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[Arthr2ShdsJcksn]

Those prices are crashing because that old business model doesn't work anymore.

For my own part, I believe that no video game is worth $60, and have been sticking to not paying such ridiculous prices. Even when a big game with tons of DLC gets re-released as a GOTY edition, I still wait for a price drop. If big companies cannot continue to survive the current state of things, well, then, maybe they need to die off. There is plenty of interesting thing happening at the indie and AA levels.

 

[firelogic]

If God of War was on the Wii U, at 50% off, I'd still have bought Bayonetta at full price over it.

If DriveClub was on the Wii U, at 50% off, I'd still have bought Mario Kart 8 at full price over it.

If Knack or Ratchet and Klank were on the Wii U, at 50% off, I'd still have bought Super Mario World 3D at full price over them.

Giving me a wider choice wouldn't have made my purchasing decisions any harder.

That's kind of not the point. Nintendo consoles live on first party exclusives, not third party games. That means that the choice a Nintendo only owner has is extremely limited. They have a literal handful of first party titles to buy over the entire lifespan of the console. That means they can keep the prices high. A PS4/XB1 owner has a ridiculous number of games to choose from which creates competition among publishers which drives prices down either because their game was ignored or just to differentiate themselves from other similar games.

And yeah, if a Mario 3D and Ratchet and Clank came out on the WiiU at the same time, you'd buy Mario. But what are you going to play after you're done? Ratchet and Clank of course. But since the choice doesn't exist, people will jump on the next first party title en masse. That's the Nintendo business model and it works great for them. A PS4 or XB1 can't survive like that without 3rd parties. At least not with the high-end hardware (relatively speaking) they put out.

 

[EdwardTivrusky]

League of Legends, Overwatch, DotA 2, CS:GO... All of these are massive games that are basically free (not Overwatch ofc).

I bet almost everyone on this forum is spending some significant time on at least one of these games.

I just realised i've played none of these games. I know they are huge but i keep forgetting they exist. lol

 

[Horns]

One thing that confuses me is we're seeing physical games drop a lot faster than digital versions. I would think it should be the other way around assuming profit margins are higher on digital games and it prevents it from being a used title.

 

[InfiniteCombo]

In this thread, people just keep the myth that Nintendo games don't crash in games. In the meantime, I buy their titles at heavy discounts at retail.

I don't think I paid more than $40 for any given Nintendo game during the entirety of the Wii U's lifespan. And my biggest library this gen is the Wii U by far.

 

[Admodieus]

Physical games aren't selling the way they used to. A combination of people preferring digital and numerous problems with big budget games on Day 1 are siphoning physical copy customers away.

At this point, it's a spiral - I know a game will drop in price less than a month after release, so why buy it on Day 1? I just saw Final Fantasy XV hit $35 at Amazon today.

 

[TylerDurden4321]

I really think "games as a service" is the most viable AAA model these days. Even if you aren't MP focused and force this day1-need...

You need a game that isn't story focused, if you have people who are only there for the story come back every few months, you're likely to lose them on the way, but if you have a game that people like to come back to for a quick 30 minute to 1h fix, then new DLC with new fun stuff, mechanics, levels and characters is just the ideal excuse for them to go back to that game they really liked again and spend 10 bucks on the new DLC.
The value needs to be in the DLC because the publishers control the prices for that - unlike with retailer deal offers and the used game market that in return influence the online prices.

 

[georly]

Unless you literally can not wait or it's a nice/limited print item, yeah, wait. I find 80% of AAA stuff drops to half price or less within 6 months. After 6 months that game is usually in its best playable state, too, with all the bugfixes having been rolled out. Season pass content is likely halfway through, at least, too, so you know whether the DLC is worth it or not.

Square, WB, Ubisoft, and EA are all guilty of this. Nintendo and activision are less likely.

 

[formasymphonic]

I want to say that Black Friday's spread across to other territories (and some retailers like amazon doing multiweek sales surrounding the day have contributed to this as well.

Publishers are prepared for price drops as games reach several months into their lifecycle. They aren't prepared to see their $60 games go down to $40 and below within less than a month

I feel like the game has basically been changed for retailing games that are normally packed into the holiday season and we are going to start seeing the effects of that sooner rather than later. Maybe more games shifted out of that time so they don't have to risk drops from the RRO so soon after launches. And changes to things like more micro transactions and DLC (as if there wasn't enough already) as these tend to be unaffected by price drops of the core games.

 

[Cynar]

Oh come the fuck on with that shit.

Nintendo games maintain their price because they keep SELLING through the life of the system they are on. When there aren't 3 Mario karts on 3ds, the first one remains evergreen. Another large reason is that they very rarely overship a game. Sales and drops happen when there is excess stock that the wholesale or retailer wants to move. It's rarely the publisher rebating those, and Nintendo is super conservative when it comes to manufactoring and warehousing.

Look you can be angry all you want but it's true. Nintendo only console owners are practically taken hostage and there really is no need or incentive for Nintendo to drop prices because they don't need to. There's no competition for their owners and people will pay anyway. That's why the user base is partly what it is now. I love my Nintendo consoles but you can't really deny this is the case.

 

[Cornbread78]

What's weird about what he said?

Nintendo isn't competing in price with anyone else on their console except for their own games. They simply have no incentive to drop the price... you skip one $60 game, what are you going to buy? Their other $60 game? 3rd party junk?

Just the way I've always seen it.

Ice cold truth..

 

[Nirolak]

This is the other part of why games are services. If you're making less money up front, it makes way more sense to have a ton of monetization on the back end.

If you're Dishonored 2, it sure sucks way more to have your game selling at $30 than it does if you're Call of Duty or Battlefield.

 

[Algebrah]

Well this was an ice cold reminder that I should stop buying games day one....I will probably get Resident Evil 7 day one.

 

[Deleted member 752119]

Unless you literally can not wait or it's a nice/limited print item, yeah, wait. I find 80% of AAA stuff drops to half price or less within 6 months. After 6 months that game is usually in its best playable state, too, with all the bugfixes having been rolled out. Season pass content is likely halfway through, at least, too, so you know whether the DLC is worth it or not.

Yep. The only real exceptions are online games. If it's not a huge title the community may be gone in 6 months. And even if it's an active one, unless you're great at games you're jumping in late and are a noobie against a community of people who've been playing for months.

Mostly moot for me as I've pretty much quit MP gaming as I just don't enjoy it anymore, so I'm in wait for drops for most games. There are a handful a year I want to play day one as I'm excited, don't want to have it spoiled before I buy etc. I tend to just buy those physical with GCU or Prime discount and sell after beating--unless it's a really long game with long term DLC I know I want to play, then I'll just eat the $60 and get it digitally since resell value will be moot by the time I'm done/all the DLC is out.

 

[The Albatross]

It's a buyers market and the videogame industry uses a fixed pricing model which obviously doesn't make any sense (given that many games go on sale one or two weeks after release for steep discounts).

The industry revenue model has shifted and publishers/developers who can't keep up are going to have to offer steep discounts.

Is it there own doing? Absolutely. You have an industry that seemingly by fiat has declared that every game, regardless of quality, expenses, development team, etc., will be $60 MSRP on release. This is ridiculous. With the exception of independently developed/produced games, virtually every major publishing company releases all of their retail/digital games at $60. Compare it to almost any other consumer industry. Should an Izuzu Roadster cost the same as a Mercedes? A Toyota Corolla be sold for the same as a Toyota Highlander?

The consumer isn't stupid either. Most of us can identify a game that's going to be marked way down in a few weeks. We know that GTA V, The Last of Us, Mario 3D 2014, and several other games are going to hold their prices through the holidays, while Deus Ex, Dishonored, and Rainbox Six are going to be steeply discounted before and after the holidays. Just like the auto consumer isn't stupid. They know that a 2016 Kia or Hyundai crossover is going to be steeply discounted a month before the 2017 models roll out, while a 2016 Audi or Volvo is going to hold its value longer.

Publishers (and by extension, developers) have priced the gaming market under the assumption that the consumer is stupid and can't decide whether Game A is worth the same as Game B. It's bygone practice from a bygone era in videogame production that persists because its an industry that is contradictorily resistant to change.

This is the other part of why games are services. If you're making less money up front, it makes way more sense to have a ton of monetization on the back end.

If you're Dishonored 2, it sure sucks way more to have your game selling at $30 than it does if you're Call of Duty or Battlefield.

Spot on. Same with a game like Madden (in the regard of CoD or BF), which EA eventually gives away for free a few months after release. They have a revenue model that extends into the spring on annual Madden or FIFA releases, and they generate revenue for the game even while giving the game away for nothing.

For a game like Dishonored, or any other big budget game that has no other revenue model, they're bargaining everything on those initial sales. It's a major risk, but it's been an obvious trend in the industry for over a decade... And some developers/publishers are more nimble with their revenue model, while other publishers (and many enthusiast gamers) reject and protest any change to the traditional revenue model.

 

[Deleted member 752119]

It's a buyers market and the videogame industry uses a fixed pricing model which obviously doesn't make any sense (given that many games go on sale one or two weeks after release for steep discounts).

The industry revenue model has shifted and publishers/developers who can't keep up are going to have to offer steep discounts.

To be fair it's more complicated than that. There are other things they do stupidly that hurt their bottom line like focusing on putting out so many big budget games, especially those in the same genres, out for the holidays. Of course sales of Titanfall 2, Battlefield 1 and CoD: Infinite Warfare are going to suffer when they all release in a month or so. Outside of diehards on sites like this, even if people have the money, online games are huge time sinks so the vast majority are going to just pick up one. By the time they're sick of it they'll be on to the latest and greatest new release rather than going back and buying the ones they skipped this fall.

 

[dead souls]

I remain faithful to the rule "never pay more than $20 for a computer game".

I couldn't agree more.

Welp looks like FF15 dropped to $34.99 Amazon today. Might pull the trigger!

Still about $15-20 more than I'm willing to pay for it.

There's a ton of games coming out on PS4 in Q1 that I'm interested but I won't be getting any of them at launch and don't intend to pay much more than $30 for any of them.

Same here. I assume by April/May at the latest most of them will be dirt cheap and I'll have stuff to play in the summer when there are fewer television shows to watch.

 

[Radical Edward]

If God of War was on the Wii U, at 50% off, I'd still have bought Bayonetta at full price over it.

If DriveClub was on the Wii U, at 50% off, I'd still have bought Mario Kart 8 at full price over it.

If Knack or Ratchet and Klank were on the Wii U, at 50% off, I'd still have bought Super Mario World 3D at full price over them.

Giving me a wider choice wouldn't have made my purchasing decisions any harder.

Good job cherrypicking

 

[Cleve]

Well this was an ice cold reminder that I should stop buying games day one....I will probably get Resident Evil 7 day one.

FFXV was that for me. Just wait until it' patched and it'll probably be cheaper anyway.

 

[CosmicQueso]

the videogame industry uses a fixed pricing model.

If you honestly think that right now you haven't been paying attention.

 

[MAX PAYMENT]

What mega titles have had recent price drops?

 

[sp3ctr3]

Call of Duty Inifinite Warfare Legacy Edition is half price just a month after release

 

[Phoenix RISING]

I have zero incentive to purchase games day 1. My multiplayer voice has been Dota 2 since 2011 comma and I only jump on OverWatch because of blizzards obnoxious ad campaign during the NBA playoffs, and a $40 PC price point. Did I also mention that the blizzard brand carry that weight?

The industry is super-saturated, so I can wait to purchase games at the price that I feel they are worth. I am just now playing through Wolfenstein the New Order after purchasing it for just over $10 a year ago. Finished Far Cry 3 a few weeks back but have yet to purchase Far Cry 4 because it hasn't dropped below $15. Who knows when I'll get Far Cry primal.

Purchased the sky room bundle for $10 literally the day before the remaster went live.

I won't go so far as to say that no game is worth $60. I paid 100 for Homeworld Remastered. No regrets. I was also day one on deserts of kharak. I would day one purchase Tenchu for any price. Aragami hand Shadow tactics were acquired as soon as I learned of their existence. I thoroughly enjoyed the ninja blade port.

The industry seems to be locked in Shooters adventure games like Uncharted and the Tomb Raider) RPGs and platform types. I'm not touching greater rebate until I finish underworld! Desaturated John Rose will have to wait their turn, and be purchased at supply and demand prices.

 

[The Albatross]

If you honestly think that right now you haven't been paying attention.

Sorry, like the OP, I was talking about the major publishers and particularly on consoles, which use more of a fixed pricing model today than they did even 20 years ago. The standard price is MSRP $60 for most releases. Smaller publishers, smaller developers, and more experimental titles will release for less, but by and large, most publishers are releasing most games at $60.

Even 20 years ago, in the 1990s, there was more price variability. NBA Jam TE and Mortal Kombat regularly ran $70 - $75, Madden '96 ran $40, and you had a lot of variability in the market of major published games. There hasn't been that amount of variability since the 1990s, as publishers codified around the $50 and then $60 MRSP price tag with the assumption that the consumer is stupid.

*edit*

There is variability in price, but it's not coming from major publishers, it's coming from self-publishing or partnered-publishing. Major publishers would prefer to stick to the pricing-by-fiat model that every game is the same and every game should cost $60. The result of this is that most major games from major publishers release for $60, and then a month later go on sale for $40. There's only a handful of major publishers who have figured out that their revenue model needs different streams.

 

[Phoenix RISING]

Double post, but I want people to remember when there was a store called babbage's before they were purchased Buy Gamestop and EB Games. Back in those days, if you pre-ordered a game you could get a t-shirt for Final Fantasy 7 or Tekken 3 or Tenchu or Metal Gear Solid, etc. Instead of garbage $2 DLC if more companies had promotions like the Sonic the Hedgehog hat that was sold with Sonic Colors I would jump up and purchase those games day one again.

 

[FriedConsole]

Are games worth $60 or more?

I remain faithful to the rule "never pay more than $20 for a computer game".

Man if people have this attitude the market will continue at it's decline. Future console games will all be F2P. The future of games looks so bleak.

 

[CanUKlehead]

What mega titles have had recent price drops?

Battlefield 1, Titanfall 2, Dishonored 2, Forza Horizon 3, FFXV, Infinite Warfare and Watchdogs 2 have all gone sub-£28 in the last few weeks.

Hell, Doom is selling for £14 at Amazon.

 

[The Albatross]

Double post, but I want people to remember when there was a store called babbage's before they were purchased Buy Gamestop and EB Games. Back in those days, if you pre-ordered a game you could get a t-shirt for Final Fantasy 7 or Tekken 3 or Tenchu or Metal Gear Solid, etc. Instead of garbage $2 DLC if more companies had promotions like the Sonic the Hedgehog hat that was sold with Sonic Colors I would jump up and purchase those games day one again.

Yeah, day 1 promotions used to be something. And, I think it's also worth noting that pre-orders used to make more sense because game production wasn't as streamlined as it is today. I remember having to pre-order NCAA Football 2000 because I knew that my local Babbages/Software ETC would only carry about 5-10 units on release. Obviously I'd never long for those days again, but publishers have expected that consumers will still pre-order based on a distribution model that is obsolete (unless you're Nintendo)

 

[RedAssedApe]

Eh. Hardware has stayed on sale longer than usual this year too.

I wouldn't overreact too soon.

 

[gypsygib]

I'm Canadian and new games are 80 here plus 13% tax so I almost never buy on launch anymore. The only game released in the last couple of years worth close to a hundred bucks to me was Witcher 3.

 

[CanUKlehead]

Man if people have this attitude the market will continue at it's decline. Future console games will all be F2P. The future of games looks so bleak.

I just can't affoed new games. 8 years ago, the standard price for a new consolw title here was £42. Now it's over £50. I'd bite, except they sell the things for about half price weeks later.

The business taught me to wait. Not up to me to save the industry. Whether it does help or not, I already not buy used to prop up the developers and publishers, no guilt here.

 

[Nirolak]

What mega titles have had recent price drops?

For games that had major price drops within a month of release this Fall:

Final Fantasy XV: $35
Battlefield 1: $35
Titanfall 2: $35
Dishonored 2: $20
Dead Rising 4: $40
Watch Dogs 2: $40
Paper Mario: Color Splash: $40
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare: $35

If we go slightly over a month, we can add:

Gears of War 4: $30
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided: $20
Forza Horizon: $30
Mafia III: $35

Standard US retail launch price is $60.

It would actually probably be faster to list the games that haven't went on deep discounts within 1-2 months tops.

 

[The Albatross]

What mega titles have had recent price drops?

• Dishonored 2 was $30 retail on Amazon last week, and is $40 today (Release: Nov 10)
• Mafia III is $40 right now on Amazon (Release: Oct 7)
• Titanfall 2 is $40 right now on Amazon (Release: Oct 28)
• Watch Dogs 2 is $40 right now on Amazon (Release: Nov 15)
• Deus Ex MD: $20

As consumers, we can look at this list and say to ourselves "Eh... are these really mega titles" (AAA or whatever we want to call it) and we know "Nah, not really, those games will be on sale in a couple weeks," but publishers release these games for $60 MSRP and then 3 - 5 weeks later, they're on sale for almost 50% off.

I think publishers and developers could spread their releases out. I think they're operating on a release model as if the industry was the same it was in 1996. The average age of videogame consumer has gone up, most of "us" are buying games with our own money. The industry should probably look more like the movie industry, which does major focused releases around the summer and holidays, and then scatters "smaller" titles around the spring and the fall. The industry obviously peaks, retail revenue wise, around the Holidays, but I think a major reason for that is because that's when the major annual releases come out. A game like DIshonored 2 or Titanfall 2 could do much better if they released in February, April, or June, and then refocused the industry around year-long releases. Then, when the holidays roll around, a game like Dishonored 2 would be $20 (having some out 8 months prior) and it could compete on price against a game like Watch Dogs 2 or Mafia III at $60. Consumers who have limited holiday spending might decide that Dishonored 2 at $20 gives them more value than $60 of Mafia III.

I've also felt this way about the WWE games from 2K Sports. They release WWE games in October... Why? Who knows. An October release pits WWE against Madden, Fifa, NHL, and NBA... October is a dead month for wrestling (pro wrestling gets some of its worst ratings in those months, going up against fall sports like Monday Night Football or Sunday basketball). They just dumb the title in the holidays because "that's when annual titles come out and WWE 2K is an annual title..." when waiting until March would give them 3-4 more months to develop the game for at least one release, and it would time it with the most hyped time of the year in wrestling... the run up to Wrestlemania. Wrestling isn't like the NFL or NBA where the seasons begin in September/Oct and they want to capture the hype of new players, teams, and seasons.

The result is that WWE 2K launches for $60, $80, and $110 (for the ridiculous overpriced special editions) and then by Christmas they're $30, and by Wrestlemania, the apex of sports entertainment, the ingame rosters are so ridiculously out of date that the game isn't even relevant anymore.

 

[Arthr2ShdsJcksn]

Man if people have this attitude the market will continue at it's decline. Future console games will all be F2P. The future of games looks so bleak.

Games like Undertale and The Witness, and Stardew Valley are pretty far from bleak IMO.

Even if it goes F2P, some companies are bound to get it right. Let it Die is a pretty good attempt this year.

 

[OrbitalBeard]

For games that had major price drops within a month of release this Fall:

Final Fantasy XV: $35
Battlefield 1: $35
Titanfall 2: $35
Dishonored 2: $20
Dead Rising 4: $40
Watch Dogs 2: $40
Paper Mario: Color Splash: $40
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare: $35

If we go slightly over a month, we can add:

Gears of War 4: $30
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided: $20
Forza Horizon: $30
Mafia III: $35

Standard US retail launch price is $60.

It would actually probably be faster to list the games that haven't went on deep discounts within 1-2 months tops.

Dishonored 2 just kills me. I'm assuming that series is done.

 

[Malio]

I feel sorry for these big corporations that have millions of dollars a year in profit. I'm worried about them.

 

[th4tguy]

I just picked up the new drugs ex for $20 on PS4 at amazon. I'm ok with this from a buyers perspective.

Waiting to find dishonored 2 for $20.

 

[Cynar]

What mega titles have had recent price drops?

Gears of war 4, Titanfall 2 and ffxv to name a few

 

[MAX PAYMENT]

Is this a sign of AAA titles not hitting their marks?

 

[Deleted member 752119]

Is this a sign of AAA titles not hitting their marks?

I think it's just a sign the industry has gotten too big. There are too many big budget releases for people to afford/have time to play so sales suffer at launch and lead to rapid price drops and retailer sales as they try to clear stock they overbought. All made worse by publishers cramming too much into the holiday window instead of spreading them out through the year.

 

[Mr. Poolman]

Man if people have this attitude the market will continue at it's decline. Future console games will all be F2P. The future of games looks so bleak.

What decline?

If anything, I have more options to play than ever before (and yes, never paying more than $20)
Or are you specifically speaking of "AAA" games?

 

[Crayon]

I personally think that publishers don't mind dropping prices early anymore because they know that once they get people on board they can load them with microtransactions/dlc and still ultimately walk away with $60 and then some.

The base game is just the gateway now as far as they are concerned.

GHG got a point here. Think of the base game as a little console you sell content on....

ShooterA drops price under ShooterB? ShooterA gets active accounts out there trickling money in while shooterB sits on shelf.

 

[Imbarkus]

Every technological innovation eventually becomes commoditized, incredibly commonplace and fully developed and feature-packed and yet worth less and less individually. It's the laws of supply and demand, and they don't bend.

I actually wrote about Steam Sales kicking off the devaluation of software back in 2010:

http://www.happygamefamily.com/articles/steam-sales-and-jake-jabbs.html

 

[hookurs]

I just bought a PSVR, the Pro, and a new goddamn HDR TV.

The games can wait until my wallet recovers.

 

[pvpness]

Friggin Nintendo is the only publisher that still routinely gets me for more than $30.00. Bastards. Their games are solid as fuck and the prices hardly ever drop to less than $40 unless you wait until the following generation. Then you might not be able to actually find a copy of whatever game you were trying to wait out anyway. Harumph.

But yeah. Everybody else involved in AAA development/publishing seem to be teetering on the edge all the time, or have gone full blown nasty in their monetization schemes. I'm good with it. I really don't like what the AAA industry has been doing for a number of years now.

 

[New002]

One thing that confuses me is we're seeing physical games drop a lot faster than digital versions. I would think it should be the other way around assuming profit margins are higher on digital games and it prevents it from being a used title.

Retailers competing with themselves + MS/Sony/Nintendo can't piss off their retail partners by being too aggressive with digital pricing. My guess anyways.

 

[DarkConfidant]

They've been training us to wait for years now

Buying Day 1 is just bad for the consumer at this point

You play it before they patch it into an acceptable state and you pay a premium for doing so

Everyone has a backlog these days, so it's almost always better to wait

Yeah, if there's any gaming lesson I learned this year, it's that backlog gaming is waaaaaaay better than playing things when they come out.

I bought a Wii and a 3DS this year, and have great, full, bug-free libraries of games to play now. There just as fun as other games, I don't enjoy them less because they're a bit older, and I don't have to wait on any of it.

Meanwhile, on PS4, every game needs some patch or has some launch problem. Getting through chapter 13 of FFXV was so excruciating because how terrible it is, and folks that wait to play it will have a better experience.

 

[afternoon delight]

Why people make it a habit of buying games day 1 baffle me. All hail the price drops. The sooner and greater percent the better.

Some feel the HYPE FACTOR TWELVE of talking about timely games more than makes up for the extra price but I think they're absolutely batshit nuts and ride discounted GOTYs till I die, I've still got a Final Fantasy Tactics save to get through in the mean time.

It's so easy to save money you should all do it!

 

[Permanently A]

video games aren't worth $60 to me. I'll only pay that much as a premium for the day 1 experience and not getting spoiled

 

[Anteo]

Oh yeah, thank you for the explanation. I've already wondered why games like NG 3 RE and Deus EX HR are 60€ on the e-shop, so I guess, they still sell like crazy.

Developers are free to change prices whenever they want on the eshop.