Used game market dies, price increase goes up. No competition, market stagnating. I don't get what is so confusing about this. I'm even beginning to get a little nervous of Valve. Anyone see some of their outrageous changes to TF2? They're getting super greedy. It's well beyond being reasonable now. 100$ diamond ring that does nothing and can't be obtained by drop. Lowering the games drop rate to encourage sales, meaning more grinding than ever to get things. Now three new hats that only one man may have each day. One is based on map stamps bought, another on how many duels you've one, and the third based on something else buying large quantities of something to own it for a day. Anyone remember when they said all the content in the game would be useable by everyone? Hahahah! I know right now it's going to get worse. Valve is changing, slowly. Very slowly. It's only a matter of time before the fun and love for their work is svcked from them and they're all in it for the money. When is it we seen a Valve developed game? Never! All of their last releases have been bought up developers or mod teams. We've not seen an original in house Valve IP in quite some time. They're getting lazy from so much success.

I'll wait until the prices have dropped to something I consider reasonable, like I already do. A higher initial price just means it may take a little longer to get there.

Makes sense, all those thing you despise as long as steam does it its ok.
Anyhow it looks like the console industry is following the steam model of doing business so some of you should be happy.

Hah! Even 50€ was pushing it, i paid that much only because it got the CK. Eventually.

On topic, my thoughts are that i won't buying (m)any of them at release

I feel old anyway. I have games that I bought when I just got in high school... The older save files of when I last played them is from 2005 >.<. All 4(all full..) of my PS2 memory cards are the first models produced, with one of them being the oldest when there was a massive memory card shortage on release. My GBA is so old, that the only game I bought(LTTP) that I never took out, got STUCK in the GBA. I miss my DC, my SNES, my Genesis, my GBC, my saturn, all of which I lost over time. Daytona USA, Panzer Dragoon Saga...VF1-3, I was a damn kid when I played all of these.

And it will only get worse the more people keep buying into this crap.

It doesnt bother me that a console game might be 70 bucks things go up in price as we slip into the future. A really good game is worth 70 buck now even. I just dont like the rumored aproach these new consoles are going to take. Gone are the days of trading games with your freinds, or taking your game to your freinds house to play, or of coarse buying a used games, throw in internet activation, possible constant connection, once your game is activated its only going to play on your box.

All this for your new game and a higher price.

Problem is that they don't make good games anymore. Instead, they make mass-marketable games that sell really well but have very short lifespans.

Same here, new releases are never worth that kind of money.

For older digital download titles on PC, the perceived value among US consumers has eroded quite a bit as a result of many sales where games are offered for $2.49 - $9.99.

If next gen console games are not available used and there is not a comparable discounted price for older games, I imagine it might result in more potential sales going toward a desktop or laptop instead.


Been playing TF2 for quite some time and so far I've never been tempted to spend any money.

With talks about the anti-used game tech fluttering around---I think the only new game unit I'll buy will be the Wii U I'll pass on the PS4. I simply don't care anymore .

I think Chrono Trigger was like $80-90 when it came out on the SNES. Games were also priced based on how big they were, since the cartridge memory cost money.

Yep. I've kinda been doing that this generation too... only a few games have caught my interest compared to the PSX/PS2 era.

Prices should be going down, not up. Another dumb move by Microsoft and Sony, if rumors are true. The games should be costing 50 next gen, not 60 or 70. Hell you could make the argument that it should go down to 50 this gen. Another point I'll bring up is the idea that Todd Howard had about having a pricing system where depending on the amount of content it could be low or normal price.

I remember when they were $50. Now $60. Next $70.

Why should prices be going down with inflation and rising game development costs?

An A-List Hollywood movie costs between $50-$100 million to produce (some as high as $250 million) plus another $75 million or so to market them. They sell tickets for $7-$20 each and DVDs for $25-$30 each.

A-List video game development tops out at $50 million (the average was $18-$28 million based on what little data is available, video game developers are apparently not very forthcoming about their profit margins). The game price is usually in the $60-$70 range.
For an example, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 grossed over $1 billion (yes, that is a "B") in the first 16 days it was on the market. There is absolutely no justification for a profit margin that obscene other than the grotesque ignorance of the average American consumer.

When you're younger, prices like these seem like a lot. When you're older...they still seem like a lot. Only if you're lucky, you have more disposable income so you can put up with it a little bit more.

I rarely buy a game upon first release. I only do that for games that I've been wanting/waiting for a long time, or 10 friends have all told me I'd love it or something. Because of that, even if they were $100, I still wouldn't mind buying a few per year. Well, I would mind, but I'd still do it. If I need more games per year than that, I buy the sales/older stuff, as others have said.

And yeah, for AAA titles (or whatever they're called) the development/marketing costs have gone up like crazy, just like with movies/other media. Top that with inflation and just plain greed and you get price hikes. I don't think they've gone up that much over the past 5 years so it's not surprising if they finally do. Consoles are kinda screwed tho, if I understand correctly, since they don't have as many other access options (GoG, Steam sales, indie games, etc).

Not good. But I wouldn't need to change any of my habits; the only brand new games I've bought this gen are Fallout: New Vegas and Skyrim.

I'll wait for a good old steam sale then. $60 is already expensive especially since most games (if not all) nowadays aren't good as they used to be.

$70 huh? The only games I'll pay $70 for is anything by Bethesda or Obsidian. Other games? I'll get them on sale on Steam.

There are enough older games available for cheap (and easily accessible through services like Steam) that are still fun, so I don't tend to buy games at full price anyway, with a few exceptions.

Some games have reportedly exceeded $100 million in development costs. And then in order to bring it to market, the marketing budgets are comparable to those of high profile films and DVDs (tens of millions for the US campaign alone).

When you factor in replication, packaging, shipping, retailer margins, wholesaler margin, console manufacturer royalties, profit participation, digital distribution fees, etc., successful games are still profitable, but not quite as profitable as it might appear when reading puff pieces about gross sales.

At any rate when you say " There is absolutely no justification for a profit margin that obscene" - why does any level of profit margin need to be justified? We are talking about a luxury good. As long as there is high enough demand, you can sell your game at any price you like. If demand drops, then you will probably either reduce your prices or go out of business.

And from the consumer's perspective, a $70-100 game that provides hundreds of hours of entertainment is still a higher value proposition on the quantitative level than, say buying a blu-ray, etc. However, the qualitative perceived value of older titles among US consumers has probably eroded a bit over the past few years as a result of Steam sales deals and the like. I wonder whether this will begin to impact sales of new release titles as consumers are trained expect massive online bargains within a certain period of time after release date.

Very rarely do I purchase a $60 full price game. I buy maybe 1 or 2 $60 games a year, and the rest I either wait and buy used or buy an new copy whenever Amazon has the price slashed down.

I honestly can't bring myself to care since I'm more or less done with the AAA side of gaming.

I'm okay with it.

I've been playing console games now for quite some time. I dont think a paying a few more bucks would bother me that much. I dont buy very many games in the first place. I usually buy between 3-5 games every year. I think 70 bucks for a game I really like on the next gen is fair imo.