Video game pricing?

[Ryu890]

Remember the olden days when a new game cost about $30? This was the Playstation era I believe. No, I don't quite feel like going and looking up what generation that is. Not the point.


Lets face it. $60 games is RIDICULOUS. Video games are a luxury item, and there's only so much disposable income that we gamers have available to us. And with the release of the PS4, Sony is planning on charging around $70 dollars.


So my question to you all is two(four?)fold.

1. What would you consider a 'fair' price for a new, console game in an established franchise? What about for a handheld game?


2. What is the highest price you'd consider paying for a game, before you decide "You know what? My money would be better spent elsewhere."



I'm personally at the point where I ONLY buy used/old console games, or downloadable titles. (I want a PS3 specifically so I can play all the old Final Fantasies.) I still for paying $40 dollars for certain handheld games. (Like the new Fire Emblem!)


So...yes. Oppinions?

 

[tippy2k2]

I am perfectly happy with $60 a pop.

In fact, we have a "Complaining about prices" [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.402495-Poll-If-games-cost-69-99-next-gen#16609243] thread already today so I'm just going to copy/paste my answer...

Games drop in price so quickly now and there are SO many of them to chose from that unless I MUST HAVE IT NOWZ! (maybe once a year), I don't ever buy at full price. So they can do what they want with the price for I will just continue waiting to buy the game until it gets to a price that I find reasonable.

I consider $60 a fair price.

The highest I would pay for JUST a game would be about $60. I've bought special editions and whatnot for higher but those come with shiny things so I don't count them.

 

[sethisjimmy]

And then remember before that, when NES games could cost anywhere from $50-$100? Which when adjusting for inflation comes out to even more than that?

I think video game prices have been pretty consistent throughout history, despite production qualities going way up, which I think is good. I'd consider 60$ pretty fair for some new games. It's hard to put a value on these things, but the way I see it, a new movie release would cost probably $20 for DVD/Blu-Ray. That's for about 2 hours of decent entertainment, whereas a game would get me anywhere from 6 to 100's of hours and is much more enjoyable, involved entertainment.

But clearly I can't quantify the worth of a game using this method all the time. For instance, I love Killer7 yet I got it for about 10 dollars, where I would feel fine paying 60 for it. On the other hand, I payed 60 for Far Cry 3 and pretty much got my fill of the game in about 15 fairly forgettable hours.

I guess I'm not too upset about high prices because I tend to wait a few years before playing AAA games and by then the price has gone down to something I don't mind impulse buying. Plus I feel the industry is doing well to offer different price points with digital downloads, indie games, episodic content, etc. It's only generally big generic action games that get the 60 dollar price point for more than the first week.

 

[The_Lost_King]

Considering how long I played Skyrim for (I'm too ashamed to give exact hours, but let's just say "more than a week" and leave it at that)

Don't be ashamed. I'm proud to say I have spent about 400 hours on it.

I would rather it stay around 50-60, which I feel is good for games that I really want and waiting a month or two for $30 is good for games I am iffy about and is good so that I don't buy something I will never play. I have never played an AAA game that I feel I haven't got my moneys worth from. The only time that happens is when I spend money on steam sales and never play them, cheap is the bane of my wallet.

 

[Ryu890]

You guys make good points. Especially about how quickly games drop in price nowadays.

Pbbb...

Gracias. Its refreshing to hear an opinion that isn't draped in cynicism and darkness for the future of the industry.
Then again, maybe I just hang out with the wrong people.

Still, is $69 dollars still fair? If so, then what wouldn't be? I'm curious.

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

And then remember before that, when NES games could cost anywhere from $50-$100? Which when adjusting for inflation comes out to even more than that?

I remember Megadrive games having variable prices depending on the size of the game/cartridge. Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Phantasy Star IV cost nearly £80? There was a reason I didn't play that until the SEGA classics collection came out...

 

[strumbore]

I think every game on my shelf is worth 60 bucks.
I was able to wait a while and get brand spanking new
copies for 40 bucks. Journey HD Collection was
only 30 bucks.
I'm reasonably content with game prices right now,
more so than most probably since I only buy two or
three games a year. If that.