Diablo 2 Ressurrected : 44$ USD (54$CAD)

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

AoE2: Definitive Edition is 20€ on Steam, which feels reasonable for a remaster of an old game. Blizzard's games have always cost more and been slower to drop the price over time, so considering that WC3: Reforged's 30€ price tag felt alright (back when we still thought we were getting a good game). The asking price of 40€ for D2: Resurrected goes past the reasonable and the premium, entering territory where I would say it's greedy. Maybe it's related to the operating costs of Vicarious Visions vs Team 1, or they're simply calculating the following of Diablo is strong enough that customers won't be put off by the higher price, especially since they're releasing this amidst anticipation for D4 and Immortal.

There is no premium.

A reasonable price is whatever the consumer finds to be reasonable.

If you do not find 40 to be a reasonable price...do not buy it.

Comparative pricing between AoE2: DE and D2:R is meaningless. They are entirely different games with entirely different levels of popularity.

[gaaara]

There is no premium.

A reasonable price is whatever the consumer finds to be reasonable.

If you do not find 40 to be a reasonable price...do not buy it.

Comparative pricing between AoE2: DE and D2:R is meaningless. They are entirely different games with entirely different levels of popularity.

Yes and Blizz/Acti knows D2 R will sell like hot cakes, hence the mark up on the price.

Comparatively CnC Remastered was sold for a much lower price, and retained the original/updated module.

I am not sure how much effort/cost was involved on the CGI, since they did say all of it was redone from ground up, and that could be one reason for the cost increase, however none of that was revealed.

[dwarven]

They're charging that much because they know everyone and their grandmother is going to get it.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

Yes and Blizz/Acti knows D2 R will sell like hot cakes, hence the mark up on the price.

Which is the same thing any other company would do in their position.

I am not sure how much effort/cost was involved on the CGI, since they did say all of it was redone from ground up, and that could be one reason for the cost increase, however none of that was revealed.

Does any company reveal that kind of information when they are trying to market a game?

"We spent X dollars remastering Diablo 2:R and therefore we are pricing it at Y and projecting to sell Z"

That's in the presentation you give to shareholders...not customers.

[Hellobolis]

Which is the same thing any other company would do in their position.

Plenty of companies wouldn't. I'd go as far as to say the blizzard of 10 years ago wouldn't. They'd call it a passion project or something back then and wouldn't expect to make a profit of such a project.

Just look at those arcade games as an example, they were available for free until a week ago cause blizzard used to be nice. but now they want to re-release them for a high price and suddenly the download links for the originals don't work anymore.

Remember when developers used to say "gaming has never been cheaper?", you don't hear that anymore.

[NoiseTank13]

I'm not reading 16 pages of armchair appraising nonsense, but can anyone tell me if there's going to be content made for it, like seasons and the like?

[Araya]

Age of Empires definitive edition bundle costs this much (which contains all 3 games with tons of added content).

kek

AoE is also getting new content, so not really a fair comparison

[vincink]

This may come as a shock but... the price of things goes up over time. Hell, I remember when gasoline was under USD $1.

Inflation sucks.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

Plenty of companies wouldn't. I'd go as far as to say the blizzard of 10 years ago wouldn't. They'd call it a passion project or something back then and wouldn't expect to make a profit of such a project.

Name a single company that has released a "passion project" that they didn't expect to make a profit on.

Remember when developers used to say "gaming has never been cheaper?", you don't hear that anymore.

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/...g-time-coming/

It remains to be seen if other publishers will follow 2K's lead and make $70 a new de facto standard for big-budget console game pricing. But while $70 would match the high-water mark for nominal game pricing, it wouldn't be a historically high asking price in terms of actual value. Thanks to inflation and changes in game distribution, in fact, the current ceiling for game prices has never been lower.

[Struggle]

Gaming is still cheap entertainment. Even at this price.

Meanwhile today the President of the United States had to sign an executive order regarding the global silicon shortage, and price gougers are getting double or more than retail for hardware.

So cheap...

[Sylv_]

Hahahahahahahaha, charging to put nailpolish on?

Same game, same shit.
No new content, too braindead for new successful IPs.
De talent b'gone mon'

[zhero]

This may come as a shock but... the price of things goes up over time. Hell, I remember when gasoline was under USD $1.

Inflation sucks.

diablo as a brand new game, back then, would have been ~$40 way back then. the fact it isn't new and they flopped the last remaster makes it questionable choice to get, especially when diablo 2 is still available. its also ridiculous that they are advertising it as "two games in one" because it will include the expansion.

i really hope that the official trailer isn't what they are calling the remastered version, because it looks the same as the original.

[Jibjub]

Some of the employees at Blizzard are known to barely be able to pay rent and some even skip the cafeteria lunches because they can't afford it. Even veterans have claimed to receive raises which equate to about 50 more cents per hour. Oh, and on a record quarter they decided to fire 800 employees. Great business dude.

If you feel this way and still buy their products.... jokes on you and you're weak, weak ethics. But I get it. The flesh is weak.

[Witchblade77]

I mean, i was excited for all of 5 minutes, and then I saw the price and decided that i'll just watch remastered cutscenes on youtube. I already have the original AND the expac. i can play that if the mood strikes and don't need to pay extra for it.

[Sorshen]

You need to realise, part of the package that comes for the 40 $/€ is a fresh start away from bots (hopefully at least for a while), auto account lockout after switching chars too fast, limited games per hour, duped/glitched gear, old 08 uniques and classic rares, hybrid runewords domination in pvp... and a lot of other stuff that was making the old b.net experience terrible.
Is the price right? It's for you to decide. I think it's a bit high, but someone that's really invested in D2's glory days/legacy will pay. That's what they're counting on.

[Bee76]

Seeing how great WC3:Refunded turned out... it's bold to ask for more than 10 bucks.

But then again, they could price it at like $100 bucks and would still make a fortune. Blizzard loyalist zealots are some of the most insanely blind and I just pay whatever because it's company X customers I've ever seen. Seriously, we're rivaling Apple here. They can just do whatever the fuck they want and ask for any random amount of money... and old Bobby 'Devil Horns' Kotick is still gonna make another couple millions... and no matter how good their sales are they'll probably still lay off another 500ish people and rehire them at a lower rate because why the fuck not but please don't unionize because the gaming industry couldn't possibly work if everyone just stopped willingly eating shit while fucking paying for it.

So buckle up, Lord of destruction is probably gonna come in a couple years and they'll just ask your for another 30 or 40 bucks. Bu maybe you'll get a cool WoW pet or an Overwatch lootbox FOR FREE alongside your purchase to make you feel better.

This post sounds a little greedy to me. You dont like the price ? Dont buy it - simple as that. I will buy it, i dont care those 40 bucks. Maybe i am a fanboy zealot, but this is not your bussiness at all. Maybe, if blizzard disappoints me again with a remaster title like with wc3, i will change my approach to the next title, but right now i will buy new blizz stuff.

[h4rr0d]

Price is fine. If it was too expensive they wont sell copys and at some stage it'll be on discount for people who don't want to play on Day 1.

I don't buy people saying shit like "this is an old game should be cheaper" or "i've already bought this once" because its actually a brand new game. It's just that its a carbon copy of an older game. Given how shite some of the new games are that come out im happy to spend money on a game I know will be good. As for "buying it twice" I was under absolutely NO expectations that when i bought D2 i'd be able to play it online for 20+ years, which has been whats happened, further i'll be able to KEEP playing it based on their announcement and if I want i can UPGRADE my version with modern graphics.

Costs $55USD for NZers ($75NZD) idgaf - worth it.

That's the thing. From what I heard, it is not a brand new game. They are supposed to be using the old game engine, "just" with updated graphics. There's nothing wrong with that, especially since the game is still just fine, but the pricetag for it is quite steep.

I think what happened to AoE2 should be considered golden standard for remasters. It costs 20 bucks, revived the community around the franchise and is still being actively developed and balanced a year after its release, even getting new civs (sure, for a pricetag, but I don't think anyone would have issues paying for new d2 content as well).

If the game gets continued support beyond bugfixes for that pricetag (say, seasons ala d3, new class, ...) the price might be justified. Otherwise it's ripoff banking on Blizz name stamped on it to sell. Especially since everyone is locked up in their home.
Just out of curiosity, is w3 getting any kind of support?

[zhero]

This post sounds a little greedy to me. You dont like the price ? Dont buy it - simple as that. I will buy it, i dont care those 40 bucks. Maybe i am a fanboy zealot, but this is not your bussiness at all. Maybe, if blizzard disappoints me again with a remaster title like with wc3, i will change my approach to the next title, but right now i will buy new blizz stuff.

it isn't new though, based on the preview it looks the same, for double the price.

[TheFirstOnes]

ew

Should've been like $10 or $20 at MOST. Definitely not paying $44 for a remake of an old game. The Crash N Sane Trilogy doesn't even cost this much ($4 dollars LESS, actually), and that shit had 3 fucking games remade. Not 1.

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This post sounds a little greedy to me. You dont like the price ? Dont buy it - simple as that. I will buy it, i dont care those 40 bucks. Maybe i am a fanboy zealot, but this is not your bussiness at all. Maybe, if blizzard disappoints me again with a remaster title like with wc3, i will change my approach to the next title, but right now i will buy new blizz stuff.

This is a horrible excuse. "DOESN'T MATTER IF THIS "REMAKE" LOOKS BLAND, IS OVERPRICED, ETC! IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, DON'T BUY IT" is not an excuse for Blizzard's poor handling of a product. Doesn't help that this isn't even a true "remake". It's more or less just the old game with some slight HD updates to it, as well as some "quality of life" changes. Definitely not worth spending 40 fucking dollars on.

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It's greedy, and uninspired. And, like I already mentioned before, I could get much better "remakes" of multiple products (For example: The N Sane Trilogy, WHICH LEGIT REMADE THE FIRST 3 CRASH GAMES! THAT LITERALLY SLAPS ANYTHING D2 or WC3 RELATED) for a lesser price!

[bloodwulf]

Maybe im a shill but that does not seem bad at all to me, especially because it is being done by Vicarious Visions who did great on two previous remakes (THPS1+2 and Crash). That and its arguable my 2nd favorite game of all time. Id be more concerned about the game if Blizzard had announced they were doing it entirely on their own, but the group that is doing it knows how to remaster and stay true. We are talking $44, if that was money i was honestly concerned about I might go out to eat with my wife one less time in a week....