games really are not that expensive...
- Thread starter HarryScull
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Why not if he doesn't want to play current gen games? If he is happy playing older games and paying less for them then it is a relatively cheap way of doing it. It's not what I would do but I like playing games as they come out.Dirty Hipsters said:
Admittedly he can't make a generalisation saying all games are cheap from this but he can say you can play games for very cheap if you don't mind/want to play older games
Okay, how about the games that actually get pirated now? Console games are expensive and all those you listed are were part of sales. You didn't list a single game I have played for more then a few hours.
I think you mean 'Some games, if they are on pc, on sale and not that expensive to make, aren't really expensive'
I think you mean 'Some games, if they are on pc, on sale and not that expensive to make, aren't really expensive'
There's mountains of evidence suggesting that piracy has as much to do with product quality and accessibility. It isn't really about saving money....HarryScull said:
Also just because some regions are fortunate enough to have game prices scale down to more affordable levels after a period of time doesn't detract from the 'games are too expensive' argument. No, 5 pounds for a game you can sink hundreds of hours into isn't especially expensive[footnote]You've only listed PC games, I feel that I should point out that all the people who choose to believe PC gaming is more expensive than console will have buried their heads in the sand long before you made your point.[/footnote], but that doesn't mean that, say, $60 a year for access to online play for games on top of whatever the games initially cost isn't (which is what xbox live costs in Australia). On top of that there's an 'opportunity cost' in waiting months, or more often years, for ludicrously priced games to go down....One wouldn't argue that the HP touchpad tab was a great product because it was the best value product, as it was only the best value product after HP abandoned it and liquidated their sales.
Steam sales and the like are not really designed to sell the game for what it's actually charged for, they are marketing programs designed to get you using the steam (or whatever) platform. The cost in this isn't necessarily monetary, but it is arguably still very high.
Ultimately, yeah being a savvy shopper on not insisting on playing popular games at the same time as anyone else can save you money, but that doesn't mean the cost of gaming isn't too high. To be clear, the argument isn't limited to claiming the cost of gaming is too high from the consumers perspective either-publishers could ultimately make a lot more money if they chose to undercut competing titles.
Suggest you change the title to "PC GAMES really are not that expensive"HarryScull said:
I have been waiting for almost a year for Resistance 3 and Uncharted 3 to sell at a reasonable price, but both are hovering around £30 for a NEW copy, and pre-owned copies you lose the online pass.
I love PC gaming and my PS3 has been neglected more and more as I simply cannot justify the cost of the few games I could get for it.
these games I've listed that are on sale or by indie developers and being sold as part of a partially charitable bundle are cheap. Therefore all games are not expensive.
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I buy only cheap games, like games on sale (I have all the humble bundles :3) but even I realise games are expensive as fuck. Shop retail and you see. Even some online retailers post silly prices.
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I buy only cheap games, like games on sale (I have all the humble bundles :3) but even I realise games are expensive as fuck. Shop retail and you see. Even some online retailers post silly prices.
I guess "expensive" depends on how much money you have and what you measure the money worth.
Personally I don't think games are expensive, it all depends on how you look at it. I usually buy games for me and three friends (co-op or PvP, never singleplayer games of course) because that's the only way I'll get to play with them - they're cheap or pirates.
But that's fine with me because I measure the price in hours and if I get enough hours of fun out of the purchase, it's been worth it.
Besides, I buy all my new games on release for 25$ or less. Like Max Payne 3 for 14$ each and ME3 for 20$ back when it was released. Same with Syndicate and well, most other AAA (and not AAA) multiplayer games that seem like fun.
I never buy my games retail though, I always import them. Since I'm buying so many games each month (depending on what's released) then THAT would be expensive.
Diablo 3 is the only game I've paid retail price for each copy, but seeing I've banked over 100 hours in it already it's absolutely been worth it.
Edit: Oh, and I'm talking about PC games, could be a bit different for consoles.
Personally I don't think games are expensive, it all depends on how you look at it. I usually buy games for me and three friends (co-op or PvP, never singleplayer games of course) because that's the only way I'll get to play with them - they're cheap or pirates.
But that's fine with me because I measure the price in hours and if I get enough hours of fun out of the purchase, it's been worth it.
Besides, I buy all my new games on release for 25$ or less. Like Max Payne 3 for 14$ each and ME3 for 20$ back when it was released. Same with Syndicate and well, most other AAA (and not AAA) multiplayer games that seem like fun.
I never buy my games retail though, I always import them. Since I'm buying so many games each month (depending on what's released) then THAT would be expensive.
Diablo 3 is the only game I've paid retail price for each copy, but seeing I've banked over 100 hours in it already it's absolutely been worth it.
Edit: Oh, and I'm talking about PC games, could be a bit different for consoles.
I guess most people think games are expensive when they compare them to, let's say, the price of N64 games or PS2 games, which was $30-40 tops. $50 if you wanna go crazy. Yeah, there's the cost of production and the fact that games are fancier now when it comes to graphics and gameplay and music and stuff. So yeah, they are expensive but they're also better.
New games are released almost every Tuesday so you can imagine games devalue like crazy. Look at the hot titles of last year and compare their current price to its launch price. $60 for Gears 3, AC: Revelations, Rayman, and so on run around $20-40 and that's not even a year after their release. But most people don't wanna wait for a game to go down in price. If they're looking forward to a game, they wanna have it now. If you're a gamer, you know what that feels like. And if you have the money, yeah, you know you're gonna buy it.
I usually try not to buy games on their release day but I'm guilty of having doe so a couple of times before. The way I see it, a pair of jeans can cost around $20-40, but they're gonna hold for a while. So it's the same with games. I can probably replay a game forever (Depending on the game), so I'm getting my money's worth. Of course, when you buy a new game every week, you start to see how expensive they can be. but just like when buying jeans, if you buy them when you feel like you need something new, then that's fine.
Having said that, some good games just refuse to go down in price so I can see why pirating is a good choice. I wouldn't dare mod my PS3 or buy pirate games. There's something about owning the original box and game that just makes me proud. However, my friend recently gave me his Wii with a bunch of modded games. I'm not a big Wii fan myself but the console came with at least a couple of titles I'm curious about. Together, those titles would cost me around $200 at a retail store. Used. And those are just 4 titles. And while they're good games, it's kinda silly they're still so expensive years after their release when you consider some good games are way cheaper not even a year after its release (See above).
So to summarize, games are expensive but just like with everything else, you gotta know when to buy them instead of going around throwing your money at random games every other week or so.
New games are released almost every Tuesday so you can imagine games devalue like crazy. Look at the hot titles of last year and compare their current price to its launch price. $60 for Gears 3, AC: Revelations, Rayman, and so on run around $20-40 and that's not even a year after their release. But most people don't wanna wait for a game to go down in price. If they're looking forward to a game, they wanna have it now. If you're a gamer, you know what that feels like. And if you have the money, yeah, you know you're gonna buy it.
I usually try not to buy games on their release day but I'm guilty of having doe so a couple of times before. The way I see it, a pair of jeans can cost around $20-40, but they're gonna hold for a while. So it's the same with games. I can probably replay a game forever (Depending on the game), so I'm getting my money's worth. Of course, when you buy a new game every week, you start to see how expensive they can be. but just like when buying jeans, if you buy them when you feel like you need something new, then that's fine.
Having said that, some good games just refuse to go down in price so I can see why pirating is a good choice. I wouldn't dare mod my PS3 or buy pirate games. There's something about owning the original box and game that just makes me proud. However, my friend recently gave me his Wii with a bunch of modded games. I'm not a big Wii fan myself but the console came with at least a couple of titles I'm curious about. Together, those titles would cost me around $200 at a retail store. Used. And those are just 4 titles. And while they're good games, it's kinda silly they're still so expensive years after their release when you consider some good games are way cheaper not even a year after its release (See above).
So to summarize, games are expensive but just like with everything else, you gotta know when to buy them instead of going around throwing your money at random games every other week or so.
The real problem is games that are in retail shops are far over-valuing their products for new consumers or casual players compared to regulars who know where to get good deals.HarryScull said:
I don't mind the price of games, I normally wait until there only about £15-20 instead of the full price of £40. However, there are a few exception were I will pay full price, normally when it's a game I really want and have lots of money like Christmas, apart from that I'll wait.
Thinking about getting Mass Effect 2 next for £15, when I get some money.
Thinking about getting Mass Effect 2 next for £15, when I get some money.
This might be true that prices are high for the console market, but from what I've seen on Steam it seems like they do a good job when it comes to price discrimination based on time. For those of you not familiar with the idea the goal of a publisher is to make as much money from a game as possible. This means they will often create tiered prices for the same product based on time. These typically work as follows for single player games:
Initial Release (group A): $60 because these folks have been foaming at the mouth for you to release your game.
2+ Months In (group B): $40 once sales mostly stopped because your media hype ended and all of your hardcore fans are happy. This gives you a second wave and you can keep lowering the price over time.
Sales (group C): Once you pass your initial release phase sales always happen in the hopes of catching the eye of someone who wouldn't be initially interested, but who would be glad to give you $10.
6 Months Before the Sequel (group D): $15 because your goal is to attract as much new interest as possible. Sell the old game using the hype for your new game and with a price like this you can expand your fan base so they'll be queuing up to pay $60 for your new game.
That way if your audience is made up of people from these four groups your profits end up being: 60A + 40B + 10C + 15D instead of the far lower number of 15(A + B + D) which is what you would get if you started selling at $40 and never dropped the price.
Initial Release (group A): $60 because these folks have been foaming at the mouth for you to release your game.
2+ Months In (group B): $40 once sales mostly stopped because your media hype ended and all of your hardcore fans are happy. This gives you a second wave and you can keep lowering the price over time.
Sales (group C): Once you pass your initial release phase sales always happen in the hopes of catching the eye of someone who wouldn't be initially interested, but who would be glad to give you $10.
6 Months Before the Sequel (group D): $15 because your goal is to attract as much new interest as possible. Sell the old game using the hype for your new game and with a price like this you can expand your fan base so they'll be queuing up to pay $60 for your new game.
That way if your audience is made up of people from these four groups your profits end up being: 60A + 40B + 10C + 15D instead of the far lower number of 15(A + B + D) which is what you would get if you started selling at $40 and never dropped the price.
Oh hi there, welcome to Australia! You think $60 is a lot to pay on a game? Wow. Imagine if it wasn't on sale!burningdragoon said:
Seriously, we get charged $100 or more for new releases, which drops to $40 or $50 after 5 years or so. If it's on sale though, I got Bayonetta, Fallout New Vegas and Dead Rising 2 for about $45 all up.
Go for it.hutchy27 said:
Just bought it little over a week ago for $18, with bonus content. Great deal, great game, sadly now I really want to play ME3 but it's still almost full price. I think I'll wait till the "Extended cut" comes out. Wonder if it's price'll come down any more by then.
I tend to really go for the long haul when it comes to waiting for price drops though. ME2 was a bit of an exception. Currently waiting on Bioshock; $7 used on Amazon. I'll wait till it reaches 5. I'm in no hurry.
One nice thing about PCs is they can pretty much play games from any "console generation" so I tend to buy a lot of last gen games. For example I'm thinking about picking up Halo next if I can find it anywhere.
There's still the difference that you can't duplicate a house in york, and if you could there's still the possibility you'd be so satisfied with it you'd want to reward the architect.HarryScull said:
Not all games are overpriced, but it may be a real problem with AAA titles. Modern warfare 2 for example:
http://www.industrygamers.com/news/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-2s-launch-budget--200-million/
Profits were of 550 millions in the first five days, at a price of 60$ that's 9.2 millions sells... in the first five days! It could easily have been launched at a price of 50$ and still generate around 250 millions, or more than 100% profit. Again, in 5 days, beside Hollywood I don't know of any other industry with that kind of fast profits.
Taking into account the sells of just the first few months would probably make it possible to launch the games at 30$ or even lower for the same profits.
With that in mind, sometime playing the game first and paying for it when the price has dropped to the point where it's actually a fair price isn't so bad. The ones who never pay then never intended to, and so are a non issue. The one who does, and there are more of those than you'd think, would not have given their money at all otherwise.
Edited for correctness.
I don't think people would mind dropping 50 dollars for a video game if you got the game without any bullshit or nickel and diming later. But you do, so it is bullshit.
The most I've spent on a game within the past few years is preordering Portal 2 for £27, everything else I've got on sale or otherwise a lot cheaper than that. But guess what, I still think games are expensive. If they weren't, I wouldn't wait for price cuts to get any. Therefore, yes, while you can get games for cheaper, the fact that you have to invalidates the whole "games are cheap" thing.
So the whole thing was to disprove some imaginary pirates you were arguing with in your mind? Cool, I hope you won. That wouldn't work against real pirates but keep going, you might have a decent argument one day. And some time later you might even be ready to argue with pirates. I'll even give you a tip - get a lobotomy to be able to understand the justifications they give you.HarryScull said:
While this arguement does hold up in most genres, it doesn't quite apply to multiplayer, first person shooters. Chances are, if you wait four months to play it, they've released DLC, which is going to double your cost of entry and is essentially required to play the game. If you wait for them to discount the DLC (another four months, maybe longer. I'm not even sure that DLCs are discounted at all, but I may be wrong), you've spent about 1/3 of the game's life cycle waiting. If you're lucky, the game company will wait another year to release the next entry in the series.