughly a decade ago, don't you feel some inflation? That maybe 60USD today isn't as much as it was back then?

$60 here in the states gets you a week... maybe a week and half... worth of groceries. Or for me, it's about a tank and half worth of gas.

[Tatsujin]

Skyrocketing costs?

How about just making GOOD games that will sell at $50 instead of many games (good and bad and in the middle) that have to sell at $60? The first time I was stung by a $60 game back in early 2006 just made me cringe. Then PC games hit $60! It's seriously a vicious cycle that will make me stop buying physical mediums and purely buy Steam games.

If Valve makes a console, I'm willing to predict that they will win the console wars because it'll just be like the new Xbox/PS but with a 1-2 TB harddrive and no disc drive. Buy all your games online and download them (even with Steam sales)... good idea right?

For 2 years (2007 to 2009ish) I'd get hype'd about a game, pre-order, then play it and it turns out like shit and I think "... Seriously? This is worth 60 dollars?!". Just few games were really worth the money - my full 60 dollars. Games like MGSIV, God of War III, Killzone 2 & 3, Little Big Planet, Call of Duty 4, Black Ops and other notable games. I personally think they need to work on cutting down the development costs, like get better and more advanced technology to reduce time development and do a better job at presenting games. A 60 dollar game should give you a lot of things to do over the course of a month or longer.

Anyways, this is my opinion.

[Temuthril]

Game $60
Day 1 DLC $14.99
DLC 2 $9.99
DLC 3 $7.49
DLC 4 $19.99

So much for $60.

[AceHigh]

Well, then you are a sucker to pre-order those kind of titles. I hope at least you learned a lesson here.

It's actually funny when I think about it. One game this year that I pre-ordered was Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion and I got it cheaper because I had purchased the first game (loyalty to their existing customers?) and got automatically beta access to it. If I remember correctly I paid around 25USD for a game that will keep me entertained for many many hours.

Then there was this indie game that I was looking forward to and signed up for a closed beta. We were a very small test group and as a thanks for testing, we got the game for free.

Then we have wasteland 2 project... no need to mention how good investment that can turn out to be.

The only AAA title I pre-ordered so far in GW2. However I am pretty sure that one will not suck. Otherwise the hell must freeze over before I buy a 60$ game without trying it out first.

[TMRNetShark]

Well, then you are a sucker to pre-order those kind of titles. I hope at least you learned a lesson here.

It's actually funny when I think about it. One game this year that I pre-ordered was Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion and I got it cheaper because I had purchased the first game (loyalty to their existing customers?) and got automatically beta access to it. If I remember correctly I paid around 25USD for a game that will keep me entertained for many many hours.

Then there was this indie game that I was looking forward to and signed up for a closed beta. We were a very small test group and as a thanks for testing, we got the game for free.

Then we have wasteland 2 project... no need to mention how good investment that can turn out to be.

The only AAA title I pre-ordered so far in GW2. However I am pretty sure that one will not suck. Otherwise the hell must freeze over before I buy a 60$ game without trying it out first.

Sins is developed by a company that actually *shocker* CARES about it's customers. I didn't get the deal with Rebellion (waiting on that one) but I will indeed thing that my investment into Wasteland 2 will be well worth it.

[AceHigh]

No NDA on that one, so I can reveal that we are at the moment testing balance on Advent (already done with TEC). Testers are now awaiting for the two Vasari factions that will have to be balanced against each other and the other 4. So... I bet it will come out really soon, and while the changes unit-wise are not that big, it is very entertaining and brings new stuff that will keep you entertained for a while.

I definitely recommend this one.

[TMRNetShark]

No NDA on that one, so I can reveal that we are at the moment testing balance on Advent (already done with TEC). Testers are now awaiting for the two Vasari factions that will have to be balanced against each other and the other 4. So... I bet it will come out really soon, and while the changes unit-wise are not that big, it is very entertaining and brings new stuff that will keep you entertained for a while.

I definitely recommend this one.

The thing with Sins is, it kept to the whole "Expansion pack" model that brought a lot of new things to the base game instead of DLC that is half the cost... but way less than a quarter of new content.

Even look at Capcom charging $60 for SFxT.... then having on disc DLC. That is content that people paid for but Capcom wants to charge you another $15 for it. Even the President a producer of Capcom said he was "disappointed" that hackers got to the content that was on the disc that people paid for.

I really want someone to spit in his face... with a big lugie (for those unfamiliar with the term... a combination of mucus and spit).

EDIT: Here is the story

[AceHigh]

Well, they were mini-expansions, but then again the price reflected that too.

As for day 1 DLCs, usually it's because Sony/Microsoft test the game in order to certify it for their consoles. While that process is ongoing, making a DLC for day 1 is surely better than just sitting and twirling thumbs. At least that is part of the reason why it couldn't be a part of the game, since DLCs don't need certification.

[wizisi2k]

Well, then you are a sucker to pre-order those kind of titles. I hope at least you learned a lesson here.

It's actually funny when I think about it. One game this year that I pre-ordered was Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion and I got it cheaper because I had purchased the first game (loyalty to their existing customers?) and got automatically beta access to it. If I remember correctly I paid around 25USD for a game that will keep me entertained for many many hours.

Then there was this indie game that I was looking forward to and signed up for a closed beta. We were a very small test group and as a thanks for testing, we got the game for free.

Then we have wasteland 2 project... no need to mention how good investment that can turn out to be.

The only AAA title I pre-ordered so far in GW2. However I am pretty sure that one will not suck. Otherwise the hell must freeze over before I buy a 60$ game without trying it out first.

Sins is developed by a company that actually *shocker* CARES about it's customers. I didn't get the deal with Rebellion (waiting on that one) but I will indeed thing that my investment into Wasteland 2 will be well worth it.

not only is the developer a company that CARES about its customers, the PUBLISHER does as well.  For example, they (the publisher) are giving away copies of their upcoming game away for free if you bought and registered the game in 2010.  If you bought and registered the game before Halloween 2010, you get not only the upcoming standalone expansion (NOT Rebellion) for free, but you get the NEXT one for free too.  regarding the NDA about Vasari: I believe SOMEONE figured out how to enable them but they got a game crash.  I also got the Rebellion discount (25% off).

[AceHigh]

Beta is public so there is no NDA even on Vasari. It's just that Vasari are not done yet and thus not enabled in the test.

[zherok]

As for day 1 DLCs, usually it's because Sony/Microsoft test the game in order to certify it for their consoles. While that process is ongoing, making a DLC for day 1 is surely better than just sitting and twirling thumbs. At least that is part of the reason why it couldn't be a part of the game, since DLCs don't need certification.

SFxT doesn't appear to be an issue of post-production DLC; all of the locked characters appear to be available on the shipping disc. The "DLC" is more than likely nothing but an unlocking code.

It becomes more an argument about how much content customers are owed. SFxT's roster isn't particularly small even before the locked characters. But its still content they finished in time to make the disc.