Console digital games are too expensive, here's why Valve has the right idea

But the problem for Sony is that, unlike Valve, it has to keep retail partners happy as well as customers. And retailers know that as downloads get cheaper, customers will stop tolerating the high prices commanded by discs.

[Kivespussi]

PCs are getting cheaper and cheaper and so does PC games. Console games are costing a little bit more than a few years ago but the occasional PSN sales have been pretty decent lately. Still they have some catching up to do.

Anyway it'll be interesting to see which direction does Sony (and MS) go. On consoles there's no competition so why would they lower the prices? Maybe after this generation when the new consoles roll in most people will have moved on to PCs. Or maybe the consoles will still stay the same as they are now: the simple option for the casual market.

[TheBurger29]

By the time next-gen comes around, the gaming pc will be much more affordable than it is today. Thus people will have more of an incentive to try out the world of pc gaming. I suppose only time will tell.

[starchild]

The biggest news out of this for me is the fact that Valve now allows publishers/devs to discount the prices of their games at will without going through a Valve representative.

As the article points out, since devs can now set the prices of their games and do sales whenever they choose this will result in even more competition and lower prices in general.

[Cueil]

Valve doesn't have retail partners to answer to and thus no one to keep them from drastically cutting prices when ever they feel like it

[incendy35]

The only real cure to the digital pricing issue is to drop physical copies of disks. Production of physical materials and distribution, plus the cut retailers get drives prices up. Plus it opens the market up for used games and rentals which further drives prices up. And to be honest, outside of a few remote locations there is no need for physical copies of code to be sold.

[jdiggitty]

Retailers don't get a very big cut at all. 3-5%. That's why they push used games so hard. They get 100% of the sale.

Hard copy games are sold in a distribution model to the retailers. Every store in the country who sells games buys them from one of (2 or 3) distribution companies. For the $59 PS4 game you buy, the store paid $55 for it. This is how they control the price.

[incendy35]

It all adds up. 3-5% to retailers, cost of shipping, materials to ship, used game market created.. etc.

[Xb1ps4]

I have been buying all my games on the xb1 and ps4 this gen but im not going to keep supporting it if they dont start discounting day one digitals. I get they are scared of the retailers but maybe its time they open there own game stores? hell they can even make a presence on the internet or something.. its not like if there isnt money to be made I mean how long have they been trying to think up of ways to get used games sales now? if you want that money its time to step up

[XtraTrstrL]

Yeah, it's pretty corny when I see a next-gen console game on Amazon discounted down to like $20, and the digital version is still $60.

[Workshyskiver]

I can only speak for myself but I would of bought a lot more ps4 games if they had been £30-40 than the ridiculous £50-60 they have been charging. Now I will just play other systems and wait for titles to drop to at least £20 before buying them.

[lemoncake]

I got diablo 3 for £44 on disc the digital download is £60, the difference is way too much. You could get 4 games for the same price as 3 games on digital, in a few months time the game will drop to like £30 on physical but the digital will remain the same £60. Most of the time the digital sales are also still above that of the physical cost. Valves pricing is always decent i very rarely buy a physical pc game, and the sales are extremely good.

[PiNkFaIrYbOi]

With the cost of game development soaring, we just don't see that happening with any of the bigger game publishers and stuff. Heck wouldn't be surprised if game prices went up within the next few generations.

[SilentNegotiator]

Valve's Steam is on an open platform. NEVER expect Steam-like deals on PSN/XBL unless maybe they get into REALLY fierce competition over digital prices (maybe in a future gen if there's no physical, but even then, if you own a Ps12, you can't download the game from any other service FOR the Ps12...so there's not much reason to give you a bunch of super sales).

Luckily, you can get some good deals on discs sometimes, and those have resale value.

[gamernova]

Steam is good but there are a lot of services providing cheap games like green man gaming. I pre-ordered borderlands and civilization for 80 bucks. Super cheap for unreleased games.

[brich233]

On console, a digital copy will get you 2 licenses, 1 offline/online license for the main profile, and 1 Online Only for another profile on a different console, and that 60$ digital copy will allow you and a friend to play at the same time. Me and my friend have been buying the games on my profile, and this way we alternate who buys the game. Or we could split the cost of the game to 30$ each.

[ShaunCameron]

Ideas don't mean a thing if they're executed poorly.