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Thoughts on Sony First Party Pricing

Ogbert

Member
Hey everyone.

Now that the system has been out for a few months, just wanted to gauge initial thoughts on PS5 game prices.

I have a reasonable amount of money to waste on video games, but I have to be honest, the £70 is starting to irritate. Perhaps this is exacerbated in Europe, due to the exchange rate.

Even with a title like Ratchet and Clank, an incredible amount of fun and insanely polished, it still feels overpriced.

It is what it is, and I understand the fiscal realities of game development. But I will not ‘try out’ games at that price. I will be far more reluctant to pick up a game unless I’m convinced about its standard and longevity.
 

The_Mike

I cry about SonyGaf from my chair in Redmond, WA
Hey everyone.

Now that the system has been out for a few months, just wanted to gauge initial thoughts on PS5 game prices.

I have a reasonable amount of money to waste on video games, but I have to be honest, the £70 is starting to irritate.
Wait, did you think the next gen tax would go away?
Why?
We already knew it before these consoles got released.
 
Hey everyone.

Now that the system has been out for a few months, just wanted to gauge initial thoughts on PS5 game prices.

I have a reasonable amount of money to waste on video games, but I have to be honest, the £70 is starting to irritate. Perhaps this is exacerbated in Europe, due to the exchange rate.

Even with a title like Ratchet and Clank, an incredible amount of fun and insanely polished, it still feels overpriced.

It is what it is, and I understand the fiscal realities of game development. But I will not ‘try out’ games at that price. I will be far more reluctant to pick up a game unless I’m convinced about its standard and longevity.
A lack of respect, mainly because we are still in crisis due to Covid 19.
 

MOTM

Banned
Hey everyone.

Now that the system has been out for a few months, just wanted to gauge initial thoughts on PS5 game prices.

I have a reasonable amount of money to waste on video games, but I have to be honest, the £70 is starting to irritate. Perhaps this is exacerbated in Europe, due to the exchange rate.

Even with a title like Ratchet and Clank, an incredible amount of fun and insanely polished, it still feels overpriced.

It is what it is, and I understand the fiscal realities of game development. But I will not ‘try out’ games at that price. I will be far more reluctant to pick up a game unless I’m convinced about its standard and longevity.
If I had a PS5 I would buy all my games physical and sell them as soon as I’m finished.
 

xrnzaaas

Member
I will never buy a game for 80€. Don't mind waiting a few months for it to drop to around 60€ or less. Plus it's currently easy to pick up cheaper retail versions of some games because people who bought PS5 bundles are selling them as brand new.
 

SaucyJack

Member
£60 I could have lived with but £70 has certainly stopped me from buying games Day 1.

$60 as a straight conversion is £51 (after adding 20% VAT). First party games last gen were typically £55 on the store and often cheaper physical. £70 is a piss take.

With Ratchet I waited a week and bought it off the classifieds on another forum for £50, Returnal I’m waiting for it to be in a sale. Other games I’ve waited, shopped around or loaded cheap credit through cdkeys or similar. I haven’t paid £70 for anything.
 

Synless

Member
I’m not happy about it, but I usually buy my games on sale anyways unless it’s a must have title. I get it though, costs are higher and inflation is here. How can companies not raise the price?
 

The_Mike

I cry about SonyGaf from my chair in Redmond, WA
They will gouge, and they will die!
People will pay Sony and we all know it
I’m just surprised at how much it is annoying me. I expected to get used to it.
Again...
Why? Why did you expect that?
I don't mind. I'm happy to pay for that kind of quality.
This comment took way too long to arrive.
Do you feel the extra 10 bucks already give you more quality than previous gen?
If so, then come meet me in the middle East. I have some high end quality sand for quality prices you can't find anywhere else.
 
Ryan Gosling Snl GIF by ADWEEK
 

skit_data

Member
The exchange rate in Europe is ridiculous and they should lower it to €70 instead of €80.

I’ve paid 850 SEK (swedish crown) for the next gen games I’ve purchased. Thats close to $100. If it wouldn’t have been for the console shortage I would have swapped my PS5 Digital Edition for a Standard one.

But, this is not only Sonys doing, it applies for all big publishers and their next gen games.
 
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SSfox

Member
I’m not happy about it, but I usually buy my games on sale anyways unless it’s a must have title. I get it though, costs are higher and inflation is here. How can companies not raise the price?
Some super high quality games that also don't have any paid DLC deserve a special price increase, like GOW, RDR2 or Uncharted 4, but those kind of games doesn't represent every single game available in the market, most games don't deserve price increase without naming all just for examples EA, Acti and Ubi games.
 
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Hunnybun

Member
Hey everyone.

Now that the system has been out for a few months, just wanted to gauge initial thoughts on PS5 game prices.

I have a reasonable amount of money to waste on video games, but I have to be honest, the £70 is starting to irritate. Perhaps this is exacerbated in Europe, due to the exchange rate.

Even with a title like Ratchet and Clank, an incredible amount of fun and insanely polished, it still feels overpriced.

It is what it is, and I understand the fiscal realities of game development. But I will not ‘try out’ games at that price. I will be far more reluctant to pick up a game unless I’m convinced about its standard and longevity.

I'm in the UK too, so when I complain about the price hike I'm just reminding people that it's $25+ for us (and the EU), and not $10.

I've simply refused to pay it so far. I've just bought US PSN cards and got games for around £52-53, which is pretty much my limit for a game. Generally last gen I paid more like £25-35 for most games, given how quickly they tended to be reduced. Full price was reserved for the absolute must-haves, like God of War or TLOU 2.

Frankly, I don't think R&C is remotely in that category. It's a really good platform/shooter, but it's basically the same old Ratchet, and still relatively short. I could be wrong but it didn't seem notably longer than the 2016 game to me.

I'm more tempted than ever to just get an Xbox and game pass, tbh. And I'll just use the PS5 for the occasional exclusive. How Sony thinks they can increase their margins at a time of intensely aggressive pricing from their powerful competitor kind of fills me with wonder.
 

JORMBO

Darkness no more
I have the money so it is not a huge deal from that perspective. I didn't think I would mind it at first. Demon Souls I did not mind much because I've played it over 40 hours and it was a great experience. I beat Ratchet in just under 10 hours and I don't really see any reason to go back and play it ever again. I also bought Returnal knowing it would be a bit of a gamble if I liked it or not. I love the shooting, but ended up hating the rougelike stuff. It was my first experience with the genre. I think I clocked around 6 hours into it.

Prior gen you could normally preorder new stuff for $50, so if I wasn't a huge fan of what I bought it wasn't a huge deal. Even if I ended up not liking something a lot I normally got enough hours out of it to mostly justify $50. I realize now after Returnal and R&C that $70 should start knocking some of these games out of impulse buy territory for me. I'll pick up Horizon and GOW for $70 since I know I will love them, but some of the other titles I will wait on.
 
People will pay Sony and we all know it

Again...
Why? Why did you expect that?

This comment took way too long to arrive.
Do you feel the extra 10 bucks already give you more quality than previous gen?
If so, then come meet me in the middle East. I have some high end quality sand for quality prices you can't find anywhere else.
I answered the question with my honest opinion? I don't speak for anyone else 🤷‍♂️ - not trying to convince anyone.

And yeah, I think so far the first months of the PS5 has delivered a far superior experience than the PS4 did the first months when it comes to first-party exclusives. You don't have to agree, it's called opinions 😘
 
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Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
Huge mistake. Will result in me buying less games. After tax, seeing the total nearing $80 is a kick in the nuts. I buy lots of games, and this will make me severely question what I'm purchasing.

Bought Demon's Souls and Miles Morales. Greatly regret purchasing MM. Skipped Returnal and Ratchet.

My opinion on it is just going to continue to sour even more, because I just signed up for Gamepass.
 

hemo memo

Gold Member
I don't think it was. The game launched in PS+ and then they started selling it for 20€. They originally planned on selling it at full price, but the pre-order interest was probably non-existant.
The idea was there. They planned to sell at 70. Still ridiculous.
 

Pantz

Member
I usually end up getting the Deluxe/Ultimate editions of games if I'm getting them day 1 so it's hard to tell if that price even went up or not. Guess it must have. Anyway I try to stock up on PSN bucks when they're on discount, so that helps too.

If you can wait until Black Friday, even the newest Sony games get a nice discount.
 

sircaw

Banned
I don't like paying high prices for games but it's quality and replayability that really matters here.

A game like diablo2 resurrected, which I just preordered for 35 pounds is a godsend to me as i will pump hundreds if not thousands of hours into that game.

I think 70 is just to much in today's environment of covid.
 

ZywyPL

Banned
Yeah, if you don't live in a country where $/€ is the native currency you're screwed. The last time I paid an equivalent of that on a video game was 4 years ago on FM7 ultimate edition, but that game is still the most content packed racing title ever made, plus I got day 1 bonuses and constant flow of new cars, the game served me for years, I still get back to it every once in a while until FM8/GT7 show up, that's an example where I see paying that much is fully justified, but not a SP/MP-only games I'll either finish within just a few days/during a weekend, literally, and that's it, there's nothing more to do with the game, there's no post-launch content, no story expansion, no nothing, or games have so little content (maps/weapons/game modes) I'll be bored with them after a month, if even that. MP games can somewhat defend themselves with post-launch support, OK, but SP titles have to have at least 15-20h story, at least, and the problem with all those initial launch titles is that they're always small in comparison of 2nd wave titles like the upcoming HFW, GT7, GoW, for those kind of games the price feels somewhat right, but not what we're getting currently with just half the content/playtime.
 
Happy to pay more.. wow. Taking the defense to another level I see. Are you sure you are not getting employee discount?
I'm not defending or promoting it, I'm just saying that I'm fine with it. If this is what they're asking me to pay, I think the quality of their games is worth it for me personally. So I'm paying it?

Edit: I mean, of course I'd like to pay less! I find the cheapest version of the game, but it is what it is. I can choose to not play the games but I'm happy to play them and pay for them.
 
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Spidey Fan

Banned
those who were spending 60$ on day1, wont have an issue doing it for 70$. If Nintendo can do their price at 60$, for old titles, then Sony has the right to make their game price at 70$.

Its business, and people will eat whatever they make, without a question.

As for me, I dont care. I am glad Microsoft has the Gamepass thing. This will make spending 70$ useless in the long term. Especially, considering they did 27 day1 games on their E3, and next year, they will do the same at their e3.

I will wait for Nintendo (🦄 wish) and Sony to do the same.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
I buy much less games as a result.

I bought DeS in november. I bought RE VIII (which was a 60 priced game btw) when it launched. In between I grabbed some discounts. But I'm not the biggest RC fan, so I held out for now. Returnal not looking forward to a lot as well, but I do want it once its discounted. I can wait, play some other games instead.
 

ZehDon

Member
It’s a mistake. Sony’s obviously looking to make more money off less sales. That’ll work for a while, but when Microsoft is offering Gamepass, I suspect PlayStation fans will demand their own equivalent.
 

yurinka

Member
Since some years ago I don't buy most games at launch, I wait them to get discounted and some of them even were it at launch at least here in Spain. I buy PS+ and PSN credit with over 20% discount in cd key stores for digital games and dlc.

I'll wait for the GoWR release plus Cyberpunk to be more fixed and with the next gen patch released before I buy a PS5. I have a huge backlog and great games still released on PS4, which had a free PS5 upgrade.

The price increase doesn't affect me, but I understand it and prefer it over filling the games with microtransactions, endless grind, loot boxes and dlcs. The AAA games every generation become more and more expensive to make and they didn't increase the price of the games during decades even if the inflation is there. AAA games were more expensive in the 16 bits age than these $70/80€ and their budget was way smaller.

It’s a mistake. Sony’s obviously looking to make more money off less sales. That’ll work for a while, but when Microsoft is offering Gamepass, I suspect PlayStation fans will demand their own equivalent.
The price increase isn't a Sony thing, it's a next gen thing, other publishers who are releasing next gen games are also implementing it.

Sony game subscriptions seems to be a more profitable business than the MS ones, they mentioned to have plans to improve it but don't need to give away AAA games on launch day there. If on top of that we also include games sold in the comparision, Sony makes a fuck ton of money more than MS and they are in a several years long growing trend, so the Sony strategy is better and more successful than the MS and don't need to fix anything.

It's MS who has to improve, not Sony.
 
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JeloSWE

Member
Since some years ago I don't buy most games at launch, I wait them to get discounted and some of them even were it at launch at least here in Spain. I buy PS+ and PSN credit with over 20% discount in cd key stores for digital games and dlc.

I'll wait for the GoWR release plus Cyberpunk to be more fixed and with the next gen patch released before I buy a PS5.

The price increase doesn't affect me, but I understand it and prefer it over filling the games with microtransactions, endless grind, loot boxes and dlcs. The AAA games every generation become more and more expensive to make and they didn't increase the price of the games during decades even if the inflation is there. AAA games were more expensive in the 16 bits age than these $70/80€ and their budget was way smaller.
At the same time, selling games over digital distribution is dirt cheap, the make a way bigger cut than when they had to share with physical stores. That's why I find the price hike for digital to be insulting when they charge 25% less for physical copies. I'm just well paid and lazy enough to still by them, but I might eventually by fewer games or wait for price drops if this keeps up.
 
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