Jimquisition: Don't Charge Retail Prices For Digital Games
- Thread starter Jimothy Sterling
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It's sad that any of this needs to be said. The price ought to reflect real world factors, thus cheaper digital purchases. Love you too, game industry >.<.
Also, it's pronounced 'Goodler.'
Also, it's pronounced 'Goodler.'
Slightly off topic, what is that game at 2:43?
On topic: yeah, digital distribution has screwed up pricing.
On topic: yeah, digital distribution has screwed up pricing.
There is also this one funny thing about EA's pricing model on Origin. Considering that Euro is a stronger currency than US Dollar, how come I should pay 60-70 Euros for game priced 60 USD on lunch day?
And on a side note to those complaining about Skyrim on Steam: there have been 3 discounts I remember since Christmas and at least one of them was 50%. I would have liked to make use of that, however Skyrim is not even available in my region on steam and for 40 Eur (52 USD) on retail.
I just wanted to complain about that for some time, so there.
And on a side note to those complaining about Skyrim on Steam: there have been 3 discounts I remember since Christmas and at least one of them was 50%. I would have liked to make use of that, however Skyrim is not even available in my region on steam and for 40 Eur (52 USD) on retail.
I just wanted to complain about that for some time, so there.
On a 60 dollar game, the average AAA game will make about $27 profit at retail for a publisher. If digital distribution is cutting out the retailer and giving us direct access to the games via the publisher, the price should be set around there. You're still making the same amount as you would at retail, and your digital system is more accessible and attractive to consumers.
TLDR; PUBLISHERS MUST LISTEN TO JIM STERLING
TLDR; PUBLISHERS MUST LISTEN TO JIM STERLING
Yeah normally I'd defend greedy publisher decisions by saying, "there a business, they'll do whatever makes them the most money". And that's probably what they're thinking when thye make these prices. And while that may be true in the short term (and I'm even iffy about that), I think it will most definitely be losing them more money in the long term.
Say if you priced new AAA games at $50 instead of $60. You'd probably be making the same amount of money (wild guess on my part), but what you'd be doing is acclimatizing people to online transactions. Soon people will say "it's cheaper and more convenient, so I'll just do that". And the thing about the digital copies, no re-sale. And that means no used game problem. and if that's as big an issue as you say it is, then in the long run you stand to make way more money.
Say if you priced new AAA games at $50 instead of $60. You'd probably be making the same amount of money (wild guess on my part), but what you'd be doing is acclimatizing people to online transactions. Soon people will say "it's cheaper and more convenient, so I'll just do that". And the thing about the digital copies, no re-sale. And that means no used game problem. and if that's as big an issue as you say it is, then in the long run you stand to make way more money.
The thing about it this time that separates it from previous incarnations is that it would actualy be more beneficial to the buisness. Usually when powerful companies do this kind of thing it's because they will make more money if people are denied this item, service, whatever. But in this case game publishers have in there grasp a way to end the problem of used games and they are choosing not to take it.Aircross said:
Falseprophet said:
i) Servers plus personnel to maintain them are pricy, but a sunk cost. They're paying for them once, and they're doing it anyway alongside retail.
ii, iii) Bulk Bandwidth like those server farms use is incredibly cheap per gigabyte. Likewise, the frameworks the stores run on are a solved problem.
iv) Clearly you've never dealt with customer service for an online store. "Expertise" isn't in high demand. Mostly, you're going to be dealing with just-above-minimum wage script-readers.
v) They're paying for that either way with the box copies, plus most of the digital stores don't serve the entire world, instead limiting to certain geographic areas.
Compare that with all of the things you neglected to calculate in the retail/physical side: Mastering and producing the install media. Printing, assembling, and packing the packaging. Physically transporting the product to the retailers. That adds up to a lot of coin.
You could... you know... not click on it. Just a thought.Don Reba said:
You can actually buy games from Xbox Live (it was implemented a while ago, but I'm not sure if it's available at the same time as retail) and I'd assume the PSN works the same way. The whole system is still fairly rudimentary, but it is there.FelixG said:
When they were selling the digital deluxe version of ME3 for 80 dollars, all I could think of was, "really?". That's beyond insane. There is no justification for charging that much when all it costs them is the bandwidth to distribute it. It's like they're trying to desperately pretend that Steam does not exist with Origin.
However, it's hardly only the videogame market that's desperately clinging to the physical market. All these media industries are afraid of losing their exorbitant and aging business models.
I do wish that Nintendo would learn as well. I think their NES and SNES era games are still way to expensive on a store that might not even carry over to their next console.
However, it's hardly only the videogame market that's desperately clinging to the physical market. All these media industries are afraid of losing their exorbitant and aging business models.
I do wish that Nintendo would learn as well. I think their NES and SNES era games are still way to expensive on a store that might not even carry over to their next console.
This same problem exists with e-books as well (I know with e-books, digital distribution maximally cuts about 30% off the price of publishing a book; yet, you will find many e-books priced more than their physical counterparts. Go figure that one out.). I don't think it's a problem of arrogance on the part of the game publishers. I think it's just ignorance and incompetence. The executives in charge of content publishing, in general, simply prove to be ignorant of technology and how to use it, and they prove to be incompetent when it comes to actually understanding the market they are trying to serve and finding profitable ways to serve that market in a manner that ensures the loyalty and satisfaction of that market. They're just idiots, and they have no adaptability to changing market conditions.
Really, I think the only way to change the situation is for the old guard to just go out of business, and a new, younger guard, one that does understand its market better and has fresh ideas, rise up to take its place. Sometimes, for evolution to progress, you have to hit the planet with an asteroid and kill off all the dinosaurs. The game industry needs a serious hard crash, just like in the 80's.
Personally, I've been losing all interest in video games as of late. There's just too much bullshit and too little quality, creative diversity, and emotional spirit in today's games to make video gaming, as a hobby, worth the investment of time, effort, and money. Back in the day, it was not unusual for me to buy 2 games in one month, averaged over 6 months. Now, I barely buy a game every 6-8 months, averaged over 5 years. It's just not worth it anymore.
Really, I think the only way to change the situation is for the old guard to just go out of business, and a new, younger guard, one that does understand its market better and has fresh ideas, rise up to take its place. Sometimes, for evolution to progress, you have to hit the planet with an asteroid and kill off all the dinosaurs. The game industry needs a serious hard crash, just like in the 80's.
Personally, I've been losing all interest in video games as of late. There's just too much bullshit and too little quality, creative diversity, and emotional spirit in today's games to make video gaming, as a hobby, worth the investment of time, effort, and money. Back in the day, it was not unusual for me to buy 2 games in one month, averaged over 6 months. Now, I barely buy a game every 6-8 months, averaged over 5 years. It's just not worth it anymore.
What, you expect capitalist companies to behave like capitalists in a capitalist system instead of demanding the market change? Sorry, somewhere down the line capitalism became corporate overlords whining and demanding special privilages.
It is sad this needs to be said as even older games on PSN still go for full price. I was pricing out PSP downloads and saw games for $40 I got for $15, or even $8 at gamestop with the white stickers (meaning not used). I'm not a fan of going all digital, but shit like this doesn't even make it tempting as I have to deal iwth all the crap that comes with not actually owning the game for the price of owning the game. I get they don't want gamestop to go away completely as systems and controllers need to be sold somewhere, but this basically begs me to buy used.
PS, forget the Hitler thing. You'd look dumber in that moustache than he did.
It is sad this needs to be said as even older games on PSN still go for full price. I was pricing out PSP downloads and saw games for $40 I got for $15, or even $8 at gamestop with the white stickers (meaning not used). I'm not a fan of going all digital, but shit like this doesn't even make it tempting as I have to deal iwth all the crap that comes with not actually owning the game for the price of owning the game. I get they don't want gamestop to go away completely as systems and controllers need to be sold somewhere, but this basically begs me to buy used.
PS, forget the Hitler thing. You'd look dumber in that moustache than he did.
Thought about Diablo 3 the moment I saw the thread. I was in joy when I saw they were releasing a digital download. "Hurray" I thought, "A cheap and easy way of getting it".Weresquirrel said:
Almost made me spew my coffee out on the screen in shock when I saw it was 59,99 euro For normal edition!
Btw, if your brother is really sad. He could just buy a physical copy and enter the game-code and digitally download it (and much cheaper, logical?).
Another thing along this vein that really gets under my skin is the death of manuals. I mean, PC games USED to have awesome manuals, but even Console games used to have manuals, and they were considered a valuable part of the package - you were charged up the ass if you ever lost a manual in terms of game rental and resale value. Why is it cool now to not even make them? the last 3 games I've gotten (Mass Effect 3, Mortal Kombat, Gears of War 3, and most aggregiously, Starcraft 2, Blizzard being the king of the awesome manual era of PC gaming) have all 3 not had a manual. Game boxes feel empty without them. Why are they going away? Should we not in turn charge them up the ass for basically "losing" the manual for the game they're trying to sell us?
Why are they doing this? I mean, even if you don't like manuals, even if you're some crazy bint that thinks they're a waste, was that such a universal observation that we needed to do away with them all together? the boxes still have manual clips in them. It seems silly, and a bit of a slap in the face to sell a game with nothing but an advertisement and an online pass in the place of a manual.
And don't get me started on fucking advertising in games. Big Corporations in general seem to have forgotten that advertisement usage is an alternate form of payment - we're paying with our time and attention watching ads. Don't put ads in things that you're charging for, unless you're positive the person on the receiving end is going to want to see it (I'm all for, for example, Microsoft advertising Dollar Gold months on the live dashboard). Don't add extra advertisements to things we're already paying for and then have the audacity to sell them like a feature "buy our ads! they're ad-tastic!".
Edit: and Oh yeah, they're not even selling manuals to their old games. I bought a physical copy of Starcraft/Brood War, hoping to get a new copy of Starcraft's awesome manual. No dice, seriously, wtf.
Why are they doing this? I mean, even if you don't like manuals, even if you're some crazy bint that thinks they're a waste, was that such a universal observation that we needed to do away with them all together? the boxes still have manual clips in them. It seems silly, and a bit of a slap in the face to sell a game with nothing but an advertisement and an online pass in the place of a manual.
And don't get me started on fucking advertising in games. Big Corporations in general seem to have forgotten that advertisement usage is an alternate form of payment - we're paying with our time and attention watching ads. Don't put ads in things that you're charging for, unless you're positive the person on the receiving end is going to want to see it (I'm all for, for example, Microsoft advertising Dollar Gold months on the live dashboard). Don't add extra advertisements to things we're already paying for and then have the audacity to sell them like a feature "buy our ads! they're ad-tastic!".
Edit: and Oh yeah, they're not even selling manuals to their old games. I bought a physical copy of Starcraft/Brood War, hoping to get a new copy of Starcraft's awesome manual. No dice, seriously, wtf.
So, people are saying that if publishers price their digital games lower than retail, retail won't stock them. Since this seems to be primarily for PC games, I say... so? Isn't PC at retail all but dead? The amount of people who got to a store to buy PC games is very, very few. Most use Steam now.
If Sony can charge less for their digital Vita games and have stores still stock the physical copies, I don't see why publishers can't do the same with PC games.
Besides, PC gaming at retail died completely, would it really make much of an impact? Is the retail PC games market really such a huge market that they won't risk losing it? Considering PC sections in retailers are really small and out of the way and getting smaller, I highly doubt it.
If Sony can charge less for their digital Vita games and have stores still stock the physical copies, I don't see why publishers can't do the same with PC games.
Besides, PC gaming at retail died completely, would it really make much of an impact? Is the retail PC games market really such a huge market that they won't risk losing it? Considering PC sections in retailers are really small and out of the way and getting smaller, I highly doubt it.
Arr, I suggested that to him. The other alternative is that he has friends who work in an electronics store, he was going to see if he could borrow their external CD drive they use for netbooks to install it.Alcamonic said:
