By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
yvanjean on 06 December 2018
Edit Thread
Cerebralbore101 said:
yvanjean said:

$60 at release is the standard, cost of making video games is going up and many video games (especially niche games) are struggling to turn a profit. if you want a viable industry, you should still be willing to support developers or we will get stuck with a bunch of crappy free to play style of games. 

Cost of digital has similar deals right now compare to physical. I buy all my Microsoft gift card at Costco for 44.99 for $50 gift card. That's a 10% discount, + what ever cash back on credit card (I don't know how you get 8%).  If you don't buy games on release day, they quickly get discounted on the store front, I bought Assassin Creed Odyssey at $53.59CAD compare to 79.99CAD at launch that's a 33% discount not adding in the Costco discount and Credit Card cash back.  I bought Mad Max for $7.50 compare to 29.99 (75% discount).
I also bought 6 month of Xbox game pass for $35.97, That saved me buying Forza Horizon 4 it's on for $51.99CAD, the value of game pass is harder to quantify but for me it's already saved me 30% or 55% if I would of bought at launch on just Forza Horizon 4. 

You haven't mention the benefit of re-selling your game to make some money back, but considering I share my game library with my nephew and we both get to enjoy every single digital purchase I make. I can guarantee that i'm getting more bang for every digital purchase I make compare to your single user physical copy. 

Digital landscape are constantly having deals year round that rivals any brick and mortar. 

Buying a game with a 30% cut doesn't support developers though. It supports the greedy storefront that thinks it deserves nearly 1/3rd of the money just for hosting a server. The cost of hosting a server is 4% of the price of a game according to Epic. So even at an 8% cut a storefront could double their investment on every sale. I learned in business class that any company making $1.10 for every $1 it spends is insanely profitable. 

Most game companies that manage to get a physical copy into stores aren't going anywhere. Atlus continues to make Etrian Odyssey games despite selling abysmal numbers. Why? Because the development costs of making a 3DS game are low enough, that they still turn a profit. I'm happy to buy Indies digitally, because the price difference is more than fair. Indies are usually $30 for the physical edition and then $10 to $15 for the digital version. 

What's the price of a Costco membership? Do they sell something other than MS gift cards for that 10% discount? IMO, (and a lot of people on this site agree) XB1 is the worst current gen platform. So to get those discounts for a system that I don't own or plan on owning is kind of a moot point. For PS5 I'd go digital if there were a good deal like that. Something like 5% cash back on a card plus the 10% discount for buying a gift card would be perfect. Next gen games will be over 100 GB on two disks so the price of physical might go up. I'm calling this the double disk tax. 

Yeah PS+ and MS Gamepass are both really good deals. Free games for about $3.33 a month if you buy a year sub at Black Friday prices is a great deal for several $10 to $20 games a month and the ability to play online. 

I can share my physical games with friends too. My collection is so big that the odds of both me, and a friend wanting to play the exact same game at once is practically zero. I rarely start a game at launch, because I'm usually finishing the last game I started. 

I use https://www.pricecharting.com to compare physical vs digital prices, and physical just beats the pants off digital prices most of the time. This is even when you use key reseller sites like Kinguin. 

For example: Shadow of War is $12.49 used vs $18.74 on Kinguin. 

MHW is $19.50 used vs $33.59 on Kinguin. 

Dragon Quest XI is $32 used vs $52 on Kinguin. Or $42 on Steam. A new copy was selling for $30 on Black Friday at many retailers. 

Costco offers: 10% discount on Microsft; 5% on Nintendo & 3% on Playstation gift card .... right now in Canada.
Costco USA offers 10% of Nintendo gift card, not sure about Microsoft and Sony since I'm not american. But the price always varies. 

If you shop around you can get some pretty good deal on all the gift cards, not just microsoft.

Might not be able to share with more then one person but we can both play online together with one digital copy. 

I agree that retail might be cheaper but at what cost? We never factor in availability, time spent to research and drive around, gas money for the drive & opportunity cost of simply downloading the game.