Why are PC Gamers paying $60 now?

[greenmedic88]

A $10 increase for new PC games is uncalled for as that price difference between console and PC games goes straight into the licensing fee publishers pay to the hardware manufacturers. No fee for PC platform games means that the extra $10 is being charged simply because publishers feel they can.

That's fine. It's the simplest way for publishers to increase their per unit margins by a whopping 20% by doing nothing but raising prices, but one has to wonder what the PC gaming consumer response will be.

I can understand why Activision would charge an extra $10 for MW2 ("we like the extra $10 profit per unit, and we know consumers will buy the most anticipated game of the year anyway"), but if this becomes the standard for new game pricing, it does eliminate one of the big perks of PC gaming.

Ubisoft did the same thing with Assassin's Creed 2 with a $59.99 MSRP along with their odd "always online" DRM that's added another inconvenience to playing the PC version (added to the fact that it was released well after the console version). One has to wonder how much this has effected sales.

Of course not all games can artificially keep their prices at the initial MSRP like MW2 (finally on sale this weekend on Steam, but will be back at $59.99 like it is at most retail outlets after Monday) and consumers always have the option of waiting for a sale. But for an anticipated title, most consumers aren't going to do this and so the game publishers may be playing is that they simply hope to scoop up as many sales at a higher price before dropping sales require price adjustments.


Anyway, my personal response is to simply buy the console version of a game if I find it for less or it's just more convenient due to limited installs or online checks on PC. Case in point: Assassin's Creed 2 is currently selling for $30 vs. $60 on PC. If I really want to play any game again on PC with "wow" settings, I can always pick it up much later when it's slashed in price.