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Digital retail games are still $60

As annoying as that is, I do really like how MS treats their account system on the Xbox one. With it being one global account and all dlc region free, I can very easily buy games off foreign stores to get cheaper games, instead of paying in £.

It's no real solution to the problem, but it has made it easier for me to get cheaper digital games.
 
LTWheels said:
As annoying as that is, I do really like how MS treats their account system on the Xbox one. With it being one global account and all dlc region free, I can very easily buy games off foreign stores to get cheaper games, instead of paying in £.

It's no real solution to the problem, but it has made it easier for me to get cheaper digital games.
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I thought MS put a stop to that a few months ago? Or was it just a specific region you can no longer buy from?
 
You know my issue is not $60 price point. The biggest issue is we are still not seeing price price drops like we see in the retail outlets. Games normally stay at the launch prices regardless of if they are selling for $20 and $30 in stores. Two games I bought last week on XB1 are now half that price on Steam. Granted it is sale price but even when games are on sale on the XB1 they normally come nowhere close to the sale prices you get on PC. It is fucking infuriating especially with how they wanted to push a all digital future.
 
flaxknuckles said:
Even when games are 100% digital they won't drop the price from $60.
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Yep, people have been saying retail is the real reason for price parity for 10 years but that has always been bull. Digital is convenient but expensive and restrictive.

Retail is our savior. Long live retail.
 
Since ALL games randomly jumped from $60 to $80 in Canada yet I am not making any more money than I was when they were $20 cheaper, I have to bow out of buying new games altogether. Digital costing the same as physical is just rubbing salt in the wound.
 
VeeP said:
I thought the reason they weren't over $60 was so developers could nickel and dime us with DLC.
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Rest assured, when the price hikes come, DLC will remain. DLC is far too profitable to go away; at the same time, price increases will be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Hell, you've got people in this very thread justifying price increases for a variety of reasons (adjusting for inflation, rising development costs, etc.).

The only question is when the price increase comes. Does a big game (Madden, CoD, AssCreed, etc) roll it out as a feeler first, or do we see it across the board in Gen9? Either way, I am increasingly confident that price hikes are inevitable and that DLC will be here to stay along with them.
 
Prices in Germany are ridiculous for new games. I buy games on PSN only if they are on sale big time.

I mean, something like TESO (what I plan to buy) is the perfect digital buy, as I will sink so many hours in it, that it does not really matter if I can sell it at a later date.
But its 70€ in PSN, that's about 75$. Even worse: retail prices currently are at 60€ (Amazon.de) and even cheaper if you get it used.
 
I kind of prefer digital for the convenience factor, but wish that the prices were a bit more competitive. With GCU plus the rate at which most games drop in price at retail, it's almost always cheaper to go physical. I'll only buy digital when there's some extra incentive to do so.
 
On the one hand, fair point.

Games appear to be against inflation. If anything, a triple A title has reduced in price, especially if you count for inflation.

How? And, why?

Well a few costs have been cut at retail:

- Distribution has gotten better and more efficient

- Manuals have been trimmed down and any good stuff is saved for the limited/special editions

- Games are now on disc, much cheaper than cartridges of old

So, in reality, retail games haven't really dropped in price. They have cut extras though. And, of course, DLC has added additional revenue post sale at retail.

So, fair question. Why does a digital game appear to be the same price? It doesn't even have any of those things?

Well...

- Servers/Hosting (Warehouse storeage/Retail space): These games don't exist in thin air. They have to be stored somewhere for someone to download. You may get a few gigs free from the likes of Dropbox, OneDrive and etc. But space is not free. There is a cost. Imagine how big the Steam severs have to be to host all their games? Huge.

- Bandwidth (Delivery/Transport/Petrol) : Fair play to most major online digital gaming services. It is rare, and only really on a major release, do you get issues. You maybe downloading 50gb for one game. How many thousands (even millions) are doing that at the same time? With that game and the other thousands of games at anyone time. That requires some serious bandwidth.

- Maintenance of Service (Retail staff costs/Delivery staff costs etc): These services again need to be amazing. I mean, any glitch, and your system could be down and revenue lost. That requires serous technology experts.

No doubt, digital distribution is better for a business. It isn't free though, there is a cost. Lots of it. It may not be as much as at retail, but look how much retail has lost to cut costs in recent years?

Over simplifying the argument is easy. If we want our gaming industry to thrive we have to be willing to pay.

If a loaf of bread cost $1 10 years ago. Why does it now cost $2? Inflation.

If a triple A title costs $60 10 years ago, how does it beat inflation, and stay at $60? Cost cutting.
 
Canadians are paying up to $80 bucks on some new games.

we used to just pay $60.. now everyone basically holds on till E3 discounts to buy their games.

count your blessings
 
Stupid publishers. Another reason why I did not buy any AAA game except for the Witcher 3.


It is funny how consoles are getting cheaper PHYSICAL games. In before servers and online services costs.
 
Share an account with a relative or close friend. I'm starting to do this with my best friend. Digital games for $30.

EDIT: Plus, digital games here on Chile are $65 on day one.
 
privitsan02 said:
Pretty much why I'm not getting anymore digital games unless they are on crazy sales on PSN. If anything, the only positive is how I'm not charged any tax, however with the current E3 deal, I'm getting classic boxed copies of games for $20 cheaper than on PSN. That's absolutely shameful and publishers should know better.

There's absolutely no positives of going digital minus tax in Canada and even then, why would you pay $79.99 for a digital game with these E3 deals and common digital sales? It's bloody unfair.

Best wishes.
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Does PS4 not offer the ability to game share like Xbox One does? If so find someone you trust to gane share with and split the cost of games. Instantly makes up for the price disparity.
 
Barkley's Justice said:
That's the real consumer diss, right there. On console at least, you're still paying $60 for the digital version of a retail game in 2015 despite:

- No manufacturing costs incurred
- No shipping / distribution costs across land, sea and air
- No trees have been chopped down
- No laborers have been paid
- No gasoline was chugged as you drove to the store to pickup your game

etc etc

Buying digital vs physical truly is an eco-friendly alternative that the console manufacturers could incentivize people to opt for with, say, a $10 price difference. Physical would still be around...But at a premium.

I really see this as Sony, Microsoft & Nintendo pandering to the High Street at the expense of consumers and the environment.
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As someone who greatly prefers physical I honestly think digital should be cheaper and don't mind paying a bit of a premium for physical.

You know if they can sell it for the same price and get away with it they are going to though, let's be real here.
 
While producing a physical game cost more than digital, it still doesn't mean providing a digital infrastructure is free. There are a lot of costs involved with that as well.

But the main reason is probably to not kill or hurt stores.
 
Not To mention your lack of rights for that product on consoles. Why should I be paying full price for something that you can take away with a press of a button? It's why I still won't buy retail games digitally unless they're on sale.
 
At least you not in UK where digital costs more than retail.

SKY EYES said:
Undercut retailers and they cut you out. Extremely simple concept.
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This is why I cannot buy music in stores anymore. Oh wait.

If stores stop stocking games, people will stop going to stores. They won't trade into them either if they cannot put that credit towards another game...since they're not stocking it.

Prices are so high for digital on PSN/Live because too many gamers with more money than sense.
 
Industrialist said:
Well, Microsoft did try to take the high street out of the equation. Look how that went down.
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No they didn't disc were still going to be used for distribution. All that changed is how those licenses were going to work.

Before - Sell you disc, borrow it to a friend,do what ever u want with it.
Their vision - Needed approved resellers in order resale your license(Not available at launch), borrowing wasn't possible because you get up your lincense,
 
You're thinking of a video game as a product, not a service. While as a product there is no cost in producing a digital game and some in producing a physical copy, the majority of the cost in both cases is tapping into the sunk cost of what's on the disk being downloaded. think of it like paying for cable, where you're not paying for the actual channels so much as you are paying for the sunk cost of the cable being laid down in your area. The variable costs of each disk and copy of the game, even with shipping taken into account, are probably just a few dollars in the first place.
 
The funny part about Digital is that Steamworks Games are usually cheaper in Retail in Sweden than buying the game directly from Steam :lol
 
They're £60 in the UK.

SIXTY POUNDS.

Who is stupid enough to pay this? (There'll be someone)

I can't remember the last time I paid more than £35-£40 for a PS4 game.
 
In a perfect world they should but the reason is simple. Retailers are still very powerful and important to console manufacturers since they sell the hardware. There will probably initiatives here and there (like 10% pre-order discounts for PS+ members) but overall I don't expect the situation to change anytime soon.
 
mcrommert said:
Games to keep up with inflation should be 70 to 80 dollars now...they are not

This is why digital games are the same price as physical
Click to expand...

That does not take into account that cartridges were far more expensive than stamping penny discs.

When the PlayStation came out, they were $40 (since it was cheaper to stamp a disc instead of cartridges). Then it went to $50 on the PS2. When the 360 came out it went to $60 for third party and $50 for First Party (due to not having to pay the $10 per game licensing fee) (PS3 did this for a while). But then MSFT changed their tune with the Halo 3 announcement and all games went to $60 (gotta get that extra $10), and everyone followed suit.

It all evens out.

To add we have much sooner discounts on games sometimes down to $30-$40 deals a month after they launch, or sometimes in the same week. So it is still a cheaper time to buy games than the cart days.

As for the original post, when Sony and MSFT announced digital games last gen, Gamestop sent memos out telling them they would not carry their games on shelves if the networks undercut them like Steam did for the PC. At the time Gamestop was the largest game seller and had lots of leverage.

Now that there are other large retailers carrying weight (i.e. Best Buy), things are appearing to get a little better.
 
Akame ga Kill said:
Should digital games be cheaper than physical games? Sure, but 2 copies of a game for $60 makes me not care. That is a huge incentive for alot of folks.
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100% this. Tack on 10% preorder/EA access discount and you are looking at 2 copies of a game for ~54 bucks, on day one no less. Plus living it EBF as I do, it takes less time to download the game than it does to hop in the car and go but it. Physical discs need to die in a fire, sooner rather than later.
 
I remember some dev friends telling me that part of the reason digital console prices are high is because companies don't have the balls to alienate GameStop and other retailers.
 
Future said:
I remember some dev friends telling me that part of the reason digital console prices are high is because companies don't have the balls to alienate GameStop and other retailers.
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This was a fact at one time. Gamestop actually sent memos to them demanding them not to or they would refuse to carry their new games and continue to do trade ins and used games.
 
I only buy digital if on deep discount. Otherwise, why would I abandon my resell option? I only keep a handful of games permanently, the rest I sell to fuel other game purchases.

Me aside, there is no reason digital shouldnt be $10 or so cheaper at launch. It's in their interest too- tons of people would buy digital to save the $10 even though it means they cant sell it to gamestop two weeks after launch and get $25 back (or on ebay for more).
 
Yeah, I think digital should be lower on console. Maybe one day console digital sales will open up to places like Green Man Gaming where PC launch games are usually 23-25% off.

Another thing I would like to see is the ability to detach games from your digital library, and gift them.
 
I try to buy gift cards at a discount and then convert those store gift cards into PSN or Xbox credit to justify buying full priced digital games. I pretty much tell myself I have to match or beat Best Buy's gamers club unlocked price.
 
We're paying $79.99 in Canada for steam games like Assassins Creed and Battlefront 😆😂😭😢😥😪
 
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