Sony's PS3 game pricing... o_0

http://www.gamegeeknews.com/ps3_game_price.html

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At the CESA Developers Confrence Hirokazu Hamamura, president of Enterbrain (publisher of Famitsu) talked about the price range of upcoming PS3 software. Much like Xbox and Xbox 360, he sees a significant price increase between PS2 and PS3. Hamamura-san forsees the cheapest PS3 software being at least $70 USD (EUR 57 / YEN 7,800) while the most expensive would be around $79 USD (EUR 65 / YEN 8,800). That will leave Canadian gamers paying $83-$94.

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Originally Posted by gamejunkie

http://www.gamegeeknews.com/ps3_game_price.html

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This was fully inevitable and anyone who didn't think that games would go up by a significant margin for the next round of consoles with their uber specs would be foolish.

The figures bandied around for the specs show that for the games to even look like they are on a very powerful console(never mind having to shoehorn gameplay intoi them as well)is going to take a lot more development time and so prices are going to have to rise to pay for the crews making the games.

We all know anyway that the first round of games are all going to look nice to showcase what the machines will do but the games themselves will be as shallow as hell.

While $70 is being touted in the US,atm that only equates to about £35 which is what we are paying now for our games.But I guess that when the games are finally out over here they will be about the £55 mark.

Unless Sega releases Panzer Dragoon Saga 2 for the PS3, I really don't care, I'm done forking out loot for Sony's shit.

Hey! More justification for my ceasing to buy a nextgen console!

So wait, does this mean that XBox360 games are going to be cheaper than their PS3 counterparts by $10?

I'd say that you should expect prices to drop to the $60 level for multiplatform games otherwise Sony is going to have a hard time.

Looks like were going 'back to the days of... cartridge priceing :angry:

Oh well i'm not sure if i'll go, next gen or not :conf:

I might sit this... one out or wait and see on it.

At this point Revolution here i come.

Meh...a lot of us here pay well over that amount for Neo games.

I think you can blame the increase in the price of games on the fact that games become more and more complex as time goes on. I suppose the "closer to reality" a game tries to look and play, the more work that goes into it. Companies also feel the need to slop on the FMV whenever they can so people feel like they are getting their monies worth. FMV doesn't make a good game, but it can make a good game better if done properly.

My problem with the $70 price tag on games is that it's now no longer an impulse buy for most people. Even $50 was stretching it on an impulse buy. With a $70 price tag, people will obviously buy less games. I mean, I buy 2 games and I'm spending $10 less than I would have on the previous generation for 3 games. Since I don't have the $40 I spent any longer, I can't save that $40 to buy another game.

Game companies are shooting themselves in the foot IMO. If they want to continue to make record sales profit in a year, raising the price of games $20 isn't the way to do it, though perhaps they look at it as "sure, people buy less games but we still make the same amount of money because we hiked our prices like a motherfucker?"

I had an N64 at launch. I had it through it's life cycle. I bought games for it, but I was picky for the most part. If I wanted a new game and there was something on the Saturn or PSX for $50 or less, and an N64 game I wanted for $75-$80, I'd buy the Saturn/PSX game first and go back for the N64 game if I couldn't find any other games I wanted. Didn't prevent me from buying gems such as "War Gods" from time to time, but that's how it goes.

Sony can suck my dick. I thought MS was crazy doing $60 games.

Someone pull out the barbed wire covered baseball bat out of my ass.

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Originally Posted by Neo Ash

Meh...a lot of us here pay well over that amount for Neo games.

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Yes, but it's a collector's market for the most part, and a niche one at that. Neo was always niche and never main stream, even if it did make it into TRU and EB.

$60-$70 are the Joe Consumer market and I can't imagine them taking to lightly to such a ridiculous price hike.

Though people did buy N64 games and they were priced about the same, but notice how the N64 faded into obscurity quickly and never had a huge user base compared to the PSX? Game prices are likely one factor (that and Nintendo's 12 Ft cock up developer's asses).

Eh, fuck Sony. I'll go $60 for a top quality game, but I'm not forking over $70 for mainstream shit. No way. Sony is going to have trouble if this is how they're going to operate.

I'm pretty sure first party X360 games are still $50.

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Originally Posted by VanillaThunder

Hey! More justification for my ceasing to buy a nextgen console!

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They can all go to hell for as far as I am conserned... I done lost ALL interests in every single video game console for different reasons.

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Originally Posted by buttasuperb

I'm pretty sure first party X360 games are still $50.

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You are correct, from what I can tell.

The reason they can do this is because they don't have to pay their own licensing fees. Nintendo was the same way back in the day. A typical 256 MB game cost $70-$80 retail for a 3rd party game. Nintendo would sell the same sized cart for $60. I guess if game companies don't like it, they have to design their own game system.

I bet the huge reason for the price increase for Sony's PS3 games is the fact that they are using Blu-Ray. Those stand-alone blu-ray dvd players and media for it are going to be expensive for a while, let alone a video game system and games. I bet Sony will have probs with load times again too, what is the read speed in the PS3 of blue ray going to be... 2x maybe 4x?

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Originally Posted by Neo Ash

Meh...a lot of us here pay well over that amount for Neo games.

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Fatal Fury Special > Any other game that comes out on next gen.

And so begins the fall of Rome (Sony). I think the lacklaster showing of the PSP was the beginning of the end. I will be almost as sad to see them go as I was my last case of jockitch. :crying:

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Originally Posted by galfordo

And so begins the fall of Rome (Sony). I think the lacklaster showing of the PSP was the beginning of the end. I will be almost as sad to see them go as I was my last case of jockitch. :crying:

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Yeah, I am pretty disapointed with the PSP. I have some fun times with it(Ridge Racers, MLB, Coded Arms), but where is the software? Most of the games suck because of lack of a dual analog nub or just play like crap(MVP Baseball, Tiger Woods, NBA, DarkStalkers, Death Jr). There is no reason to own a PSP, unless you want emu on the go(a nice selling feature, but you cant play any new software w/out upgrading the firmware), I think, to this point, nintendo wins the handheld market, hands down.

Take note:

the beginnings of the Great Video Game crash II.

70 for a game? Heh... just think all of those people buying madden for 70 and getting $.25 on trade in to GS for it. :kekeke:

At least thanks to this, all of these XBX and Ps2 games I've been dying to play will be nice and cheap enough for me to start picking up.

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Originally Posted by Wes

Fatal Fury Special > Any other game that comes out on next gen.

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Unless they put out Fatal Fury Special for xbl on 360. :drool: :emb:

Good thing this isn't official. I'll wait until an announcement. Even though the Xbox 360 game pricing became true. I guess I'll buy one game every two years now. Since this generation I've seemed to buy one game each year.

Would it be wrong to hope Sony fails miserably this time around? :eye:

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Originally Posted by DangerousK

Would it be wrong to hope Sony fails miserably this time around? :eye:

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Nope. You'll be one of the many.

I wonder how big these Blu-Ray games will be... I heard about a Xbox 360 RPG that will have to be on two DVD's yesterday.

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Originally Posted by Neo Ash

Meh...a lot of us here pay well over that amount for Neo games.

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But a Neo cart is physical hardware, and a PS3 game is made of pressed plastic.

Meh, I'm not convinced the higher prices will hold.
I guess we'll find out soon enough anyway when the X360 comes out. If I'm remembering rightly, MS tried to pull the same shit with Xbox games being £5 (about $10) more expensive than their PS2 conterparts. It didnt work. Despite the promise of Live! and better graphics people just wernt willing to pay the extra fiver.
And so Xbox software prices quickly fell in line with the usual £40/$50 model we are used to.

Wether Sony will be able to get away with it just because.....uhh...... they're Sony, is another question, but I somehow doubt it.

Developers are just going to have to work a bit smarter. Use Middleware, use existing game-engines - that sort of thing. Anything to keep costs down.

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Originally Posted by gamejunkie

But a Neo cart is physical hardware, and a PS3 game is made of pressed plastic.

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Exactly. It cost $30 per cart to produce SNES and Genesis games, and probably over $100 for a Neo cart because of all the chips. Thats why carts were expensive. CD's and DVD's don't have to be.

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Originally Posted by ki_atsushi

Exactly. It cost $30 per cart to produce SNES and Genesis games, and probably over $100 for a Neo cart because of all the chips. Thats why carts were expensive. CD's and DVD's don't have to be.

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Except for the fact that it takes many many teams to create a game today. You have the people coding the "physics." People coding the character models. People creating the character art. The size of a team to create an SNK style classic, compared to the size of most games these days, is easily 3x as many for current games. Which just goes to show that more expensive doesn't necesarily equate to a better gaming experience, as I'd rather play LB2 over just about any current gen game (Sakura Taisen games excluded, along with CAVE shooters).

So anyway, all those extra people have to be paid somehow, and raising game prices, regardless of the fact that it costs $3 for the physical media/booklets/whatever, is how it has to be done. Law of economics.

edit- before someone comes in and accuses me of loving game companies for charging higher prices, as they did with the GS thread for the Omega bundle because obviously if you aren't critical of a company in a post you obviously suck their dicks, I'm merely pointing out the facts.

My opinion is that a game doesn't need all those people working on it to be a good game. Zelda for the NES has more play and replay value than most of the gutter swill we get these days.

Blu Ray discs are weird looking. Wicked thin and see through.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...through-lg.jpg
I have nothing to contribute other than that Blu Ray picture. I don't care about these next gen consoles, they make me sleepy.

Now after one buys a PS3, are they going to get screwed and have to buy $100 in periphials to save games, use video cords and controllers like last time?

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Originally Posted by MUSOLINI

looked cool as hel, shit its just like a portable neo and cps2.

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Only certain Neo CD games work well.

I really doubt CPS2 stuff is running well on a PSP.

Perhaps this will help game rentals and services like gamefly. I don't use them, but I imagine that people will use it a lot more when the price of their games rises 60%

I gave up on buying new home consoles after my beloved AES. After this about optical disk games costing $70-80 each... I am so far disinterested, that I will continue to try to convince people I care about to boycott Sony and M$.

Shit, just take the wife and kids to the park for a walk and a picnic instead for crying out loud.

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Originally Posted by slerch666

Except for the fact that it takes many many teams to create a game today. You have the people coding the "physics." People coding the character models. People creating the character art. The size of a team to create an SNK style classic, compared to the size of most games these days, is easily 3x as many for current games. Which just goes to show that more expensive doesn't necesarily equate to a better gaming experience, as I'd rather play LB2 over just about any current gen game (Sakura Taisen games excluded, along with CAVE shooters).

So anyway, all those extra people have to be paid somehow, and raising game prices, regardless of the fact that it costs $3 for the physical media/booklets/whatever, is how it has to be done. Law of economics.

edit- before someone comes in and accuses me of loving game companies for charging higher prices, as they did with the GS thread for the Omega bundle because obviously if you aren't critical of a company in a post you obviously suck their dicks, I'm merely pointing out the facts.

My opinion is that a game doesn't need all those people working on it to be a good game. Zelda for the NES has more play and replay value than most of the gutter swill we get these days.

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Games dont need to cost that much on the retail side.

Creating shit for a game doesnt cost anything but man hours and talent (which does cost money, but not THAT much money). Buying licenses for software, engines, codecs, etc etc to make shit work for cheap is alot of money.

Lets pretend GTA 4 or whatever comes out on PS3. The game IS going to sell over 1 million copies. Thats a given. Selling it at 49 or even 39 dollars covers their costs. Its not like a PS3 game is going to double the cost of producing a game. People are going to be using the same tools to do the same things. 70 per game is fucking ridiculous and isnt needed. I already think 40 is too much considering DVD's cost very little to manufacture.

It's just upping the price for the sake of it because its high technology super computer bullshit marketing. Higher price equals better to alot of people (especially ones shelling out 300+ for a game console, especially ones that shell out 300+ for a SONY console).

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Originally Posted by Nesagwa

Games dont need to cost that much on the retail side.

Creating shit for a game doesnt cost anything but man hours and talent (which does cost money, but not THAT much money). Buying licenses for software, engines, codecs, etc etc to make shit work for cheap is alot of money.

Lets pretend GTA 4 or whatever comes out on PS3. The game IS going to sell over 1 million copies. Thats a given. Selling it at 49 or even 39 dollars covers their costs. Its not like a PS3 game is going to double the cost of producing a game. People are going to be using the same tools to do the same things. 70 per game is fucking ridiculous and isnt needed. I already think 40 is too much considering DVD's cost very little to manufacture.

It's just upping the price for the sake of it because its high technology super computer bullshit marketing. Higher price equals better to alot of people (especially ones shelling out 300+ for a game console, especially ones that shell out 300+ for a SONY console).

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They're not DVD's they're BluRay's and they cost considerably more to manufacture. They'll be losing a tremendous amount of money on each system sold; they have no choice but to get it back through software sales. It's not a matter of "covering costs" it's a matter of making enough profit to sustain their business. They're not just marking it up to make it seem elite and desirable, that's silly.

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Originally Posted by Stinky-Dinkins

They're not DVD's they're BluRay's and they cost considerably more to manufacture. They'll be losing a tremendous amount of money on each system sold; they have no choice but to get it back through software sales. It's not a matter of "covering costs" it's a matter of making enough profit to sustain their business. They're not just marking it up to make it seem elite and desirable, that's silly.

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It is silly. But 70 dollars per game isnt justified no matter how I look at it.

Thats like saying all new DVD movies are going to be 80 dollars each because movies cost so much to make nowadays. Its stupid.

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Originally Posted by Stinky-Dinkins

They're not DVD's they're BluRay's and they cost considerably more to manufacture. They'll be losing a tremendous amount of money on each system sold; they have no choice but to get it back through software sales. It's not a matter of "covering costs" it's a matter of making enough profit to sustain their business. They're not just marking it up to make it seem elite and desirable, that's silly.

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While this is true, it'll only be a matter of time before bluray is bootlegged to high heaven in China and Hong Kong.

Accroding to this http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3143306 that's the estimated price for Japan. In the U.S. they will probably be cheaper just like we pay less than Japanese gamers do. So I'm not worried at all.

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Originally Posted by Nesagwa

It is silly. But 70 dollars per game isnt justified no matter how I look at it.

Thats like saying all new DVD movies are going to be 80 dollars each because movies cost so much to make nowadays. Its stupid.

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I don't mean to justify Sony's pricing (and in this Walmart/Kmart/Target shopper's era, think it's going to backfire on them really badly), but also keep in mind that it costs far more to develop a game on a next-gen system than it did in previous console generations. That already increases the fixed cost significantly, and there's no guarantee that they're going to push significantly more units than before. When it comes to business, Sony isn't stupid. I'm sure this potential $60-70/game has been giving a lot of people in their marketing division sleepless nights.

That said, I'm really skeptical that games will cost this much in the States. Even $5 will change the mind of an average consumer.

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Originally Posted by Nesagwa

Thats like saying all new DVD movies are going to be 80 dollars each because movies cost so much to make nowadays. Its stupid.

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It's not the same at all. MGM for example release DVD's and another company releases DVD players. Both companies will turn a profit.

The amount of money Sony will be sinking into their system's hardware will amount to trememdous losses on hardware sales, they have no choice but to mark up software to compensate. They'll be dealing with both the player and the disc.

The reality is development costs are largely overstated and exaggerated when it comes to making a game. Although there are exceptions to the norm, the average game cost today is not gonna significantly increase because of new hardware. Granted, there will be some increase to get familiar with the new hardware and initial round of games, but with development time under a company's belt, the costs are not gonna be that much different then now. Most game companies are gonna say it costs more when they have the opportunity to make $10 more a game. Think about it. :shame: :shame:

Nes, it's called "recovering your investment".

You see, new technology requires an investment of money and time which in the business world are equivalent. Now, while the new technology is being developed it isn't making any money (profit). So, to offset all those dollars (yen) spent to create the new technology, manufacturers charge more money up front initially to help offset those costs.

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Originally Posted by Stinky-Dinkins

It's not the same at all. MGM for example release DVD's and another company will release DVD players. Both companies will turn a profit.

The amount of money Sony will be sinking into their system's hardware will amount to trememdous losses on hardware sales, they have no choice but to mark up software to compensate.

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Bumping up the software prices to cover the losses they take on their hardware. Meh.

They are just going to end up making games inaccesable to just about everyone.

Any other audio or visual art form is pretty easy to access for a reasonable ammount of money. Games are just getting shoved more and more in the direction of some high tech novelty that nobody but the rich will be able to afford.

Just gets on my nerves.

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Originally Posted by Stinky-Dinkins

It's not the same at all. MGM for example release DVD's and another company releases DVD players. Both companies will turn a profit.

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Not to mention ticket sales, merchandising, and everything else. That, and economies of scale have kicked in for DVD players long ago. The moment the PS3 is released, there's going to be people here screaming about what a shoddy, defective piece of hardware it is.

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Originally Posted by Nesagwa

Games are just getting shoved more and more in the direction of some high tech novelty that nobody but the rich will be able to afford.

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What are you talking about? Gaming hardware and software are the cheapest they've ever been.

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Originally Posted by Nesagwa

Bumping up the software prices to cover the losses they take on their hardware. Meh.

They are just going to end up making games inaccesable to just about everyone.

Any other audio or visual art form is pretty easy to access for a reasonable ammount of money. Games are just getting shoved more and more in the direction of some high tech novelty that nobody but the rich will be able to afford.

Just gets on my nerves.

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Think about what you typed and the site you posted that on.

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Originally Posted by Nesagwa

Games are just getting shoved more and more in the direction of some high tech novelty that nobody but the rich will be able to afford.

Just gets on my nerves.

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I think future sales of next gen equipment will prove you wrong.

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Originally Posted by Mark of the Wolves

I wonder how big these Blu-Ray games will be... I heard about a Xbox 360 RPG that will have to be on two DVD's yesterday.

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25GB for single layer discs, and multi-layer discs will store up to 200GB.

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Originally Posted by Stinky-Dinkins

I think future sales of next gen equipment will prove you wrong.

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Oh Im sure they will sell millions just like every other gen before.

Its always the same people buying the shit, but that doesnt really make a difference to anyone I guess.

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Originally Posted by Magnaflux

Think about what you typed and the site you posted that on.

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Nes is kinda right on this one. The Neo Geo didn't succeed comercially because of the prices they charged with kinda proves Nes's point further. Game prices will end up being out of reach to the average consumer. I find it funny that Microsoft releases a statement about how True gmers wanted to systems released for the Xbox360 and yet anyone here that is what I would consider a gamer is saying that is crap. Personally, if the pricing for games and future systems comes true, I amy end up sitting this next gen out.

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Originally Posted by Mushiki

25GB for single layer discs, and multi-layer discs will store up to 200GB.

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There isn't a single company out there that will ever take advantage of that much space. Not for many years to come.

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Originally Posted by Highlander67

There isn't a single company out there that will ever take advantage of that much space. Not for many years to come.

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It depends. They could make it ridiculously heavy on the pre rendered cutscenes (so much so that a DVD or two wouldn't fit the bill at least.) The Japanese seem to dig that sort of thing.

I'm always looking to skip that shit though. When I play a game I don't want to watch a movie.