The death of the sixty dollar game.

[WhiteNoise]

I found this article interesting and thought I would share. I know over the years I have questioned current pricing on AAA titles and the extra charges for DLC. Here is one way to look at it:

http://www.gamecrate.com/death-sixty-dollar-game/14744

 

[master_shake_]

i'd kill for a 60 dollar game.

AAA titles in canada 80.

once again rockstar shows us that a AAA game can be 60 dollars and still make a billion dollars.

free dlc on online play too. sure they're are cash cards but if you don't need them you don't buy them.

 

[WhiteNoise]

Yeah I agree master_shake_ I rarely buy a DLC. In fact I have only bought DLC for battlefield games. This article at least explains why they do what they do. makes sense even if I don't like it.

 

[Craig234]

I've long thought things are likely to go the opposite direction - that fewer and fewer people will buy new premium games on release at $60, and competition with lower-priced games and premium games that have been discounted will force game makers to start charging lower prices, reducing budgets and quality. That Steam is helping that to happen.

 

[WhiteNoise]

So true but then there are people like me that will gladly pay $59.99 plus tax for a title that I want at release. Honestly I've gone through the poor stage of life when I could hardly pay bills let alone buy a new game. Now at this point in my life I can buy just about anything I want so I do. BUT I do not want to see games get more expensive. I love how indie games have been on fire and at lesser prices. I love GOG and Steam and discounts.

 

[BSim500]

I haven't bought a full priced game in years, certainly not $60 + DLC on top (especially if the DLC has 'that feel' that it was intended to be part of the base game and split off purely as a cheap cash-in). I think many have long wisened up to just waiting for the GOTY edition (which takes them that long to fix all the bugs anyway). If you have a large backlog of games, then rather than just sit there letting it pile up, clearing them oldest to newest makes gaming unbelievably cheap. I suppose for multi-player there's pressure to buy early before the server's run dry, but then I find modern MP FPS too "fake grindy" (unlocking / levelling-up for the sake of unlocking / levelling-up, etc), saturated with cheaters and the "see enemies all neatly marked through walls" boring as hell.

I also don't see mobile games as "cheap" or even "pressuring" lower prices that much. They simply rip people off in a more subtle manner. People who fall over themselves to spend +$20-$30 on Candy Crush Saga IAP's are generally not smart enough to figure out those 'new' mobile games are just blatant ripoffs of old 2001-era "Match 3" PopCap flash games like Bejeweled, Luxor or Zuma which you could buy outright for $5, 15 years ago...

 

[whm1974]

I try to get as much content as I can when buying games, so yes I do buy DLC when it's reasonable priced.

 

[VirtualLarry]

The last $60 game I bought was Skyrim.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

When PC games made the leap to console prices I said no. I can proudly say there has only been one game I paid $60 for and I don't feel I've made any sacrifices. Even BF3 was marked down on amazon before it was released.
I've been big on Early Access lately and I don't think I've paid more than $15 for a game since BF3 or maybe my original pledge on SC.
The smaller guys aren't that much more risky. I'll admit sometimes thing go in a direction you don't like but its no different than buying a big budget game and finding out its completely different than advertised.
7 days to die is a great example, game looks good enough for my tastes, tons of fun especially with friends and every update changes the game a bit its full price is $25 and its frequently on sale.

 

[nurturedhate]

The thing is AAA game prices have been $60+ for nearly 30 years. Price is bound to increase. I remember playing $69.99 for Super Mario RPG way back in the mid 90s.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

The thing is AAA game prices have been $60+ for nearly 30 years. Price is bound to increase. I remember playing $69.99 for Super Mario RPG way back in the mid 90s.

No it hasn't been $60 for 30 years. Maybe if you adjust for inflation.

 

[cmdrdredd]

You can always find games at a discount from various online sources. Amazon Prime gives 20% off new releases if you buy the physical game too. So I don't pay $60 for new games anyway.

 

[cmdrdredd]

No it hasn't been $60 for 30 years. Maybe if you adjust for inflation.

SNES games cost more than $60 a lot of the time and that's almost 30 years, more like 26 since it launched in November of 1990. I remember PC games being about $50 for new releases unless you buy the special edition when I worked at Gamestop back around 2002 and that went to $60 not long after that. So not quite 30 years on PC. It seems that once games were on optical media the prices stabilized quite a bit.

These are prices from a local ad. I know before this NES games were about $45 for new releases.

http://money.cnn.com/2002/07/10/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/

Sure, the price of the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Gamecube has come tumbling down in the last couple of months, but software prices for console games haven't budged. And PC game prices are on the rise - dramatically.

Right now, the increases are contained to the sword and sorcery corner of the gaming world. Infogrames (IFGM: Research, Estimates) kicked the trend off, putting a retail price of $55 (roughly $5 more than the typical PC game) on the game "Neverwinter Nights." Blizzard Entertainment recently upped the ante, asking $60 for its wildly anticipated "Warcraft III."

 

[whm1974]

No it hasn't been $60 for 30 years. Maybe if you adjust for inflation.

Actually AAA games for consoles during the 90's were not cheap, quite a few retailed for $60 or more.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Actually AAA games for consoles during the 90's were not cheap, quite a few retailed for $60 or more.

I don't ever remember paying $60 for a PS1 or PS2 game. I remember them being in the $40-$50 range, I remember PC games being in the $30-$40 range.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I don't ever remember paying $60 for a PS1 or PS2 game. I remember them being in the $40-$50 range, I remember PC games being in the $30-$40 range.

Yeah in the late 90s once Optical media replaced cartridges the prices went down because they cost less to produce and had higher margins. The prices rose slightly when games started to cost 10million dollars or more to develop. I'll take the current $60 over paying $100 for SNES games any day though.

 

[Yakk]

Games like Call of Duty Deluxe at $129.99 CAD and Civ. VI deluxe at $104.99 CAD are heralding the coming $100+ games in Canada.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Games like Call of Duty Deluxe at $129.99 CAD and Civ. VI deluxe at $104.99 CAD are heralding the coming $100+ games in Canada.

The legacy edition of the new CoD in the US costs $89 but what you're getting is Cod: Infinite warfare, CoD: Modern Warfare remastered and 10 maps from CoD: MW. It's basically two games in one. The deluxe edition is $99 digitally. Remember you don't have to buy deluxe or special editions and the base game is still the same price as any other title.

 

[WhiteNoise]

Yeah I remember paying $45 for playstation games and I think $40 for PC titles. I also remember when games all went to $59.99 and I was like "No way I'm spending that much for a game!" then I did.

Yeah back when I was a teen in the 80's-90's I couldn't afford most nintendo games and had to buy second hand from those shady used consoles mom and pop shops. Me and friends would trade a lot too as we beat one game or the other.

 

[Craig234]

No it hasn't been $60 for 30 years. Maybe if you adjust for inflation.

Actually it has for some. Don't make me go look in old magazines for examples, but I remember seeing games for that before 1990.

 

[JoQu5]

Haven't bought a 60 game in some time. Also don't really buy that may games any more. Have several 100 games in Steam though. One thing I've noticed is that I finish 90% of games I start now, since there isn't always some bigger and better game in my library to distract me away from current game.

 

[TeknoBug]

SNES games cost more than $60 a lot of the time and that's almost 30 years, more like 26 since it launched in November of 1990. I remember PC games being about $50 for new releases unless you buy the special edition when I worked at Gamestop back around 2002 and that went to $60 not long after that. So not quite 30 years on PC. It seems that once games were on optical media the prices stabilized quite a bit.

These are prices from a local ad. I know before this NES games were about $45 for new releases.

http://money.cnn.com/2002/07/10/commentary/game_over/column_gaming/

That flyer is in Australian $. Even in Canada games weren't that expensive back then, mostly $49-59. Even 2 years ago games were $69, now $79 and the tax really hurts that (with BC tax = $90). I shop on Amazon and wait for dropped prices, or buy on PSN which yields tax.

I used to buy games all the time in the 80's and 90's and PC games were always cheaper than console games, I remember buying a Megaman and SMB3 game for NES and NHLPA for Super NES for $59 ea., and buying Tony LaRussa's Ultimate Baseball for $29 (yes brand new), and NHLPA '92 for PC for $39. Only expensive game for PC I've bought in that era was Return to Castle Wolfenstein (2001) for $90, and it was worth every single penny.

 

[Craig234]

I have here the 1996 game buyer's guide - 20 years old.

Top games typically have a "street price" of $55 to $60, many others $50

Apache $70
Armored Fist $55
Ascendancy $50
Battle Beast $50
Battleground: Ardennes $50
Bioforge $55
Blood Bowl $50 ($60 CD)
Bolo (looks like Bejeweled) $70
Caesar II $45
Capitalism $60
Celtic Tales: Balor of the Evil Eye $60
Clockwerx $30
Command & Conquer $60
Crusader: No Remorse $60
Cyberia $58
CyClones (looks like Doom) $55
Dark Forces $55

That's a random sample with no skipping

Ya, gaming is expensive, we're spoiled now.

 

[HitAnyKey]

Title is a bit misleading, it was always $59.99. Some Marketing genius' idea no doubt. But I digress...

The 60.00 game has become 130.00 up here in Canada now with the bundling of Season Pass and all the extra crap that eventually is worthless in game anyway. Right or wrong, people must be paying these prices otherwise they would be lower.

 

[renz20003]

I've never bought DLC, I've got it for free with GOTY editions and the like.

I may break my vow of not paying $60 for a game soon. Might pony up the $70 for bf1 early play edition.