How Much SHOULD a Game Cost?

[joshthor]

i think 50 dollars is a perfect amount for a new, AAA title. however, i think lower budget games, or cash in games should be 30 - 40 dollars. i hate how so many crappy games get sold at ridiculous prices because of the simple fact everyone else does it.

 

[iLikeHippos]

From a gamers perspective, it should cost less as I want to buy at least more than 1 game without spending my entire birthday income in total.

But, on a producers perspective, I think they should cost A LOT MORE! Games aren't made with a fuckin' snap! You're forced to sell millions of copies if you are ever to see a slight chance of profit, and only 1/4 of the game publishers actually succeed to gain some bit of revenue.

So, to please both parts, let's to what has ALWAYS been done; Keep it in between.
That way, you please no one! Hii hiii... hi....

This system sucks.

 

[Wintermoot]

big title 50~60 US$
small or old title 20~10 US$
re-calculate it too any currency too get the right price
30~40 US$ for a big title handheld game
10~5 US$ for a HH small title/old game
60 US$ for a CE HH game
maximum of 200$ for a CE PC/Console game (depending on the added stuff)

 

[vxicepickxv]

So, how about 43 dollars new(360/PS3) or 21 dollars new(Wii)? Oh wait, that's based on averages, and profit margins. They don't always play the same.

This is a bit of info you might want to look at before making judgement.

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/episode-111-pach-attack/64278

 

[SonicKoala]

Unless you have an intricate knowledge of the various costs associated with both a)Making the actual video game, and b)distributing/marketing the video game, I don't see how anybody here can actually claim that "THIS is how much a game should cost".

Obviously, the company is going to have to charge an appropriate amount so that, for one, the costs of actually making and marketing/distributing the thing are covered, AND enough of a profit is generated so that the company and its employees can stay afloat and live comfortably. I just think that there are a myriad of motivations behind charging people "X" amount of dollars for a certain game, and I think that very few people actually take that into consideration; instead, people do what people always do - complain about how expensive everything is.

the problem is that not very game is of equal quality or cost, so obviously it would make sense for a high budget game to have a higher price, but EVERY game is $60, no matter how good, bad, cheap, or expensive it is.

also, game companies did fine with $50 games and they've had 6 years to get used to the current generations. they have no excuse for charging $60 anymore

Well, to be fair, quality of a game is an objective characteristic - furthermore, if a game really is crappy, the price tends to go down almost immediately after it comes out; I've seen quite a few games at my local EB go from the usual 69.99 release price (I live in Canada) to under 50 dollars within a couple of months.

As for the shift from the usual $50 to $60, wouldn't that just be a result of the increased costs that come along with making games for the more advanced gaming systems we have today? Sure, gaming companies are used to the current generations now, but how would that reduce the cost of production? Perhaps it's just my lack of knowledge regarding technology, but I don't really see how a gaming company could cut production costs to the point where they could justify charging a full $10 dollars less for each game, thereby losing somewhere in the range of $5 million dollars in revenue, provided the game sells half a million copies - that's a lot of money, yo.

 

[Biosophilogical]

If they were cheaper I would buy more.

So what we need is a graphical representation of the relation between sales and price, and find the optimum price, then bump it down a couple bucks (For the Horde! Consumers!)

 

[Illyasviel]

I think current prices are fine ( USD60 ). Digital distribution users shouldn't be given a significant edge over those who prefer hard copies.

The thing is, if you're patient, or just savvy, you can get most everything on discount. I regularly pick up games for USD15 - 25 and I often even manage new releases for USD40. Collector's editions? Well, in the last six months, I've picked up Gran Turismo 5 CE for USD70, BioShock 2 CE for USD30 and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood for USD55.

Not including tax of course ( 10% ).

That said, I think portable games should go down a bit and DLC should stop pricing everything as a multiple of 5. USD10? Go screw yourself. USD7? Now we're talking.

 

[albear]

I liked the idea of the humble indie bundle as in, pay what you want

yes i know alot of people will pay very little compared to what they are paying now, but think about it, alot of people out there just download games for free anyway, and what would be the point in getting it for free when they would only have to pay a minumum fee of say a pound (just for arguments sake)

also, games will be getting rated for what they are worth aswell, i.e the good games people will be willing to thank the developers for will get more revenue than those that you would pay £40 for and yet just fail at being a good game

this will also prod companies to actually develope better and more inovative games as obviously good games will bring the most revenue rather than just copy n pasting the previous game and giving it a new skin.

again i see the obviousness for this system to be taken advantage of, but its good to dream

 

[JochemDude]

40 on release, but after a few weeks 30 would be nice

 

[vadagar1]

when I become filthy rich I shall spend a billion dollars to make a great game

and the the rest to make a working star ship, honestly people with money spend it on crap if you ask me, rich people are stupid.
people who become rich are a different matter however.

 

[TheNedKelly]

It should certainly be cheaper to buy games digitally. Without the costs of producing the physical package and transport, and the middle man, I'm thinking ?30 for a console game would still provide manufacturers a significant profit.

Won't happen until the consumer base starts demanding (with their wallet) these sorts of price changes.

 

[ImpofthePerverse]

Games will and always have varied in their prices, depending on where you buy them from. I got Fallout: New Vegas for the PC for £12 new of Amazon a few months after release, but I paid £40 for Fallout 3:GOTY for Xbox 360 on the day it was released.

I'll pay what I think is a fair amount for a game, I thought £40 was good for Fallout 3, I played it and I got my money's worth, but I got even more of my money's worth out of New Vegas. I've bought games at full price which I've thought were a rip off and I've also bought games at less than £5 and still had the same feeling.

Games cost as much as they do because people are willing to pay for them, if people didn't buy them at the higher prices then they'd have to come down. Question shouldn't really be how much games should cost, but how much you're willing to pay for certain games.

 

[Murmillos]

$35-$40 USD - and that price should be fixed for a year.

I hate deciding to buy a game at $60 and then have it drop to $55 in a week, $50 in two weeks, $45 in another 2 weeks.

Only the few rare AAA+ titles stay $50+ for months.

 

[Thurmer]

This is where I get to whinge about being an Australian, average release title is atleast $100 AUD........ this is why I feel completely justified in pirating video games, unless they're on steam, i get all my games through steam these days because I'm not paying $80 instore for a game thats 5 years old and I can buy and digitally download for $10 in the comfort of my own home................. EB should die

 

[Jesus Phish]

Prices of new games over here are about the same as they've always been. Between 40-60 euro depending on the title/platform.

What I dont agree with on pricing is older titles constantly staying at their original price. Unless a game gets a classic/platinum stamp (something that's incredibly rare these days than years before) it will stay at its 50e release price.

I also miss 3 for 2 or 3 for X euro offers. Those were brilliant ways to pick up old games cheap.

 

[OniaPL]

I think that a new game should be 50 euros (Currently 65-70 in my country). It's a price that doesn't seem so high, but isn't still cheap.

 

[USSR]

I still think $50 was just fine.

 

[SinisterGehe]

30-40 euros, a nice number, keeps them in their category of day to day luxury. A double the amount a CD, movie or a B price level book, they would then cost as much as A price level book 30-40 euros.