Sorry Runa, I'm still stuck using my phone. So my response showed up in your comment. Fact is Dev costs are higher then they ever have been. Next generation they will double to triple, a big budget 360/PS3 title can cost up to 50-80 million just to develop throw in an ad campaign and distribution network, online services and software maintenance and a current game like HomeFront can now exceed 100 million dollars. Fact is HomeFront cost 50-mill to develop it was an amazing game and did perform decent. But it did not generate a sufficient profit to keep the studio open. THQ had to can the staff.

Read my blog sometime. Simply put we are paying less for games then almost any point in gaming history. NES games cost 49.99$-59.99$ and if you convert that to modern currency value we were paying nearly 100$ for an NES game made by as few as 5-10 people for as little as a couple thousand dollars.

I'm betting online pass will be standard for all (Sony at least) games next gen. And I am fine with that.

Fact is on the N64 games retailed here in Canada for 99.99$-120$ often. My copy of LoZ:MM 120$, HarvestMoon64 120$ , Donkey Kong 64 120$. A lot of games cost as little as 79.99$ if they were budget but most often the retail price hovered around 100$. In fact towards the end of the N64 I remember seeing games at 120$ when the hardware itself was only 99.99$.
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Guess what I still bought my games as did every other gamer. At today's currency value the N64 games would be past 150$ and we didn't break a sweat. NES games at current currency exchange rates up to 80$-90$ same goes for Genesis. We have always paid heavily for our games, now PSOne did introduce the 49.99$ CAD game release a game could go as low as 39.99$ launch in the mid 90's in the US. But us Canadians still paid up to 60-70$ for our games. I do remember PSOne games however did retail far cheaper towards the end of the generation when the collections started piling out. But for the most past back then we paid almost what we do today, but update the currency value and we are paying about the same or less then we did with even the PSOne!

It does not make any logical sense that we pay the same or less despite Dev costs being 10x more expensive today then NES days. With the next gen we are looking at 2-3x our current Dev costs.

Yet consumers want higher production values and cheaper prices. This is unrealistic and seriously insane. That is largely why Nintendo is again not likely going full next gen graphical upgrade, it is a suicidal business model. It is also why so many studios are closing, downsizing or going mobile. It is why developers are far less likely to produce new or risky IP. It is why we will see more and more annual releases, shorter and shorter campaigns, more and more DLC, more recycling of NPC's and buildings.

Development costs are simply unsustainable, every developer and publisher sees this. But the consumers are demanding they produce more expensive products. In the end how has Sony fairer giving the customers exactly what the customers want?

We want a high powered graphical super power (Sony -PS3 = massive losses and struggling for market share)
We want a coop sci-fi shooter with amazing Hollywood visuals (Sony gives KZ2/Resistance = mediocre sales and the death of Resistance)
We want an amazing online shooter, something different (Sony - M.A.G = sales failure)
We want a platformer (Sony R&C , Jak Daxter, LBP. = decent success but nothing close to Nintendo sales)
We want a WiiHD, motion controls with high end games (Sony - Move = alright but not impressive software figures)
We want free PSN (Xbox Live slaughters Sony)
We want cinematic visuals (Sony Uncharted = Successful but doesn't even challenge Halo/Gears)

Now Sony did absolutely everything the consumer wanted. To the tee and today they are still doing it (We want a Super Smash Brothers) will Battle Royal even come close to 8+ million copies? Not likely!

What about the whole
We want to take our games on the go start playing on our home console and transfer to our handheld!(Sony PSP/Vita - Dismal software sales and for Vita disastrous hardware sales)

Then you have Nintendo and they don't listen to the fans much at all. You want a HD photo realistic Zelda, here have WindWaker, you want an amazing 3D full fledged Pokemon game, here have Stadium. You want a Mario FPS well here's Mario Galaxy. You want a powerful graphically stunning machine? Here have a slightly advanced machine with a tablet controller you never thought of or wanted.

Microsoft then did likewise. Oh you want another Gears or Halo? Here is Kinect Sports! Guess what the Kinect games no one wanted sold like hot cakes.

Moral of the story, don't try giving consumers what they want. Why? Consumers know jack shit about what they want! No matter what you do the consumers will always be upset. So what should a developer do?

A developer should make the game they want to make, targeting the audience they want to target. Retail the game at the price they need to break even. Sell the content they need to sell!

Don't play catch up giving the consumers what they think they want, give them what they don't k.ow they want yet. Get ahead of the consumer and produce a quality product that is viable!

Get a job you hippie, it is barely throwing your money away when you consider how cheap video games are for anyone with a decent job.

I like you

yeah that seemed a bit odd alright but because he is CEO of SCEA he will have a big say in his companies business practices. (I hope)

Do you mean the Wii U yeah?

That may all be well and true (I know it is), but who's fault is that?  certainly not mine.  I'd rather pay loads of money for something unique and quirky like minecraft than something overblown and underwhelming like Call of Duty (keep in mind I actually LIKE call of duty's gameplay, it's one of my favorite shooters).  games don't HAVE to be super expensive or super crisp and clear, the indie scene shows that games can be cheap and fun and still make money.  you just have to be smart with your spending and not blow it all on custom game soundtracks, voice actors, and all that useless nonsense.  

and games DID go up in price this generation. Xbox 360 and PS3 games are 60 bucks a piece rather than 50 like last gen.  Wii games are still 50 for the most part. 

The point is, nobody ASKED these developers to spend 50-100 million dollars on a game.  yes, flashiness sells, it's shiny and dumb people like shiny things, but gamers who actually care about the industry (like you or I....I hope) prefer good gameplay and originality to repetition and safe rehashes.  

either you're lying or horribly misinformed.  I'm in Canada as well, and I never once saw a game retail for more than 80 bucks.  usually 70, though.  still higher than today's prices, so your point still kinda stands, but you're horribly exagerrating to prove your point, chosing horrible examples rather than fair examples while casually ignoring the fact that game sales are up by a WIDE margin, and tht's why the prices went down.  Look at the NES and SNES, sure, we have some super duper standouts (mario brothers and marioworld, respectively), but no other games made if more than 10 million.  PS3 has multiple games over 10 million, so does the 360, Wii has like a dozen, (many of which are top sellers of all time, such as mariokart, NSMB Wii, the Wii series, etc), PS2 has god only knows how many over 10 million.  

The point is that, while yes, development costs have risen, so have sales.  the price reflects that.  

gamers... LOL... if a company offer a dinner to every costumer they have... gamers still would say... "but i have to get out of my house... assholes, they could offer take out delivered to my house instead." "they are evil because they are harming the micro production of chickens in the south pole" etc, etc, etc...

gamers... always ahead in the bitching business...