Activision Defends Modern Warfare 2 Pricing

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Activision Defends Modern Warfare 2 Pricing


Modern Warfare 2 [http://www.activision.com] in the U.K., saying the game offers value for money even at the higher price point.

Activision one-time test [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/93238-Higher-Game-Prices-Coming-to-the-U-K]" to see how consumers would react.

But the company says it's confident that the higher price won't have a negative impact on sales and that the game will pack enough bang for the buck that players will come away satisfied. "The question is what represents value for money," Activision U.K. Managing Director Andrew Brown said. "At the end of the day, there is a spectrum of what people can afford and what people are prepared to spend. These things are key. Is what I am buying supplying me sufficient value for money and can I afford it? If so then I will buy it."

"This is an industry where things cost a lot to develop and it's a risky business. We talk about building franchises; it is very expensive to do this from every respect. What we are finding is that for the right products, if you look at the time someone will spend playing something and compare it to something else, people are saying it's worth it," he continued. "There's nothing in life that isn't price elastic. Price at retail changes all the time depending on how successful a product is or isn't. I think there is a lot of controversy over I don't know what."

I'm not sure I see what the controversy is about either. The idea of "standard" game prices strikes me as rather odd; it's far more natural that different games with different production costs (and different degrees of avarice at the companies behind them) would result in different prices for each product. It's an easy practice to decry when Activision is responsible but when all is said and done, the math is pretty simple: If it's too expensive, people won't buy it; if people buy it, it ain't too expensive.

Source: MCV UK [http://www.mcvuk.com/news/36018/Activision-breaks-silence-on-pricing]


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SachielOne

Former Escapecraft Op
Aug 10, 2009
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Fir- *Gunshot*

Hey, this is what capitalism is all about. Like democracy, it's a horrible system... except for all the other ones.
 

Katherine Kerensky

Why, or Why Not?
Mar 27, 2009
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I'm still a bit annoyed at the price rise, but if I can get and hour for every ($£) I spend, I'm happy.
And I'm confident that I can get that value from it.
but Bobby Kotick will be on my Hate list if it happens again... alongside Bungie if it doesn't give me and my friends our damn achievements.
 

Abedeus

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Sep 14, 2008
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*2 weeks after the PC release*

"We are very surprised, there were hundreds of thousands of illegal copies all over the Internet, same as with Sims 3, but we didn't get much sold copies... PIRACY IS TO BLAAAMEEE!!!!"
 

Chipperz

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Apr 27, 2009
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Heh, I'm still waiting a few weeks and buying preowned. Actually, I might go out of my way to pirate it...
 

Cortheya

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Jan 10, 2009
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SachielOne said:
Fir- *Gunshot*

Hey, this is what capitalism is all about. Like democracy, it's a horrible system... except for all the other ones.
What's that "all the other ones" quote from? it's been killing me for weeks.
 

Desert Tiger

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Apr 25, 2009
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Trailer looked good... was gonna buy it, despite not liking the one before.

They can go fuck themselves now.
 

El Poncho

Techno Hippy will eat your soul!
May 21, 2009
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So what they are saying is that if people buy mw2 because they think it's worth the money , other games they make will vary in price? What if the game isn't worth the money will they decrease the price?
 

Valkyira

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Mar 13, 2009
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Fuck modern warfare 2. Yes it looks good but am I going to pay 60 quid for the bloody thing? No. I'm perfectly happy with Operation Flashpoint 2 which is out on Wednesday (Tomorrow for the US).
 

fix-the-spade

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Feb 25, 2008
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To be honest Activision's srp is irrelevant.

The major supermarkets and retailers like HMV, Game and co are going to immdeiately drop into a price war with a release as big as this. Just look at what's going on with Fifa 10 and consider this is an even bigger release than that.

I'd be very surprised if this game actually sells for more than two thirds of the srp.
Personally I hope MW2 gets the accolade of most pirated game 2009, it would be all Ko-tic deserves.
 

SachielOne

Former Escapecraft Op
Aug 10, 2009
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Cortheya said:
SachielOne said:
Fir- *Gunshot*

Hey, this is what capitalism is all about. Like democracy, it's a horrible system... except for all the other ones.
What's that "all the other ones" quote from? it's been killing me for weeks.
It's a quote by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The original quote is as follows:

?Many forms of government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried from time to time. - Winston Churchill, 1947
 

Georgeman

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Mar 2, 2009
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Oh please. The whole "game is expensive to make so we must raise our prices" is total bs. Why? Because there is no way in hell that Modern Warfare 2 costs more to produce than the most expensive game ever, GTA IV (Only a 100 million budget!!!). And yet GTA IV costs as much as any other game, not more. Considering that Modern Warfare sold about as much as GTA IV, I find the whole price increase defense weak to say the least.
 

AndyFromMonday

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Feb 5, 2009
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GTA4 took about 100 million to make and did it cost more than any other game?

I expect the money allocated to create Modern Warfare 2 be at least 200 million. In my eyes, that's the only way it will justify such a high price.

(I bet the moment most people will say "Fuck it" and pirate the damn thing Activi$ion will immediately start blaming low sales on pirates. I'll smile the day they do that.)
 

Amnestic

High Priest of Haruhi
Aug 22, 2008
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Uh-huh. That's a good tale you're spinning there Activision. There's just one issue:

Why only in the UK? If you're doing a one-time test to see how consumers react then more data=better results. Thus, logically, one would expect Activision to make it a global price hike.

But they haven't, have they?

*spit*

I'm getting mine pre-owned. They can spin as much as they like but I'll be damned to Niffelheim and back before I believe a word out of their mouth.

I'm not sure I see what the controversy is about either. The idea of "standard" game prices strikes me as rather odd; it's far more natural that different games with different production costs (and different degrees of avarice at the companies behind them) would result in different prices for each product. It's an easy practice to decry when Activision is responsible but when all is said and done, the math is pretty simple: If it's too expensive, people won't buy it; if people buy it, it ain't too expensive.
Again, this is fine. Obviously a movie tie-in game won't have nearly the production values of something like MW2, but what strikes me the worst about this is that it's UK only.
 

bue519

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Oct 3, 2007
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Abedeus said:
*2 weeks after the PC release*

"We are very surprised, there were hundreds of thousands of illegal copies all over the Internet, same as with Sims 3, but we didn't get much sold copies... PIRACY IS TO BLAAAMEEE!!!!"
Well, if someone wants to play multiplayer (which is sort of the selling point of this game) then wouldn't they need a regular copy?
 

TxMxRonin

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Jan 1, 2009
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They think it's worth more than what other new games retail at? Logically it would be better to sell it for LESS thus selling MORE.
 

AndyFromMonday

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Feb 5, 2009
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bue519 said:
Abedeus said:
*2 weeks after the PC release*

"We are very surprised, there were hundreds of thousands of illegal copies all over the Internet, same as with Sims 3, but we didn't get much sold copies... PIRACY IS TO BLAAAMEEE!!!!"
Well, if someone wants to play multiplayer (which is sort of the selling point of this game) then wouldn't they need a regular copy?
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