£50 for digital?

[wheresyoggy]

seems steep for a download... really thought ANet might buck the trend of overpriced digital software.

[Deleted]

Well, looking at it, WoW right now is exactly that.

http://eu.battle.net/wow/en/services/game-purchase/

£50 for all the expansions up-to-date. Plus a sub fee, and whatever MoP costs. The thing is, £50 is worth it, in my eyes, for an MMO on this scale. Look at games that sell for £30 or however much that only have one story, no multiplayer, and only maybe 12 hours of actual entertainment value.

Bargain, in my eyes.

[Deleted]

£50 is a lot in itself, but if you consider that most new games now are £30 - £40, and the average subscription is £10 a month (being round on figures here), then that gives you 2-3 months of pre-paid game time (if you include 1 month with the initial purchase).

For some people, that'll be enough and they'll move on - but I know I'll be playing GW2 for a lot longer. =)

[Lucky_]

NCSoft is gouging on digital download, just like most of the other publishers do.

Get a retail copy for much less instead.

[terrahero]

NCSoft is gouging on digital download, just like most of the other publishers do.

Get a retail copy for much less instead.

So much this. The digital copy you get from their website is far and beyond the most expensive. I've seen stores undercut that by as much as 15%. Check out other major online retailers or your local gamestores, you're bound to find a copy that cheaper then what Arenanet/NCsoft charges.
So far that applies to almost every game, as publishers cant piss off the brick and mortar retailers (yet) by going for competitive prices. Or these stores will boycot said product, and that hurts publishers/developers more in the long run.

[Edge-]

So far that applies to almost every game, as publishers cant piss off the brick and mortar retailers (yet) by going for competitive prices. Or these stores will boycot said product, and that hurts publishers/developers more in the long run.

That's absolutely not why publishers don't put games up for cheaper online. If they could achieve similar distribution through digital only, they would never ship physical again. They charge that much online because people will pay for it. However much people are willing to pay is what they are going to charge no matter what, this way they just make a larger profit for digital sales (no production/shipping prices to factor in, no distribution feeds ect).

[Dedweight]

NCSoft is gouging on digital download, just like most of the other publishers do.

Get a retail copy for much less instead.

Are retail copies normally cheaper than Digital across the pond? Don't think I've ever seen a price difference between the two here in the states(save Steam sales of course), Cataclysm for example is $40 for both Digital and Retail.

[Deleted]

I do agree that it's a little steep, especially compared to how much games used to cost a couple of years ago. With that said, however, the fact that this game does not have a subscription means that the initial cost is more justified.

[terrahero]

That's absolutely not why publishers don't put games up for cheaper online. If they could achieve similar distribution through digital only, they would never ship physical again. They charge that much online because people will pay for it. However much people are willing to pay is what they are going to charge no matter what, this way they just make a larger profit for digital sales (no production/shipping prices to factor in, no distribution feeds ect).

Sorry but no. They simply do not sell as much if the brick and mortar stores boycot their product, which they will if they'd undercut them with digital copies. Most sales these days are still from stores.
Why else would they compete themselves out of the market? every. single. time. Not just NCsoft. The digital copies are never cheaper. Infact they are pretty much always the most expensive even when compared to other online distrubtions.

[Fencers]

$50-60 is the standard price of new games. Deal, I suppose.

[Edge-]

Sorry but no. They simply do not sell as much if the brick and mortar stores boycot their product, which they will if they'd undercut them with digital copies. Most sales these days are still from stores.

At this time you're right, digital distribution alone can't compete with brick and mortar stores. I was posing the hypothetical that IF they could.

They wouldn't boycott their product, because that would be a HUGE loss of revenue for them, even if they were competing with lower initial sales costs. If EA started selling at a reduced price digitally, GameStop wouldn't stop stocking EA games, because that would cause a MASSIVE loss for them as well as EA, and that's bad business.

Again, it has very little to do with fear of brick and mortar boycotts and everything to do with charging the maximum that consumers will pay. If consumers stop buying the digital copies for that much, we'll see a price drop. As long as they continue to pay though,t he price will remain the same. It's basic economics.

[Deleted]

You can get it for less if you shop around; publisher sites will always be expensive. I bought my code off ebay for £36. CJS keys have them for £37.99 at the moment.

[terrahero]

At this time you're right, digital distribution alone can't compete with brick and mortar stores. I was posing the hypothetical that IF they could.

They wouldn't boycott their product, because that would be a HUGE loss of revenue for them, even if they were competing with lower initial sales costs. If EA started selling at a reduced price digitally, GameStop wouldn't stop stocking EA games, because that would cause a MASSIVE loss for them as well as EA, and that's bad business.

Again, it has very little to do with fear of brick and mortar boycotts and everything to do with charging the maximum that consumers will pay. If consumers stop buying the digital copies for that much, we'll see a price drop. As long as they continue to pay though,t he price will remain the same. It's basic economics.

Its all a big dick-waving contest. At the moment the brick and mortars miss out on less then the publishers. Ofcourse this is on the decline as online retail is becomming bigger and bigger. So right now, those have the upper hand. And right now that is exactly why, and yes i understand completely that its a very volatile relationship. Publishers arent happy with the brick and mortar stores in the least bit. And major publishers jumped on the oppertunity to let Game go under. It was delicious drama.

When they no longer have to concern themselves over the brick and mortar stores then you might be right and theyll charge the same for the sake of profit. I think however, prices will go down a little. Imagine that all those millions of copies being bought by brick and mortar stores, for a strongly reduced price or else they wouldnt make a profit on selling it while already undercutting, can suddenly be kept in their own pocket.

There might be a public outcry, or there might not be. I dont know yet because we havent arrived at that station yet, altough i dont think itll be long. At which i suspect brick and mortar stores will fall back on game sales alltogether and shift towards hardware.

edit:
Think of it this way. I was in a store last weekend and i saw GW2 prepurchase for 47,- euros. They undercut GW2.com by ~15% and i can guarentee you they are still making a profit on it. And they arent the only ones undercutting like this.
If NCsoft was really looking to maximise profit they wouldnt do it by overcharging the relative few people who bought it from their website. They would do it by telling the brick and mortar stores "No, you arent getting it at a strongly reduced price. You can get it for 45,- and you can just charge 55,- like us and bag the profit. If you dont like it, then dont stock it, we dont need you." They dont do that because they do need the brick and mortar stores.

[Window]

In Aus Diablo 3 is $89 same as Mass effect 3 and Skyrim still that expensive in bar steam, from the stress test and the previous bwe ive already overkilled guild wars 2 time wise
especially since Diablo 3 is a 6 hour game ha

[Deleted]

$50-60 is the standard price of new games. Deal, I suppose.

$50-$60

Not £50-£60

There's a pretty big difference there.

[Deleted]

Well, looking at Pricerunner (dot co dot uk)...

Diablo 3, £33-40
Sims 3, £22-40
TERA, £20-50
SWTOR, £22-50
Battlefield 3, £20-60
Guild Wars 2, £30-40
SC2:WoL, £23-45
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, £24-50

Looks to be, as Fencers so adequately put it, in the range of standard pricing for new games. And some not-so-new.

[Dundebuns]

Get it at retail. They have to make digital copies more expensive otherwise no one would go to retail and retial wouldn't be buying the boxes. Or something like that.

got D3 for £32 2 hours before launch. Will do the same for GW2

[Lucky_]

37.40€ in retail http://www.verkkokauppa.com/fi/produ...j/Guild-Wars-2

54.99€ on publisher's gouging. https://buy.guildwars2.com/

That's almost one third off price in retail (32%). You'd have to be stupid to buy online.

[Blackmist]

I buy all these stupidly priced games in a supermarket.

If I'm not getting anything physical, I'm certainly not paying more.

Time to have two products.

Online: Just the download. Cheap-ish. £30.
Shop: Box, disc, manual, poster. Slightly more. £40.

If you want to charge different prices for things, at least make sure when you pay more, you get more. I don't know why GW2 is in shops at all frankly. You could argue that you might not be able to download a whole game. That may fly for single player games, but this is an MMO. If you don't have half decent broadband, you probably can't play anyway. You certainly won't be downloading patches which can weigh in at several gigabytes these days.

Personally, I think consoles have the right idea. Some games are cheaper, smaller and only available online. If they appear in shops at all, it's on some sort of bundle disc.

[terrahero]

I buy all these stupidly priced games in a supermarket.

If I'm not getting anything physical, I'm certainly not paying more.

Time to have two products.

Online: Just the download. Cheap-ish. £30.
Shop: Box, disc, manual, poster. Slightly more. £40.

If you want to charge different prices for things, at least make sure when you pay more, you get more. I don't know why GW2 is in shops at all frankly. You could argue that you might not be able to download a whole game. That may fly for single player games, but this is an MMO. If you don't have half decent broadband, you probably can't play anyway. You certainly won't be downloading patches which can weigh in at several gigabytes these days.

Personally, I think consoles have the right idea. Some games are cheaper, smaller and only available online. If they appear in shops at all, it's on some sort of bundle disc.

Well the whole market is in a difficult position right now, as the old bussiness models are clashing with new technology. Not to sound all political, but that clash has some pretty heavy results with propositions such as SOPA and ACTA. Merely an attempt to cling to the old bussiness model in the modern age.
It will, ofcourse, fail. There is no stopping progress. But the market needs time to addept to this, and right now we're simply stuck in the middle of the old model and the rise of a new model. There are some exciting changes to look forward to.