The near extinction of $50 games?????

[swlovinist]

I have been noticing a trend as of latley(or the past year or so with the market getting flooded). I know that it has happened before, but are we going to see games this holiday come out at $39.99 or cheaper? I know that games such as GTA San A, Halo 2, and GT 4 can easily stay $50 for the holidays, but can anything else? With gem titles such as NFL 2k5 coming out at a mere $20.00(I know its a sports title), is that going to pressure other game titles to come out cheaper? I know that on the development side, games are costing alot more to make, but on the consumer side, there is just a ton out there to buy. Where is the balance?

[Querjek]

Nintendo DS games was probably PSP games will be $50. Watch, the next-gen system's games will be probably $50 too.

[Tritoch]

I think we'll see this trend continue until the launch of the next round of consoles. They'll use that opportunity to reset prices at the $50.00 standard.

[Rogmeister]

Yes, I think things will stay pretty much the same...some games will come out for $39.99 but many others will still come out at $49.99...and when they've got as much as they're going to get, then they'll cut prices on those titles a bit. Pretty much business as usual...

[Flack]

They can continue the trend of $50 games ... and I will continue the trend of not buying them. When there are so many sales, discounts, online markets and bargin bin games I haven't made my way through yet, I see no reason to have to have the newest $50 games.

[Jasoco]

I'd love if games would come out at $40. Even better is GBA games were $25 or even $20.

As for DS games, I really hope they aren't $50. $30 is enough. $40 is pushing it. $50 will totally make me think about my decision.

BTW, Querjek. How about you use an image program to invert the colors of your signature (So that the white is black and the black is white.) that way it'll look more integrated with the web pages black background. :)

[Dahne]

Didn't games used to cost up to $70? I think that's how much I paid for Chrono Trigger, though it might have been less and just seemed like more because I was a little kid. :)

I only pay full price for games I've really been looking forward to. I'll pay $50 for MGS3, but not many others.

[Jasoco]

There are games I want so badly, but will not pay $50 for. So I will patiently wait. Red Dead Revolver for one. Not worth $50. People say it's too short. I will wait. $40 will work. $30 will be better.

[BLACKFROSTT]

I never buy anything over $20.00
Too many other bills in life.

[Rogmeister]

Early this year, I vowed to never again pay over $30 for a game...I can wait until games I want come down. I did pay $33 for Red Dead Revolver...but the guy I bought it gave me free shipping so it evened out... :D

[ubersaurus]

Didn't games used to cost up to $70? I think that's how much I paid for Chrono Trigger, though it might have been less and just seemed like more because I was a little kid. :)


Indeed.

Virtua Racing on Genesis launch price-100 dollars
Street Fighter 2 Turbo, Donkey Kong Country, Star Fox, and numerous other titles broke the 70+ barrier. And I remember a bunch of n64 games went for 70 bucks until nintendo finally realized that they couldn't keep it up and expect anyone to buy them.

[Lemmy Kilmister]

Didn't games used to cost up to $70? I think that's how much I paid for Chrono Trigger, though it might have been less and just seemed like more because I was a little kid. :)


Indeed.

Virtua Racing on Genesis launch price-100 dollars
Street Fighter 2 Turbo, Donkey Kong Country, Star Fox, and numerous other titles broke the 70+ barrier. And I remember a bunch of n64 games went for 70 bucks until nintendo finally realized that they couldn't keep it up and expect anyone to buy them.

Don't forget about the phantasy star games.

[JJNova]

The reason you are seeing cheaper games is because Sony and Nintendo lowered their Licensing fees. Henceforth the cost is lower to the manufacturer, and the profits remain the same at lower prices for Retail. There were quite a few articles about this when Nintendo decided to implement it. So remember, when you pay 50 dollars for a game instead of 40, you are making somebody more money then they rightfully deserve! MWAHAHAHA!

[-hellvin-]

You know, I have not bought a game for 50 dollars for a long TIME. I think the trend will continue because they know that people will still pay for games at 50 bucks but meanwhile, I'll be grabbing the last few copies of all the games at work that drop down to 20 bucks or go get em used for 5-10. And PSP/DS games at 50 bucks? I think it may be a while before I get one of those systems (if I ever do)...

[Sibs]

Didn't games used to cost up to $70? I think that's how much I paid for Chrono Trigger, though it might have been less and just seemed like more because I was a little kid.

I remember when I got Chrono Trigger for my 11th birthday and my parents telling me it was $80!

[JJNova]

Mortal Kombat, Mortal Monday, 80 Dollars, Toys R Us



EDITED: Because I didnt spell Kombat correctly, and didnt want to be ridiculed.

[The Collector]

Didn't games used to cost up to $70? I think that's how much I paid for Chrono Trigger, though it might have been less and just seemed like more because I was a little kid. :)

I only pay full price for games I've really been looking forward to. I'll pay $50 for MGS3, but not many others.

Yeah, i remember when 16-bit games like Samurai Shodown V were $359 for Neo-Geo...wait O_O they still are @_@

[Tritoch]

Didn't games used to cost up to $70? I think that's how much I paid for Chrono Trigger, though it might have been less and just seemed like more because I was a little kid.

I remember when I got Chrono Trigger for my 11th birthday and my parents telling me it was $80!

That's how much it cost me at TRU, back when I made about that much a week. I was sucked in by the awesome "Time" ad (see below for scan of the ACTUAL AD that changed my life), and bought it in spite of the fact that it was a RPG. Of course that quickly led to others including the Final Fantasy series, and now it's by far my favorite genre. Worth every penny, even if it did leave me $.32 short when I went to the gas station on the way home. LOL

http://nin.vgf.com/chronoad_a.jpghttp://nin.vgf.com/chronoad_b.jpg

[junglehunter]

I clearly remember paying $86.50 CAD for Earthworm Jim when it first hit stores. :(

[calthaer]

I don't pay over $30 for very many games. Last game I paid full price for was Deus Ex: Invisible War...and I regretted it. Wasn't worth that price. Well maybe that wasn't the last one...I also paid $50 for Pokemon Colosseum because it had the bonus disc with it (and I figured that if I paid $20-30 later for the game and ended up paying $20-30 for the bonus disc, too, then I wouldn't have saved myself any money). Also paid the extra price (whatever it was) for Wind Waker with the bonus disc.

Bonus discs make it worth the money, most of the time. They're rare and will increase in value. Other than that, $50 games are not worth it. $30 is my max.

[swlovinist]

there has been some great posts to this question, and the more I think about it, the more I smile.

1) The Christmas is going to be ultra flooded, so time to hit the clearance racks....not everything is going to sell well.

2) Many games are going to have to come out at a budget price to compete this fall/winter season.....first stop NFL 2k5. Others such as Midway Arcade Treasures, Atari Anthology, and Phantasy Star Trilogy are all going to be budget. I love when my money can get stretched and I dont have to try hard

3) Since it will be the holidays, many of the main chain discount stores(Target, Shopko, Wall-Mart, Best Buy, etc) will run sales on games that are already lowered priced to get people to come to their stores. Win Win

4) With the prices of many games dropping before they are even released, this means that a pristine used copy at a game store will even be cheaper and more of a steal.........oh wait, that means that trading games in wont be worth as much.......... x_x



.............looks like this is THE Holiday for video games, let the bloodbath begin!

[MarioAllStar2600]

Why is everyone making such a big deal about NFL2k5 coming our for$20? Sure it is really cheap for a new sports game and all but cmon. Bomberman Is one of the greatest games of all time, and they start at $20 a piece.
Tips and trick said its cause they make there profit in Japan and like staying popular here.

And to answer you first question no. Right now the price for a DS gamne is $50, and thats a handheld. If there that expensive for handhelds imagine what home consoles are going to be like soon enough. :o

[Tritoch]

There's almost no way DS games will actually cost $50. That's a placeholder price all the online retailers are using because Nintendo hasn't announced the actual retail price yet. It's much easier to tell a customer that the item he pre-ordered is now $10/$20 cheaper rather than $10/$20 more expensive.

[Querjek]

BTW, Querjek. How about you use an image program to invert the colors of your signature (So that the white is black and the black is white.) that way it'll look more integrated with the web pages black background. :)
Because I'm too lazy to take that logo into paint and click "Invert Colors".

Well, actually, that just a placeholder for something... else... ;)

[Jasoco]

:(

This would have looked better.

http://jasoco.no-ip.com/files/images/DSlogo.gif

(Took me about two minutes to open in PhotoShop, invert, save to Heather and link to it in this reply.)

[fargus]

Jasoco: not everyone uses a black background. I use subSilver myself.

Other than Sega's pricing stunt with NFL 2K5 I don't see full-featured games for current systems going for less that $50 unless they're published by Sony. Sony has almost always priced their own titles $10 less because they don't have to pay themselves the licensing fee.

The lower-quality stuff that usually comes out at the end of the cycle should be priced lower because it's aimed at the casual buyer who only got the system because it was cheap, like what's been happening with PSone games. This is where Nintendo has failed in the past because cartridges still had a higher cost to manufacture. They're getting better with the Player's Choice line of games but need to make them cheaper.

[Jasoco]

Jasoco: not everyone uses a black background. I use subSilver myself.I tried that for a while, I like it better, but then I realized a few things.

First, I'm so used to the Black and Red. It's just noty DP without it. It looked too much like AtariAge and I kept getting the two sites mixed up.
Second, some people like to hard-code colors in their posts. So I couldn't read many of them!

Whatever. Still, the black looked nicer.

Anyway..

What's the story on this one.. Today we received "Army Men: Sarge's War" for GCN. I price checked.. $14.99! Brand new. $14.99. Is this really the price? Or am I missing something? I've never heard of it, so I assume it's new. But $14.99 is a very low price to start at. Even for an Army Men game.

[vincewy]

Not so fast, some new games are still commanding $50, my ShopKo had 8 copies of Tales of Symphonia and we're down to 2, I'm thinking about getting it before it's too late.