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Analysts predict game price increase for super AAA, Pachter would applaud publishers

I'm lucky if I drop full price 59.99 twice a year, any increase and it will be 0.


/wait for price drops
//used games are great
 
Good ol' Pach.

36002-nicolson.gif
 
Pachter has built an entire career on giving advice to publishers so they can find new, innovative ways to screw over the consumer, so I'm not shocked.
 
Seems like a no-brainer for pubs. Start of a new gen is the only time when they can raise the base price. I expect indie titles to get up to $19.99 as well.
 
Any further increases in retail prices for games would probably be the catalyst to provoke a massive and immediate crash to the industry. Heck as it is right now the industry is bleeding out a bit.
 
I'm pretty sure the most I spent for a console game during all of 2012 was $40 on Dark Souls.
 
$69.99 is too expensive for a single game.

They have to subsidize their costs via different price schemes such as DLC, LE versions, season passes, etc.
 
Well yeah $70 today is almost what $60 was at the start of the generation.

That said I don't see this happening. If anything the buy in price will get lower with post purchase content become more and more integrated into the games themselves.
 
I asked him about this last year (in September, I think) and he told me that he didn't think prices would go up next generation. On the other hand, he saw an opportunity for charging more up front, like charging $70 and packaging the first DLC with it (presumably as a discount).

Remember that that was before a lot of details of the Wii U launch were known. Also, we're a lot closer to knowing what PS4 and Microsoft's systems will be like than we were six months ago.

Not sure the full context here.

EDIT:
"I think that games should be priced based on the value proposition, so some games should be priced higher, but I don't think the publishers have the collective will to charge more. My guess is that $59.99 will be the price point. I would applaud the publishers if they tried to charge $69.99, although gamers would probably get upset," said Wedbush Securities' Michael Pachter.
Click to expand...
Sounds completely consistent with what he said over six months ago (to me).
 
How about you, like, put Pachter's entire quote in there instead of taking a line out of context?

"I think that games should be priced based on the value proposition, so some games should be priced higher, but I don't think the publishers have the collective will to charge more. My guess is that $59.99 will be the price point. I would applaud the publishers if they tried to charge $69.99, although gamers would probably get upset," said Wedbush Securities' Michael Pachter.
Click to expand...

There is nothing unreasonable about his comment.
 
BF3 $60
Premium $60

We're already there. DLC, season passes, and online passes has removed the need for base game price increases.
 
Sephzilla said:
Any further increases in retail prices for games would probably be the catalyst to provoke a massive and immediate crash to the industry. Heck as it is right now the industry is bleeding out a bit.
Click to expand...

Sales are horrible for all but the usual yearly suspects, and the industry's answer is "higher game prices!".

We almost deserve a crash. The greed and cluelessness is wall street-level out of control.
 
jvm said:
I asked him about this last year (in September, I think) and he told me that he didn't think prices would go up. On the other hand, he saw an opportunity for charging more up front, like charging $70 and packaging the first DLC with it (presumably as a discount).

Not sure the full context here.
Click to expand...

He still doesn't think they will go up. He says they should, but probably won't.

"I think that games should be priced based on the value proposition, so some games should be priced higher, but I don't think the publishers have the collective will to charge more. My guess is that $59.99 will be the price point. I would applaud the publishers if they tried to charge $69.99, although gamers would probably get upset," said Wedbush Securities' Michael Pachter.
Click to expand...
 
Criminal Upper said:
Pachter has built an entire career on giving advice to publishers so they can find new, innovative ways to screw over the consumer, so I'm not shocked.
Click to expand...

He is an investor at heart and wants to invest in profitable companies. Sometimes a company needs to charge money for a product to be profitable, sometimes after 10 years or so they even need to increase prices to maintain profit margins. Pachter is generally looking out for investors not consumers.

Having said that, if Pachter predicts it it's probably wrong.
 
Last thing the games industry needs is to make games even more expensive than any other form of entertainment that wants peoples time/eyeballs.
 
Derrick01 said:
Sales are horrible for all but the usual yearly suspects, and the industry's answer is "higher game prices!".

We almost deserve a crash. The greed and cluelessness is wall street-level out of control.
Click to expand...

To a certain extent the industry needs it. Things are getting a little too out of control and there's a general feeling that things need to be weeded out.

To quote Ra's Al Ghul from Batman Begins: "When a forest grows too wild, a purging fire is inevitable and natural."
 
$60 is my absolute limit for day 1 games, especially when you factor in tax. Hell naw at $70. I just realized that i would still buy the next consoles even if they are over $500 but having new games at $70 would stop me from doing a day 1.
 
Games drop in price to $40 so fast for 99% of titles that I have to wonder if a price of $60 is even supported by the market right now and if most games need to come down in price.

Guess a $70 price tag could just soak the dedicated fans more while everyone else waits for a price drop and that might work out I suppose.
 
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