TornadoCreator said:
I'd love for that to be the case, but honestly, I don't think it will be. Whilst the consoles may become cheaper, the loss of the middle-road game will pretty much ensure that gaming gets more and more expensive. What we need are budget titles. The gaming equivalent of the direct-to-DVD film. Currently gaming falls into one of two categories: 1. Casual games, Indie games, and Mobile gaming - Average price range $10 or less. 2. "Triple A" PC/Console games - Average price range $60+ for the game, or $95-120 for the exclusive collectors edition with art book, plastic figurine, and exclusive additional level pack, oh and don't forget the $10 voucher so you can download the pre-order bonus DLC. Then there's another $30 for DLC (which is really just part of the game, removed before shipping now), if you tried to save money by buying pre-owned it'll be another $15 for an online pass just to fuck over the used games market, and most recently; add on another $20-50, possibly more, for the many in game $1.99 microtransation payments you'll need to get that Car/Super Power/Gun/Armour/Neon Pink Vibrating Cock... whatever they can sell us, they will. Oh and don't forget the official $30 strategy guide and $10 avatar and wallpaper pack. In short, a new video game nowadays costs either $3.50 or $150+ depending on what you're buying. So that's either the price of a cup of coffee, or the price of a small villa in Rome if you're especially foolish with the microtransactions. In some respects it actually pisses me off. Why are we still calling mainstream games "Triple A", where the fuck is "Double A", "A", "B", or "C". It's stupid. "Triple A" implies a grading system. What ww need are budget games. Games with a far lower budget, released at around the $20-25 mark, (that means no more than £15 here in the UK, the games industry can bloody well learn how to do exchange rates while they're at it). It's because we don't have this vital middle ground that gaming is getting stagnant and it's the biggest hurdle for developing nations. It would be like if the only buildings we had where small tents and shacks or the Taj Mahal and the Sistine Chapel... why can't we have a nice semi-detached townhouse somewhere? Without budget games, I forsee a the continuation of the gaming crash and more companies going the way of THQ and Atari. It won't matter how well the 8th gen consoles are selling then if there's no games on them. |
Good points. We can hope, though, that the lower buying power of the new middle classes will force the industry to fill that huge gap you pointed out. This could happen more easily if SW houses in the emerging countries will grow at a pace comparable to their other most thriving industries. CD Project is a good example, "triple A" quality without triple A costs, but there's much room for expansion, and India and China are several times bigger than Eastern Europe. It will be a bloodbath for SW houses with bloated costs, though, except maybe for those with huge games like CoD, but I can see Activision too having to rethink its structure and approach. The best amongst indies could play an important role in the expansion, it wouldn't be the first time.
