93 réponses à ce sujet

[dch2404]

Am I the only one put off by the higher price for DAI?

 

Other newly released games cost £29.99 GBP including VAT, e.g. the new Civ game on Steam.

 

On one hand I'm amazed that new release prices have remained at £29.99 for so long despite inflation but £49.99 for the regular edition of DAI on Origin is a huge increase. If it were £35 or £40, I'd be more accepting. I consider myself a BW fan and I am reluctant about this. Are non-DA fans going to accept this?

 

I was also always used to paying ~£10 less than the console versions but Amazon have listed all platforms at the same price of ~£40. Have MS/Sony waived the licence fee or something?

[Wulfram]

I'm putting off buying the game because I find the £40 release price for physical to be overly high.  And the Origin price of £50 is outright barmy.

Though unfortunately, I think that's the way the prices are heading for AAA PC games.  Preorders for CoD, Far Cry and AC are all at £40, and GTA is £35.  Maybe if it hits peoples sales it won't stick, but I doubt it.

 

Though The Witcher 3 is £28

[Fast Jimmy]

I think it's localization costs. Bioware has to translate the game so you people in England can understand it. That doesn't come cheap.

[Sylvius the Mad]

Do the math. What did you pay for games 10-15 uears ago, when you take inflation into account?

[dch2404]

Do the math. What did you pay for games 10-15 uears ago, when you take inflation into account?

 

Inflation isn't the only factor that has changed in 15 years. You have to take into sales volume too, which has also increased in the past 15 years. More volume = lower price, which has helped to offset inflation. I'm no economics expert though.

 

If somebody were to tell me the price increase is due to inflation, I would swallow £40 (33% increase). But £50 (66% increase in 2 years) doesn't sound like inflation to me. Especially when compared to other games being released nowadays.

 

I mean, even the money-grabbers at Activision are only asking for £40 for COD:AW.

[dutch_gamer]

@Streetmagic

 

There is a big difference between paying 60 US dollars versus 50 British pounds. One would think even Americans would be complaining if they had to all of the sudden pay 80 dollars for games.

 

@OP

 

There is no such a thing as more volume = lower price. In general games have a particular price point as most entertainment does and more volume doesn't lower the price. Not to mention that game development has seen a rather significant increase in cost over the years as gamers have become more and more demanding.

 

I do think EA is screwing over UK gamers or anyone who orders digitally though. I am also of the believe that eventually, rather soon too, you will only be able to buy your games from the publishers directly and digitally only. I find it rather unfortunate the majority of gamers only seem to care about getting their product the second it comes out and that they don't really care about the price. I wish the industry would actually for once try to cut costs to make sure gaming doesn't become entertainment for the rich only.

[Realmzmaster]

Inflation is not the only factor. Other costs like production, salaries etc have risen as well over the years. The point is that developers have been holding the price line by removing items that gamers use to receive like detailed manuals or little feelies in the game box. Infocom ( I will date myself a bit) incorporated their feelies into the game. It served as part copy protection without being too intrusive For example a little newspaper that detailed events that happened in the game for Deadline. Some of the Gold box games incorporated a code wheel and a very good manual.

 

Items like that no longer appear in the standard games physically. Some do appear in the editions where the gamer pays more. I do not believe that game prices have keep up with inflation.

[Wulfram]

The digital price is crazy, but there's a simple solution.  Don't pay it.  Get it from somewhere else.

 

Particularly since your physical editions key will get you a digital edition.

[Kantr]

Many AAA games are at that price on release, it's an unfortunate fact. What's more annoying though is it is cheaper to buy the disc

[LightningPoodle]

It's priced the same as any other new game I get. $59.99 (US)

 

£1 = $1.60

 

You get it cheaper dude...

[Fast Jimmy]

What's ironic is that digital PC sales often don't provide a discount because publishers don't want to tick off retailers and the console manufacturers. Of course, because there is no price reduction means there is less incentive for gamers to move to PC... quite the self-fulfilling prophecy.

Interestingly, I'm surprised no one has brought up the insanely ballooning of marketing costs in games over the past decade or so. This has led to the increased volume (a million units sold in 2000 was a huge success) but also to much higher expectations and development costs, as publishers look for every major title to be a blockbuster (a million units in 2014 would be a huge failure for the majority of AAA titles).

Yes, gamers pay roughly the same price now, but the result is that only the games massively promoted and pushed who appeal to the largest demographics ever get attention. The desire for a rapidly increasing production quality for games has gone up because gamers now view the best as the base-standard, but meanwhile making a game that takes too many chances or making a game that is a new IP is often viewed as too much of a lost investment.

Of course, the rise of Kickstarter and other crowd-funding initiatives may have effects on this in the future, as well as a move to make development tools more open and accessible without huge development teams, like what we see with Unity.

Interesting time to be a gamer, for sure.

[dch2404]

The digital price is crazy, but there's a simple solution.  Don't pay it.  Get it from somewhere else.

 

Particularly since your physical editions key will get you a digital edition.

 

I intend to get it from play-sc.com for £29. I think I'll stop trying to make sense of something that is inherently nonsensical.

[Clark]

That's weird that the digital copy would be 25% more expensive. I wonder if that's a mistake. The physical copies seem to be comparable to US prices, £39.85 is pretty close to $59.99.

[Brockololly]

I don't know about the UK or anywhere outside of the US, but you can pretty easily find deals on Inquisition for around $45 digitally, whether that's using the Mexican Origin trick or just off of the VIP section on Green Man Gaming.

[Sylvius the Mad]

In 1986, I paid $80 for a new game. That's over $160 dollars today.

As long as prices stay below 1986 levels, I shan't complain.

[Sylvius the Mad]

That's weird that the digital copy would be 25% more expensive. I wonder if that's a mistake. The physical copies seem to be comparable to US prices, £39.85 is pretty close to $59.99.

Perhaps there's greater demand for the digital copy.

[Fast Jimmy]

Perhaps there's greater demand for the digital copy.

Even if so, the supply is limitless. Digital keys require no limiting factor or resources to create - they could make 20 million of them to sell to retailers at the same relative price they could make 20 thousand. With none of the resource costs and a fraction of the overhead, it makes no sense to have the digital copy cost more, unless it offers more product - which it may, I honestly don't know.

[Sylvius the Mad]

Even if so, the supply is limitless. Digital keys require no limiting factor or resources to create - they could make 20 million of them to sell to retailers at the same relative price they could make 20 thousand. With none of the resource costs and a fraction of the overhead, it makes no sense to have the digital copy cost more, unless it offers more product - which it may, I honestly don't know.

That's not how pricing works. Prices are set at the highest value consumers will pay. Production costs are irrelevant, amd supply only matters if demand exceeds supppy and there existd within the consumer base diversity in the willingness to pay.

[Br3admax]

My digital US copy gladly cost the same as the physical. Less actually, since PSS, and most online outlets not named Origins, doesn't charge tax. Yay, for me and all the WH. 

[The Antagonist]

^isn't it 60 dollars before tax?

[Aurok]

There's no way around it, the PC version (in the UK at least) is ridiculously expensive on Origin. How can you justify the digital version direct from the publisher being £10 more than a physical copy bought from a middle man (Amazon, supermarkets, etc)? You can even find the digital version for £30-£35 if you look around.

I want to support EA by buying direct but they make it impossible

[Br3admax]

^isn't it 60 dollars before tax?

$59.99 without tax. Where I live it'd be more around 70 with. 

[Fast Jimmy]

That's not how pricing works. Prices are set at the highest value consumers will pay. Production costs are irrelevant, amd supply only matters if demand exceeds supppy and there existd within the consumer base diversity in the willingness to pay.

I don't disagree, but I simply don't understand why any company would want to steer consumers towards the form of their product with lower profit margins. A higher price will invariably drive some sales away... if one can make more by digital distribution, I would drive as many sales towards that method as possible.