Editorial: Why $50 Games Are Hurting the PS Vita

At SRN, we take a look at the current game market for the PlayStation Vita which includes a heavy dosage of $40 games select titles like CoD: Declassified which carry an astonishing $50 price tag. Are high priced games keeping the powerful portable down? Weigh in.

[illegalprelude]

Great read. Have to agree that too much expensive titles with a expensive handheld don't yield a good mix

[LOGICWINS]

Then you need to factor in expensive memory cards. Sony does try to lessen the blow by giving the option to use that $50 to buy a years worth of PS Plus which will net you 20-30(maybe more) Vita games a year for the price of ONE Vita game.

[XB1_PS4]

Yeah, but like you said the memory is expensive.. I haven't gotten plus, for the soul reason that i can't fit even half of the games on the 4gbs sony provided.. I think Uncharted is 3.2gbs by its self.. They need to drop the price on those cards asap. $75 is the cheapest you can buy a 32 gb for right now.

[Godchild1020]

There have only been 3 (Three), $50 dollar titles to date. Uncharted sold very well for a 50 dollar title and COD, sold okay. Would have sold better if the quality matched the price. The next one is a DJ Rhythm game that will be released today on PSN and retail next week on Amazon and the company's website.

My thing is the writer also mentioned 40 dollar titles, but doesn't the 3DS have 40 dollar titles? The 40 dollar 3DS titles sell well, because their is quality in the games for the price. As long, as there is quality in the game to match the price, it wouldn't matter.

I'm not saying publishers should charge 50 dollars, because it doesn't work all the time. Uncharted is an exception, because the quality was there. COD ( I'm enjoying) was a cash in for Activision and more or less to see if the COD would sell on it.

I would love to see that Batman title, Mass effect title from the App Store on the Vita, but the price has to be reasonable. I would pay 20 dollars for each, at most. The games are built on different hardware and different control schemes, so of course prices will be different. The development kits are priced differently. We have to take a lot of factors in, to understand why the prices are so skewed.

[Neckbear]

"There have only been 3 (Three), $50 dollar titles to date"

Not that the Vita has more than 20 retail titles or anything...

[admiralvic]

@ Neckbear

I've personally played 32 Vita titles and am missing a good portion of the whole catalog. I would say there are roughly 60 titles in the US and several more if you include EU / Japan. Additionally none of the upcoming titles are currently set to release for $50, so you're talking about 2 - 7% of the TOTAL market, which makes this point sound really flimsy.

[KangarooSam]

@Neckbear: Go troll somewhere else. And if you're not trolling (I think the one bubble explains this) then "read a book". The Vita has a TON of games for a console in it's first year. Definitely enough that are varied to convince almost anyone to pick one up. It's just that instead of using their heads the majority of sheeple go with the masses and just think what people like you say are true! Assassin's Creed, Uncharted, Need for Speed, Mutant Blobs Attack, Gravity Rush, Ragnarok Odyssey.

What does your assumed 3DS have? Mario and Zelda? Good games but how the hell do two franchises seem to qualify a purchase when the amount on Vita doesn't? It just doesn't add up.

3DS 2013 titles: Some Professor Layton and/or Animal Crossing and/or Pokemon game Nintendo pulls out of thin air. (Actually hoping for SSB).

Vita 2013 titles: Sly Cooper, Soul Sacrifice, Tearaway, Killzone, and a good chunk of unannounced games.

So, like I said, read a book Neckbear.

[admiralvic]

It's really not and their point is weak...

- There are 3 games at $50, which does nothing more than hurt the GAMES actual sale. If I was going to buy a Vita for CoD Black Ops Declassified, Uncharted or DJ Max, then that $10 dollars isn't going to be a deal breaker. Just like not buying today won't kill me.
- 3DS games cost $40 (average Vita game cost), but yet again we only hear about Sony doing wrong. If you want to make a valid point, don't justify it by calling out 3 games (2 of which came out in the past month, so for a long time wasn't even a big deal on the Vita) or by leaving out the 3DS for whatever reason.
- Better quality iOS games cost a LOT more. A common misconception is that people talk about the dollar games, but don't talk about the exceptions. Most dollar games are good for the price, but would be a rip off at anything more than 5 dollars. I wouldn't say Infinity Blade II has enough depth to match the average 40 dollar Vita game, but I would say The World Ends with You does. The main difference is that The World Ends with You cost $17 dollars, which is a fairly common price for many SE titles.
- There are also $30 dollar MSRP games on the Vita. While the Vita has 3 games at $50 dollars (really only 2 now), the Vita has had MORE titles at a $30 dollar MSRP. Sure these weren't the best games on the console, but it's not like everyone thinks their crap is worth gold either.
- No mention of Ratchet and Clank? FFA gives you both the PS3 and Vita version for 20 dollars, so Sony is also TRYING different things to add incentive.

In the end, this shows how much effort some sites will put in to get hits.

[Cam977]

Great read. They really need to adjust the price structure. For example, games that warrant a full price should have it! Ps Plus on the other hand offers spectacular value for money, albeit if the memory cards are slightly overpriced. Anyway, I love my Vita and find it superb in what it offers; that of course is the experience unavailable anywhere else! Furthermore, I got mine used for a bargain price! What it had was the Vita and a 16GB stick - all for £150 in "like new" condition. I love it! It's a pity my Plus ended earlier today.

[LOGICWINS]

"They really need to adjust the price structure. For example, games that warrant a full price should have it"

Agreed! But who would determine what games should warrant full price? Whose to say that an Uncharted game should be priced higher than a Rayman Origins or a Wipeout 2048?

[tubers]

hmmm they could probably release some titles for 50 but if the market and reviews are far from meeting their sales projection then they could probably quickly drop it down to 40.

[abzdine]

Good point, the games are priced too high, especially the downloadable ones and add to that the very high prices of memory cards.
I prefer DL games on a handheld because it's more transportable.

[Kane22]

I know of 3 vita games that are $50.

[8bitHero]

id never ever spend $50 on a portable game. i already think $40 is a lot(but its reasonable). PERSONALLY i think console games should cost $40 & portable $20-30. i often find myself waiting for a $60 retail game to get a price drop to $40(or $50; yes $10 is a huge difference) not because i cant afford it but because i think thats too much for a game.

[th3n00bg4m3r]

Sony, what are you thinking?

[skrug]

Lol PSP games were $50

[Gondee]

I would gladly pay 50 if the production value and experience was on par with a 50 dollar title. If COD had come out at $60 but got reviews comparable to the console versions i would have dropped the cash in a heartbeat.

[ExCest]

Well, besides what everyone says above (that isn't biased and baseless), the economy might actually have a part in the games being $50 (and the baseline being $40) now. Hasn't our glorious US dollar depreciated a bit since "last-gen" (or at least worth less to the world) or is that just me? I'm no economist so... I could be wrong.

[admiralvic]

Yes the dollar has depreciated, but this makes no sense in terms of marketing. Many / Most people were OUTRAGED that Uncharted Golden Abyss was given a price higher than any other title on the Vita. This lead to a NUMBER of deals that brought it down to 40 and in turn "resolved" the problem. Obviously setting yourself apart this way looks bad, which in turn gives you a negative stigma. Speaking logically, I think Black Ops: Declassified would have UNIVERSALLY scored higher if it was $40 dollars.

Also before you start looking at things like the economy, you have to remember that you have to SELL product to make money. In a lot of cases it might be more advantageous to price the game lower, since the number of buyers increase enough to compensate for the difference a higher price would yield.

[Luke_fon_Fabre]

50 for Golden Abyss was worth it. 50 for CoDBO Declassified... no

[H4all]

I will EVER compare APPLE with Orange, it's taste different
Hope you know what i mean!!

[strigoi814]

$50 is not hurting hardcore gamers..its the amateur wanna be hardcore gamer who thinks a 0.99 cents game has same content and experience as the $50 game..