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Machiavellian on 09 June 2013
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oniyide said:
Machiavellian said:
oniyide said:
chapset said:
People think once the use game market is dead on consoles games will be cheaper online, LOL what a bunch of ****** there are so many cases right now where the games are way more expansive on PSN or XBL than their are at retail


Its like people have stuck their head in the trash bin or jabbed out their own eyes.

Actually you can blame the Retail chains why you see prices for PSN and 360 games at such a high level.  I remember early when MS and Sony started to sell games online and the retail stores complained that digital copies should be priced the same to not be a direct competition.  Since getting shelf space is a big issue for publishers, they do not want to piss off those retail agreements.

Reason why this is not an issue with PC games is because there basically isn't any retail space anymore.  Valve and publishers do not have to worry about retail agreements and keeping the piece so thats one reason you see better deals for PC games instead of Console.

This is one reason why some people believe once we go to all digital for console games, there will be no need to rely on 2nd hand games because Sony, MS and publishers will not have to rely on retail agreements and can have better control to set their prices.

I dont buy it, because the digital prices are NOT priced the same, they are way more expensive than retail. People would complain less if they actually did match the prices. Are people even going on these stores or are they all just speculating. 

PC gaming, wrong. There being no retail has little to do with retail space and mostly to do, with there being more than ONE digital distributor online, which means, competition which means prices go down because of it. That probably wont happen on PSN XBL because those have no competition.

Ill agree with you on the last part, but if you think that will be good for consumers you might be in for a rude awakening. They wont even match the retail prices NOW, what makes anyone think they will when they have pretty much a free rein monopoly on the game pricing?

I am simply going by actions of these companies and what i see going on now. The digital games are grossly overpriced and if people think we go all digital on consoles and the companies will price them more fairly out of the goodness of their hearts, then people havent learned anything. We are talking about companies that charge for online play, lock game content behind DLC and all kinds of other crap. Im sorry but i have little faith in them.

Here is an article that talks about how retail chains actually do influence MS and Sony digital store.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/ps3-xbox-720-will-fail-if-they-let-retailers-dictate-game-pricing

Here is anothe link on how Retailer are using their clout to make publishers take out Steam services in their games

https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/480283/the-geforce-lounge/retail-threatens-to-ban-steam/

There are a lot more stuff you can pull up but the main thing is that retailers dictate to Sony, MS and Publishers on digital prices as they can leverage their clout to not stock a game.  The reason why digital games on PSN and 360 are so much higher is because those companies do not want their service to compete with retail and piss them off.

Now that digital is becoming more prevalent, retail chains are losing their muscle and publishers have a bigger say on deals and prices which you are starting to see within PSN and 360 sales.  Once the next gen starts, retail chains will have even less control and things should open up nicely for console games.