Support NeoGAF

[PhatSaqs]

Next Gen am here

http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/groups/E3_2005/xbox360.asp

 

[radioheadrule83]

Please let this cost publishing folk their jobs if it sticks.... PLEASE.

Like games aren't expensive and hit-driven enough...

 

[Johnas]

Do you think that's just a preliminary placeholder price?

I haven't read anywhere else anything concrete about game prices or console prices.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

WHAT THE FUCK

Price drop get

 

[Doom_Bringer]

Wow that's 70 Canadian clams, doom bringer am crying

 

[Dr_Cogent]

Wow that's 70 Canadian clams, doom bringer am crying

Yeah, I think all GAF am crying - unless some GAF members are rich.

 

[Spectral Glider]

No, there hasn't been anything concrete or official. But, if this is true, I hope Sony doesn't to try to push it higher just for being the market leader. Really, in the face of higher prices, BC will become an even greater importance...but at the expense of new title sales. Somebody has got to figure out a cheaper model for publishing and distribution.

 

[Pedigree Chum]

Wow that's 70 Canadian clams, doom bringer am crying

You know what that means! CAG total for Pedigree next-gen.

 

[Tenacious-V]

Well.....all the more reason for me to buy the systems at their price drops and get games when they're players choice. No spending god aweful amounts of money on 1 game for me.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

No, there hasn't been anything concrete or official. But, if this is true, I hope Sony doesn't to try to push it higher just for being the market leader. Really, in the face of higher prices, BC will become an even greater importance...but at the expense of new title sales. Somebody has got to figure out a cheaper model for publishing and distribution.

Basically, we need to eliminate publishers altogether. They are ruining this industry. How that could be done though, with the rising cost of development, I have no idea.

Ask any dev, they will talk your ear off I am sure about how publishers fucking suck.

 

[VictimOfGrief]

I'm fucking boycotting EB now god dammit.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

I'm fucking boycotting EB now god dammit.

EB? What? Do you actually think they will price their stuff out of line with how everyone else is?

Whatever EB sells it at is going to be in line with pretty much everyone else.

 

[VictimOfGrief]

EB? What? Do you actually think they will price their stuff out of line with how everyone else is?

Whatever EB sells it at is going to be in line with pretty much everyone else.

 

[Spike]

It stuff like this that makes me happy I'm a cheap ass gamer. No system purchases until the "hits" lineup comes out.

 

[Megat0n]

The ship date and retail price have not been confirmed and therefore are subject to change. If the retail price is decreased you will receive the lower price.

 

[Sean]

All of the games say this under them:

The ship date and retail price have not been confirmed and therefore are subject to change. If the retail price is decreased you will receive the lower price.

 

[sonicfan]

I've been reading alot of research reports put out on the big publishers lately, and they all hint that prices will be going up. I'm sure this is what the execs are telling Wall Street. Here is a bit from a report from Morgan Stanley on EA that just came out on Friday.

[Long-term retail price stagnation or price erosion

Downward pressure is typically felt as the console ages and
becomes more mainstream. The company stated on a recent
call that $49.99 pricing will be increasingly difficult to
achieve in C2005, and that the company is prepared to
adjust prices as the market dictates. Even though ASPs
have declined among the major consoles (see Exhibit 16),
much of the price erosion corresponds to the hardware cycle
(see Exhibits 17-18). EA behaves in a similar way as the
industry but typically achieves a premium ASP with a
greater number of titles each year being higher-priced
sequels rather than other catalog titles (see Exhibits 19-21),
a trend that we think will continue into the next gen systems.
Heightened competition both reflects and drives the typical
late-cycle pricing woes. The aforementioned price battle
between Take-Two and EA, the demographic
considerations made by EA when pricing titles such as
Harry Potter at $40 as opposed to $50 and the tendency to
introduce a cheaper “bestsellers” series can be viewed as a
macro indication that consumers may be less willing to
spend $50 for this kind of content in a mainstream market.
We do note that Xbox and GameCube titles were priced
more cheaply earlier in the cycle in order to compete with
better priced PlayStation 2 titles, and this can skew certain
comparisons.

While it is possible that developers may lower prices to $40
as opposed to $50, we believe that $50 has been a magic
price point for the last 20 years. In fact, we think price
increases are on the horizon for the next generation. First,
with gaming pricing being so consistent, compared to the
rising costs of other forms of media, there could be some
pricing increase, as long as content remains compelling.
Second, the quicker adoption of consoles combined with
increasing tie ratios and somewhat steady pricing suggests
that a more mainstream market accepts the current pricing
structure. Third, the relative consistency of EA’s “AAA”
pricing as well as the existence of premium titles in the
market such as Madden NFL (until this year) and
Microsoft’s Halo 2 also suggests pricing strength for highquality
content.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

The ship date and retail price have not been confirmed and therefore are subject to change. If the retail price is decreased you will receive the lower price.

While that may be true, I still find it disconcerting that the default price is $59.99

That's a bad sign.

 

[SickBoy]

If the prices across the board are $59.99, I'll wait for a console price drop and a "stripe of shame" selection of games before I buy any next-gen systems.

 

[Yossarian]

I wouldn't be too worried yet. It is easier for EB to mark down prices once orders are in than to mark up prices and deal with the anger coming from people who've already preordered. They need to play it safe before the prices are actually announced.

 

[Drinky Crow]

How did you whiners survive in the SNES/Genesis era? Man, I remember forking over $90 for PS4 as a broke-ass college kid, and I didn't whine. Hell, I paid $70 for Saturn first-party titles like Legend of Oasis -- OUCH. $60 is doable, and for the titles I'm uncertain about: trade-in time!

 

[Catchpenny]

A shit-ton of great releases still left for PS2, excellent titles coming to DS/PSP and even GBA, Zelda and Fire Emblem for Gamecube...and games priced at $60 or more for next-gen systems. Yeah, I think I can wait a while.

 

[DarienA]

How did you whiners survive in the SNES/Genesis era? Man, I remember forking over $90 for PS4 as a broke-ass college kid, and I didn't whine. Hell, I paid $70 for Saturn first-party titles like Legend of Oasis -- OUCH. $60 is doable, and for the titles I'm uncertain about: trade-in time!

Doug continues to show why he's my hero.

Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, Gamefly, etc should be REAL happy about the rising purchase costs next gen....

 

[Tarazet]

I may finally be driven to piracy if I can't find must-haves on Ebay for less than $50. Or I could reactivate my BB Gamepass.

 

[Boogie]

Welcome to the ONE CONSOLE FUTURE.

 

[LakeEarth]

Doesn't matter to me though. I can't remember the last game I paid $50 for. Wait... Donkey Konga, but that was with the Bongos :lol

 

[Catchpenny]

How did you whiners survive in the SNES/Genesis era?

By not buying nearly as many games as I do now. I'll buy a few big titles for $60 and wait for everything else to drop in price. A lot of people will do the same.

Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, Gamefly, etc should be REAL happy about the rising purchase costs next gen....

You think their rates won't go up as well? They've been going up even as the price of games have been going down. Enjoy renting games for $8-10, or paying Gamefly $30 a month.

 

[Shig]

Videogame industry... so dumb... can't take it...

 

[Warm Machine]

Still cheaper than the Genesis days. I paid $130 cdn inc taxes each for both Strider and Sword of Vermillion.

 

[Amused_To_Death]

I knew it was coming...

All we need is a maverick publisher to sell XB360 and PS3 games for regular price and the rest will follow. Look what happened to EA Sports titles when Take2 dropped their prices...Maybe Microsoft will have something to say about this? Or Take2 again? Someone will step up and bat for the gamer community.

 

[Tarazet]

Doesn't matter to me though. I can't remember the last game I paid $50 for. Wait... Donkey Konga, but that was with the Bongos :lol

I paid $50 each for GT4, Forza, and Paper Mario, and $40 for a number of PSP launch titles. I was satisfied with all of the above at those prices. Hell, 10+ years ago I was satisfied with Virtua Racing on the Genesis at $100.

But every game being $60... that's not right.

 

[GSG Flash]

looks like i'll be renting more games and buying more players choice titles than ever before

 

[flsh]

Drinky, after this gen 60$ IS a lot. I get most of my games for 40-20, not 50 :\
Well, actually more, because I have to get everything from play-asia or vgp and they are more expensive. Then there's also shipping. so 60$ is what YOU will pay for a new game, I'll pay 65+$
Well, maybe all these games sell badly and the starting price point is 50$ again I hope at least.

 

[heavy liquid]

Paying more for Genesis and Saturn games back in the day doesn't justify prices being raised. I'm sure duplication costs are much lower now. Isn't that kind of like saying DVD's should be more expensive because Laserdiscs used to cost more?

 

[Dice]

Now what was Nintendo saying in their conference again, making a development environment where creativity is more valuable than big budgets? hmmmm...

 

[Spectral Glider]

How did you whiners survive in the SNES/Genesis era? Man, I remember forking over $90 for PS4 as a broke-ass college kid, and I didn't whine. Hell, I paid $70 for Saturn first-party titles like Legend of Oasis -- OUCH. $60 is doable, and for the titles I'm uncertain about: trade-in time!

Well, considering I got a Genny just as I was ending high school, I never purchased games as often as I did for later generations. I remember my mother sunk the $70 for Streets of Rage 2 for christmas that year, not me. Rented a ton of games then as well as there was a local mom and pop shop here renting games for two days for a buck. When I bought a bundle of games was when everyone feared a second crash and the prices came tumbling down. I remember KB was unloading older games for $10. I bought stuff I had missed like Lightening Force, Alien Storm, etc. And the same happened with Sega CD games. Plus, used to purchase used games at blockbuster too. That's when I was able to actually amount a library. And when the PSX arrived, I traded or sold it all to have the cash to buy one of those.

When new PS1 games were selling for $34.99 was when I actually started buying games on release dates. Of course, it helped that I had actual paychecks coming in then, but even that time was helped with the increase of trade in policies. Those I took even more advantage of this gen. Looks like that and the used game bin will be even more attractive next gen.

 

[C- Warrior]

Actually, given inflation this is expected, and really is nothing we should go out and make a major bitch case about.

Everything else has been increasing in price.

Cars, food, clothing, electricity, gas....

I'm surprised gaming held out this long.

If they can do a better job combating piracy this generation (which to some degree I'm sure they will) then I think the price will drop back to 49.99 once the publishers realize that they can get a better turnout with that price.

 

[radrelic]

ahh how nice...


I haven't seen that "$59.99" since the N64 days!

Welcome back $59.99!

 

[VALIS]

Actually, given inflation this is expected, and really is nothing we should go out and make a major bitch case about.

Everything else has been increasing in price.

Cars, food, clothing, electricity, gas....

I'm surprised gaming held out this long.

Dude has a point. Games cost the same or more 20 years ago. We've been fortunate more than anything.

Which doesn't mean I'm ready to just hand 'em my Visa and say "go nuts," either. Competition is such that we'll still see publishers try to undercut each other with better prices, and I'll definitely be more inclined to support those games than Big Franchise Sequel at $60.

 

[Spectral Glider]

Actually, given inflation this is expected, and really is nothing we should go out and make a major bitch case about.

Everything else has been increasing in price.

Cars, food, clothing, electricity, gas....

I'm surprised gaming held out this long.

If they can do a better job combating piracy this generation (which to some degree I'm sure they will) then I think the price will drop back to 49.99 once the publishers realize that they can get a better turnout with that price.

I dunno, I'll give ya cars and gas, houses definitely, and maybe game rentals but for me everything else has been kind of the same or better. I can still find great clothes sales, coupons and specials still help in the supermarket. Other household items can fetch good deals either on the web or through the constant battles of the likes of Target and Wal-Mart. The 27 inch TV I paid $320 for several years ago I can now get for $150-200, with better and more video connections. The DVD player I sunk $210 on, I can now get a smaller, more heavily featured one for under $100. A printer like the one I bought 5 years ago for three bills can now be had for about $79.99, and it'll print faster too. That new CD I used pay $14 and up for I can grab the first week of release for $9.99. Same goes for DVD movie releases......back when Predator came out I dropped $25 on it. But the Incredibles only cost me $14. And I haven't even mentioned how I spent $2500 on my first PC, only to dwarf it spec and feature wise in 4 years at $900.

 

[MattCoz]

These aren't official prices, remember how DS games were listed at $49.99?

 

[Pellham]

What's with the complaining? You're only paying $10 more. And if anything, this will make for fewer sales of crappy games, which will translate into fewer games, but of higher quality.

I hope.

 

[piccolosan]

I got spoiled by all the cheap games, but if the next gen games bomb, then that means they'll be available for $20 sooner or later since they will be cluttering up precious inventory space in retailers' warehouses.