• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

The questionable price disparity between NS and PS4/XOne software

Some good points have been raised in this thread so far. I can understand and accept carts adding to the cost, but more than £5 extra is a stretch.

A digital version of an indie game is usually cheaper on PSN and XBL. Same should apply for the eShop.

L Thammy said:
Hasn't this been the case forever?
Click to expand...

Maybe, but Rime was the most recent talk of the town.
 
Might be an unpopular opinion, but even if we ignore the cartridge costs, I don't have a problem with it. We're talking about vastly different markets, and simple economics, here.

The PS4 has an install base of over 50 million. Xbox One is around 30 million. Switch is what? 2 million right now. That's a much smaller customer base to spread costs across. And there's also much less competition on the Switch, which means that publishers don't have the same pressure to price low for competitive reasons.

It's similar to how a store like Walmart can have razor thin margins and still be profitable on volume, while a neighborhood bodega in a rural area will need to charge more per unit to break even.

Ironically, gamers take advantage of the same principles when they sign to for Best Buy and Amazon's gamer clubs, but you don't hear any of them complaining about how the Mom and Pop shops charge $12 more a game.

If the market won't support the higher price tag for Switch consoles, publishers will have to adjust.

It's business, and I think people take it way too personally, and as way too much of an affront to Switch owners, when the eshop is still for all intents and purposes a boutique storefront relative the competition. As that changes, it will make more sense for publishers to charge less and sell more.
 
It's mostly price-gouging as a result of the Switch being the hot new platform, and the physical games aren't exactly flowing for it right now (at least, compared to the PS4 and the Xbone).
 
OrbitalBeard said:
It's almost certainly because of cart costs. It was a similar situation with previous systems like DS, 3DS, Vita, etc. The difference this time is that, for whatever reason, some publishers aren't willing to eat the costs anymore.
Click to expand...

Here's a reason: because they can get away with it now that there aren't many games out there and people are hungry for games.
 
Everything is selling well so far on Switch -> Might as well bump up the price for even more money -> People are buying anyway so why stop while you can.

Once more games will be available and the competition fiercer, it will stop.
 
It costs 15 pounds extra to make a cart than a Blu-Ray. If you negotiate, it only costs 10 pounds. If you throw in a blowjob, it's 5 pounds, and it costs the same if you make a deal with the devil (that's why EA could do it). Not hard to understand.

It's partially the cost of carts, but mostly the early adopter tax. The bigger publishers will eat the cost.
 
not sure why some are trying hard to say cartridge cost is not the main reason. If it was the same format as PS4 xb1 I.e. Blu-ray Disc, these publishers won't be able to get away by charging more. Whether they eat the cost and release at similar prices down the line doesn't change the fact that Nintendo has given them a reason to charge more.
 
I think Nights of Azure 2 is a case of Amazon lowering the price of one of the versions of the games themselves, since in NA both versions of the game are the same price ($59.99).

But yeah, this trend needs to stop.
 
Surprised so many folks think it stems from greedy publishers.

It really is just media costs more than anything. Producing a Blu-ray disc costs almost nothing but those Switch carts add quite a bit to the price.

A price I'm willing to pay for solid state game media!
 
I think it's probably just because it's a new system, first year library is a bit spotty like most new systems, the stuff that is there is selling well.

Same thing happened with the XB1 and PS4 launches.
 
dark10x said:
Surprised so many folks think it stems from greedy publishers.

It really is just media costs more than anything. Producing a Blu-ray disc costs almost nothing but those Switch carts add quite a bit to the price.

A price I'm willing to pay for solid state game media!
Click to expand...

It adds £15 to Battle Chasers? Come on.
 
Why didnt Vita games cost extra due to using carts? Most cross platform games with PS3 were cheaper on Vita despite using carts.

I aint drinking that koolaid about game carts costing more (not saying they don't cost more, just that its a negligible difference, definitely not a $10 difference)
 
dark10x said:
Surprised so many folks think it stems from greedy publishers.

It really is just media costs more than anything. Producing a Blu-ray disc costs almost nothing but those Switch carts add quite a bit to the price.

A price I'm willing to pay for solid state game media!
Click to expand...

PS3 games were still 59.99 when blu-ray was new technology and costs were sky high
 
Wild speculation here, but if I am porting a game to the Switch, I see the same or more effort to port, a different physical medium, an audience buying a console largely for the console maker's software, a large chunk of that audience owning another platform with a larger install base, and, partly as a result of the ladt two factors, lower sales.

Hell yes, I would make my product more expensive on that platform.
 
I mean pricing is all about profit maximization. We don't have the data publishers do, but the fact that it's not a one-off exception suggests there's market dynamics at play.

Publishers believe a higher price is profit-optimizing so they go with that. Potential reasons off the top of my head? Fewer alternatives (new console with small software catalogue) allow for higher prices, or customer base less likely to buy DLC/season passes demands higher upfront pricing.
 
MikeyB said:
Wild speculation here, but if I am porting a game to the Switch, I see the same or more effort to port, a different physical medium, an audience buying a console largely for the console maker's software, a large chunk of that audience owning another platform with a larger install base, and, partly as a result of the ladt two factors, lower sales.

Hell yes, I would make my product more expensive on that platform.
Click to expand...
In that case you're not looking very well, since plenty of third party games reported good to great performances.
 
foxuzamaki said:
Its to gouge new customers looking for more new content on their new system.
No the cartridges costing more is not worth a whole 10 dollars more, the psv and 3ds both used cartridges and the games costed less, publishers can very easily eat the cost
Click to expand...

Kimishima said they would make Nintendo like profits to their shareholders this year.

It always amuses me with people talking about costs.

Companies always charge what people are prepared to pay, and if there is no profit they wont bother.
 
Mr.Deadshot said:
Or Vita-games ... I don't believe the "cartridge"-argument. Seems like a launch window/less competition thing.
Click to expand...

The "cartridge argument" only exists because developers have said it. That isn't an angle that was fabricated for NeoGAF console wars.

Is it overstated? Who knows.
 
If Vita and 3DS games cost more at retail for the same multi-platform titles, I would believe the materials cost claim. They didn't (it was the opposite, actually), so there's no reason to believe it. I think the meat of the answer is that it's a "congenital" market that accepts the higher prices because they aren't looking to alternative releases. The price difference between disc manufacturing and cartridge manufacturing doesn't account for the gap illustrated in the OP.
 
I really would have loved to play Battle Chasers but I'm staying far away from any THq Nordic games at the moment because of their Switch price hikes. No I'm not paying more than €/£10 more for your games and accept their reasoning of the physical media being expensive.
 
MikeyB said:
Wild speculation here, but if I am porting a game to the Switch, I see the same or more effort to port, a different physical medium, an audience buying a console largely for the console maker's software, a large chunk of that audience owning another platform with a larger install base, and, partly as a result of the ladt two factors, lower sales.

Hell yes, I would make my product more expensive on that platform.
Click to expand...

To... ensure even less sales?
 
Spirited said:
?

So far there has been 0 Switch game sales on the eshop.
Click to expand...

Someone rightfully pointed out Snake Pass, but elsewhere, the My Nintendo discount page for Switch titles (for redeeming "coins" from buying new games) has seemed weirdly delayed.

LxablJD.png


Something like that isn't an engineering challenge when the infrastructure for it is already there. This long after the platform's release, I think it's fair to point out that sort of thing. It's been "coming soon" for a while.
 
It must be because of the cartridges, I don't believe that publishers would just choose to have higher prices because it's a newer platform. The saddest thing is that in most cases I'm inclined to pay the extra price for the Switch version. A lot of it is due to the portability, but I also like using Switch more than PS4 at home because it's faster and you can suspend a game any time.
 
Come on guys, Switch Flash cartridges are not Comparable to the N64 and previous hardwired ROM cartridges.
 
Jon Carter said:
It costs 15 pounds extra to make a cart than a Blu-Ray. If you negotiate, it only costs 10 pounds. If you throw in a blowjob, it's 5 pounds, and it costs the same if you make a deal with the devil (that's why EA could do it). Not hard to understand.

It's partially the cost of carts, but mostly the early adopter tax. The bigger publishers will eat the cost.
Click to expand...

Thank you for breaking the costs down in an easy to understand way. Seems a bit on the expensive side, but I trust Nintendo to always do what's in the best interest of consumers.
 
K.Jack said:
More expensive media, on a platform on which they expect to sell less?
Click to expand...

Sure they will sell less when they cost close to twice as much in some cases.

Some Publishers are able to launch with price parity so I can't get behind the thought that it's only the cost of the media. I also can't get behind the thought it has to do with how much they will sell. Can you imagine a Publisher charging more on Xbox One cause they expect to sell more on PS4?
 
+ Royalty, if I remember correctly Nintendo usually charge more then MS/Sony or arnt as flexible, this info is about 3 yes old though
 
ozfunghi said:
To... ensure even less sales?
Click to expand...

Still baseless speculation, but I don't think that will happen. Since I was given a Switch as a gift I have totally messed up my gaming budget by breaking my own rules:

1. I bought peripherals so I could make Mario Kart worthwhile.

2. I bought Zelda at full price, when I typically don't buy games more than $30.

3. I bought Cave Story for a friend. That game is based on 13 year old freeware for christsakes.

Hypothesis: People will buy what is out there for the Switch regardless of price because there isn't much choice.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

What are the biggest differences between PS1 and PS5 "era of platforms", except graphics?
2
97
193
Bigfroth replied
  • Locked
Meta is raising the price of the Quest 3 and Quest 3S due to memory price rises (they made worse)
News 
3
171
Smiggs replied
marvel maximum collection ps5/xbox sx/ns/pc
2
51
761
Omnipunctual Godot replied
  • Poll
Do you think Nintendo is reducing the price of digital games or increasing the price of physical ones?
2
56
414
VGA-Games replied
Pragmata marketing references questionable meme
News  2
89
645
March Climber replied
Top Bottom