On The Mysteries Of PC Computer Game Pricing

Thanks to The Adrenaline Vault for its editorial discussing the recent, seemingly strange retail pricing of PC videogames. The author explains that he has "reviewed a series of recent PC titles with an initial retail price of either $19.99 or, at most, $29.99... This is occurring even as console versions of the same games are selling for around $49.99." He concludes: "From a consumer standpoint, this new pricing pattern is heaven. You can buy more hours of quality virtual interactive entertainment for a lower fee than ever before... The one downside is the ability to get titles released more than six months ago, as small profit margins have led to diminishing shelf space in ever-contracting retail stores." But is there indeed a danger that "smaller [PC-developing] companies often can't handle the loss of revenues from lowered prices, so too dramatic a drop might jeopardize their existence"?

Comments

Where can I find these prices?

[Pvt_Waldo]

$40-$50 seems more like what I'm seeing.

yup

[shione]

I too have noticed where games have come out on all platforms simultaneously the pc version is usually the cheapest or equal priced with the GBA game. It kinda negates the argument that console gaming is cheaper. The hardware is cheaper, sure but if you buy a lot of games and they're multi platform, it all adds up (or down) over time.

Thought...

[Anonymous Coward]

Most of the development dollars are spent working on games specific for consoles - the developers have to work within set guidelines and the kit to code/test the games on don't come cheap.

And there seems to be a trend of PC games coming after console versions - KOTR being one example. Since the X-Box is similar to a PC, Bioware would have just to put a few months into the port, make it look prettier and send it to the publisher. Less time is spent, the medium is cheaper and, if the game is hyped, the publishers will make more because most gamers know the PC version will always be better.

Re:The Theory of Everything (to do with games)

[0x0d0a]

So, in my opinion, there's no mystery -- PC games will go down in price quicker because PC games don't sell as well as console games.

That doesn't seem quite right. There are two cases where the publisher is going to reduce the price of their product. The first is when they simply misjudge the demand for their product, and realize that they cannot sell it at their initial price (as happened recently with the N-Gage). The second is when the publisher wants to benefit from price discrimination -- first they sell the game for $50 to all the people that are willing to pay $50 for itimmediately, then for $40 for the people that are willing to pay $40 for it, and so forth. A publisher will reduce their price more quickly if there is a broad spread of users willing to buy a product at different price points.

Simply not selling as well, volume of sales, doesn't directly relate to either of these two things.

Re:Inevitable

[d_jedi]

There's one big area that the PC has an advantage in: Multiplayer gaming. Network connections are pretty much a given for all computers today.. and that enables a whole lot more possibilities. Now, you may argue, consoles can have network connections too! Or multiple players on the same console! 1) The connection (ex. X-Box live) costs the game buyer a significant additional cost.. and hence, it's not likely to be very popular. As well, latency is a big issue. Even if the game buyer has a high speed net connection (again, more $$) and X-Box live (etc.) have high bandwidth servers.. you still can't even approach the response you get on a LAN. 2) Ever try 4 players on the same screen? Anything less than a 30" TV screen, and it's hopeless.. even then, you lose out a lot.. nothing kills the fun more than your opponent looking at your screen and finding where you're hiding. In short, LAN PARTIES KICK ASS. This is the area where consoles have no shot at winning.

Re:Licensing

[Kyouryuu]

But there is also a lot of overhead that goes into a PC game. When you design a console game, at worst you are dealing with three different system architectures. The PS2, Xbox, and GameCube designs are the same in each one of the respective systems. There's no worrying about supporting that strange audio card, or the user having a competent video card.

Perhaps one good thing about Windows is that because it is so ubiquitous, it is sort of a common basis to work from. But PC can never be as consistent as consoles.

Re:Price curves

[DaveCBio]

This only applies if the lower price is in fact closer to the optimum price. That's not a given.

Very odd prices indeed...

[Axem]

HomeWorld 2: $30
Jedi Academy: $60

Anyone see anything wrong with these prices? Well, they are in Canadian so just jack down the price a bit to get an American price. But I would've thought that HW2 would have a higher price because of its popularity (Maybe its just LucasArts though).

Also I find how they bundle games together and then price them is odd. At stores I saw Tropico 2 alone is $30, while the bundle with both Tropico games plus the expansion is only $20...