Higher priced next gen. videogames and systems in future?!

[NintendoMan]

http://cube.ign.com/articles/596/596585p1.html

Hey everyone. Just wanted to see what other people's opinions were on this subject, that really hasn't been brought up to much on this site. This is probably the first company, Activision, that has already said that games for the next gen. systems might start at $60, maybe more. (At least the first I have seen to publically say something)

It is a good point that the article makes. I mean we have continually paid more for movie tickets, but for the most part games brand new have remained around the $50 mark. The more times and production put into a game, the more it's going to cost for gamemakers. How long can that last? We all now systems will be alot, but has anybody have any thoughts or opinions about the rising cost in software. I am anxious to see some thoughts considering all the cheapskates around here. :D There are alot of people complaining already about the current prices of games, as they are too high.

[gepeto]

When the psx first came out alot of the games in my area were $59.00. It sucked I will never forget the 59.00 that I paid for bases loaded 96 that turd.
Back then the industry could do it because the psx had the wow factor. But now, no way games will sit on the shelf before the majority pays 59.00. Just look at the nintendo ds $150.00 rarely movin off the store shelves after the hype. Now on sell at overstock.com with 20.00 discount. Can you smell videogame crash.
Look at the psp 250.00 bundle will fly off the shelves by the hardcore and hype buyers initially. But sales will also drop off after the hype and sony will be forced to lower the price. As for me the I will wait for the ds to hit 99.00 by Christmas and the psp to hit between the 100.00 & 150.00

[bargora]

The opinion of retrogamers, collectors, and other "hard core" types probably doesn't make much difference, being as we are decidedly the minority. I guess we'll just see if Madden 2007 and the big movie license games keep flying off the shelves at $60 per.

I mean, a lot of the posters here (myself included) are pretty cheap, or try to be, about this hobby. You pretty much have to be if you're going to amass any volume of games. Plus, once you get old enough to be nostalgic and collect, you generally come to the realization that a good game released yesterday will still be a good game next year when you can pick it up for less than $20. Plus, you've probably already got a backlog of games and not even enough free time to play them anyway. So waiting to buy a game isn't the terrible thing it seems like when you're young (with plenty of time but no money).

I know, we should support the industry and all that, but I'm afraid that it's just not going to happen on my budget. The only games I would even consider buying new at release right now would be games with a significant online component, since it's best to get in on the ground floor with that sort of thing. And at $60, it had better be something special.

Or Doom. Dooooooooom. (It's my Achilles' Hell, so to speak.)

[maxlords]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ibd/20050315/bs_ibd_ibd/2005314tech


Gamers will be willing to spend more for premium titles on the new consoles, Kotick says. "People want to play the great games. There doesn't seem to be a lot of price sensitivity to paying for the great games," he said.


Fuck them. I won't pay $60 US a game. Good fucking gods man. Games in Canada are ALREADY bloody $60-80 NEW + tax. Anohter hike would put them out of the realm of consideration for new purchases. I'll just buy from pawn shops who take in stolen merchandise or used from friends. As it is, I almost always wait for the games to come down in price before buying. I'm only bought maybe one game every two months at full retail in the last year...at the most. This would make it zero. I'd just wait for everything to drop before even considering buying. Sucks though, cause I like to buy everything factory sealed.

And considering that article....how many licensed games did any of you buy in the last year? Me...I bought... *looks*.... Indiana Jones for Xbox (from a private seller for $10 sealed), Lupin the 3rd for PS2 (from a private seller, sealed), Robotech for GBA (new from a private seller for $10), and Samurai Jack for GC (used from a mini-mart). I bought NO licensed games new from the stores. Wait...I take it back...Astro Boy for GBA. I bought that new. And holy shit....I don't care how much they ADD to the game to "justify" the cost. It's still not worth it to go back to those prices. I'd rather have shorter games that are cheaper any day....I feel that most games are too long as it is. WTF is wrong with these analysts that think we'll just bend over and take it? I'm not gonna even TOUCH the next gen systems until the hardware drops to the prices the current stuff is at now, much less get raped anally for fun by clerks just to play a game that a company claims is better.


EDIT: Oh yeah...and I don't go to the theater any more. I go less than 5 times a year...usually 1-3 tops. I used to go over 30 times a year. Since the prices have gone up, I've stopped going. Some of us will NOT continue to pay high prices for the same stuff.

[Poofta!]

bargora made an excellent point.

although i have to bring up another: the PC. PC games have always been top of the line. while console games are restricted to their console, PC games have always strived to be as beautiful and advanced as possible, regardless if the majority has the means of playing these games at their top notch settings (case in point: Doom 3 and Half Life 2, and older games like Sim CIty 3 which still lags on my pc). these games and any other PC games no matter the price have NEVER crossed the 50 dollar mark (LE and CE not included), and yet still dont sell all that well.

If companies follow Activision, far less games will be bought by the mainstream gamer, since now hes got a choice, pay 60 bucks for activision/current gen, 40-50 for nintendo or 20 for PS2/Xbox games (by that time itll be the used bin).

i hear parents and kids already complaining about 50 price tags, if it hits 60 they quite possibly might start buying the cheaper games or last gen games, having companies like Activision go the way of Acclaim.

[Poofta!]

how many licensed games did any of you buy in the last year? Me...I bought... *looks*....


where do you find UN-licensed games for current gen? or do you pirate everything?


as for the theatre bit... 10 bucks i think is fair, its a fun activity, sure i can rent teh flick for 3 bucks in 1 year and watch it in my living room but i enjoy the theatre and usually go with a bunch of friends or my gf. 10 bucks is nothing

[Kroogah]

how many licensed games did any of you buy in the last year? Me...I bought... *looks*....


where do you find UN-licensed games for current gen? or do you pirate everything?

He mentions Indiana Jones, Astro Boy, Robotech, Lupin III...he's talking about movie/TV show licenses.

[Kid Ice]

$50 is already too much for me. I paid more than that for RE4 but that was a collector's edition.

$40 is just right is the game's GOOD.

I usually wait until they hit the magical $20.

[Drexel923]

I love how he makes it seem that all games have always been $50 or lower...I seem to remember a bunch of SNES, N64, Saturn (Genesis?) games that were 60-70. I'm definitely never paying over $50 for a new game (unless its a CE I really want).

[john_soper]

$50 is already too much for me. I paid more than that for RE4 but that was a collector's edition.

$40 is just right is the game's GOOD.

I usually wait until they hit the magical $20.
I'm with you, just wait. In a year the game's cheaper and has a bunch of codes and walkthroughs on the internet.

[Poofta!]

I love how he makes it seem that all games have always been $50 or lower...I seem to remember a bunch of SNES, N64, Saturn (Genesis?) games that were 60-70. I'm definitely never paying over $50 for a new game (unless its a CE I really want).

thats why games of that generation NEVER sold as much as games of this one do. remember the 'mainstream' gaming explosion was with the Playstation, and its cheaper CD media games.

[it290]

I'm confused. A lot of you guys are saying you never pay $50 for a game, and yet I'm assuming a lot of you play obscure games that have limited release numbers. If those games hit the $20 mark, they may be nearly impossible to find by that point. I'm sure many of you import as well... it's rather difficult to get a lot of import games for less than $50.

My point is, I often find myself paying full price for a game if I'm afraid it won't be available later.

Also, with regards to the comment about PC games above, I believe Half-Life 2's initial MSRP was (and still is) $54.99. Probably the same for Doom 3.

[maxlords]

how many licensed games did any of you buy in the last year? Me...I bought... *looks*....


where do you find UN-licensed games for current gen? or do you pirate everything?

He mentions Indiana Jones, Astro Boy, Robotech, Lupin III...he's talking about movie/TV show licenses.


What he said :)

[Mr.FoodMonster]

Games are getting cheaper.

To make, not sell.

/thanks EA

[Jibbajaba]

It would just depend on how good the game was and how much I was going to play it. I don't usually buy current gen games unless I can get them cheap, and preferably used. I bought Resident Evil 4 and paid full price for it, but it's been worth it because I'm playing the crap out of it. I have a full time job, but $50 is still a lot of money, and I have a hard time justifying paying that much for a game when I have a backlog of games that I need to play that extends back through VCS games.

Chris

[maxlords]

I'm confused. A lot of you guys are saying you never pay $50 for a game, and yet I'm assuming a lot of you play obscure games that have limited release numbers. If those games hit the $20 mark, they may be nearly impossible to find by that point. I'm sure many of you import as well... it's rather difficult to get a lot of import games for less than $50.

My point is, I often find myself paying full price for a game if I'm afraid it won't be available later.

Also, with regards to the comment about PC games above, I believe Half-Life 2's initial MSRP was (and still is) $54.99. Probably the same for Doom 3.

Games can ALWAYS be found for cheap if you're patient. Especially newer ones, because the print runs are so high now. Minimums are in the tens of thousands, not a couple thousand. And most obscure games don't sell for shit, meaning that lots of copies are floating around. They don't just mysteriously vanish off the face of the earth or anything. Seriously...name me a game from the current generation that you flat out CANNOT find for less than it cost new. I can't even thing of one. If we're talking 3-5 year old PSX, sure....but if you waited that long, you missed the G-spot for buying cheap.

[gruzniak]

hey guys remember when new SNES and Genny games were $70 bucks a piece, that's all i'm gonna say...

[Querjek]

$50 is my cutoff for games, unless they're games that I really want (i.e. Doubutsu No Mori e+, which was $70). If next-gen games costr over $50 new in the future, then I'm going to have to stick to my $40 PSP games LOL

[Gamereviewgod]

It is a good point that the article makes. I mean we have continually paid more for movie tickets, but for the most part games brand new have remained around the $50 mark.

That's a terrible point. You pay maybe what, $12 at a theater for a movie? Then say $20 on DVD? If the movie cost $100 million to make, they're only charging $32. What's the excuse of the game makers who are charging $70 when it only costs $10-$15 million?

[Poofta!]

Also, with regards to the comment about PC games above, I believe Half-Life 2's initial MSRP was (and still is) $54.99. Probably the same for Doom 3.

MSRP is worthless, i bought doom 3 for 50 the day it came out and again for 35 a month later, both on amazon with free shipping (amazon itself, not one of its partners/private sellers) not to mention HL2 bronze for 50 from EB and i just picked up the collectors edition for 40.






That's a terrible point. You pay maybe what, $12 at a theater for a movie? Then say $20 on DVD? If the movie cost $100 million to make, they're only charging $32. What's the excuse of the game makers who are charging $70 when it only costs $10-$15 million?

Far less people buy games than watching/buy movies. id say 10-20 times less. even though a lot buy games, its no where near movies (remember, we're not talking about fiscal year gross, but the amoutn of people that saw Troy as apposed to the amount of people that played Half Life 2).





hey guys remember when new SNES and Genny games were $70 bucks a piece, that's all i'm gonna say...

i mentioned this before, but here it is again: that is why there was no such thing as mainstream gaming till the playstation's mid years and its cheaper 40 dollar cd media. raising the price up there again would prove disastrous to the industry.



What he said 2003_smile.gif

gotcha, yeah movie licensed games are worthless, i cant even THINK of hte last one i bought.

[whoisKeel]

They don't just mysteriously vanish off the face of the earth or anything. Seriously...name me a game from the current generation that you flat out CANNOT find for less than it cost new. I can't even thing of one. If we're talking 3-5 year old PSX, sure....but if you waited that long, you missed the G-spot for buying cheap.

Rez.

Hell I don't pay $50 for new games now anyways, so the price increase isn't really going to affect me :)

[it290]

Yeah, Rez is a good example, also RE2 for GC (until recently, apparently), and Ninja Cop for GBA. I also had a bit of a hard time finding Shining Force for GBA and the PC version of Silent Hill 3.

[Poofta!]

Yeah, Rez is a good example, also RE2 for GC (until recently, apparently), and Ninja Cop for GBA. I also had a bit of a hard time finding Shining Force for GBA and the PC version of Silent Hill 3.

you can find all those games for less or equal to what they cost new when they were released, might have to look a bit on ebay, but even rez you can get for 50.

[imanerd0011]

I personally will only pay $50 for a Zelda game, or something of that magnatude. I will wait for everything else to hit the bargin bin.

[le geek]

Well we are in the minority, but for myself their are very few games I would play $60 for...

Like say The eventual Zelda title on Nintendo Revolution. All others can wait...

It will be interesting if the "casual" gamer would bite...

[SoulBlazer]

Personaly, I buy a lot of games brand new full price because I want to play them NOW. I KNOW I can wait for six months or so and save money by getting them used, but I'm willing to make that trade off.

I'll grumble about a $10 price increase, but I understand games have stayed steady in price for 10 years and they are expensive to make.

And yes, I remember paying $70 for FF2 in December of 1991. :)

[goatdan]

Also, with regards to the comment about PC games above, I believe Half-Life 2's initial MSRP was (and still is) $54.99. Probably the same for Doom 3.

MSRP is worthless, i bought doom 3 for 50 the day it came out and again for 35 a month later, both on amazon with free shipping (amazon itself, not one of its partners/private sellers) not to mention HL2 bronze for 50 from EB and i just picked up the collectors edition for 40.

MSRP is not worthless. If a company says that a game should cost $59.99 versus $49.99, there is a big difference. Most of these companies are only allowed to break MSRP for special sales, so if you got Doom 3 from Amazon for $49.99 at that time, you caught a deal.

That having been said, if you look hard enough or wait a little while, usually you can find $49.99 games for $44.99 at various places within a couple weeks. That still means they are released at $49.99.



hey guys remember when new SNES and Genny games were $70 bucks a piece, that's all i'm gonna say...

i mentioned this before, but here it is again: that is why there was no such thing as mainstream gaming till the playstation's mid years and its cheaper 40 dollar cd media. raising the price up there again would prove disastrous to the industry.

There was no such thing as mainstream gaming before the Playstation? I guess that the whole Wizard movie / release of Super Mario Bros. 3 / touring Nintendo World Championship thing was just a stroke of luck.

I sure think there was mainstream gaming before the Playstation... it just didn't extend as far into the culture because until the Playstation era, consoles pretty much targeted younger folks. Now, they target everyone. It was mainstream, just a different market.

And if anything, a price increase now that the market is an older one should be the exact opposite. When parents had to buy games for kids (for the most part), they looked for the cheapest thing because they figure they are all basically the same thing. I remember when my parents got me a SNES and picked up a bunch of games I would have never considered for it because they were $10 or $20 new. Now, with the market skewed older, it would follow that it should be able to support more $70.00 titles.

That all having been said, I know that it will happen -- EA Games said so first about the NFL property -- but I don't think it will last. Sega / Take 2 Interactive set the bar with NFL 2K5 and I don't think that a new console will be able to have a $70.00 game compete with a $20.00 market. If really good games keep being released at the $20.00 price point like they have been, it will make the $70.00 threshold or even $60.00 threshold much harder to get too. There are enough $50.00 games that I see that don't sell well enough at that price point that they start dropping very quickly. I think we may see more $60-70 releases, but we will continue to see games that can't make it drop quickly. There are only a few properties that seem to be able to hold up at that price right now too -- Halo, Grand Theft Auto and Resident Evil are the only three that spring to mind -- so I don't expect to see the next Midway Arcade Classics come out at a price point of $60.00. It would be suicidal.

[Bluteg]

I think Doom for N64 had a MSRP of $79.99 X_x

It all follows the economy and technology. Carts were very expensive during this time. One reason I don't doubt this price increase is because of inflation due to the economy recovering from the Iraq war. Just look at the gas prices rising, it's simple inflation.

[mark1bdi]

Until recently in the UK new games have been £37.99 ($73 dollars) and they still sell. A recent move by our games industry has seen games slashed in price to £29.99 ($57) pretty much across the board.

When the SNES was alive, £70 ($135) was fairly normal for SF2, SOM.

[must import games.... must import games]

[ddockery]

Actually Rez is still a bad examle. It could be had for a mere $20 for MONTHS before all the copies dried up. Only recently, after a couple years, has it hit the $50+ price point.

[DynastyLawyer]

Alan Greenspans of the World! You don't have to boost your prices, because you are making crappy games with high powered graphics everyone is bored with! You need to make a good fucking game!

[NintendoMan]

Well we are in the minority, but for myself their are very few games I would play $60 for...

Like say The eventual Zelda title on Nintendo Revolution. All others can wait...

It will be interesting if the "casual" gamer would bite...

We are definately the minority, espcially that almost everyone on here won't buy a game unless it's in the bargain bin. But that's ok because most on here have to do that if that want any kind of collection at all.
But on this topic, I would say the "casual" gamer would be on our side and say that's it's a little too much for a game.

There are times were I have no problem paying $50 for a GC or $30 for a GBA game the day it's released. As long as the money is coming. But when it's not, I just wait.

[JJNova]

hey guys remember when new SNES and Genny games were $70 bucks a piece, that's all i'm gonna say...

Yeah, and remember how only nuts paid those prices and now games have dropped in release price?

It's simply supply and demand. If everyone refuses to pay more, they wont be released at a higher price point. Yes, I paid 80 Dollars for genesis games, but now that I am comfy in my 50 dollars for more advanced, faster, deeper, prettier games, I don't feel like jumping up that high.

The Media is cheaper now, there are development tools that do most of the rendering, computer programs for design....it takes more people to complete a project, but they are completed in a more timely manner now. The price to make a videogame has gone up, but the resale value has skyrocketed. Inflation of the industry still doesn't warrant a price tag over 50 dollars.