"$100 buck? Damn, I guess I'm just getting the standard edition which is $5...WTF $60 bucks??

It all started when Activision had the audacity to start charging $60 for the PC version of Modern Warfare 2. Activision realized that after the success of Modern Warfare, they can pretty much charge any amount they please for the sequel and PC gamers would still flock to buy it. Of Course, if you’re into the multiplayer aspect of Modern Warfare 2, then the game comes packed with hundreds of hours of game play, so it’s safe to assume that Activision, somehow, got away with it, but when Assassin’s Creed 2, a single player game with absolutely no multiplayer and a horrible DRM that serves to punish legit buyers, is selling for $60 and the upcoming standard editions of Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 are also selling for $60 too, things have gotten too far ,and we can see that a new trend is emerging.

Of course, you may come and point out the fact that console games cost $60 too. Why should PC gamers have to pay $50 when console gamers have to pay $60? Well, On top of the $50 that publishers set for their games to be sold on the console, they will also need to pay about, or more than, $10 per copy licensing fee to Microsoft and Sony respectively in order for them to sell the games on their console in the first place, which you guessed it, you pay for, but, unlike console gaming, there are no licensing fees for PC games. In fact, Microsoft, themselves, offers publishers to put the “Games for Windows Live” in their games free of charge. After this, we can only deduce that publishers who price their games $60 on the PC earn more money per game sold on the PC than do they earn per game sold on the console.

When someone asks on a forum, what is the reason behind all this pirating? A number of answers can be heard, such as “because I can” or “because games are too expensive”. The fact that games are becoming more expensive should in some ways exacerbate the whole pirating issue publishers are ranting about, and when publishers like Ubisoft deter customers by raising the price tag and by forcing a completely unnecessary DRM to play a single player game and then complaining about low sales is just really pathetic. As for Blizzard, I have no doubt that, no matter, the price tag that are put on their games, their games will sell like hot cake. Of course, is the raising in price tag necessary? Is Activision getting a little too greedy? I will have no doubt that some of you do think that Blizzard games are worth every penny of that $60, and that you can recoup the money lost by restricting yourself from $10 worth of beer, but remember, by thinking like this, you are advocating the new trend.

http://www.grandtheftpc.com/2010/04/why-are-pc-gamers-paying-60-now.html

I'd say this is becoming a legitimate concern.

Don't most PC games get free DLC unlike consoles? Could this be there way of leveling the playing field?

if it's not worth that much to you don't buy it day one...
it is VERY rare that i buy any game in the first week because deals will come soon enough.

as long as most of the sells come in the first couple of weeks although ppl should know that the price will fall rapidly after just a few weeks the publishers seem to have a good point.
they'll see how far up they can go... and as MW2 sells showed they seem to not have hit the ceiling yet.
the only one to blame are the customers who still bought it in droves at full price.

I don't understand this either. It is another huge negative that is seeping in from the poor console consumers who are willing to bend over for developers.

Just wait until it drops in price. Simple.

Developers will charge as much as its viable to charge and with games like starcraft 2 people will by it regardless. Obviously this trend sucks, but the only way to change that is to vote with your wallet and not buy the games right away.

Simple answer. If you know you want it already then you know even at $100 it'd be a bargain. I hardly played SC compared to some, but I put over 30 hours into it, which was pretty good value.

sadly it's becoming paying now... thanks HD consoles for your DLC breakthrough...

The expansion pack is just being distributed digitally now, its no biggie.

Yeah, except for we used to have one or two big packs, now we're getting ten small, overpriced packs - packs that contain something that either was on the disc already or should have been on the disc for free.

I always wondered if they wanted more piracy; now, I'm pretty sure they're really trying to increase it.