Pressures of Game Pricing

[davygee]

A good article in Eurogamer with particular note on the higher price of MW2.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/price-pressures-article

I pretty much agree with what's said but of course we need to understand that development costs are increasing especially for the proper next gen consoles (360 and PS3), and the developers need to recoup costs, but maybe there is fast becoming a time when developers and publishers need to reflect on the types and costs of games in particular to the end user (US).

No wonder some companies end up going to the wall when they release a few games, have some really poor sales and end up out of business within a few months.  The whole design model is flawed.  Where are the smaller games, better value for money and casual games at lower prices.

We should be seeing a staggered pricing structure for different kinds and types of games.  Of course the Modern Warfare's and Assassin Creeds of this world can price their game more then normal and still make the sales, but smaller profile, but very good games like Dead Space and Mirrors Edge see the other end where they have much smaller sales and it's touch and go whether we see proper sequels.

Also, why should we be paying £50+ for a game.  The consumer is sitting back seeing the reviews and hype and making a more educated guess on whether to stump up the mega bucks for the games and more often than not...they decide against it.

I am one of those kinds of people, I tend to place games on a must have, would really like and only if it's mega cheap list every year and the list of games is getting smaller each year as well as most of them are veering towards the "only if it's mega cheap" category.

An example of this is this year I have only bought 2 games...shock horror...Uncharted 2 and Mirrors Edge.  I wanted Infamous, but wasn't flush when it came out and because it's still not at a low enough price for me...I don't have it now.  Killzone 2 was an essential purchase 1 month before it released, again without money it was delayed and later managed to borrow it by a work colleague and loved it...but won't buy it now.

By the way I bought Uncharted 2 for £40 (an absolute essential buy no matter how little money I had...the credit card comes in handy) and Mirrors Edge was a steal at £10.

As an example of how I like to buy, you can see my purchases last year.  GT5P was bought for £20, cheap game even though it's a demo effectively, and MGS4 was bought for full price as well as GTA4, but Force Unleashed, Far Cry 2, Prince of Persia and LBP were all bought for £18 or less as there were great sales.

Anyway, my point is this.  I agree with the article and this can only go one way.  People will decide what they buy and how much is realistic.  Modern Warfare 2 may very well get away with charging more, but in the end, games need to come down in price and be staggered like I said before, we need straight release budget games at £10-£20, a normal range of games at £30 and full price big budget games at £40.  Developers and Publishers need to realise that the cheaper the game is no matter what they say about the content will help push through more sales.

And the said developer (Grin) that effectively went to the wall because of terribly poor sales of Bionic Commando, Terminator & Wanted.  Well going by reports of both the Terminator and Wanted games was that the games were not bad, but the length of game was appauling...if they released both these games as budget titles, they may have got the sales they wanted and needed.  I recall seeing the Terminator game on the week it was released at £40 in the local Gamestation when in fact it should have been £20.