$50 for console games, $40 for PC games, $20-$30 for handheld games.
Those prices seem fair to me.
Those prices seem fair to me.
How Much SHOULD a Game Cost?
- Thread starter Siris
- Start date
I was going to say $20, but after reading some of the posts, $30 with a gradual drop off in price until it eventually hits $10 or $15 sounds about right to me. Yes, they cost $50 as a standard in the earlier generations, but that was because cartridge based storage kept the unit price up. I'm old enough to remember that the Sega CD came with a promise that CD based games, being so much cheaper to manufacture than their cartridge based brethren, would be significantly cheaper to buy. I never had a Sega CD, so I can't say whether or not the promise was kept with that particular add-on, but I can say that the publishers have been pocketing the difference in every system since -- even going so far as to jack up the price by $10 for console games, and $20 for PC games, citing some BS about rising costs. It's why I always wince whenever a company starts talking about how some new process will cut costs, because I know they aren't going to pass the savings on to me, but I'm going to get an inferior (or at least different) product anyway.
Edit: Before anybody jumps on me, that $10 or $15 figure would only be reached by the end of the game's life as a product, after it had made all of the money it was going to at the original price point. If all games would do that, I'd be fine with the starting price staying $60, and would be thrilled if it would drop as low as $40. They'd still be failing to pass on the savings of disc-based media that was harped on so much in the 90's, but at least it wouldn't be the permanent price of the game.
Edit: Before anybody jumps on me, that $10 or $15 figure would only be reached by the end of the game's life as a product, after it had made all of the money it was going to at the original price point. If all games would do that, I'd be fine with the starting price staying $60, and would be thrilled if it would drop as low as $40. They'd still be failing to pass on the savings of disc-based media that was harped on so much in the 90's, but at least it wouldn't be the permanent price of the game.
lets put it this way......its been $50 forever now...if its at 60 now (which it might be idk)...think about it..something went up 10 bucks over how many years.....where everything else went up how much over that same amount of time...everyone STFU and leave it alone before someone trys to charge us morepsivamp said:
The problem with this is that the manufacturing costs went way down in the mid 90's, when companies switched from cartridges to discs, but the companies pocketed the difference, instead of passing on the savings like they promised. I'd imagine that $50 per game now would still net them more profit than it did in the cartridge days, even accounting for inflation. The only reason they charge $60 is because they can get away with it, and it makes the shareholders happy. It has nothing to do with rising costs.Gudrests said:
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I'd say between $25-30, but that's only the price I'd LIKE to pay. Actually necessary price is usually $50, but I can't afford new games right now anyway.
Certainly less than a hundred dollars. Seriously, that's what they cost here in Australia, and our dollar is about level with yours.
At best guess, I'd probably say fifty/sixty for a hard copy and thirty/forty for a digital version. Just my thoughts though.
At best guess, I'd probably say fifty/sixty for a hard copy and thirty/forty for a digital version. Just my thoughts though.
Well living in Canada paying $70 for a good Xbox360 game is not fun and $50-60 for a Wii is slightly less annoying espicially since our dollar has been high for quite a while, but as economics dictates we pay more, why distributuion costs, everything is more expensive at Wallmart because when you have less people in your country you have to sell for more
I don't really pay the $50 price anymore. Occasionally, when I already know I'll love a game, I go for it, but that's hardly often. With digital distribution, and many games going WAAAAYY over-budget so they can have 400 different types of particle effects, I would not mind a massive price reduction.
I think that a console release shouldn't be more than $45. And handheld shouldn't be more than $40.
The games industry really would benefit from a lowering of prices. I myself have had an Xbox 360 for almost a year and haven't bought a game for it. Why? Too expensive. And they definitely aren't benefitting from my borrowing games from friends. Now if games were closer to the $40 area I'd buy my own. If they were closer to $30 I'd widen my range and buy things just to try something new or just for the heck of it.
As it is, games are too high. The highest production budget on a game is $100 million, but in comparison film budgets routinely go over $100 million. Yet BluRay and DVDs go for $20 - $25 usually, movie tickets are $10 or less, and video games are still $60. There's no need for it.
And another thing; digital releases of games. I can pre-order Portal 2 right now for $45, at %10 off on Steam. That is about 15 dollars less than I'd expect in a store, but digital is . . . digital. That game could be sold much cheaper. I know that packaging, disk, printing, and distribution of a game costs more than $15 per unit. How much of that $45 would you think goes straight into GabeN's wallet?
The games industry really would benefit from a lowering of prices. I myself have had an Xbox 360 for almost a year and haven't bought a game for it. Why? Too expensive. And they definitely aren't benefitting from my borrowing games from friends. Now if games were closer to the $40 area I'd buy my own. If they were closer to $30 I'd widen my range and buy things just to try something new or just for the heck of it.
As it is, games are too high. The highest production budget on a game is $100 million, but in comparison film budgets routinely go over $100 million. Yet BluRay and DVDs go for $20 - $25 usually, movie tickets are $10 or less, and video games are still $60. There's no need for it.
And another thing; digital releases of games. I can pre-order Portal 2 right now for $45, at %10 off on Steam. That is about 15 dollars less than I'd expect in a store, but digital is . . . digital. That game could be sold much cheaper. I know that packaging, disk, printing, and distribution of a game costs more than $15 per unit. How much of that $45 would you think goes straight into GabeN's wallet?
Wow, you're a youngster, aren't you? I remember games costing $50 Australian. In the US at that same time, games cost around $30 to $40, or sometimes less. This was at the tail end of the 80's.Radeonx said:
Actually the reason why console games are $60 and PC is $50 is because the developer/publisher have to pay the console's maker just to put the game on. That doesn't happen in PC which is why a lot of gamers got up in arms about it.RAMBO22 said:
OT: $50 across the board.