Poll: What would be a reasonable price for games?

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burningdragoon

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Jul 27, 2009
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I think $60 isn't a bad starting price for normal AAA games, though for any game less than 10 hours long that becomes a bit too much. If I feel like the game isn't quite worth full price, I will wait for a price drop.
 

isometry

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Mar 17, 2010
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I usually stick to buying games that cost less than $20 on steam. Once or twice a year I happily buy a game for $60, like I did with Skyrim and Civilization 5.
 

SoranMBane

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May 24, 2009
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I'd say $40-50 for the average brand new AAA title depending on the amount of content in the game and the amount of resources (money, time, people, etc.) spent in developing it. That said, anything over $30 is generally too much if the game's been out for over a year.

That's just what I'd consider ideal, though. Goods are always going to be priced as high as people are on average willing to pay, and for games that price is apparently $60, which is fair enough even if it's a bit hard for me to swallow.
 

kouriichi

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Sep 5, 2010
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40-60 USD is decently reasonable.

I think it really depends on the game itself. If its a multiplayer game that depends on constant company support ((dedicated servers, patches every week, ect.)) 60$ is completely fine with me.

But if its singleplayer only, with no online play that involves the company ((P2P, splitscreen or Lan gaming)), 40$ is a bit more of a balanced price.
 

omicron1

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Mar 26, 2008
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Skyrim: $60. Possibly $80.
CoD singleplayer: $20.
CoD multiplayer: $30-$40.
Your typical singleplayer-focused 8-10 hour FPS: $30.
STALKER: $50.
Short indie game: $15
Long indie game: $25
MMORPG: $30 (They make enough money off the subscriptions/whales!)
 

Zaverexus

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Jul 5, 2010
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DeadSp8s said:
Just wait long enough and you can get them on Amazon cheap fairly quickly.
I think that's the way to go. I'll ask for a big long-lasting title for a holiday and play that into the ground and by the time I'm done and looking for a new game all the ones I wanted are cheap at Gamestop or somewhere.
 

michael87cn

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Jan 12, 2011
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It depends on the game of course. Some are worth more than others. $20-60. Give a vague question get a vague answer. :p

Although, I have always thought that games should not exceed $20. I couldn't see myself paying $60 for a book or a movie or a cd, and I usually don't spend more than $20 on a game. I know I know, not exactly an even comparison, but still. The gaming industry blows millions of dollars on pretty graphics that I don't personally find necessary. I would gladly play a game in 2011 with 2d sprites or FF7 quality polygons if the game was creative, original, interesting and entertaining.

So many games now sacrifice EVERYTHING for graphics. Graphics are the priority and its just so boring. I look out my window and think "nothing will ever look that good in a game, why waste time and money on it? make the game first, and the fluff later".

We are playing games right, not taking scenic virtual tours?
 

Sassafrass

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Aug 24, 2009
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Dirty Hipsters said:
I'd say $45.

I mean, if I can get a brand new game as eagerly anticipated as Deus Ex Human Revolution on Steam for $45 on day one, then why the hell does it cost $60 for consoles? In fact, why the hell do console games cost $10 more than PC games at all?
Box, cover art and manual materials probably make up the extra £10 difference.

OT: I'm happy with £35 to £45 either way.
 

EHKOS

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Feb 28, 2010
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$30 for a game that might be meh, and $40 for AAA titles. I'd like to think that's fair.
 

Dirty Hipsters

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Sassafrass said:
Dirty Hipsters said:
I'd say $45.

I mean, if I can get a brand new game as eagerly anticipated as Deus Ex Human Revolution on Steam for $45 on day one, then why the hell does it cost $60 for consoles? In fact, why the hell do console games cost $10 more than PC games at all?
Box, cover art and manual materials probably make up the extra £10 difference.

OT: I'm happy with £35 to £45 either way.
If you buy a PC game, in the box, in a store, it's still $50, not $60, therefore your argument is invalid.
 

Lightning Delight

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Apr 21, 2011
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Mostly it depends on how long the game takes me to complete. I judge the value (in dollars) of a game based on how long it keeps me entertained. And quality does play a role in this, because I would be willing to give a good game a second and possibly third playthrough, thus extending the amount of time I have been entertained by it.

A single playthrough of Mass Effect 2 took me 30 hours. I would be perfectly fine paying $60 American for that, especially considering I plan to play it again. Call of Duty 12 (or whatever they are now on) would take me about 5 hours to complete, and I do not fancy the multiplayer much. I would not pay much for that game, maybe $10-15 American.

Considering all games are different, though, it's kinda hard to set a universal price for them.

To answer the question, I guess $40-45 American would be a fair price for a game I have never played.
 

DanielBrown

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Dec 3, 2010
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New games in Sweden currently cost around 500-600SEK, which translates to about 120$.
I buy my games from the UK though, since they have more reasonable prices. Most often 40£(80$) for new games, with an average of 20£.
 

General Vengeance

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Aug 26, 2009
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Whatever the market will bear, and it will be set at it's maximum as it always has. If no one buys said product it goes on sale. If unprofitable it is discountinued.
 

loc978

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Sep 18, 2010
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Game prices seem fine from where I'm sitting. I remember saving up $40 for Chrono Trigger when it was new, and adjusting for inflation from 1995 to 2010 (according to this [http://www.westegg.com/inflation/], at least)... $40 translates to $56.66. I see no problem.
 

Elvis Starburst

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Aug 9, 2011
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$35 or so for a console/PC game, and maybe $30 for a handheld game. $40 for console/PC at most

Edit: I also agree on the quality and length of game-play ideas. I spent $30 on Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, and it took me 645 (19 days) total to even beat every quest, including item gathering, monster grinding, failures, etc. I'd say that's BEYOND worth it
 

Don Reba

Bishop and Councilor of War
Jun 2, 2009
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$60-$100 for AAA titles would be fine, but try-before-you-buy via torrents should be legal and unobstructed.
 

Jimmybobjr

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Aug 3, 2010
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Prices are slowly dropping in OZ. Personaly, i think that about $70 for a brand new game is really good. Certainly better than $120 that the games were getting onto a while back.
 

loudestmute

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Oct 21, 2008
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Lightning Delight said:
Mostly it depends on how long the game takes me to complete. I judge the value (in dollars) of a game based on how long it keeps me entertained. And quality does play a role in this, because I would be willing to give a good game a second and possibly third playthrough, thus extending the amount of time I have been entertained by it.

A single playthrough of Mass Effect 2 took me 30 hours. I would be perfectly fine paying $60 American for that, especially considering I plan to play it again. Call of Duty 12 (or whatever they are now on) would take me about 5 hours to complete, and I do not fancy the multiplayer much. I would not pay much for that game, maybe $10-15 American.

Considering all games are different, though, it's kinda hard to set a universal price for them.

To answer the question, I guess $40-45 American would be a fair price for a game I have never played.
For some reason, I'm reminded that EA has been trying out a new pricing model for Fight Night Champion, at least in its downloadable form. $30 for the full game, $5 for just the single-player story mode. Grab only the parts of the game you're willing to pay for, and get charged a somehwat reasonable price rather than the typical publisher response of "$60. Take it or leave it."

And in doing research on this, I saw the LA. Noire Complete Collection going up for $40, when anyone who bought the game new (re: suckers like me) had to rely on preorder bonuses to get free DLC. So here's my next point for developers to ignore. Rather than an "online pass" requiring users to cough up $10/long code entry to get the game online, give instead a "season pass" with new purchases. New box sales get all future DLC packs for free, used sales have to shell out the $10-$40 in extra content. More importantly, DLC is not and has never been required to enjoy a game. Used sales still get to enjoy the experience, though they might not experience as much content as someone who paid retail price. When used games decide to download the content packs, developers get their money.

If anyone loses in this system, please let me know. Because I'm failing to see any downsides at the moment.