Justifiying the 60$ price tag.

[Oneirophobia]

I honestly think gaming has become too mainstream, hipster cat be damned. People with lower standards have entered the market en masse and made it tougher to get a truly good deal for the veteran crowd.

Huge emphatic eyeroll.


A good example of what the OP is talking about is Dragon Age 2. The actual game isn't all that great (storyline is fine, everything else...) but the DLC is amazing.

Makes me a sad panda that the $10 DLC >>>>> the actual $50 game.

[Edge-]

It's not about whether the game is worth it from the perspective of the buyer, it's about the fact that the price is unfair and jacked up through what is basically market conspiracy, be it silent or explicit (sounds dramatic but happens all the time, just refer to my first post on page 1 of this thread).

Sort of. The price is high, but one thing that I don't think anyone has talked about is how freaking EXPENSIVE it is to develop the AAA games nowadays. I'm not even going to bring marketing into this equation but...

It takes hundreds of people and multiple studios to turn out a AAA game. Programmers, artists, QA, developers, ect. ect. There are a TON of people who work on your games, and that costs a lot of money.

But IMO one if the main things is consumer expectation. We expect SO much more out of games compared to even 2-3 years ago, and developers have to deliver that. We expect better graphics and animations (expensive), better storylines and dialogue (debatable, but hiring more competent writers or voice actors is more expensive), we expect a bug free experience (the sheer number of potential bugs is unfathomable with the size and scope of games nowadays, so they need a number of VERY qualified QA testers, which again, isn't cheap), ect. ect. Part of what is driving up the price IMO, is the consumers demand. It's not the only thing, and many times it doesn't even really factor in (releasing a sequel with the same engine, using almost all the same models ect. with just minimal graphical updates and maybe a brief story), but it's definitely a part of it.

[zealous]

A simple night out for drinks with friends, or Deus Ex which would definitly last more than 1 night. Answer is simple, go out with friends, make them pay the bill, and get Deus Ex.

Win fuckin' win.

Most of my friends play the same games I do, so I'm screwed.

Also, I didn't know the prices jumped so high in Turkey, last time I was there they were considerably lower.

Where I live now, 60 bucks for a meal (with beers) for one person is quite above average. That's either an expensive restaurant or a lot of drinks in a medium one.

[Scorage]

Sort of. The price is high, but one thing that I don't think anyone has talked about is how freaking EXPENSIVE it is to develop the AAA games nowadays. I'm not even going to bring marketing into this equation but...

It takes hundreds of people and multiple studios to turn out a AAA game. Programmers, artists, QA, developers, ect. ect. There are a TON of people who work on your games, and that costs a lot of money.

But IMO one if the main things is consumer expectation. We expect SO much more out of games compared to even 2-3 years ago, and developers have to deliver that. We expect better graphics and animations (expensive), better storylines and dialogue (debatable, but hiring more competent writers or voice actors is more expensive), we expect a bug free experience (the sheer number of potential bugs is unfathomable with the size and scope of games nowadays, so they need a number of VERY qualified QA testers, which again, isn't cheap), ect. ect. Part of what is driving up the price IMO, is the consumers demand. It's not the only thing, and many times it doesn't even really factor in (releasing a sequel with the same engine, using almost all the same models ect. with just minimal graphical updates and maybe a brief story), but it's definitely a part of it.

Oooook, I know, cheap shot.

but let Knaak write whatever comes to the top of his head and have Metzen do the voiceover while Samwise draws the art. Done!

---------- Post added 2011-11-01 at 06:50 AM ----------

Most of my friends play the same games I do, so I'm screwed.

Also, I didn't know the prices jumped so high in Turkey, last time I was there they were considerably lower.

Where I live now, 60 bucks for a meal (with beers) for one person is quite above average. That's either an expensive restaurant or a lot of drinks in a medium one.

Meals cost the bulk while booze is relatively cheaper. Turkish beer tastes like piss so I go for a Heineken or Carlsberg, that's why my price stays high. To give some context ofcourse. A meal is around 10 to 20 dollars, depending on if it is chiken or beef. Then I have to pay 8 bucks per beer, add about 24 to 32 of that. Add some light transportation or some smokes and then I'm done for with 60.

[ati87]

What's more annoying is that when they release extra content shortly after the release of the game or when they actually just release that extra levels.

It's like they create a half finished game and then they decide on to add new things to do but for 10+ euro/dollar and after a few DLC the game actually becomes long enough.

I also remember the original Fable which I got when I bought my Xbox, it took me around 8 hours to finish it once and 10 hours second time when I did every quest. I could have took the game back on the same day which would have been a waste of my money if I paid the full price for it.

[zealous]

Sort of. The price is high, but one thing that I don't think anyone has talked about is how freaking EXPENSIVE it is to develop the AAA games nowadays. I'm not even going to bring marketing into this equation but...

It takes hundreds of people and multiple studios to turn out a AAA game. Programmers, artists, QA, developers, ect. ect. There are a TON of people who work on your games, and that costs a lot of money.

I'm not going get into this now in detail (mostly because I've spent most of the night working and am about to get some sleep), but believe me the 60$ cost is WELL above the costs of developing even the most premium games that are priced at that mark.

There are very clear signs (if you know what to look for) that these prices are artificial, two most prominent being that the price is the same for all companies and for almost all games, even though the games themselves and their producers/developers vary wildly, and consequently so do their production costs.

You can't compare a barely VOed 8 hour FPS game to a fully fledged 40 hour RPG with full voice acting, an intricate plot (which means a team of writers) etc. Yet the prices are the same.

Same thing with companies that produce and develop the games. One is situated in the US and has access to a fully developed industry, and one is situated in Europe and has to contract out professionals for many jobs from the States. The European company obviously spends more on development, yet the price is once again the same.

There is a slew of more technical and minor signs which I'm simply too tired to list atm, that would take up a page and a half. (EU trade laws, US trade laws, etc etc etc).

This is, once again, basic market conspiracy, either explicit or upon silent agreement, and if it took place in a more publicly scrutinized multi-billion-a-year industry, like, say, the agricultural sector, it would have been stopped in most countries because it's against competition laws (both by EU and US standards).

It's not as tin-foil-hatty as it sounds, it's a common enough thing, just a little bit new to the gaming industry, began at the start of the millenium.

[Marimba]

DLC isn't really a big deal to me, I just don't buy it. Length of games, however, is something that turns me off of current titles and sends me back to wow/my retro games/emulators

[emidas]

Meals cost the bulk while booze is relatively cheaper. Turkish beer tastes like piss so I go for a Heineken or Carlsberg, that's why my price stays high. To give some context ofcourse. A meal is around 10 to 20 dollars, depending on if it is chiken or beef. Then I have to pay 8 bucks per beer, add about 24 to 32 of that. Add some light transportation or some smokes and then I'm done for with 60.

I almost asked you where you were getting raped on beer prices, but then I saw you lived in Turkey. I feel for you, sir. I'm very glad that I don't ever pay more than $2 or $2.50 for a beer where I live and have lived (Maryland, Florida US).

The $60 price point isn't too big of a deal to me, partly because (due to Steam) I only buy games at launch I will play the s*** out of in its first few weeks, and partly because of cheapassgamers. The most expensive launch game I've bought in the last two years was my pre-purchase of Skyrim, which I paid $48 for. If you know where to shop and when to shop, gaming is really quite cheap for its investment.

[zealous]

Meals cost the bulk while booze is relatively cheaper. Turkish beer tastes like piss so I go for a Heineken or Carlsberg, that's why my price stays high. To give some context ofcourse. A meal is around 10 to 20 dollars, depending on if it is chiken or beef. Then I have to pay 8 bucks per beer, add about 24 to 32 of that. Add some light transportation or some smokes and then I'm done for with 60.

Prices have definitely gone up... and now that you mentioned food, I suddenly got a craving for Turkish cuisine... Lahmacun > Pizza any day of the week for me. Or at least some Manti. Crap now I can't decide whether I want to eat or sleep.

[Imadraenei]

Huge emphatic eyeroll.

I know, I know, but it's my feelings! I keep hearing about Call of Modern Warfare 18, and when I see gameplay, all I can think is...meh, this isn't anything special. It just makes me think of Counter-Strike with more people and someone to hog vehicles. I've felt this since Halo, which never even wowed me like I see some people get stiff over it. I always thought it was solid, but a tiny bit overrated. Plus, coming off my constant playing of UT99, I just got frustrated over how slow it felt, but maybe that was just me and my constant playing of UT99 back then.

[jonte912]

imo, 10 hour games (most of them) are not worth 60$, and that's why I don't buy them, games like fallout, elder scrolls etc are however worth every penny, you spend so much more time than 10h in elder scrolls/fallout

[Deleted]

I think most games justify it. However, if a game releases at $60 with day one DLC thats the exception. Looking at you Dragons Age 2.

Hell, even EA's new stance on cracking down on used games drives me nuts. Charging an extra $10 for multiplayer, or for a story related character (Catwoman in AA) because the buyer bought used seems greedy.

Yeah but we all know, completely without hyperbole of ANY sort EA are F**KING EVIL, have been for the last decade or so. They hate the people who work for them, they hate their customers, can you imagine what they think of 2nd hand customers?!

[Baz]

When did games become $60 anyway? a little off topic, but when I was young I recall $40-50 pricetags on everything

[Slummish]

Uh. Short games? Try living through Super Mario Brothers, Ikari Warriors, Contra, Q-Bert, Pac-Man, Pitfall, Pong, MegaMan, Ice Climbers, Kid Icarus, Shinobi and Pengo. We used to spend $50 on games 30 years ago and beat them on the first night. Count yourself blessed...

[Deleted]

I may be wrong, but Steam charges ridiculous prices for games in Europe.

A friend of mine told me that they dont account for currency change on Steam, so if a game is 60 dollars they charge 60 euros too. 60 euros is around 80 dollars.
This may be entirely wrong, this is just what a friend told me.

OT. Brand new PS3 games in europe are about 70-75 euros, which is close to 100 dollars.

I'm not gonna totally leap to their defence but steam I think is generally pretty decent for what you get. They are generally the same price as the mainstream. I can't speak for Europe as a whole but in the UK they price basically the same as the shops on release, you can get SLIGHTLY cheaper from buying online at places you've never heard of (google product search) but generally ok. It's handy having the game downloadable and being able to launch games with friends etc direct from steam.

Skyrim is up for pre-buy now at £34.99 on steam, cheapest I can find anywhere else is £27 (inc delivery) but the big games stores here are all around that same price.

Regardless, DO NOT GO TO ORIGIN EVEN FOR MW3! ORIGIN=EA=DEVIL SPAWN.

[Epiphanes]

Micro-transactions are the brain child of a smart COO/CEO who saw a problem and implemented a solution. The problem was production and operational costs versus sustainable revenue and profit margins for shareholders; not to mention continuity of a franchise. The solution was cutting operational costs by developing complete games, partitioning them into smaller parts with the larger portion being firm enough to stand on its own in a consumer driven market, and later sell the smaller pieces at marketable prices to keep the consumer interested in the product until development of the next product was nearing completion or at the shipping stage. What some people don't realize is that you have a choice. Feed the machine your hard-earned cash and keep enjoying a title you like, or don't feed the machine and wait for the next big title in horrible anticipation.

As far as management goes, its a brilliant idea that generates billions in revenue each year. +1 to the CEO who thought up this business model.

[delus]

wait a few months till there's a sale for 15 bucks on steam.

[Voidgazer]

Glorious PC gaming master race here!

Steam throws some crazy holiday sales every year, when A-class games are being sold for like a quarter of their cost. Also, for gamers on any platform, I wouldn't recommend buying anything at its release, unless you're really like the game (though mind it isn't released yet! and your opinion may drastically change after that) or developers, and sure that the game will meet your expectations. Otherwise, you may find yourself in an unpleasant situation, when you have supported the game, or some trends you wouldn't like to see in a long awaited sequel.

Now when gaming industry has become a really huge business, you shouldn't trust media and gaming journalists either. They may be carefully picked to write a "right" (p)review on the game in question by the developers/publishers themselves, like that recent case with BF3 showed. Or they may be just simply bought. The point is - trust only impressions of the game made on your friends, whose tastes in gaming you know and respect.

As for the pure economical problem with high costs of games - just wait till the price drop. There was an xkcd strip on that topic (I won't bother to search for it right now) - it's not necessary to be on the edge of game releases to have fun. You can as easily enjoy high quality gaming experience even if you fall behind for year(s) of the current gen, it will only cost you less.

[Imadraenei]

As for the pure economical problem with high costs of games - just wait till the price drop. There was an xkcd strip on that topic (I won't bother to search for it right now) - it's not necessary to be on the edge of game releases to have fun. You can as easily enjoy high quality gaming experience even if you fall behind for year(s) of the current gen, it will only cost you less.

http://xkcd.com/606/

[durza]

Uh. Short games? Try living through Super Mario Brothers, Ikari Warriors, Contra, Q-Bert, Pac-Man, Pitfall, Pong, MegaMan, Ice Climbers, Kid Icarus, Shinobi and Pengo. We used to spend $50 on games 30 years ago and beat them on the first night. Count yourself blessed...

you dont "beat" pack man and you cant beat alot of the games you mentioned in one day sooo...No