Capcom, Sega Drop Gamecube Software Prices

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a Nintendojo report discussing the price drop, to $39.99 in the US, for a number of forthcoming Gamecube games. It appears that Nintendo has reduced its royalty rate for all third-party publishers, so not only can publishers like Eidos, Rockstar, and Acclaim choose to put some titles out at $39, Capcom and Sega seem to be releasing all their titles at that price (including Viewtiful Joe, Billy Hatcher, and more.) Seems like good news for gamers.

Comments

Seems like?

[SandSpider]

"Seems like good news for gamers."

What, lower prices? I doubt that. I mean, I think you're going out on a limb there. Gamers, see, they are usually better off if they pay more money. Honestly, you'd think you didn't hear the outpouring of dissent when all the console prices lowered. The game companies, they're trying to ruin us, I tell you!

=Brian

About time

[Anonymous Coward]

It looks like Nintendo finally got a clue that their royalty rates have always been way too high.

Quality

[elid]

Now all Nintendo needs is a steady stream of quality games (not just one hit title every 6 months) to go along with the low prices.

Re:Quality

[PsyQ]

I'd rather have just one really really good title every 6 months, one that can last all those 6 months. The gaming market is filled to the brim with mediocre-to-good titles that you play and forget. I'd rather have all that creativity poured into a really good game that you won't forget that easily than another Mark of Kri or Primal that you forget two weeks after finishing it.

And it takes time to make games. Even with dozens of game developers all working on titles in parallel, it still takes each of them a long while until something playable emerges, and some steps of the way simply can't be sped up. Artwork takes time, proper beta testing takes time, getting someone to do new music tracks in the last minute because the legal department forgot to secure the rights to the last ones you had takes time... Making a game has turned into a mammoth of a project. With the sheer numbers it takes these days, I'm surprised that any developers can release more than one game a year. I hear development usually takes between 2 and 5 years nowadays, and that's work for dozens of people.

Great move for the companies all around

[Babbster]

The biggest area of suffering for the Gamecube has been in the third-party area. All of the Nintendites have already bought a Gamecube for Zelda, Metroid, Mario and the rest but people who are more interested in third-party games have bought a PS2 (most likely) or an Xbox (to a lesser degree, mostly for the perception that third-party games look better on Microsoft's hardware). With the royalty and price drop, this will bring in people who might have at least a little interest in Nintendo first-party games but tend to buy mostly third party.

For Sega, which has been in financial trouble for quite a while (since the 32X?), this could give them a much-needed boost by exposing more people to their games and, maybe more importantly, their characters/franchises (Sonic in particular).

I'm not a die-hard Nintendo fan (or Xbox fan or PS2 fan for that matter) but I certainly hope this, combined with the Gamecube/Gameboy Playter deal (amazing at $150), gives Nintendo the boost they're looking for. If it does, it could portend a similar drop in prices for first Xbox games and finally PS2 games (Sony has the least incentive to drop prices due to their current "mega-dominance").

Kudos to Nintendo for once again leading the way in terms of bringing down prices.

Re:Great move for the companies all around

[swat_r2]

"For Sega.. this could give them a much-needed boost by exposing more people to their games and, maybe more importantly, their characters/franchises" I agree. Hopefully customers won't determine price=quality and think they are paying for a lesser game though. "..mostly for the perception that third-party games look better on Microsoft's hardware" There's absolutely no denying that the Xbox games are much more graphically advanced, thus being a very valid point for people wanting the Xbox (Wanting the best possible graphical, dolby 5.1 experience). It's too bad developers have to dumb down most ports because of *cough* inferior systems, so people don't see a huge difference in the majority of ported titles. In the end, competition is great, and having 3 major players is very very good news for gamers.

Re:Great move for the companies all around

[Babbster]

I used the word "perception" mainly in reference to visual quality. Unfortunately, most multi-console Xbox games are developed first for the PS2 and then ported up. As Itagaki of Team Ninja at Tecmo points out, most ports end up relying on the Xbox graphics subsystem to improve the game (in terms of, for example, hardware anti-aliasing) and don't tweak the game at all to take full advantage of what the Xbox has to offer.

Even more striking is the fact that a few games (most notably the recent Need for Speed 2: Hot Pursuit) can actually SUFFER in the transition because the developers don't optimize their code for Xbox at all. This can result in games that are even worse for the Xbox than the PS2 because of sloppiness.

Overall, though, games are indeed better on Xbox if only because most developers are smart enough to enable Dolby Digital. It's the one area where I think Xbox completely blows away the competition - Pro Logic II and software DTS (in rare PS2 games) are just no competition. Even when games ignore the center channel (which happens too often), the level of sonic immersion is immeasurably better on the Xbox.

Anyway, my point is that multi-console people should find out as much as they can from users, pro reviews, etc. before settling on which version of a multi-console game they will get instead of assuming that the Xbox version will be a lot better...Unless it has Xbox Live compatibility, in which case the choice is absolutely crystal clear. :)

very nice for GC sales

[Filiks]

If Sega releases NFL 2K4 for $50 on xbox and PS2, but only $40 on GC, I'd bet there will be many more sales for the GC. If that makes it worthwhile for publishers to produce games for the GC, they will. As long as the GBA is keeping the books in the black, Nintendo can afford to do this in hopes of selling more consoles. Nintendo makes plenty of money from in-house titles anyway.

Re:very nice for GC sales

[gmhowell]

Bad logic. The people who already have an Xbox or PS2, but don't have a GC will not buy a $100+ machine just to save $10. Unless they are severely retarded. For the handful of people (myself) who don't have a current generation console, it may be an issue.

Re:very nice for GC sales

[Babbster]

Actually, the $10 extra for the Xbox and PS2 versions is probably quite worthwhile for the "real" sports fans since both versions will have online capability. A friend mentioned to me the other day (I haven't bothered hunting down the information myself) that the Xbox version will even have the capability to play franchise mode online which means that you could form full 32-team leagues online which would be a blast.

In short, Sega discounting sports games foe the Gamecube, even without the royalty restructuring, would probably be a smart move in any case because of the lack of online play.

Re:very nice for GC sales

[n_jed]

Sega have already announced that they aren't continuing the sports releases on the cube. Don't blame them either, I bought NBA2K3 for my cube and I don't see what everyone is raving about. It isn't that special.

Re:very nice for GC sales

[xingix]

Features are often left out of GameCube releases because it's the lowest on the console priority.

Re:very nice for GC sales

[Anonymous Coward]

But if you buy a 100+ machine and then buy 11 games at 40 dollars instead of 50, then the machine just paid for itself.

Re:very nice for GC sales

[xingix]

I should have been more clear. If there's a game, say a sports title, that's released on PS2, XBox, and GC, they'll be finished in that order. So it's mostly never true that they'll be the same versions and have the same features, so it's often best to decide on a per-game basis which system to buy it for (if you have the luxury of owning all 3 systems of course).

Re:very nice for GC sales

[Filiks]

I didn't flesh out my argument. With cheaper games, people may buy more of them for the GC. That means companies are more likely to release titles for the GC. If people looking for another console see the GC games are cheaper than another console, that may be the deciding factor. As the installed base grows, word of mouth could further increase sales. If the cheaper prices do nothing but create goodwill between Nintendo and gamers, perhaps things will turn out better in 2005 or 2006 when the next-gen systems arrive.

Re:very nice for GC sales

[Kris_J]

Bad Logic. The original poster didn't say anything about people already owning a console. You know, I bet there's dozens, even hundreds, of people in the world that don't own a current generation games console. *gasp*

Meanwhile, it's nice to see someone tackling the real major issue affecting people's buying decisions -- price of the games. I guess they ran out of other variables to change.

Re:very nice for GC sales

[MaximumBob]

I don't know. I consider myself a real sports fan, but wouldn't play the Xbox or PS2 versions of any sports games simply for online play - I doubt I'm going to find 32 players I trust to actually show up for their games to form a league.

Now if you're talking about players who find formations that the AI-controlled linemen (in a football game) have trouble cracking, and just run deep routes with their wide receivers on every play - yeah, I'm sure you can find 32 of those. And have fun with them.

I own a PS2 and a Gamecube, and if Gamecube games are $10 less than the PS2 versions, I'm a lot more likely to choose them.

Re:very nice for GC sales

[jkeyes]

If Sega releases NFL 2K4 for $50 on xbox and PS2, but only $40 on GC

That would be nice if they were released NFL 2K4 for GC period but they aren't they canceled it a while ago I can't find the story but here's a link to Sega's E3 list which shows that it is not coming out for GC and infact they canceled all sports titles for GC.
http://www.gamespot.com/all/news/news_6025862 .html

Re:very nice for GC sales

[gmhowell]

I won't fault you on that expanded argument:) But the large chain of 'ifs' demonstrates how risky a move this is by Nintendo. My lack of a current console is largely down to the fact that about half the games I'm interested on are GC, half PS2. The fact that I can play PS1 games on a PS2 was what had me looking at them yesterday.

In any event, if it's to be a two horse race, I hope that it's Nintendo vs. Sony.

Re:very nice for GC sales

[SeaEye420]

The only problem with your idea is that Sega already announced that it was dropping the 2k series from Gamecube due to lack of demand.

Re:very nice for GC sales

[Anonymous Coward]

Its true sega dropped their sports line-up. Howerever now that games are cheaper, perhaps this will lead to some growth for the GC. And maybe just maybe Sega will start selling more games on teh GC and re-introduce the sports line-up. Just a thought

Re:very nice for GC sales

[scot4875]

Well, this isn't really a move by Nintendo. All they did was lower their royalties, and that happens regardless of whether 3rd parties choose to lower prices accordingly.

I don't really see it as a "risky" move by anyone, except perhaps Sega. The Sonic games sold really well at the $50 level, and they were all just remakes and ports. Seems like they're potentially eating into their profits for any future Sonic game that's released.

--Jeremy

Re:very nice for GC sales

[zonker]

the saddest part about this is that the ports for the gcn are often of higher quality than those of the ps2 and xbox.

the other sad thing is that games are often written for the lowest common denominator of processing power, being the ps2. to clarify, many games use textures that are of lower quality and resolution and sometimes using fewer polys due to the slower speed of the ps2. when ports are done for the xbox and gcn, their look tends to suffer due to their power not being fully used with the smaller polys and lesser quality textures...

Re:very nice for GC sales

[vaguelyamused]

Yes, but who buys just one game? If I had $10 times every console game I've ever bought, I'd have a pile of money. $10 a game times the 10-20 titles the average gamer might own and it starts adding up. I think this is a move to make the Gamecube a better value than the other consoles. More and more games are coming out on all three and this makes it more difficult to justify the higher prices of the other two. It's also a smart move when Mom and Dad are buying for someone else because of the lower price and Nintendo's kid-friendly appearance (nevermind Eternal Darkness, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, etc.).

Expect MS to start paying serious money to get X-Box exclusives on highly anticipated games as it appears they've already started doing. Exclusive titles are the one thing the lack ('cept Halo, but not for long) and they are the least competitive in price.

Dollars short and days late

[randomizer9]

Nintendo should have made this move a long time ago, they don't have the market share to act like the 800 lb. gorilla anymore. So is there also going to be a drop for 'Player's Choice' titles? (currently $30). Ah well, less money spent on games is always good.

prices only get passed on to the US

[PaganRitual]

(insert standard rant here about game prices in australia being top dollar all the time (the standard price is AUS$100, which is ~US$55), and hardly ever getting games on budget labels for consoles, and the fact that all these cheaper games will still be full price in .au)

Re:prices only get passed on to the US

[n_jed]

Where do you buy your games from. The only game that I have bought for my cube that I have paid full price for was Mortal Kombat. I buy a few games online here (dvdcrave.com) as they are reasonable cheap for all titles and have good specials. Other than that I wait for specials. I got the players choices games a couple of dollars cheaper as well from toys r us.
Shop around a bit (and don't bother going to EB!)

Re:prices only get passed on to the US

[Anonymous Coward]

I never saw anything of the lower prices for some of the games (Sonic Mega Collection for example) here in the Netherlands either.....

Re:prices only get passed on to the US

[Dot.Com.CEO]

Portugal is a disgrace as well. Full price games retail for about 65-70 Euros. I've NEVER bought a console game from over here. Having them shipped from amazon.co.uk is way cheaper...

Re:prices only get passed on to the US

[PaganRitual]

oh wow, dvdcrave.com are awesome ... just quickly flicking thru the prices now ... holy shit ... thank you so much for pointing that place out ... suddenly being a gamer in .au doesnt seem quite so bad anymore :)

Re:prices only get passed on to the US

[Baby_with_a_nailgun]

I buy a few games online here (dvdcrave.com) as they are reasonable cheap for all titles and have good specials. Other than that I wait for specials.

Quite a lot of Brits use DVDCrave too, some of their offers are still good after getting it shipped halfway around the world.

Re:prices only get passed on to the US

[n_jed]

yeah, my last order they shipped it next day at no charge to me. it was over $350 though.

Marketing 101...

[Anonymous Coward]

If you have to compete on price - you've already lost to your competitors.

Not that cheaper games are a bad thing, but it proves that Nintendo's place in the marketplace is not as comfortable as they would otherwise like to be.

Great News!

[notque]

and if anyone owned a Gamecube, this would mean something.

Re:Great News!

[Anonymous Coward]

I own one and I love it. I have more games for PS2, but the few games I have for GC are great. Zelda is incredible, Mario Sunshine is really good, and the monkey ball games, while simple to play, are still addictive. Pikmin is good too. Resident Evil Zero anyone?

About time! (only took 20 years)

[Stonan]

Ever since the Atari 2600 & C64 came into existance I always wondered why they were advertising for the teen & pre-teen market but tagged prices that the target market could not afford.

I can remember getting my 2600 and then my C64 when they first came out and then having to spend about 3-4 days convincing my parents to spend $40+ for a game.

Now in the past few years it's been trying to justify spending $80+ for the same thing - 1 game.

This is what originally started game cracking in the first place. 'If you can't convince Mom and/or Dad to shell out for that cool game just get a copy from Buddy.' This eventually led to 'Why bother trying to convince Mom and/or Dad in the first place? Save your time and breath and just get a copy from Buddy and avoid the whole conflict.'

This might be a stretch but I feel originally game crackers were the Robin Hoods of the early home computing days...