Pach-Attack:Next-Gen Games Cost More Than $60?

GT:An evolution of the pricing structure of games is upon us – Pachter explains. Plus, what does he think of the Wii Mini and will Apple make a console? “They might!” he says.

[iamnsuperman]

Publishers are always going to look for ways to get the most money out of us. If that is more expensive games or hidden charges they will find a sneaky way of doing it

[Mocat]

This guy is full of crap.
buy a game and pay for MP
so let's look at this
Xbox 300/400$ maybe
Xbl 60$
Game 65$
online subscription 1$ a month (12$)

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

I expect less content + more dlc + more ads + more f2p + cod down fall + rpg revolution + Valve growth and HL3 + PC,Steam Box, Ps4 L4d3 cross platform + MS, PC cross platform next gen.

[shivvy24]

lol at cods downfall

[Y_5150]

Next gen will be interesting.

[TooTall19]

Good video. There's also a pretty interesting pop fiction that came out today.

[Rainstorm81]

Game companies would make more money if they dropped the price back to 50$

[NYC_Gamer]

I doubt publishers will do that since they have to pay fees to Sony/MS/Nintendo and retail stores

[LOGICWINS]

Publishers can VERY easily lower game prices to $50 by cutting the retailer middle man with digital distribution. They would still have to pay liscensing fees to Sony and Microsoft, but there would be no distribution fees.

[doogiebear]

@ Logic: Although u make a good point, companies are afraid to rely solely on just digital releases because that means that they would have to spend even MORE money on marketting (especially after alienating stores/retailers by making digital-only releases).

Why? Because people who buy games at Gamestop (for example) hear about new games from the sales employee, the in-store ads, the sunday paper Gamestop ads, and from seeing the game box in the store.

If EA or Activision cut out the middleman (retailers) then it would be a lot less people who are informed about new games (since their will be no "free" marketing in any game stores). THAT is why Gamestop employee's hound people so much. Because 3rd party's expect them to (as well as their managers/employer).

Game retailers really ARE putting a squeeze on both the publishers/developers AND the customers. So I totally hear what your saying, but the fear of less exposure to the average customer via game retailers is what keeps AAA publishers afraid to defy the current state of affairs with leading stores/retailers. Oh, and don't forget those pesky royalty fee's to the console manufacturers (even if distributed digitally).

[rainslacker]

@Logic

While that's true, it's not like the publishers have been quite that giving when it comes to giving us great deals on digital releases. In fact it's usually cheaper to buy retail, particularly a month or so after release. There is no reason to assume that if they control the distribution medium that they would become more consumer friendly.

Plus the world in general is a long way off from being ready for an all digital future. It's good for some people, and I say more power to them, but restricting consumer choice has never been a good thing.

The middle man plays an important part in the overall picture, partly explained by donbear above. Even as it stands today the infrastructure to provide enough people with digital on that scale is just not ready for next gen. In the end, those publishers would just end up losing sales, which would amount to a lot more lost than they do through their current retail channels.

[ShaunCameron]

No. They would have to sell more copies to break even. And the problem is that most games tend to fail regardless of price compounded by a lot of consumers equating lower price points with lower value/quality.

[rainslacker]

The lower price = lower quality wouldn't apply if that price was the same across the board, like it has been for the most part this gen.

However your first sentence is a pretty important staple of the way sales work.

More sales =/= more revenue

More revenue is important. Take a look at the iPhone. Could they sell more at half the price? Sure. Lets say they double the sales. Double sales = same revenue. The important factor though is that it doesn't equal double the profit, as real-world costs have to be deducted...and basically they've doubled those costs overall.

[cyclindk]

Well, as always, I believe the GAME should reflect the cost.

Example, for all it's faults, Skyrim is worth more to me then say... RAGE.

This, of course, must be evaluated against the actual development costs, but I think variation is needed both upward and downward for games in regard to cost. Not simply little downloadables for low, low prices and then all the rest at 60.

I think we could all do with a diversified market of games, 30 dollar games, 40, upper-end games for like 80, but that blow 60 dollar games out of the water.

Just my 5,000 cents...

[kma2k]

while what you are saying makes sense but "value" is different for everybody. Case in point the kids who play cod every year for the multiplayer & play it for 100's of hours to them its a valuable game but to me i have zero interest in the multiplayer & just play it for the campaing which is only like 4 hours. So to me it has virtually no value.

[cyclindk]

True, it's one difficult fish to grasp.. or something....

Oh well, lets see what happens!

Bring on the 200 dollar mega games!!! HAAHHAHAHAHAHH!!!

:0 oh no, what have I done...

[animegamingnerd]

if next gen games cost more then 60 i will never buy a game day 1 and try and get for a better price

[LOGICWINS]

Same here.

[Blackdeath_663]

console games are always expensive even after months since release i tried doing that before only to find the game i wanted was still the same price it is best to buy the game digitally with PS+ (or an equivalent service) you get most games free or at a discounted price. digital downloads become cheap much quicker than retail copies of the game.
if they cost that much then theres no point buying a console next gen to be honest. PC games are a quarter of the price and better in almost every respect.

[Double_O_Revan]

Actually, that's not always true. I've seen many games in the PSN store selling for Way more then I can find online or even in most stores.

Digital distribution is great, but many times it is cheaper to buy a physical copy. I see physical copies dropping quicker because shelf space is valuable to retailers.

[cyclindk]

Maybe all the consoles will fail this generation :)

[Jreca]

Hey! Welcome to Spain, where big AAA games cost arround 90USD. Good luck.

[cyclindk]

Jeez yeah, I always hear the horror stories of what high game/console prices and censorship exist abroad (I'm in the US)...

Blows...

[FarCryLover182]

They already cost more than $60.

[ApolloTheBoss]

Exluding sales tax, friend.

[FarCryLover182]

I meant with the extra DLC that they expect most people to buy.

[yeahokchief]

I bought all my release day games for 2013 for $33 each last year by combining discounts on gift cards i bought last year, preorder store credit rewards and quarterly cash back promotion with my credit card.

I think they need to lower release day prices and keep them from depreciating so quickly. Have the games hold their value. The only way they'll do this is if they cut down on used game sales.

If they raise them then they'll just price cut faster because the majority of people wouldn't be able to afford them meaning lower sales numbers meaning that it would be less viable to create games for the platforms meaning they wouldn't be able to justify a profit for making more games meaning that sony, valve, nintendo, and microsoft won't get as much royalties. They won't allow that.

Just look at how often stores are giving deals for buy 1 get 1 free on new games effectively pricing new games at $30. I don't think gamers have to worry about anything. Console gaming will always be an inexpensive hobby a few years after the console launches. It's only moderately expensive when the technology is new.

If anything they won't raise the store price on the game. THey'll just continue to rip people off on DLC prices. I stopped buying all DLC 2 years ago. It's simply not a good value.

THe only people who will get screwed in the future will be the ones who don't pay attention to cheapassgamer.com and the ones who buy games for $60 a few days after their release instead of taking advantage of preorder price deals.

MY PREDICTION FOR NEXT GEN: Rise of the SUBSCRIPTION MODEL.

Garaunteed profits. Better value if you have the time to play everything that you're getting, but you're locked in. Kind of like how you buy a cellphone contract. I will buy whatever console or platform offers free online. I don't want to be locked into anything or receive any monthly bills. I like living very frugally and building wealth by not spending on shit i don't need.

[hduce]

I wouldn't be surprised if next generation games retailed for more than $60. I can see games being $65 but hopefully not much more than that in the U.S. With the economy being bad and the threat of no used games I hope the videogames industry doesn't price itself out of profitability.

[stellios1984]

Well I only pay £5-£40 for next generation games on my PC. (Or less depending on Steam sales) So £60 is alot to ask for a game.

[RuleofOne343]

Nothing new it Déjà vu .
Been down this road once before, way before online, voice chat & jumping co-op, system link.so this not new.

[nevin1]

Video Games is dying. At least core gaming is.

I been seen this since the begining of the current generation.

I said back then that future handhelds from Sony and Nintendo is the only hope but I didnt see the raise of Smartphones and Tablets comming.

Edit:
He really takes shots at Nintendo.

[Fatty]

Other than some Special Editions that I'm pretty sure will actually be limited (Atlus, NIS, and recently, Ni No Kuni's Wizard Edition), I don't pay full price for games anymore. I always wait for sales; given so many games seem to drop to $40 within a month or two of release, I can wait a bit longer and save some $ in the process.

[ShaunCameron]

I'm surprised it isn't already, because I can't recall a time when video games were ever particularly cheap. Paying $50 (minimum) for a game in 1993 ain't that much different from paying $60 for a game in 2013.

[Funky_Homosapien]

Current Gen. is 60 plus already with all the shitty dlc fed to us on a quarterly bases

[kma2k]

I fully expect next game titles to be $70 at a minimum & like other people have said i expect subsrciptions to be the new craze. I expect virtually every game with have dlc for multiplayer & even campaing, & i dont expect it to be extra stuff i expect it to be want to finish the story? Here dlc!