Are Video Games Too Expensive?

[REPLAY13]

Now, this is something I've been thinking about for a long time. A new console game costs £40 - £45 on release (even more for the collectors edition) but sometimes it's really difficult to see where this money goes.

[HEADING=2]Production Costs[/HEADING]

I did a little bit of digging (googling) and found these 2 pages that show that even the most expensive video games don't cost as much as blockbuster movies.

10 most expensive video games EVER! [http://blog.knowyourmoney.co.uk/index.php/2008/08/10-most-expensive-video-game-budgets-ever/]
Movie budgets and gross takings [http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/records/allbudgets.php]

according to these the most expensive video game ever (as of august 2008) was GTAIV at around $100,000,000. whereas a lot of blockbuster movies are 2 or 3 times that!

that's understandable, there are usually bigger name actors and such to hire, but those movies only just broke even in the US, and i'm fairly confident that GTAIV made much more in it's first week alone.

but then you see that the average cost of a new DVD movie is £10-£15. so they cost 3 times more, and sell for 1/3 of the price. surely it should be the other way around?


[HEADING=2]Piracy and Used Games[/HEADING]

I'm fairly sure that if video games were released at £20 instead of the usual £40, the amount of piracy would drop dramatically. and over time the used game market would wither and die.

the Games on Demand for Xbox 360 are released at £20, and digital copies of PC games are usually the same price as the physical copy, so why shouldn't console games follow suit?

personally I'd me far less inclined to pirate or ignore games if they were priced more realistically.


I'd love to hear what my fellow escapists think on this matter, as it's something that's never really made sense to me.

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

I'd say they should be a little less expensive then 60 but not to cheap.

 

[Marter]

$50-$60 feels about right to me.

They also go down in price fairly quickly. For example, by February, Dark Void was already available for $20. If you don't buy your games on release day all the time, you can save a bunch of money.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

I buy about 1 new game a month.

They don't seem massively overpriced to me but of course I have no idea how much games cost to make and how much revenue they get back on sales.

 

[Digikid]

Depends on the game. However I would say that around $50CDN should be the max for any regular edition game.

 

[Crunchy English]

Yes, but check out the "PROFITS" of those Hollywood blockbusters. They all turn big dollars at the box office. Even a 300,000,000 dollar movie can turn a profit after worldwide sales are tallied. Video games fall short of that mark by tens of millions of dollars all the time. Shenmue didn't make half of its money back!

Companies need to support their losses with their success, movie always make money through ubiquitous distribution. Video games have no such luxury.

 

[Soxafloppin]

Wow, ive never even heard of number 2, they should have spent more budget on advertising.

 

[Ashhearth]

I just wait until a few months after the release date to buy all of my games. And since I started gaming late and I'm still wading my way through stuff that's been out for 2 years just about everything I buy is really cheap.

 

[Crunchy English]

Wow, ive never even heard of number 2, they should have spent more budget on advertising.

You've never heard of Shenmue? Am I being trolled or am I just old?

 

[Syphous]

Wow, ive never even heard of number 2, they should have spent more budget on advertising.

You've never heard of Shenmue? Am I being trolled or am I just old?

Shenmue's kind of a cult game really.

 

[Soxafloppin]

Wow, ive never even heard of number 2, they should have spent more budget on advertising.

You've never heard of Shenmue? Am I being trolled or am I just old?

I've never heard of it, the cover doesnt look farmiliar either.

and i actually had a Dreamcast.

 

[clipse15]

Movies and games can't be compared like this. Games aren't too expensive the reason they are more expensive is because they are at a much greater risk then movies. Even if a movie doesn't make its budget back at the theatre then a film will easily make a profit on DVD. Games don't do this once a game comes out its sales can only go downward where as films can spike back up. GTA IV is a rare case most games don't make that kind of money. At the prices that they are currently set at they have a much better chance at making a profit. If they were priced lower than sure you might have more sales but you wouldn't make as much money.

Just think about this if you think that a company could make more money selling games for cheaper don't you think they would have done it?

 

[Anarchemitis]

I think the real question is "Do 1st-World-Nation-teenagers-with-access-to-computers have entitlement issues?" which is answered with a resounding "Yes".

It doesn't matter if games are a Product or Service; either way they're a Luxury and therefore the producers can charge whatever the crap they like.

 

[Kagim]

Well, for starters how often do you see Movie toys, posters, video games(ha), candy, value meals, etc etc? Movies make a significant amount of money off of that.

How often do you see or hear advertisements for soft drinks, restaurants and the like in movies?

Movies can cost significantly more but movies also advertise inside the movie and market themselves outside of it. Disney doesn't pay McDonalds to put toys in the happy meals. McDonalds pays Disney for that right.

Not only that but at least in BC most movie theaters don;t make a dime off of price of admission. They make all there money off the snack bar, which is why its so expensive and they don't allow outside food. At this point most good movies have already made back all there money through advertisements, product endorsements, and Theater Admission. DvD's are so cheap because at that point what they are making is pure gravy. Which is why they can sell them for $35 for blue ray.

However. While Video games might get posters or toys made out of them that is usually only after they hit it big. Not only that but rarely do I see endorsements from video games. I remember the huge fit people threw over Halo advertising Dew Fuel. No one would throw that kind of fit if say, Crank did that. yet since a Video game did it Holy Shit. There sell outs.

The only way for Video Games to come down in price is if they copied the Movie trend of endorsements in and outside of the video game. I'm sorry. I will gladly pay my 60-70 bucks if it means i don't have a twenty second break in Killzone 3 where Rico tells me how refreshing and delicious a pepsi would be right now.

"I'm not Sev Rico!" *unzips* "I'm Templar!"
"Dude? How did you.."
"And that's not a pepsi your drinking rico! Its a pepsi twist!"
"... Dude!"

 

[Plinglebob]

Considering their cost and the amount of entertainment ytou get out of games, I don't think they're too expensive.

 

[mikecoulter]

A new game should be a maximum of £20 or $45. They're simply extortionate at the moment.

 

[Keava]

Actually compared to production costs the end product cost went down.
Games were always at about same price of ~50-60$ but production costs over years raised up to millions of dollars compared to old days.

And no. I dont think they are too expensive, 60$ a month is nothing if you work and i hardly even see a game worth buying each month. And then there are discounts on games just few months old, that ig rab when i really want to play something different, for half the price.

As for movies analogy. You forget to factor in the fact that movies earn most of money in cinemas where people pay per person for single view. Games dont have such luxury, when they come out they are yours forever for one time fee. Movie on DVD is a movie few months old.

 

[clipse15]

A new game should be a maximum of £20 or $45. They're simply extortionate at the moment.

Well actually its not extortion seeing as how you don't need video games. Why is it that gamers have become so self entitled. OMG Diablo 2: LOD should've came with the original!!!!

 

[DarthFennec]

They're a little overpriced. I think they spend a little too much money on making the games, though. It's software, technically it shouldn't cost a penny to write a program, and yes I know there's more to it than that but seriously, most games could easily cut down on their production cost and I don't know why that doesn't happen.

 

[Jark212]

I think this chart should help you determine where your money goes:

Spoiler