A problem with gaming in today's world is that games simply cost too much. $60 for a Call of Duty title just doesn't make sense to me, for example, though I know th companies behind it a) need to make up for their dues and b) want to turna profit. What would you do to lower the price of gaming while still being effective for companies?
Lowering the Price of Games
- Thread starter Ventus
- Start date
JuicieJ
SHOW ME YA MOVES!
I think games should have different prices depending on their budget. AAA games (with substantial play time and replay value) are the only ones that should have a $60 price tag. Others should be AT THE VERY MOST $50, and the shovelware anywhere from $30-$40. Same should be for handheld games, just adjust to the price marks accordingly.
Most things that people ***** about, such as off-disc content like DLC, keep games from rising in price. That's why games for next generation aren't looking to rise in price for the foreseeable future even though budgets are, because of these features in games. If you want games to lower in price, you need to accept directives like DLC, microtransactions, and the like. Which ain't gonna happen. But I don't ever see them lowering across the board; they'll stay the same, or rise. People are willing to pay these prices so why rock the boat. But hopefully they won't rise, but could do late in the generation.
Prices simply reflect budgets, too. Companies do need to figure out a way to cut development costs but, mistakes happen, and mistakes cost money. Can't help that sort of thing.
And if you really think about it, games are actually very cheap. The Dark Knight Rises, I got that for £10 on Blu-ray, for almost 3 hours of entertainment. I bought Battlefield 3 for £40, and it's currently given me 120 hours of entertainment. I got Counter-Strike for £20, and it's given me over 2000 hours of content. So, games are far from being too expensive.
Prices simply reflect budgets, too. Companies do need to figure out a way to cut development costs but, mistakes happen, and mistakes cost money. Can't help that sort of thing.
And if you really think about it, games are actually very cheap. The Dark Knight Rises, I got that for £10 on Blu-ray, for almost 3 hours of entertainment. I bought Battlefield 3 for £40, and it's currently given me 120 hours of entertainment. I got Counter-Strike for £20, and it's given me over 2000 hours of content. So, games are far from being too expensive.
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I paid $90 for Battlefield 3 on PC and got less than one hour of entertainment. Cheap, right? And I supported the DLC ahahaha!!!! NO. Sorry, but no. Games are not cheap at all, they're ridiculously expensive in a world with a :? economy in almost every corner. I'm also not going to accept crap DLC like the stuff EA throws out; if you want to use DLC, use it for MEANINGFUL entries - examples being Lord of Destruction Expansion Pack for Diablo II, half of the DLC available in Fire Emblem Awakening, and the standalone "expansions" available in Guild Wars. Accepting crap DLC like the map packs in BF/CoD, that is not keeping games from rising in price, that's telling devs they can keep being lazy af.
I don't know about you, but I'm not paying $60 where it isn't justified. Justification for me is very different compared to others. :/
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2011
Blame High Definition for high-priced video Games. Games in HD cost more than games in Standard Definition. Because of this I struggle to buy Wii U games but manage to buy many 3DS games. HD isn't something that is absolutely needed in video games, so in order to reduce prices HD would be the thing I would get rid of. Don't care if it's a step backwards, if the games are good, which alot of Nintendo games are, the Console and games will sell well.
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Ventus said:
So you made a bad purchase. That happens. I've bought games that I've not liked and felt like I wasted money on; I've also done that with just about everything in life. Products that weren't very good, didn't last, etc. Me and the boyfriend even rented this horrible flat we had to move out of asap. That happens in life, so you'd better get used to it now, since are you saying every single game you've ever bought hasn't been worth it? My point was, compared to other forms of media, gaming is in-fact quite cheap. The initial price may seem high, but on the long-run, it's actually pretty good considering how much you get out of games.
You pay for what you get. I bought Dead Island for £40 Day 1, lasted only a few hours, hated it and was a waste of money. But as I said, that happens. Just need to be more careful with what you buy and for how much. Gaming has never been a cheap hobby, either. Inflation. Tis a thing.
DarkestLink
Darkest of all Dark Links
- Joined
- Oct 28, 2012
I just wish they'd do away with DLC and sell us complete games.
You just gotta suck it up and deal with it
You can rest easy, though. 99% of titles not branded by Nintendo which support DLC are throwaway titles.
DarkestLink
Darkest of all Dark Links
- Joined
- Oct 28, 2012
Can you name some? I mean heck, even with Zelda, the longest game game is TP and for the average person who only does one playthrough, that's 12 hours if they 100%. More likely, they'll only do a few sidequests which leaves us something closer to 8-10 hours of gameplay.
I buy games, but I buy them because a game can last me up to 14 years of gameplay, due to my habit of constantly replaying them. 14 being the current record until my TV got too advanced for my poor N64 and I had to start emulating those titles. Regardless, I'm not normal in this aspect. Not many people replay games at all and few 100% titles either. Again, for Zelda's longest title we have 12 hours of gameplay max. I don't know where you get the idea that a common game is 50 hours.
ILU
i luv u
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2011
I think the price of games in general is just fine. They have actually become less expensive over time. Years ago they were less expensive to develop and more costly to the consumer, and now that's flip-flopped, so now you're paying LESS. I offer you an infographic:
Some games that just rehash things like CoD which tends to stick to the same engine and models with simple adjustments aren't worth $60 IMO, regardless of how big of a fan the consumer may or may not be. But then you do have the cases where said rehashes are created by split parties (Infinity Ward & Treyarch), and different employees are going to have different pay rates and different parties will have different licensing issues, blah blah blah. Take Black Ops 1 &2 which both had massive budgets to hire decent voice actors and obtain rights and licenses to music and so on. $60 is pretty reasonable in situations like these IMO, and there are many games that have to afford similar things.
Let me share some GameStop employee experience here: Not going into a conversation about how evil the company is, they way they do things is pretty clever sometimes. Take the price of their used games, for instance. A lot of people complain that they are too expensive for being used, but do you know why they don't lower the prices much more? They have already experimented, and have found that they don't make that many more sales if they drop the price. The few extra sales they make don't justify a price drop, and since they actually LOSE money despite more sales, they keep the used games at the various prices they are. The odd time they drop a price is usually location-based. For instance, Target has started dabbling in the pre-owned gaming market, and when the store RIGHT next to the GS I worked at offered a competing price, MY store's location had a competition discount added to the system. However, the store 4 miles away did not.
I don't know if a similar thing would apply to the new-game market, but I assume it would. Regardless, I don't think the prices are that bad if you compare them to what they used to be.
Some games that just rehash things like CoD which tends to stick to the same engine and models with simple adjustments aren't worth $60 IMO, regardless of how big of a fan the consumer may or may not be. But then you do have the cases where said rehashes are created by split parties (Infinity Ward & Treyarch), and different employees are going to have different pay rates and different parties will have different licensing issues, blah blah blah. Take Black Ops 1 &2 which both had massive budgets to hire decent voice actors and obtain rights and licenses to music and so on. $60 is pretty reasonable in situations like these IMO, and there are many games that have to afford similar things.
Let me share some GameStop employee experience here: Not going into a conversation about how evil the company is, they way they do things is pretty clever sometimes. Take the price of their used games, for instance. A lot of people complain that they are too expensive for being used, but do you know why they don't lower the prices much more? They have already experimented, and have found that they don't make that many more sales if they drop the price. The few extra sales they make don't justify a price drop, and since they actually LOSE money despite more sales, they keep the used games at the various prices they are. The odd time they drop a price is usually location-based. For instance, Target has started dabbling in the pre-owned gaming market, and when the store RIGHT next to the GS I worked at offered a competing price, MY store's location had a competition discount added to the system. However, the store 4 miles away did not.
I don't know if a similar thing would apply to the new-game market, but I assume it would. Regardless, I don't think the prices are that bad if you compare them to what they used to be.
Viral Maze
Verb the adjective noun
I don't think games cost too much. $60 isn't chump change, but no one said this wasn't going be an inexpensive hobby. Buying consoles or PC parts will run you up hundreds of dollars, easy.
Like Ez said, a major factor is a game development cost and if devs can figure out how to reduce that, we'd save. The major problem with gaming is that games have one mode of sale; buying new copies. Used sales profits do not make their way back to the developers. There are no other ways for devs to make back their money except with initial purchases of their game.
Movies have theatre releases, rentals, TV play, DVD/BluRay releases and the music industry has live shows, radio plays, royalties, as well as record/CD sales. Video games have none of that, and yet many have budgets of +$1 million.
I'd love to pay less than $60 for a new game (console game, since Steam is boss and PC games are cheap), but I don't see that happening.
What incomplete games are you playing?
Like Ez said, a major factor is a game development cost and if devs can figure out how to reduce that, we'd save. The major problem with gaming is that games have one mode of sale; buying new copies. Used sales profits do not make their way back to the developers. There are no other ways for devs to make back their money except with initial purchases of their game.
Movies have theatre releases, rentals, TV play, DVD/BluRay releases and the music industry has live shows, radio plays, royalties, as well as record/CD sales. Video games have none of that, and yet many have budgets of +$1 million.
I'd love to pay less than $60 for a new game (console game, since Steam is boss and PC games are cheap), but I don't see that happening.
What incomplete games are you playing?
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2010
what cheat codes are you using nig? TP takes at least 40 hours for a normal playthrough, much less a 100% of it.
12 hours skipping all cutscenes for me, no 100%. That was one of my first runs of TP.
imo 12 hours is nothing at all; yes I'm a kid who has a crapton of time on his hands, but even if I were an adult who had just a sliver of time to play games, I'd want a game that last me over 50 hours not because of ridiculous goals (rank 50 captain in BF; prestige master in CoD) but because of pure engrossing content (Fire Emblem, Super Nig Bros, JRPGs and WRPGs). There's a big difference between 50 hours of filler and 50 hours of genuine gameplay.
Different people like different things, though, so i can't say that purchasing CoD or BF or whatever cheap-*** game out there is a bad thing for everyone, but it defiintely isn't my kdin of purchase—at least not for $60.
DarkestLink
Darkest of all Dark Links
- Joined
- Oct 28, 2012
*spits out coffee* FORTY HOURS?! What the hell are you doing?! Did you pause the game in the middle of the dungeon and then go out on a date before coming back and unpausing it? Did your joystick break, forcing you to walk the entire game? Or were you really new to gaming when you got it and somehow got stuck on the puzzles?
I'm not speed running this BTW...if I were, 6 hours would easily be enough to do it without 100%ing the game.