The main thing is that the US are getting games really cheap in comparison to the rest of the world, that £55 price is just an outrage (though the £120 price of the Prestige Edition that I just ordered to less outrageous in comparison to $150)

I don't think think others are going to follow this example, only Activision are that evil

Well actually, an increase in demand leads to both an equilibrium price and an increase in quantity supplied. So we'll pay more for our games but we'll get more of them.

Also, they made me do economics :( jerks

If you take a look at sites like Amazon, you'll see that prices are actually decreasing. Lot of games drop prices two to 4 weeks after release, a clear sign sales are not as strong as expected, wich means that, for the majority of games, $59 is too much. Only the Big titles sell well at this price. It really must be the weak pound.

I try mu best to only buy used games anyhow. I think Street Fighter 4 and Star Ocean 4 were the only two games I bought as new this year

I don't know about other places but in Canada we have already experienced an increase. New releases started to cost $69.99 late last year rather then $59.99 earlier. Now, there are almost no $59.99 releases and almost all new releases are $69.99. I like to buy games, but I will not pay a premium for lower rated games... 8.5 and higher I will pay $69.99... Anything lower and I will wait until at least $39.99.

The only time I buy a game at full price is when it has Good reviews, Like Left 4 Dead, but if it's a game that can wait, I usually get games when they are $5 (Fuzion Frenzy!) to $30. I'd rather pay $69 for two games that I like, rather than one game I really like.

Just imagine what will happen with the next generation of consoles if development costs continue to almost double as they have over previous transitions. With smaller development companies already struggling to break even, I hate to think what will happen to them if costs continue to increase. I fear we will either be forced to pay even more for our games or that less risks will be taken and we will see endless franchises with few new IP's. The only way I see around this will be increasing digital distribution to cut costs or the growth of large publishers at the expense of smaller developers.

Anyway, it's the customer who makes the price. If people hold until the price drops, they will stop the increase. If they continue to buy it anyway, it will rise. That's the Facts.

i dont even understand why this gen had a price hike. last gen games were 49.99 but once xbox 360 came out they set the price of HD games at 59.99.... what doesn't make sense to me is that xbox 360 and ps2 games both use dvds, so why the hike? ps3 uses blu ray which in essence justifies the hike to SOME degree since a bluray is obviously more expensive than a dvd. i see most of you saying dev costs are to blame, but isn;t it rather easy to make games for xbox since its just like a pc? so i dont understand the price hike for this gen, its rather lame.

Despite any benefit of the 360 being easier to develop for due to PC similarities the cost of making 360 games is still much higher than original XBox games.

Not the best links but I'm supposed to be working so can't look for anything better!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4442346.stm

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Ubisoft-Game-Development-Will-Cost-60-Million-In-the-Future-114487.shtml