Xbox One Digital Game Prices Raised

Paul Walker

Microsoft raises prices for Xbox One exclusives, Forza 5, Dead Rising 3 and Ryse: Son of Rome.

Published on Dec 10, 2013

This has always been such backwards logic to me... They make more money from digital sales than they do from physical ones, so why not make digital prices slightly cheaper in order to encourage gamers to move from buying physical to buying digital? Isn't that what Xbone is all about anyway? Am I missing something here?

They don't wanna piss retailers off. I believe there is truth in that, but I don't think MS/Sony ect are losing sleep over charging more.

That is the real answer, RETAIL.  Until the retail channel is out of the gaming business, you will see High prices.  They can't undercut retail prices, as nobody would buy them there.

Why would you expect any different? When you keep endorsing the same path, you keep getting the same result. Microsoft endorse rigid DRM then claimed to withdraw it. They charge to play online. The publishers charge for the game, for DLC, make deals for exclusive content and now increasingly want micro-transactions.

The company that endorsing using prior controllers, free online, backward compatibility and gives you the whole game rather than pieces of it? Well you all ignore them and continue to scream about the same outcomes when making the same choices.

Sony began with 49,99 but lowered them to 44,99.

Can anyone find the article about this?

no they didnt the first party ones are all 52.99,   3rd parties lowered there prices from £60 to £54.99 tho, after some consumer pressure.

Jesus, so even more expensive then!

What's going on, is this because the gen is just starting? Or have they secretly raised the MSRP prices and this is the new standard?

PS3 and Xbox 360 games go for 39,99 on amazon.co.uk when they are just released.

This is actually quite simple to understand. MS and Sony have to keep their retailers happy. To do so, not only should they have consoles to sell but games to sell, too. This draws people into the store where they might make other purchases not related to gaming.

So, by keeping the digital price slightly lower, equal, or slightly higher than the physical retail disc, this ensures people will still buy the physical medium in the traditional way.

If the price was significantly lower, say 40%, physical purchases would drop drastically. And so would the retailer relationships set up by Sony and MS for over a decade or more. Why would retailers push to sell a console that can't generate extra income for the company over the course of 5-10 years?

You can point to the iPad and say this is a moot point, but that's really a computing device with multiple purposes. Also, a console sells to a household whereas a tablet could sell to each member of a family.

So much for a Digital only future then!! Pff this could be one of the reasons why retailers don't like the PS Vita.