Are games too expensive?

[Springbok]

I got some development cost figures from a professor of mine last year, for a low budget PC game is about $2.3 million or $3.9 million for a console title! You've gotta buy dev kits and give Microsoft/Nintendo/Sony $20 for every game that you manufacture. Publishers stay ahead because big hits pay for the losses of the games that don't sell. Profits are split between the developer and publisher, only 5-12% goes to developer.

My point being, no matter what the cost, I want games to still be around. Every time you buy a game you're casting your vote, and those votes determine which developers stick around and keep making games.

 

[freakdiablo]

Borat would be the best game ever

...Ok, bad example.

Wedding crashers would be a bad game, because I don't want to see a computer rendering of Christopher Walken (the silent hill series would have nothing on that game)

 

[Theocnoob]

Christopher Walken IN Silent Hill!!

"Hey.. Zombie.. Listen. I think you should die now. I could shoot you, but, you know... I just don't wanna"

 

[rumbl3]

i think there to expensive. But i'm always broke lol family to take care of. So when i buy i game i research it to death and beyond because if i blow 50 bucks on a game that is medicore to sucky, i'm extremely mad.

I'd really like a ps3 but 55 dollar controllers and 60 dollar games have turned me off to that idea.

I'll just stick with my new found love linux and my freebie games lol plus native releases are few and far between so i don't have to worry about wanting to shell out tons of cash constantly for the new hotness.

 

[BenF]

I just read the thread title, the topic was way too long from me to read at 2am. Anyways, I don't think games are overprices. I play multiplayer games only and I log enough time on the multiplayer the price doens't matter.

As to buying crap games. I usually find out what friends/clan mates think about a game before I go out and purchase it. I don't think I've purchased a single crap game in my life.

 

[mercalf]

There is no reason that games should ever be over 40 dollars a copy. If you look at what some of these games (Halo 3 for instance) make - the excess is ridiculous. But then again, oil? Electricity?

It sucks, so do what you gotta do.

OT: I had like a case FULL of regular Nintendo games.... Nowadays - the most games I've ever had at one time is like 8-10. That should say a lot. No longer do I just pop in a game here and there, it's research - and popularity that wins me over.


Then again - who knows what I'll be willing to pay for Starcraft 2

 

[Jolly-Swagman]

I just wish that the Games here in Australia were not so costly compared to USA, most New ones here are $100AU and limited Edition ones are around $130AU

 

[Mr.Guvernment]

ARGH! why do these threads always pop up if not eveyr other week eveyr month.. if you cant afford them dont buy them! or get a better job, it has been shown TIME AND TIME again that per hour, games are one of the cheapest forms of entertainment around!​

​

BUT i will say at least you argued both sides!


If games should be cheaper, why not make your own?

really,m i think the problem is many of you who think they are expensive have no IDEA what goes into a game....

Think, if a game takes 2-3 years to make, how many employee's, resources, computer, office space, legal crap, the list goes on, and that one game has to make X amount of money to cover those costs.....


Personbally, i would have dropped $100 for Orange box no questions asked it is so deserving of my money.

 

[Aynjell]

ARGH! why do these threads always pop up if not eveyr other week eveyr month.. if you cant afford them dont buy them! or get a better job, it has been shown TIME AND TIME again that per hour, games are one of the cheapest forms of entertainment around!​

BUT i will say at least you argued both sides!


If games should be cheaper, why not make your own?

really,m i think the problem is many of you who think they are expensive have no IDEA what goes into a game....

Think, if a game takes 2-3 years to make, how many employee's, resources, computer, office space, legal crap, the list goes on, and that one game has to make X amount of money to cover those costs.....


Personbally, i would have dropped $100 for Orange box no questions asked it is so deserving of my money.

If you don't want to participate in the thread then quite frankly, gtfo. I didn't force you to participate, and personally I do feel taht triple A games are too expensive.

First off, I know damn well what goes into making a game, and I understand that they are very complicated to make. But that doesn't excuse the fact that they are overpriced, and fail to meet the quota for cost efficiency.

Even for an Xbox 360, if I had say, 5 games I enjoyed, each running 5 hours a pop, that'd be 250$ for games, plus 300$ for the 360. That means that's 25 hours of gameplay. That'd put it at 22$ an hour for gaming.

Lastly, I make more money than you do, I'll wager. The point in case is, per hour they are the most expensive form of entertainment I participate in. And as I stated in my origional post, it's cheaper for me to go to a lan that has the game and play it there given the time I'm able to clear most of these games in.

I wouldn't have paid 100$ on the orange box. Considering it was many games for me, episode 1, episode 2, and portal, it was worth the 50, and it gave me an adequite amount of enjoyment for my money. Portal is at best a 5 hour game going through the first time, with episode 1 and 2 both being roughly 4 hours maybe 6 if you took your tame, and it does have some replay due to the achievements. So we're saying maybe, 15 hours for the 50$ price tag I paid. That's good value, and it beats a movie only by a slight margin.

Left 4 dead on the weekend sale also turned out to be a good deal for me too.

My whole point is, it's chaeper for me to play these titles at a lan center than to actually buy the games. Isn't there something wrong with that?

 

[Mr.Guvernment]

clam down, sorry but it does get tiring reading the same thread over and over by people cause they would rather start their own thread then post in others already started, but as i said, at least your fought for both sides, which is why i actually posted.

Stating they are over priced is purely personally opion, i think Corvette's are over priced...i think Lian-Li cases are over priced, but many others do not and think they are worth every last penny.

I think "some games" are over priced and not worth the weight of the people who made them, in gold, other games however are.

Problem is company A see's Valve selling games for $40-$70US and figure they can do it too, so they try to sell it for that same price, as some said though reviews hit and the price drops fast.

I think in the world of games, one is better off to wait, literally 1 week, 2 weeks and the price almost always drops.


Do i care what you make? good for you, .. wow, you make more money, you wager, then me, at what, age 19... (always fun to assume things on the net about someone you dont know anything about, to make your pont some how more valid....) But i guess the title of "wise a**" over on devient art may be true then, assuming that is you...

 

[Aynjell]

clam down, sorry but it does get tiring reading the same thread over and over by people cause they would rather start their own thread then post in others already started, but as i said, at least your fought for both sides, which is why i actually posted.

Stating they are over priced is purely personally opion, i think Corvette's are over priced...i think Lian-Li cases are over priced, but many others do not and think they are worth every last penny.

I think "some games" are over priced and not worth the weight of the people who made them, in gold, other games however are.

Problem is company A see's Valve selling games for $40-$70US and figure they can do it too, so they try to sell it for that same price, as some said though reviews hit and the price drops fast.

I think in the world of games, one is better off to wait, literally 1 week, 2 weeks and the price almost always drops.


Do i care what you make? good for you, .. wow, you make more money, you wager, then me, at what, age 19... (always fun to assume things on the net about someone you dont know anything about, to make your pont some how more valid....) But i guess the title of "wise a**" over on devient art may be true then, assuming that is you...

I was simply making a point. Money is not an issue, I'm not complaining because I can't afford them, but because it's cheaper for me to "rent the games" at a fixed per hour rate. the cost to own the game is simply too high.

And I'm not trying to start a flame war here.

My point is, games I expect to be fun simply aren't. FEAR 2 was actually pretty terrible. 50$ for the game got me 5 hours of gameplay, with almost zero added storyline. The only thing FEAR 2 explained was new stuff, it didn't answer any old questions, it didn't describe alma's motive. She's still just a ****ed off little girl with too much power... and it's just disappointing to see that there's nothing new inspite of such a high price in the game. I spent all that time killing random people for seemingly nothing.

And obviously, this isn't a truly complaint worthy issue, it's not something I'm going to lobby about. My point is simply, with the cost of games, and the timeframe they can be completed in, it's just cheaper to go to a lan center to play them.

my point is, yes, 50$ is worth it, but the quality and amount of content needs to improve at that price.

Almost 90% of development goes into the engine, this is easily the most complicated aspect of the game, with content and scripting being far easier, especially with a game with easy development tools. Most game companies make a mistake and don't develop high quality tools to create content. It's obvious that games that do this have greater content, better content, and still manage to look every bit as good as any other title. For example, oblivion. The development tools are so simple and well implemented that a user can make the content themselves.

A good quality experience has recently been given to me by Dawn of War, and it was only 30$, I've easily gotten 12 hours out of this thus far and I haven't even gotten past the first game in the set. That's GREAT value.

Oh and you brought on my somewhat snide remarks by being a jerk about it. Once again, I'm not complaining about price, but the value of the title. They're too expensive for what they're producing, most likely because they're producing games the wrong way.

 

[lordkosc]

I like the 35$ price point, I wait for most games to go on sale at that price, (ex: DOW2, Left4Dead, Orange Box).

 

[Slayn]

For PC games I generally stick to this: unless it has multiplayer I usually wait until it is cheap unless it is an RPG I am sure to like and will give me good hours. Good examples, L4D, TF2 and other good multiplayer FPS. Good example of an RPG would be Fallout 3, some didnt like it but I did and my $50 lasted at least 50 hours. Also other multiplayer RPG like when Diablo 3 comes out, GG sirs I will be in my room for many an hour when that comes out. Games like Bioshock, Mirrors Edge etc I will wait until theyre sub $30.

For console those games usually take 2+ years to reach affordable catergory, if even that. I will only spend $50 if I am quite sure I will get my money's worth such as Zelda, Mario, Metal Gear Solid, console RPG I did my research on. I am not paying $50 for a console game with ~10-15 hours of gameplay or no replayability. Also good party games for Wii/PS3 like Smash Bros, Cooking Mama, Little Big Planet etc. Those are worth the $50. Especially Smash Bros, god.... so good.

 

[Aynjell]

For PC games I generally stick to this: unless it has multiplayer I usually wait until it is cheap unless it is an RPG I am sure to like and will give me good hours. Good examples, L4D, TF2 and other good multiplayer FPS. Good example of an RPG would be Fallout 3, some didnt like it but I did and my $50 lasted at least 50 hours. Also other multiplayer RPG like when Diablo 3 comes out, GG sirs I will be in my room for many an hour when that comes out. Games like Bioshock, Mirrors Edge etc I will wait until theyre sub $30.

For console those games usually take 2+ years to reach affordable catergory, if even that. I will only spend $50 if I am quite sure I will get my money's worth such as Zelda, Mario, Metal Gear Solid, console RPG I did my research on. I am not paying $50 for a console game with ~10-15 hours of gameplay or no replayability. Also good party games for Wii/PS3 like Smash Bros, Cooking Mama, Little Big Planet etc. Those are worth the $50. Especially Smash Bros, god.... so good.

Yeah, I bought my girlfriend a wii, we live together so I get to use it. I bought the wii, and she bought wii play (comes with a wii mote) and an extra nunchuck, as well as two other games (Brawl, and raving Rabids). Since then, I've bought Okami, NiGHTS, Mario Kart Wii, and she's bought chicken shooter and one of those nyko pistol grips. So far it's been a solid investment for me and her. She loves the thing and plays it at least an hour a day.

Our general rule of thumb is this: if it's wii related, I buy the game, which usually comes with one of the enjoyable accessories, and she buys the matching part. When I bought mario kart wii, for example, she bought the second wheel. She bought chicken shoot one day while I was sleeping so I didn't get to ninja-pay for i t.

 

[sulretal]

I like to this about this subject, well with everything(not just video games).

I'm not sure how I can place monetary values on games. I really enjoy some games and the others ones I just do not play at all. However, I'm not sure the few games that I enjoy or still play(less and less with time it seems) are even worth 50-60$ USD. Why are video games that much anyway?

I think even paying 30$ for a enjoyable video game is far too much. Well I'm more worried about where that money goes to. Am I paying 50-60 $ that mostly supports the developers or the bigger corporate jackel just waiting for more wallets to stick his vacuum up to. I'm not sure about where my money is allocated to when I buy these things, I should probably pay more attention.

but then again, who am I to judge.

 

[LmpPns]

i think the price of games, followed by the lack of quality from some titles, has led to many ppl downloading them illegally instead of buying them.

Very, very true. I notice this all the time among college students and other people that don't exactly have a budget to blow on unnecessary items. To be honest, the $50 staple price isn't all that bad, it's the general rule-of-thumb mediocrity of the titles that really causes this.

 

[Aynjell]

So, I figured I'd add a few things to this thread. Steam has been making it a habit of putting games on sale for really good deals each weekend. The last two weekends have been rather decent titles, Lost Planet, and World of Goo.

Here's my opinion on both:

World of Goo is just plain awesome. I can't really say why this game is awesome, it just is. Try playing it yourself, one of the best games I've played in a long time. If you don't have it, you missed a hell of a good deal.

Lost Planet: Extreme Condition

this game is actually a lot of fun. I started playing it and first thing I did was pop in my game controller and went to town on the akrid. What I like about the game is it's typical capcom fun. You play an over powered person called "Wayne" who doesn't remember anything. Due to wayne's over powered nature, 90% of the game you can "run and gun", with little to no consequinces. Under most cases, this can be annoying and even kill ag ame, but mobility is the best aspect of the game. the rip cord, vs's, etc, are all great, and the game is just plain beautiful. Also, it's not possible to get lost. Maybe I'm not even sure how to say why I like the game, but it's not bad. Considering i picked it up for 5$ and I've already played it 5 hours, I can't complain. Yet another games for windows with console controller support that reminds me that even console to Pc ports are good, providing it has the games for windows tag on it. (seriously, I love GFW)

Also, wayne is so overpowered that it's actually funny, causing the game to almost seem like a parody of third person shooters. Me and my buddy, drunk at last night's lan, decided to start a series of jokes regarding the game:

Wayne only uses a VS when he's too tired to carry the gun around himself.

(You can expire probably 10 VS's before wayne would expire, the only benefit is more firepower because you can carry two VS class weapons instead of one, and YES, Wayne can rip a VS sized gatling gun off the VS and use it, without any loss of mobility, although when firing it he stays in one spot)

The source of chuck norris's strength is the hair implants donated by wayne.

Seriously, wayne can like, not die.

 

[don'tknow]

The biggest problem for most people comes down to this: there is no way to 'test' a full game before buying it (keeping this within legal terms). I'd like to commend Epic on the recent Steam promotion for UT3 though, this is exactly what is needed; a way to test a full game online in multiplayer before buying it. And I'd say that now the game is fun enough to be worth buying especially for only $12 (limited time discount). Glad I didn't waste my money when I bought it some months ago for $30, there weren't many servers/players so I didn't play much, but the recent updates have massively increased the community... Steam reports over 2000% increase in players for UT3.

It's not really a new title so it might not be as big of a deal now, but how many game companies would be brave enough to do something like this with new game releases? Well ok, not the crazy price discount but at least the 'try full game for one weekend before you buy it' thing. The answer would speak for itself: "no way, we can't have people realizing that they'll waste money on our mediocrity before buying it and/or quickly get tired of the short single player/boring or generic multiplayer". If more companies actually made games that have multiplayer addictive enough to regularly play without getting bored, then these try before buy deals won't be so uncommon.

 

[Aynjell]

The biggest problem for most people comes down to this: there is no way to 'test' a full game before buying it (keeping this within legal terms). I'd like to commend Epic on the recent Steam promotion for UT3 though, this is exactly what is needed; a way to test a full game online in multiplayer before buying it. And I'd say that now the game is fun enough to be worth buying especially for only $12 (limited time discount). Glad I didn't waste my money when I bought it some months ago for $30, there weren't many servers/players so I didn't play much, but the recent updates have massively increased the community... Steam reports over 2000% increase in players for UT3.

It's not really a new title so it might not be as big of a deal now, but how many game companies would be brave enough to do something like this with new game releases? Well ok, not the crazy price discount but at least the 'try full game for one weekend before you buy it' thing. The answer would speak for itself: "no way, we can't have people realizing that they'll waste money on our mediocrity before buying it and/or quickly get tired of the short single player/boring or generic multiplayer". If more companies actually made games that have multiplayer addictive enough to regularly play without getting bored, then these try before buy deals won't be so uncommon.

This is nothing new, actually. Valve has done this several times through steam, especially with thier new multiplayer releases. I can recall team fortress 2 and day of defeat.

 

[don'tknow]

Valve has, yes, on a few games. I don't see most games doing it though. Simply because the developers aren't confident enough in the game's sales if the players experienced it before buying it.