KeithP
Diamond Member
- Jun 15, 2000
- 5,664
- 202
- 106
- Sep 28, 2001
- 8,464
- 155
- 106
Ok i am contradicting myself now since i KNOW i can get games cheaper (not talking about warezing, mind you!) - i USUALLY buy only the keys..eg. wow we only bought the retail keys online from a store in the US. So this is WAY cheaper.
And i also know that SWTOR retail etc. can be bought cheaper if i look around, but this doesn't change the fact its listed on Origin for €75 and probably a whole lot of people "fall" for their idiotic prices.
(Of course, the matter not considered that EA/Origin probably doesnt want people buying "cheap" russian retails and then patching them to English..so basically it's not even entirely legit)
But the point being, if they WOULD make games cheaper..i think less people would torrent..so the "losses" they would get from selling games cheaper would be compensated by more people just getting retail.
But..then i am also aware it's an AGE OLD debate i already had in the mid 80s...and i think greed will always "win"....Greed for EA/Bioware...to sell games as high as they think they can...and Greed ALSO for the warez people because they want the stuff for free.
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thespyder
Golden Member
- Aug 31, 2006
- 1,979
- 0
- 0
so your complaint isn't with Star Wars TOR per say, but with marketing in general? that is a tough battle to fight. Why do gas stations by the freeway charge more for gas than just a few blocks over? Because they can. It is convenience. Or as my Dad used to say, "Tax for the lazy".
Sure it sux that prices are higher in one place than in another. And sure, "Some" of that price is directly related to piracy. But as has been stated, the price increases in games over the last 10 years hasn't even kept up with inflation. I would say that on the whole, prices could be a lot higher. Thankfully they aren't.
But definitely be a discriminating consumer. Shop around and get things where they are cheaper (but still legal and legit).
Fallen Kell
Diamond Member
- Oct 9, 1999
- 6,208
- 537
- 126
Ok. $40 in 1992 is $65 today.
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=$40+1992
So we're at about the same level then.
Personally I haven't spent more than $30-40 on a game in years though, usually $20 or less.
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Keep in mind that not everybody who torrents a game does so because a game is too expensive. In fact, many of the people who torrent games, especially new ones, are doing it so they can "try before they buy".
Games used to be much more primitive and lower technology, lower staff, lower cost than games today. A few guys could make a game.
Now it's common to have very large teams. Costs have gone up hugely.
And games weren't that cheap.
Now it's common to have very large teams. Costs have gone up hugely.
And games weren't that cheap.
Incorrect, but thanks for generalising.
For whatever reason, mainland Europe prices are often more expensive.
In the UK, games are often actually cheaper than in the US, both boxed retail (very much so) and on Steam. And that's with 20% VAT (which is a fairly typical level for Europe).
So for whatever reason, the UK, with prices including tax, gets games which are usually comparable with or cheaper than US games which don't have tax.
The rest of mainland Europe (the larger countries, Fance, Germany, etc) get prices which are more expensive than the UK or the US.
Not to mention that some EU territories get cheaper games from some services anyway due to regional pricing which takes into account income disparities (there are or were 3 European regions on Steam for for which games could be priced, PLUS ALSO the UK, so 4 in total for Europe, meaning that 4 different countries in Europe could have 4 different prices for a game. I don't know about boxed copies since I don't know the B&M retail environment, but basically, your post is uninformed BS, thanks though for your contribution).
Living in the EU isn't the problem.
People whining about ea and bioware picked the wrong company. Between all three me games you have almost infinite replay ability with different classes and outcomes based on your decisions
Powermoloch
Lifer
- Jul 5, 2005
- 10,084
- 4
- 76
I don't know why people are complaining games being expensive. I got most of mine from sales or bargain bins 
Doppel
Lifer
- Feb 5, 2011
- 13,306
- 3
- 0
This is true, the budgets of them have gone crazy. On the other hand they sell way more copies. Seems more or less to even itself out.
Ever since I started buying PC games on Ebay and more recently on Steam, I really can't complain about prices. They are absolutely affordable...unless you are one of those people who refuse to even pay $1.99 even for an iPad game.
you can't make that statement blanketly, ME3 is great game, in fact, the entire series is excellent. But the OP is right, lots good game's are priced very high at debut nowadays. I personally can wait. I usually buy a game when it turns GOLD//Trilogy edition etc. years later. So I buy most games under 20 bucks. If you don't mind playing a game a year or two later then it's really no problem and probably will save a ton of money, have all the patches and DLCs rolled into one release. It's actually better in my opinion. Like ME3 has some glitches from the reviews, as I am sure if you buy a year from now, most major glitches will be patched.
Games basically are too expensive, some multiplayer games which you can rack up hundreds or thousands of hours of gameplay are usually well worth the price but so many games aren't, 4 hours of Portal 2 singleplayer for £30 was ridiculous for example.
Valve has shown that sales driving down the price of games to be next to nothing increases the sales footprint significantly and actually generates larger net revenue with an on going benefit to sales figures over the following weeks.
Basically games are too expensive, right now we're stuck in a bit of a fix because the number of casual gamers has increased significantly over the last decade or so, and it's the masses who are less concerned with price and quality and whos spending habits trend based on whats advertised and not what is actually any good.
So we have this awful problem of developers jacking up prices to cover the huge amount of money they have to inject into advertising, over 50% of the budget for games like modern warfare go on marketing, it's just a way to secure return on investment because advertising campaigns are financially safer that uncertainty of building a good game and it standing on its merits.
Valve has shown that sales driving down the price of games to be next to nothing increases the sales footprint significantly and actually generates larger net revenue with an on going benefit to sales figures over the following weeks.
Basically games are too expensive, right now we're stuck in a bit of a fix because the number of casual gamers has increased significantly over the last decade or so, and it's the masses who are less concerned with price and quality and whos spending habits trend based on whats advertised and not what is actually any good.
So we have this awful problem of developers jacking up prices to cover the huge amount of money they have to inject into advertising, over 50% of the budget for games like modern warfare go on marketing, it's just a way to secure return on investment because advertising campaigns are financially safer that uncertainty of building a good game and it standing on its merits.
MustangSVT
Lifer
- Oct 7, 2000
- 11,554
- 12
- 81
The only game I've paid full price for in last 5+ years is starcraft 2. I'll probably also end up buying diablo 3 when it comes out at full price. Other than those 2 titles I can wait till the games go on sale on Steam. With the GOTY editions you usually get all the DLC also, so not only did you save money, but you get a play experience with the added DLC. Hell on the christmas/new years sales alone you can pick up enough games for $60 to last you the rest of the year.
Nebor
Lifer
- Jun 24, 2003
- 29,582
- 12
- 76
This. Steam makes games so cheap and available, I have more games than I can ever play.
Steam only makes games cheap when they are on sale.
In general for typically 350 days of the year or more, they are the same or more than if oyu buy a boxed retai lcopy.
If you only want to buy games during the tow weeks of sales for the particular game you want, it can be cheaper, but since the OP seems to be complaining about new games recently released, chances are he doesn't want to wait a year for a sale.
Excellent post. I hope the OP reads it.
I only buy Steam sales anymore, typically with a price point <$10. I have a backlog of games I'll probably never get to all of them, but I'll sure try. Oh, and I'll keep buying PC games.
That's only because the console platforms charge royalties for their use, so developers making games for the consoles have to dish out a chunk of their profits, they regain that back by increasing prices.
Basically that really cheap console hardware you get is subsidised by what is essentially a games tax you're paying back to the console platform owners.
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