Games might be $70 next gen.

[TriHard]

I don't mind the 10-20 dollars price hike IF they keep all micro transactions out of the game, it would not be acceptable to have both, that would be disgustingly greedy.

[Tech614]

I see your point and I agree, but a great game that lasts one hour priced at 70$ can’t be probably rated 10/10, regardless how mighty that hour is.

Q/P has to be a factor somehow.

It absolutely can be because it's a subjective rating and who are you to say otherwise?

Not to mention that is quite the hyperbole on the far end of the spectrum, where are these 1 hour $60 games that will be $70? Pretty sure they don't exist.

[Accendor]

Games could go up to 90$ if that means they would stop with microtransactions left and right.

[Makabreska]

I don't mind the 10-20 dollars price hike IF they keep all micro transactions out of the game, it would not be acceptable to have both, that would be disgustingly greedy.

You just perfectly described gaming industry, sooooo....

Games could go up to 90$ if that means they would stop with microtransactions left and right.

"The video game industry reached a record of $36 billion in revenue for 2017, according to data from the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and the NPD Group."

Gaming companies will NEVER wilfully drop this insane source of income, price increase or not.

"FIFA 20 publisher Electronic Arts (EA) announced in a financial briefing late last week it had made nearly $1 billion from microtransactions alone in the quarter that ended Dec 31."

That's ONE game mt's income in ONE quarter. Yeee, gl thinking they will just drop it, if the game prices would go up.

[TriHard]

You just perfectly described gaming industry, sooooo....



"The video game industry reached a record of $36 billion in revenue for 2017, according to data from the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and the NPD Group."

Gaming companies will NEVER wilfully drop this insane source of income, price increase or not.

"FIFA 20 publisher Electronic Arts (EA) announced in a financial briefing late last week it had made nearly $1 billion from microtransactions alone in the quarter that ended Dec 31."

That's ONE game mt's income in ONE quarter. Yeee, gl thinking they will just drop it, if the game prices would go up.

Exactly, which is why games should stay at 60 bucks, if not then I'm just gonna keep utilizing G2A.
If I see the next GTA, Dragon Age or whatever game go for 70-90 bucks while still keeping their micros, then I'll buy the games from G2A. Simple as that.

[Edge-]

"The video game industry reached a record of $36 billion in revenue for 2017, according to data from the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and the NPD Group."

Few things.

First off, that's revenue. Revenue = | = profit. Revenue is how much they've made, not accounting for expenses, taxes etc.

Second, you're including data that's heavily pulling from F2P games, where MTX are the only way for them to generate revenue - https://www.investopedia.com/article...ics-gaming.asp

Gaming companies will NEVER wilfully drop this insane source of income, price increase or not.

Well, EA did for the last Star Wars game and apparently have for the upcoming one so...you're wrong? Some will still aggressively monetize, some won't, and some will learn how to monetize more fairely.

"FIFA 20 publisher Electronic Arts (EA) announced in a financial briefing late last week it had made nearly $1 billion from microtransactions alone in the quarter that ended Dec 31."

That's ONE game mt's income in ONE quarter. Yeee, gl thinking they will just drop it, if the game prices would go up.

Regarding FIFA - https://www.casino.org/news/ea-hits-...-over-fifa-20/

And that's not "one game", that's from all their games combined, including Apex Legends and other sports titles (and SWTOR!).

Again, we're seeing publishers positions on MTX evolve in response to consumer backlash/feedback. FIFA folks keep spending big on team packs, so even though they complain EA is still gonna serve that market. The heavily monetized progression of Battlefront 2 bombed, the removed it and released 1 Star Wars game without any real MTX that I'm aware of (no loot boxes at least) and have another one coming that similarly won't feature that kind of monetization. And it's $40 to boot.

I agree that if prices go up then they need to tone down MTX for some games. I've got no problem shelling out a bit more given that the budget/risks of launching a AAA game have increased over the years and realistically game prices haven't kept up with inflation. And I'll continue to do my best to avoid games with bad monetization schemes no matter what their based-price is, if they even have one.

[AkundaMrdal]

I gave up on buying games day 1.

Most games are released as public beta’s these days, so I’ll keep doing what I do now; wait 6+ months and buy patched up games for <€25 discount prices.

I do the same, I buy games when they are fully fixed, with all dlcs and discounted. Right now I play games which released two years ago. 115€ for AC odyssey with all dlcs is big NO THX for me, and now I bought it for 38€

[tru]

Quality standards may go up but for the same reason I don't buy new games these days will stand. Primarily short game times

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Maybe pay their CEOs less than the 300x the average employee, and not give them insane stock options and bonus payouts on top of that?

Yeah pretty much, don't over pay the big people at the top so execessively that its absurd. Course this also affects non video game industries but.....


thats none of my business >.>

[Unholyground]

There is no real justification for games being as expensive as their are now already. I see an unlikely increase because of services like GamePass which will hold the prices from going up much, hell you get like 20% off most games on game pass too so it ends up being cheaper. Publishers cannot compete with services like that and expect to sell their games for $100(where I live) after taxes, games are FAR easier to pirate than in the 90's so good luck stemming the tide this time once they try to sell games for unrealistic amounts.

[Jastall]

Ugh, close to a hundred CND$ then? I already rarely buy games at full price (only two ones in recent memory were Total War: Three Kingdoms and Doom Eternal), now it'll be even rarer. Yes, yes, inflation and shit, but that argument would hold a lot more weight if the majority of full-priced games didn't also feature microtransactions and outrageously overpriced special and deluxe and collector's editions and whatnot, and if the video game industry wasn't reputed to be a shitty place to work for programmers and such in the first place.

[chiddie]

It absolutely can be because it's a subjective rating and who are you to say otherwise?

Not to mention that is quite the hyperbole on the far end of the spectrum, where are these 1 hour $60 games that will be $70? Pretty sure they don't exist.

I used to review games something like 20 years ago and short games were never rated 10/10.

Not that there were soooo many short games back then, it was another era completely.

But indeed I can completely understand people that care about how long the game is. I don’t but it’s a position we have to accept, it’s legit.

[SirCowdog]

Yeah pretty much, don't over pay the big people at the top so execessively that its absurd. Course this also affects non video game industries but.....


thats none of my business >.>

I'm ok with CEOs making the most out of the entire company. They're at the head, setting the direction for it and having the most responsibility, after all. I just don't feel that one guy should be getting 30mil bonuses in the same year that 800 employees were laid off to make profits look better. On top of the company doing things like not paying taxes.

[Advent]

I'm ok with CEOs making the most out of the entire company. They're at the head, setting the direction for it and having the most responsibility, after all. I just don't feel that one guy should be getting 30mil bonuses in the same year that 800 employees were laid off to make profits look better. On top of the company doing things like not paying taxes.

How much do CEOs actually make in game companies? Because I'm pretty sure game devs make an average of what, 50k a year? Which, if CEOs make what I think they do, is enough to give their dev employees a massive pay increase per year along with bonuses and still make 90% more than them yearly. It's pretty insane.

[SirCowdog]

How much do CEOs actually make in game companies? Because I'm pretty sure game devs make an average of what, 50k a year? Which, if CEOs make what I think they do, is enough to give their dev employees a massive pay increase per year along with bonuses and still make 90% more than them yearly. It's pretty insane.

Bobby Kotic(ATVI) makes 319 times the wage of the average employee. And that doesn't even consider bonuses and stock options. He's also in the 100(ranked 25 for 2019) top most overpaid COEs in the world.

To be objective, he has also increased the profitability of the company an insane amount over the last decade alone. That's a lot of jobs that probably wouldn't otherwise exist. I just wish ATVI didn't get there by such underhanded, cutthroat, only technically-legal means.

[Die]

Apple thrived by offering very expensive products designed to please wealthy clientele. The Apple model might be the future for a lot of stuff. Maybe take the idea of collectors' editions and crank it to 11, packing in a slew of exclusive features for a whopping $200 price tag. Shoot for the moon. There was some discussion that this would be the way out for Disney Star Wars as well. Disney could focus on the hardcore fans and do a super exclusive premiere showing of every new Star Wars film, packed with giveaways, posters, toys, etc. The price of a ticket for this exclusive Disney Star Wars event would be like $350. Casual fans would balk but the hardcore fans might just eat it up.

It sounds nuts but look at Blizzcon. People spend hundreds of dollars to fly to California, buy a ticket, dress in cosplay, and walk around and buy even more stuff. You don't need to sell tons of tickets, just some tickets to whales.

[Loeko]

Feels like this is gonna translate to 100 euros for Europe, just because, you know, they can stick it to us. We (not me personally but people in general) have already been paying 70 euros (80 dollars) for games on release day for almost a decade... So why not milk us even more?

[Biggles Worth]

https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/2/21...increase-games



This might set a new trend of games costing $70. AAA developers might charge more for games that have less content so they can cram them with microtransactions, because that's how the industry works now; they try to see how much they can get away with. At what point do gamers say, "Enough is enough."?

You might say I'm jumping to conclusions or overreacting, but the game industry has done nothing to deserve the benefit of the doubt in recent years. I fully expect games to cost $70 next gen.

Well, WoW expansions cost on average $400 to play through. That is a very questionable amount of money for the amount of content provided.

[TheDeeGee]

I gave up on buying games day 1.

Most games are released as public beta’s these days, so I’ll keep doing what I do now; wait 6+ months and buy patched up games for <€25 discount prices.

Yep, i only buy games that are 75% off or more these days.

[Mardux]

N64 games used to be $70 plus tax, that is nothing new. Granted you got a complete game at that point.

All games need to be digital and have a 2-4 hour played time return window. Much like Steam now offers. You buy the game, hate it, you can return it. No questions asked. The gamer wins, the dev loses, but they lose for a reason.

Not really. There were most definitely games back then that shipped with game-breaking bugs (even if you dont want to remember the bugs).

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Well, WoW expansions cost on average $400 to play through. That is a very questionable amount of money for the amount of content provided.

I'm fairly certain I paid much much less than that for legion, bfa, and SL *combined*. If someone charged you $400 for just one, you let yourself get ripped off.

- - - Updated - - -

Feels like this is gonna translate to 100 euros for Europe, just because, you know, they can stick it to us. We (not me personally but people in general) have already been paying 70 euros (80 dollars) for games on release day for almost a decade... So why not milk us even more?

Europe is sticking it to you, not blizzard. Blizzard doesnt actually control European commerce laws...

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Bobby Kotic(ATVI) makes 319 times the wage of the average employee. And that doesn't even consider bonuses and stock options. He's also in the 100(ranked 25 for 2019) top most overpaid COEs in the world.

To be objective, he has also increased the profitability of the company an insane amount over the last decade alone. That's a lot of jobs that probably wouldn't otherwise exist. I just wish ATVI didn't get there by such underhanded, cutthroat, only technically-legal means.

You linked the wrong list. Your link leads to an article about the 50 highest paid CEOs, not the 50 most overpaid CEOs.

The fact that you intentionally mislabeled the article and intentionally mislead your audience shows you had zero intention to be objective.