It's Happened - A Major Publisher (Square Enix) is Considering Using Crowd-Funding (Like Kickstarter) for Games' Localizations

[Tanooki]

I remember a few SNES games doing that, and oddly enough it's the same clowns -- Square with the FF games and CT being $70-80 which infuriated quite a few people. I never paid full price, I found sales or waited even back then as I would never support a game for over $50 and I rarely still will now though I know the HD budget is higher. For many those games didn't work on people, they just saw overpriced goods and enough waited given how the prices dropped not much after if I recall right.

Let them try. The biggest suckers will fall for it, but also in turn for this awful market they've caused, it has also made people a lot more aware and price sensitive, and those who would buy more up front are well aware most games fall off a cliff after 1-3mo with a good $10+ price drop. They'll ride it out and that'll hurt the publishers too, and if they keep it up, something else will come along and make them irrelevant as a new experience. They're damned if they do or don't. Perhaps the best bet would be the biting of the bullet and firing some people, getting more trim, and stop paying overpaid hollywood types to voice their games or have their faces mapped into them. Given how much love even cheap $5 downloads get now and with android micro consoles/tablets like the Shield that can give a PS3 like experience already they'll have their hand forced far sooner than later.

Let them beg, people will get their game crack addiction rush elsewhere. For every big one around that calls a 4M sold game a financial failure, you have a dozen small developers who can rock out great product at a teeny fraction of the cost because they're not so full of their own bs and bad practices.

[SparTonberry]

"early SNES games retailed at $70" I think it was just where you live. :P
Most games I ever saw were $60 or under.
The only games I recall seeing at the $70 price was the RPGs. And least that was understandable. Cartridges weren't cheap to make, RPGs tended to be the higher-end as well (more ROM, battery-backup RAM) and they had more text than the typical game of that era (more expensive to localize) and weren't nearly as popular as they are today (lower sales), so I'd believe an extra $10 but asking $100 for PS4 does sound excessive.

[Tanooki]

There was one other I failed to mention -- Street Fighter II. Capcom decided with how huge it was in the arcade to troll people by charging $65 for the game if I remember right (or maybe $60, but not $50) which as a kid I felt was very sleazy even then as I was playing it daily at this day camp thing during summer in the real arcade cabinet. Oddly even when MK came out to even more hype it was just $50. I do remember also when FF3 popped up it was $75 at stores everywhere so I avoided it, but by sheer luck (if anyone here remembers them out west) Play Co filed for bankruptcy and was liquidating their games and I went in the day they did it and snapped the game up for $44 while laughing at Square not getting one over on me. The SNES real heyday from 1991-95 (really fell off in 96) I was in high school that whole 4 year stretch so I had no job and was on an allowance so I had to squeeze every dollar I got so that's why I refused to fall into it. I saw it as taking away from my ability to buy another game.

I've seen people talking how they often/always paid more than $50 on a game and were in the US, the only thing I could ever chock it up to was local greedy retailers colluding to make more or local economics like how it's more expensive to live/eat in New York City vs other larger cities (other than maybe Seattle.)

[Graham Mitchell]

I'm from Seattle . And yeah, I specifically remember Drakkhen and ff2 being $69.99 at toys r us. My mom threw a fit when she saw how expensive Drakkhen was. But she bought it for me anyway.

[SparTonberry]

As I said, I'd have excused RPGs for being a little more expensive but even then I'd have said SFII was price-gouging.

But then I also have to wonder how much of that is Nintendo's fault rather than the third-party. I read Nintendo overcharged on N64 carts so much that it sounds like most third-parties were probably upset about the cost, never mind wanting to spend another dollar or whatever it costs to get on-cart saving. So annoying to have to get a memory card because of games that have no good reason to use the memory card (ie exchanging data with other players) except the publisher didn't want to pay.

[Graham Mitchell]

As I said, I'd have excused RPGs for being a little more expensive but even then I'd have said SFII was price-gouging.

But then I also have to wonder how much of that is Nintendo's fault rather than the third-party. I read Nintendo overcharged on N64 carts so much that it sounds like most third-parties were probably upset about the cost, never mind wanting to spend another dollar or whatever it costs to get on-cart saving. So annoying to have to get a memory card because of games that have no good reason to use the memory card (ie exchanging data with other players) except the publisher didn't want to pay.

It's probably largely Nintendo's fault. The manufacturing costs of the cartridges probably didn't help, either. I remember Sega CD games never being much over $49.99 (maybe $59) likely due to the lower manufacturing costs. I didn't see $69 games again until the last gen. When Bioshock first came out I think GameStop was charging that much for it.

I mostly do PC gaming now. The cost of entry is drastic, but the games themselves are cheap. The Witcher 3 is alreaady $30, and Steam has sales all the time.

[Tanooki]

I remember that n64 games cost at least $20 in parts for the smallest when it came out and a battery cost a dollar and like another for a self saving chip so that's why many cut corners to fit smaller chips and no on game saving. SF2 was gouging because well Crapcom enough said here on that.

Truly agree on of saved and sold stuff six months straight for a $2K highest end gaming laptop that'll last me a good five years at least with the gtx 980m in it with 6gb of ram and an i7 inside. But I can run anything and with gog or steam sales and all the non gaming uses its so worth it.

[celerystalker]

I stayed away from PC gaming and gravitated toward arcade gaming. Like with pinball, there's the maintenance part of thehobby that leads toward other interesting projects, and you can always go back and play for score. Unlike a modern game with lengthly tutorials and lots of filler, I can always pull up to my Popeye, Centipede, Time Soldiers, etc., and play as briefly or as long as I'd like and try to put up a score, and they go over great for parties or tournaments. It's part of the reason I feel even more comfortable turning my back toward practices like this crowdfunding garbage, as there are plenty of avenues at other ends of videogaming as a hobby to fill my time.

[Tanooki]

Well said though a good pc can make for a hell of a do it yourself arcade cab or full size digital pinball arcade cabinet too. The PC I think deserves a bit more credit then you give it. Enjoy those old games too and I even have a couple Pinball tables and I totally agree the crowd funding is garbage is as far better things to be wasting money on.

[celerystalker]

It's not that I'd dismiss PC gaming as much as that I don't have a taste for it. I didn't have any sort of computer until I was in college, so the style of western strategy, RPGs, and such have always been a little foreign to me. That made the comparable entry cost for arcade gaming more interesting to me (all five of my cabinets cost me a total of $2400 in good working order). Had I been a lifelong PC player, I'd probably waffle more on which is the better deal. Either way, like you said, it's all viable alternatives to being forced into any of this nonsense in modern console gaming.

[Gentlegamer]

Next, Square-Enix will set up a patreon.

[Tanooki]

It's not that I'd dismiss PC gaming as much as that I don't have a taste for it. I didn't have any sort of computer until I was in college, so the style of western strategy, RPGs, and such have always been a little foreign to me. That made the comparable entry cost for arcade gaming more interesting to me (all five of my cabinets cost me a total of $2400 in good working order). Had I been a lifelong PC player, I'd probably waffle more on which is the better deal. Either way, like you said, it's all viable alternatives to being forced into any of this nonsense in modern console gaming.

Makes sense, mine was 1990 Christmas. Yet what you just said there still fits me too. I can't stand western strategy, western RPGs, and most those point and click mouse games as they're not fun and I just don't get them as the way they're setup make no sense. The stuff I got into were more console like games but stuff a console never could have handled per-say quite at the time so well. Wing Commander, DOOM, Star Control 2, Dune 2 (and C&C), Warcraft, Stunts, Pinball Dreams/Fantasies/Illusions/Mania, EPIC Megagames platformers pinball and space games, Apogee's stuff, iD's games, and so on. I never really got huge into the very PC-thought centric stuff of the text based typing command games, and the other stuff you said, hated them. I'm cool with the first two Civilizations and Sim City titles, but beyond that, tough call...and stuff in the last few years where I kind of started to care again are more console/handheld like still too.

Either way indeed, they are...Pinbot, my laptop, still finding that rare deal on an old game is far more engaging than almost all that modern console abuses with downloads, selling broken games, IAP, spying through internet, digital rental(downloads) and the other bs. I hate sounding like a fossil, but a lot of the fun and original ideas are spent, the few that come now are more artsy fartsy or just nearly non-game stuff like Little Inferno or Flower on PSN.

[sfchakan]

Next, Square-Enix will set up a patreon.

Square Enix makes Cloud and Sephiroth things.

11,113 Patrons

$33,312 / month

[Graham Mitchell]

It's not that I'd dismiss PC gaming as much as that I don't have a taste for it. I didn't have any sort of computer until I was in college, so the style of western strategy, RPGs, and such have always been a little foreign to me. That made the comparable entry cost for arcade gaming more interesting to me (all five of my cabinets cost me a total of $2400 in good working order). Had I been a lifelong PC player, I'd probably waffle more on which is the better deal. Either way, like you said, it's all viable alternatives to being forced into any of this nonsense in modern console gaming.

That's changed. The lion's share of console games these days are also on PC, even Japanese ones. And they're often superior. I'm playing MGSV, TPP right now, in fact. The only console you might be missing out on is what Nintendo's putting out.

[celerystalker]

That's changed. The lion's share of console games these days are also on PC, even Japanese ones. And they're often superior. I'm playing MGSV, TPP right now, in fact. The only console you might be missing out on is what Nintendo's putting out.

Oh, I completely agree. That's just as big a reason that I don't like modern console gaming. They've gone the more complex PC gameplay route with more crafting, building, micromanaging, and simulating, which is just more time sink than I care to indulge in. A lot of my friends are super into MGS V now, but I just don't care to build a base and all that most of the time. I wouldn't call it a flaw, as I know a lot of people truly love it, but for me there's a sweet spot for action vs menus that skews much closer to the action end. If I were into the modern style, though, you guys are completely right. It's a big reason I haven't boughy an Xbox One or PS4. I don't see any advantage over PC at all.

[Tanooki]

Sometimes I wonder why I have my PS4, but I do like it. I just have to remember because of some luck with ebay and selling the crappy (to me) packed in sealed games I got it for $200. For the few games I like and the blu-ray capabilities (damn them for no remote) it's why I still have it and plugged in.

The stuff I have though, other than Godzilla is all on computer though which I could run on this beast far nicer. But in time it will do well as most the stuff I'll end up even bothering to buy will be 1st/2nd party stuff that won't have it ever show up on PC. The main ones out already would be Uncharted and the GoW3 remasters, but I'm cheap, waiting for them to be 50% off their original sales price since I already owned them once.

[kupomogli]

If retail wasn't an option on the PS4, then I'd get most games on the PC and get only the exclusives I'm interested in on the PS4. Most PC retail versions ship with a CD installer and is required to use Steam, Uplay, or Origin in order to play anymore.

Games may be able to run 4k @ 120+ fps on the PC, but I'm fun with 1080p @ 30fps on the PS4 and being able to own the game at retail. The differences in resolution aren't as great as people make them out to be. Fps though is a different story. If they could release a game with 900p running @ 60fps like Battefront 3 is doing, I'd take that over 1080p @ 30fps. The difference is far more noticeable.

[Gentlegamer]

I would definitely take frames over pixels.

[Daria]

I'd throw some crowd funding at Dragon Quest. But that's where I draw my fandom line. Anything else I don't trust SE's hype to match the final product.

[Graham Mitchell]

I would definitely take frames over pixels.

Same. Inconsistent frame rates ruin games.