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Forums - Gaming - Warren Spector Said If Publishers Didn't Overcharge For Games People Wouldn't Have To Buy Them Used

teigaga on 08 June 2013
VGKing said:
teigaga said:
VGKing said:

I see no problem with people wanting to support their favorite retailer. Publishers shouldn't either since these retailers are the ones that promote their producs.

Personally, I only buy games that I know I will like. When I'm wrong and I end up hating the game, that's $60 wasted. If games were priced lower, I'd be more likely to buy more games.

Where do people shop where 60$ is the standard for a game? (COD/FIFA being the price in-elastic exceptions)

Also it baffles me that people treat games like they don't exist 2 months after release when they're likely 40% cheaper than what they were at lauch.

...........America. All games retail for $59.99 new.

@bold
That's because by that time there's a newer game that you are even more hyped for. So if you end up not buying that 2 month old game, its likely you will never buy it. At least in my case.


Fair enough, in the UK publishers recommend the price of £49.99 but retailers never sell them for that, not even on day one. £39.99/£34.99 is the standard. Assasins Creed, Call of Duty and Fifa normally launch for a bit more £44.99, but stil below RRP.

 

This quote tree has been shortened.

yo_john117



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ListerOfSmeg on 08 June 2013

Being "Cheaper" is the excuse they used for going digital. Why is Skyrim 59.99 for digtal on PC? Why is every new major release the same price digital as retail. What Steam does differently is gives better control to developers to set their prices and have sales. Ubisoft cant call walmart and say lower the price on the day they want it to go on sale. It takes time to set that stuff up retail.
Okay let's look at X1 for example. Piracy should be a nonissue, but have they one said games would be cheaper? Nope. Developers will be making money off of used games and you wont be able to steal a game. O sicne developers have had to charge more to make up for piracy, why aren't the lowering the prices now that piracy wont be an issue.



DietSoap on 08 June 2013

The problem is to make any discernible dent into that used market, $20 - $30 is the magic number.

 Can they pull the radically higher numbers they'd need to make up for the radically lower price? It's a big risk, the market just might not be big enough.

I love the idea of cheaper games, don't get me wrong, but as is I'm not convinced it would be wise without first lowering these overinflated budgets WAY down.



zorg1000 on 08 June 2013
DietSoap said:

The problem is to make any discernible dent into that used market, $20 - $30 is the magic number.

 Can they pull the radically higher numbers they'd need to make up for the radically lower price? It's a big risk, the market just might not be big enough.

I love the idea of cheaper games, don't get me wrong, but as is I'm not convinced it would be wise without first lowering these overinflated budgets WAY down.

Thats what I think, cut the budget in half and sell games for $40 and they could keep them at full price longer



When the herd loses its way, the shepard must kill the bull that leads them astray.

VGKing on 08 June 2013
teigaga said:


Fair enough, in the UK publishers recommend the price of £49.99 but retailers never sell them for that, not even on day one. £39.99/£34.99 is the standard. Assasins Creed, Call of Duty and Fifa normally launch for a bit more £44.99, but stil below RRP.

 

This quote tree has been shortened.

yo_john117

Here in the US, all games launch for $59.99. No ifs ands or buts. The way some retailers get around this is by offering in-store credit or something. 



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oniyide on 08 June 2013
crissindahouse said:
oniyide said:
pokoko said:

DVDs are a part of the film industry.  Also, I don't think you run into used DVDs being pushed over new DVDs the way you see with games at GameStop.  With the music industry, you have revenue from radio and video channels, plus physical CDs are all but dead.  With books, I don't think the used book market has much of an impact at all.  Are there even that many out there?  Do they have any kind of real presence?  All the ones in my area have closed down.  Books do have libraries to content with, though.  Still, that industry is moving toward digital, as well.

Funny thing is Gamestop actually does sell used dvds and blurays. Sure there isnt a dedicated store JUST for DVD movies but christ there is Amazon hundreds of mom and pop places. Physical cds are dead. Tell that to places like Best Buy or i must have imagined the last 4 cds i bought this year. THey are far from dead. Used book, tell that to students, and what not. I buy used books all the time because they are cheaper, and thats just for school. Maybe we cant see eye to eye cause frankly i have no idea where you live, but im in NY and there are various book stores, music stores, etc. Thats not even counting the comic industry which is huge and are only now getting into digital, itll be awhile before the phyiscal copies of anything go away. Still waiting for them to stop making newspapers

no, it's not a weak argument. used books clearly look used. they don't look like a brand new book which was never in the hands of someone else. especially as more people owned it. that alone differentiates a used book from a new book. and you also don't see every book store throwing used books on you like game stores do. and if the average joe will go to a gamestop and see "cod for 60 dollars new or 50 dollars used", chance is not so low that he will buy the used game because he knows it will be exactly the same. even after playing 1000 times through the campaign, the campaign won't get worse graphics.

and yes, 50m was very high and that is only for some big games but it's easily 20-30m nowadays for many games and next gen won't be cheaper. what is the risk of a publisher for books? they don't have to pay 100 people for 2-3 years to write one book. they have some big names where they know it will sell millions or they will sell books of smaller authors where they first try with a first small batch and if those sell well they release more. no "we invest 20 million before we even have our first disc (or let's say 10m) and then we have to sell minimum 1m to be break even with a little bit of advertisement"

it'S a big difference and game publisher have a big disadvantage compared to the music/movie/book industry. that's why skylanders was a really smart idea, they have at least one new revenue stream now.

I take it you dont buy books? Ive bought plenty of books that look no different than used ones. Now the ones that are used to crap and look worn, they wait for it are cheaper. Thats how that works, the worn ones are dirt cheap. But you cant really do that for video games, cause they get to worn, they dont work. Books dont have that issue. GS is kind of an issue, but then companines need to take it up with gameStop, so they push used games. SO what? Can you gaurantee that person who bought it used for 50 would have bought it new for 60? Of course not, there is a very good chance that that person would not buy it at all. If they waited for a new game to be traded in just to save a few bones, that tells me they didnt want the game that badly to begin with and has no problem not buying it, so now nobody gets anything.

movies cost just as much or even more than a game. But i dont see them trying to kill used movie sales, hell piracy is still rampant and they dont bitch nearly as much as the game industry does. 



oniyide on 08 June 2013
MDMAlliance said:
One thing people here should think about is that some games have high production costs and thus requires a high price point to pay off the costs to make the game. Of course there are plenty of games where that isn't the case, but there are more and more games where a higher price point is actually needed. Plus, pricing the games 50% lower will only yield higher profits if they sell MORE than 2x the amount they would have at full price and I'm pretty sure that for most games that wouldn't be the case.


or they could just not make those games, thats always an option



oniyide on 08 June 2013
richardhutnik said:
The whole used games side is now far more about propping up Gamestop than about anything else at this point. So, while there are rights issue about getting rid of content you don't want, it is really about Gamestop (or Gamestop's equivalent in other areas).

I dont buy this GS is evil thing for a second, its a load of crap. If they were evil why are publishers in bed with them and they ARE in bed with them. WHy does GS get so much advertisment and exclusive content on their games? Someone break that down to me. Hell Ninty last year pushed a game that you could ONLY get through GS unless you bought directly from the website.



MDMAlliance on 08 June 2013
oniyide said:
MDMAlliance said:
One thing people here should think about is that some games have high production costs and thus requires a high price point to pay off the costs to make the game. Of course there are plenty of games where that isn't the case, but there are more and more games where a higher price point is actually needed. Plus, pricing the games 50% lower will only yield higher profits if they sell MORE than 2x the amount they would have at full price and I'm pretty sure that for most games that wouldn't be the case.


or they could just not make those games, thats always an option


You know that's not going to happen. lol



oniyide on 08 June 2013
MDMAlliance said:
oniyide said:
MDMAlliance said:
One thing people here should think about is that some games have high production costs and thus requires a high price point to pay off the costs to make the game. Of course there are plenty of games where that isn't the case, but there are more and more games where a higher price point is actually needed. Plus, pricing the games 50% lower will only yield higher profits if they sell MORE than 2x the amount they would have at full price and I'm pretty sure that for most games that wouldn't be the case.


or they could just not make those games, thats always an option


You know that's not going to happen. lol

well f**k it, then let the whole thing crash then, the big pubs. are trying to chase that COD money and they keep failing harder and harder. Its all good those AAA games arent all that anyway.