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Why is everyone saying games will be $60-$70 for next-gen systems?

Has there been any proof yet? It seems games have ALWAYS been $50 for every system, even back int he Nintendo days. (yes, there have been a few exceptions)

I feel that if games start going to $60-70....then trouble is ahead.

I mean, PC games are usually cheaper than console games, and the next-gen systems are turning into PC's basically.

this has been discussed before...I think they'll keep the status quo. the money's in the software...and if game makers made more that hollywood - I dont' see that they're hurtin'.

It is just a guess, with every new consloe, the price goes up. So why would it be any different, and it's not like they will go down.

Originally Posted by ECW_fan It is just a guess, with every new consloe, the price goes up. So why would it be any different, and it's not like they will go down.

No, game prices RARELY go up....the cost of the system goes up, but not game prices. Nintendo games were $50, Genesis = $50, XBOX = $50, PS2 = $50 (now, there are a few exceptions....but most are collector editions that cost more)

Well since people are paying $50 for HANDHELD games (PSP) I don't see why they won't charge $60 for the first few XBox titles, especially the big ones like Perfect Dark, PGR3 and Halo 2.5, Halo 3 or whatever. People don't realize it, but those supporting the PSP and It's highly priced handheld titles are basically giving the greenlight for companies to charge higher on the console versions.

And people are already spending over $50 for certain games with the collectors items. I spent $55 on Splinter Cell CT and $60 on Doom 3. Granted those are games with extras, but at XBox 2 launch there won't be a ton of games to choose from, so I'm sure they'll over charge.

If they think people will pay more than $50... which many probably will... they're raise the prices.

Anyway, I remember that in the Genesis days... games used to be more than $50 quite a bit.

Yeah, I guess time will tell. I just kept reading posts on boards that games would be $60-$70, and I was wondering if somebody knew something I didn't.

Time will tell.....

I believe Activision already stated they would be making more of their next gen titles $60. Whether this means collectors editions for everything or not, who knows? Time will tell indeed.

Just wait a little while and all the prices drop. As far back as the NES games would come out with a MSRP and over time the price would fall through the floor.

Originally Posted by Monsta Mack I believe Activision already stated they would be making more of their next gen titles $60. Whether this means collectors editions for everything or not, who knows? Time will tell indeed.

hence why i hate activision to the highest levels of hate, higher than DDF could ever proclaim

I remember seeing a flyer with game prices for older games years ago. I can't remember the systems (I believe it was snes or genesis) but the prices were 69.99 and 79.99 for like 20+ games. I remember it was a Funcoland (now gamestop) flyer. I also remember my Toys R US, Target, and Wal Mart use to sell some n64 games for 69.99. I only bought a handful of n64 games cuz prices were so damn high and because I could beat most of them in one rental.

The primary indicator is that many executives of major publishers have indicated this will happen. They are in the best postion to know where their costs are headed and what sales volumes they anticipate being able to spread those costs across.

If anything, PC games don't offer much hope in this area. Several highly anticipated PC titles have launched at greater than $50 in the last year. Add to this that PC games don't require their publishers to pay royalties to the platform owner and you have a lot of evidence some publishers are likely to target a higher price point.

A new business model might be needed to keep game prices within reason. With mre and more places rolling out higher broadband speeds it may become feasible for games to premiere as on the fly downloads that are rented by the hour. This would be closer to the theatrical model where a newly released film is essentially purchased by the viewing. Two hours later, all you have to show for your money is memories and a save game file. After the game reaches a certain age it might see a release on disc where it is much less costly to own it outright for as much use as the consumer cares to apply.

This could also pave the way for more episodic formats where you might pay a few dollars for an experience that is completed in just a few hours but has direct continuity to the next episode. After a sufficent number of episodes are released they can be sold as a set on disc.

This raises some other issues. THe next big company to get into the console business with their own platform may not be an established name in consumer electronics or software but rather someone with a large existing base of consumers connected to their high speed pipes. Cable MSOs are already getting into the DVR rental business and finding that a perfect way to make lucrative Pay Per View titles more competitive with Blockbuster stores and Netflix mail order. Paying a few dollars a month to have your cable box also be a powerful game system with no optical drive could be effective once the typical broadband package is 10 Mbps or greater. If HD video on demand is doable then so is games on demand.

Anyone using Comcast may have already explored their On Demand service that offers a lot of free content as an enticement to the stuff that carries an added cost. This model should work as well for games. Actually better when you consider that most games don't need a continuous data stream as a movie does.

Originally Posted by ksuwild25 I remember seeing a flyer with game prices for older games years ago. I can't remember the systems (I believe it was snes or genesis) but the prices were 69.99 and 79.99 for like 20+ games. I remember it was a Funcoland (now gamestop) flyer. I also remember my Toys R US, Target, and Wal Mart use to sell some n64 games for 69.99. I only bought a handful of n64 games cuz prices were so damn high and because I could beat most of them in one rental.

That was due tot he high cost of ROM cartridges. Nowadays the media is dirt cheap and development costs are the primary driving cost item. The upside of this is that those are one-time only costs. Once a game has been created for a given platform you don't have to keep paying for it to stay that way. By comparison, it took long stretches of time for cartridge costing $20 to manufacture to drop by any major amount in cost.

This is why you so rarely saw the equivalent of Greatest Hits in cartridge games. Even after the game's development cost has been paid off and the title is in profits it doesn't change the near term cost of making those carts.

I see that game prices will go up anywhere from 10 to 20 per next gen system as they will increase cost weather due to inflation increase costs or just money hungry business.

The main reason I've heard for game prices going up is the increased development costs. I could live with paying $60 for top-tier games (I did it on N64 and SNES) but no more than that, and I certainly wouldn't pay $60 for a slightly above average title.

Alot of SNES/Genesis games were >$50. Weren't all of the RPGs around $80 or so?

N64 games were also that high. I remember Star Wars originally retailing for $100 (for some reason or another).

I think that Activision will quickly drop the price of next gen titles once Tony Hawk 5 sells a few thousand copies at $6o each. I'm definately not paying over 50 dollars for a game unless it is top tier and has extras. I'm willing to bet that Nintendo will keep the $50 price tag and if they start to regain dominance Sony and M$ will follow suit.

A lot could hinge on how well Microsoft delivers on the development tools. They have plenty of inhouse experience with multi-threaded apps and wil have to do what they can to get developers up to speed who aren't acquainted with the techniques needed. For example, the encoder for Windows Media 9 picks up a major boost from SMP and HT systems.

Id has done some work in the past to support SMP, one of the very few game companies that can make that claim, so their licensed engine could be very popular with next gen projects.

Originally Posted by evilmax17 Alot of SNES/Genesis games were >$50. Weren't all of the RPGs around $80 or so? N64 games were also that high. I remember Star Wars originally retailing for $100 (for some reason or another).

I do remember Sega Genesis games retailing for $59.99 at Toys R Us, when I bought my Genesis back in April of 1990. RPG's like Phantasy Star II did indeed retail for $79.99!...

well i do remember n64 games costing 79.99...

that was crazy.. thats how much my mk trilogy cost