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Why Next Generation Games Will Cost $70
By Dan On 24 Mar, 2012 At 06:15 PM | Categorized As Gaming News | With 2 Comments

Do you remember the good old days when you got a $100 gift card for your birthday or Christmas? You went happily to the games section of your local Wal-Mart or Best Buy and picked out two games purchased them and you were on your merry way. Then the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 came out and $50 games were a thing of the past. Gone, never to be seen again (except for crappy movie tie in games). So now, you get another $100 gift card for your birthday or Christmas. You head down to your local Wal-Mart or Best Buy and you grab two games, run to the register and realize games are now $60 and you’ve got to put one back. Not only are you deprived of one game, you’ve got $40.01 left on your gift card and forced to either spend your money or just keep the useless piece of plastic.

History repeats itself. So let’s imagine again in two or three years you’ve received another $100 gift card from a relative for some sort of holiday or celebration, and you run to your local game store and try to purchase the latest game and you see the price tag has jumped to $70. While you fall to your knees, fists raised in the air, screaming “NOOOOOOO!” the developers for said game are taking baths in $100 bills laughing.

Now however unlikely the latter part of that is to happen, the games prices increasing is actually very likely. You know why? Because they can do it, and you’re going to pay it.

When the original Xbox and PlayStation 2 were out, video games were $50 and while some complained that they were expensive, they just continued to buy them because that’s just how much the sticker says. Well after years and years of doing just that, the developers decided “hey, why don’t we just raise the price to $60?” and so that happened and one again we complain a little bit initially but we just continue to buy them at full price. What is to stop them from deciding that $70 games are the new norm? Nothing.

But wait; there is something we can do. Ever realize after time goes by (about a month or so) the price of a game drops $20? It’s because retailers want them off their shelves. Or because the game didn’t sell very well which also means retailers want the games off their shelves to make room for other newer games. Now I’m not saying that you should boycott the games because that’s bad for the industry. But do be mindful that if you’re willing to pay for it, publishers and developers are more than willing to take your money

Now some of you may be saying “But development costs have gone up!” Well, yes. You are correct, development costs have gone up. But this is sort of a natural selection for developers. They need to know that if they’re going to make crap, then they aren’t going to get money to make more of that same crap. One thought that came to mind was a price scale; this is an idea that helps developers that make good games with more money and those who continue to do the same old crap less money.

One of the things I hear about the Call of Duty series is that it’s just more of the same and there is no more innovation. The developers behind Call of Duty need to be told that we’re getting sick of the same stuff and we want something new, an actual reason to buy the latest game. Maybe after not introducing new things to the next COD game their prices go down. But a developer who takes chances and comes up with something new and interesting is rewarded with more money. Now I’m not saying this idea is without flaws but we need to start thinking of a way to stop games from reaching $70. Because developers who produce the same crap year after year is not okay.

 

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  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=509070180 Monty Blandin

    So because average retail prices went up $10 from one generation to another, you automatically assume it is going to go up again?  I guess that would be sound logic, except for the fact that NES games sold for an average of $40 to $50, and SNES games went for $50 to $80 for some titles.  A new generation of console does not equate a higher price.  By that logic we should be paying over $100 per game now.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002367454310 Jonathan Stoffregen

       go to AU :D

    • Steve

      The author’s just musing. He’s missing any sort of statistical backup or
      research. I find that this article has a much better analytical
      perspective of the situation at hand, and makes a case for the reason of
      increased game prices beyond angst:
      http://www.gamersnexus.net/features/gg/736-the-60-dollar-game-is-a-ripoff

  • Vampiric

    not a 1 percent chance games raise price again

  • Fumoffu222

    While I agree that prices will go up to $70 sooner rather than later, I completely disagree with your reasoning. The REAL reason why it will go up will be because of inflation. For instance, $60 right now is worth $53 in 2006. Prices will need to go up to counter-act this increase in overall price levels.

  • SkidRowTrash

    When I first started gaming on sega genesis and SNES, games were $89.99 – 99.99. I remember Final Fantasy 3 was $115.

    Games are 59.99 now, and if they are going up to 69.99, that is still cheaper than what I paid as a kid.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002367454310 Jonathan Stoffregen

    unless the disk that the games are made on are made with super bluray or something its NOT gonna be 60$ i think XBOX 360 should be 50$ cause they use DVD which are cheaper

    • Limit760

      You’re right, they should be $50, but when you see a game on a shelf for $40 that just came out  you immediately think, oh well that game must not be as good as Battlefield 3 for $60. And if the PlayStation 3 is putting games out at $60 and the Xbox 360 is still doing games at $50  people could make the point that the PS3 games are far superior to the Xbox ones because you can see it in the price.

  • bigevilworldwide

    And this is shocking how? People keep crying about wanting new consoles which seem a bit unneeded there is really nothing wrong with the current ones except to people that cry about PC games….When they have to develop new tech, that tech increases production values and COST. That cost increase then increases the price they need to be sold at its simple common sense 

  • Jimbabbits

    Your math only works in 5 states. $100 can’t buy two $50 games in the other 45.. a little thing called sales tax.

    • Limit760

      Yeah, I live in New Hampshire, one of those states that has no sales tax for video games so the thought of sales tax doesn’t come to mind. Good point though,

  • that guy

    Really?  we in Australia have been putting up with $100 games for years – even when our dollar is above the USD (it has been a while now though). 

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Richard-Fabela/100002106917966 Richard Fabela

    excellent article

    very true. its sad too say/think but yes if rockstar said GTA 5 80 bucks.

    id be so mad..yet id buy it 
    same for a good FPS “BF4″ “BC3″

    • Limit760

      My thought process was on a lot of the people who buy Madden and Call of Duty every year without thinking about the value, or lack thereof they are getting.

      Sadly i’m the same way. As much as I would dislike a $70 pricetag I would pay for it because Video Games are my job and hobby.

      • dakan45

         if thats what hey have fun with, who are you to tell them “buy something diffirent instead”

        ??

  • TDR25_Forever

    This is a tired issue it really is. Common sense tells anyone that you DON’T have to buy anything day one, week one, or at all if you don’t agree with the price or some other factors. It’s no secret that the gaming industry seems like it has become greedier than most banks within a span of about 4-5 years. The higher prices, re-releasing older games, multiple sequels/prequels, the constant stream of unnecessary DLC, developers wanting to recoup money off of and ultimately destroy the used games market, and so on and so on. The mega corporate developers are basically digging themselves into wholes that they may not be able to get out of if they keep going at this rate.

  • Josh

    Sorry Dan, but your wrong. Not about the price going up, but about your reasoning. It’s all about inflation. Video games are cheaper than ever before! I remember paying $100-$120 to get the newest Final Fantasy games on release date way back when. Theres also this little thing called inflation. Back when the average game on any console was 40 to 50 dollars, the dollar was worth far more. Since then the dollar has become worth wayyyy less and game prices have really only seen a $10 price increase. Thus games are actually cheaper than they’ve ever been, sorry mate.

  • Lucas Siegel

    Yeah, I debunked this whole thought process about 3.5 years ago: http://www.newsarama.com/games/081106-GameCost.html

  • Jamaludine84

    This article is stupid. I am staying in Dubai and the normal price of a game is $70. I read a article were they actually broke down the $60 price tag. The actual publisher gets allot less then $60 for every game purchased and you still have to factor in increase in the cost of living….

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/OJ3KFOJBGXY3MXTWEKYVFVP6TQ Curt Bear

    this article is stupid and false.
    also i won’t be buying any new games for $60 let alone $70 unless i get at least an hour of fun for every $1 spent.
    skyrim, worth every penny
    mass effect? hell no only lasts 30 hours or so.
    bulletstorm? geez 8 hours, hardly worth a rental
    MW3? 24 hours
    BF3? 63 hours, buy that
    ect.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Tom-Elliott/1680986621 Tom Elliott

    I see gaming becoming more of a service than physical products. 
    Piracy and used games are beginning to prove the current financial model doesn’t work and  what with Netflixs being a massive success and Sony embracing digital content with the Vita I reckon you’ll be able to choose some kind of plan on a subscription basis. Obviously physical copies will still exist, but quite frankly I’m amazed this isn’t happening now

  • Goldeneye

    lol an hour of fun is good enough? i dont think so try 20 yrs worth of fun —my snes games have done this ,    and i highly doubt theyll push 60 to 70 , if they did that it would be suicide isnt it bad enough it costs 60 for uncomplete games only for the rest to be tacked on as dlc for 15 dollars as it is 

  • Faggot

    everything you said was common knowledge. Also known as inflation. Thanks for the wasted time.

  • ImDoneThisGen

    I’m predicting $79.99.  Games will sell on hype and be destroyed bu BUGS… I guess no change from this gen other than price…

  • dakan45

    The REAL reason games cost 60 is because sony and microsoft want 10 bucks as royality fees, something they did not do last gen.

    When you buy a 60 bucks game

    10 go to PR
    10 go to ms or sony
    10 go the shop you buy it from
    10 go to the developer
    and the last 20 go to the publisher.

    Thats why pc games cost 50 instead of 60, apart from sometimes when they dared to price them 60 because they think they can.

    The article is corret though, the more you buy them, the more they think they go the right to get more from you.

    They will rise eventually and blame it on development costs of new gen consoles or some other crap.

    Pc games have got that crap figured out already and dont buy cheap ports for 60 bucks, game industry blames piracy, pc gamers blame game industry for having the nerve to overpirce a cheap ass port.
     

  • Joelcool7

    lol what uneducated garbage. Developers and publishers aren’t just raising retail prices all Willy Billy because they want too. Development costs of games has gone through the roof a low budget game today costs almost twice as much as a massive budget GameCube game. Example according to NamcoBandai a massive budget GameCube game costs 4-million and that was state of the art stuff. Today a low budget 360 game costs between 6-10 million in fact some iOS games are now nearing the 3+ million mark.

    With current 360/PS3 games a big budget game costs between 15-25 million and requires a team of up to 400 employees to complete. Where as a GameCube big budget game could be made with 50 people and 4 million USD.

    A 10$ rise in retail price is ridiculously low considering how much more expensive games became to develop from Xbox to 360 let alone PS3. With piracy also eating away at sales retail costs should be far higher for studios to ensure they make their money back.

    Early estimates are that a Next Generation title with Samaritan could cost more then double what a high end current generation title cost. THQ stated a next generation game will cost the developer roughly 100$ a copy to break even with their current sales figures.

    As technology advances development costs go higher and higher. Companies like Midway and Acclaim bit the dust due to rising Dev costs and low incomes from sales.

    If next generation software retails for only 70$ I seriously fear for the industry. A 50+ million dollar game would need to sell a shit load of copies just to break even. Even a low low budget next generation game would need to sell between 1-1.5 million copies just to break even.

    The industry cannot survive with this kind of growth. One failed 50+ million dollar next generation game could bankrupt even some of the best studios.

    I hope that if next generation systems are as powerful as they are said to be. That retail prices reflect the Dev costs meaning 100$ price tags on games with 25-50 million dollar budgets. I think the days of a standard retail price for software should be ended. Retail prices should reflect Dev costs.

    If you want 60$-70$ games buy a WiiU plain and simple. I payed 100-120$ per game during N64 times, why because you pay for quality. We are spoiled as gamers the developers are struggling so hard to make ends meat while consumers either steal the software (pirate) or buy it used or better but still not good for the developer buying the game on clearance.

    We are used to cheap ass games. But their is no longer any such thing. Games cost a bloody fortune to develop and retail prices need to reflect that. Pay for the quality don’t be stingy and let the developers suffer! Because if we maintain the 60$ price tag their may not be any big budget next generation developers left to make the next FarCry, CoD or Halo!

    • Soussi Afif

      surprisely  i think next-gen games will cost less than 60$.

      i think devloppers will follow Aplle and google example and sell more low cost and casual games via digital distribution.
      tablets and smartphone’s games are selling very well our days. the reason why is their price’s who rarelly exeed the 10$.
      gamers are tired of bying 60$ games and being dissapointed most of the times.

      when we look to the actual situation ,we can already see who won between 3ds/vita and android/IOS.
      even if the 3ds/vita have good controls ,analog sticks ,big screens ,nintendo ,sony ,EA … support and console quality AAA games . the 2 consoles aren’t selling so well ,even the PSP and DS are beating 3ds/vita in some countrys like japan ,just to let you know.
      the reason is obvious ,30-40$+ for a handlead game in very expensive even if it’s uncharted.

      when in the other hand we can have some very cool games (Modern combat 3 ,NOVA ,asphalt ,shadowgun ,ganster, GTA ,real racing ….).

      PS:sorry for my english.

    • dakan45

      Many wrong things here…first of all if it goes this way, then might as well not make games anymore or make arcadish 2d games. There is no point for all those bazillion of game studios to push out a hundred games each year.

      It is suprising they making profit as it is with all those games.

      the “pay for quality” is a load of garbage, games nowdays are short, generic, unimpressive with pretty basic gameplay, that is quality? Needless to mention they just pick their previous game, improve it and call it a sequel. There is no quality here, just milking to “suposselly” meet the development costs, but judging by how much money they making, it seems rather milking than high costs being the issue.

      It is suprising how crysis on pc has sold about 6 millon plus so far and yet looks far better than current console game and the development costs were far lower than current console titles.

      Also, i would like to point out that piracy is not “Eating”the sales, if people pirate games rather buying them, then its propably because they were not gonna buy them to begin with, either the game is not that good and they choose to spend money somewhere else or they did not have the money to begin with. People gotta stop thinking that every pirated game would have been a sale.

      • Joelcool7

        Umm when I play an iOS game the first thing I most often notice is the shitty quality. The poor graphics the crappy dialogue the products simply are no where near the quality of a bigger budget AAA title. Now you are correct some franchises are being milked beyond belief but for every Modern Warfare 3 their is a Battlefields for every Final Fantasy their is a XenoBlade. Having tried some of the cheaper FPS titles yes even recycled NPC’s and buildings in MW3 still leave a higher quality more polished product.

        Look at the product you are getting for that 70$ the overwhelming detail the story the intricate physics and AI you are getting a far superior product.

        Simply put you could not create a Deus Ex:Human Revolution quality game for under ten mill. You couldn’t make a BattleField3 quality title for under ten million. Nor a Zelda nor a FarCry.

        Quality software costs money, that is simply fact. I know game developers who slave over these games day and night they have massive teams and all 300 employees work sometimes 20 hour days for two years to bring us these high end console games.

        Now your honestly going to tell me that a product of equal quality could be made by 50 people or less?

        As for piracy no not every pirated copy is a lost sale. But a lot of them are. I personally know ass holes who haven’t bought one game for their 360 because they pirate them all. They say they are poor too poor well guess what if you could afford the Xbox and the PC the internet connection and the disks to burn the game onto then you have the money to buy your dang games.

        Am sick of people saying that their piracy never hurts anyone. Maybe 3 of every 4 games you pirate you would have never bought. Well that one game you would have is 60$ you just stole directly.

        If you wouldn’t buy it then you have absolutely no right to play it. If I walk into a luxury car dealership and say I would never buy this Lamborghini and then steal it. Sure they didn’t lose a sale but they still lost the product and you still stole it.

        If I’m not very hungry and wouldn’t likely spend the five dollars on a burger can I take the burger I mean I wasn’t planning on buying it.

        You are stealing regardless if you don’t intend to buy a game and just want to try it, don’t be an ass hole scum bag just go to your local rental store and rent the game for 5$. How cheap and low do you have to be that you wouldn’t even spend five dollars to play the content legally?

        Piracy is a plague no matter how you justify it a pirate is a criminal. I only make 500$ after rent after bills I only have about 100$ a month. Guess what I haven’t pirated one product not even a single song in three or more years. Yet I have enjoyed every single game and movie and song I wanted all legally giving the creators every penny they deserve.

        If I have no excuse then nobody does. If you cannot afford something then it is not yours to have. If you can afford something but don’t buy it you have absolutely no right to take it.

        Piracy is theft, you didn’t buy your product and I really don’t care what your excuse is their is no valid excuse for stealing a video game/movie or song. None! Heck if your starving to death stealing food is one thing it is essential for life but if you have the hardware to play that stolen DVD, game or song then you are not in any way too poor to pay for your product legitimately.

        If the product is to expensive wait for the price to drop, get it on sale. If you don’t think its worth the 39.99$ sale price then you obviously don’t need to play the game.

  • http://gameredemption.com zain naeem

    @facebook-509070180:disqus  exactly dude, the only problem i have is frikin paying over 50$ as it is and i miss out on a lot of games due to this fact, i mean i’m just a student for cryin out loud

  • Hakker

    I just wait a month and buy games at 25-30 bucks tops.

    The most I’ve paid for current gen is $45 for a brand new game.

  • Px54

    $60US rougly equals £38 in the UK at the moment. Recomended Retail Price of most new games in the UK is £49.99 ($79US), although plenty of retailers do sell them for £39.99.
    $60US is roughly $57.50AU and i’ve seen on an Austrailian website new games costing between $79.99AU & $109.99AU ($83.44US & $114.78US).

    Still think YOU’RE paying too much?

  • ABC

    $70 for single game will mark the end of hardcore gaming…casual games esp on portable devices are already killing the hardcore games ! $70 will ensure the death of hardcore segment

    • Joelcool7

      Nope not going to happen their will always be a market for high quality hardcore software. N64 proved that 120$ games could still sell up to 11 million copies at a time PSOne games went for as little as 29.99$. Heck the most expensive PSOne game I ever saw was 89.99$ and the N64 software continued to sell. In fact Nintendo turned a larger profit on N64 hardware and software then Sony did on PSOne.

      Angry birds with its hundreds of millions of downloads still hasn’t achieved the financial success of a Pokemon game.

      Fact is as demand lowers prices will go higher and product selection will shrink. But the few companies that choose to continue making high quality software will always have a market. Assuming we aren’t talking 200$+ games up front. But look at StarWars:TheOldRepublic or WoW consumers are willing to pay 200+$ easy to play these high quality games and that will not change.

      The only thing is as people buy less high quality games developers will be forced to constantly improve their products. Anything less then an A rated game will kill your studio and that will force unrivaled quality and consumers will pay for that quality if it is possible.

      When the budget car came around did Ferrari disappear? With the 65$ tablet did the iPad go anywhere? With NoName brand did Kraft die?

      People will pay for quality! Maybe less then would pay for shit but the market will always exist of people willing to pay what it takes to get their high end products.

  • http://twitter.com/JosueBHdez Josué B. Hernández

    I can Wait one or Two months when some games are 20$ less… but I buy some games day one.. like Soul calibur V.. I have PS3.. so recently there are a lot to play so i can wait to the price go down while I’m playing others games… I still have a list of 10-15 games that i want to buy/play and have 5-6 games on my shelve waiting to play.. and some other to replay and get its platinum… I can wait price drop while playing.. so not big deal here ^^

  • http://www.farango.fr/carte-r4-ds.html carte r4 ds

    Prices go higher upto $70and I am totally agree with that. As we all are aware of the fact that with the change in the time the choice of the people also change. Increase in the demand of the games obviously lead to increase in the price also and it is not at all shocking. 


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