EA is Trying To Kill the Videogame Industry (read about their evil plan inside)

C

cavalier

CAGiversary!
Feedback
5 (100%)
From xboxaddict.com (pertains to PS3 as well as Next Box)

Uh-oh, prepare to dig deep if an Xbox 2 or PS3 lurks high on your shopping list - EA’s vice president Jeff Brown has warned that developing games for the new consoles could cost up to 200 percent more than current titles, something that is bound to be reflected in the retail price for individual games.

Speaking to BBC News Online, he explained: "The transition [to new consoles] is a very painful process for every game developer." He then added in very poetic terms: "We look at the transition like a forest fire. It makes the healthy trees stronger, but burns away the weeds."

Shakespeare eat your heart out.

Although the subject of pricing is still some way from discussion - hell, we don’t even know when the consoles will be ready - Brown’s early words will hardly install optimism amongst gamers already loathe at forking out 40 quid for a game.

Another concern from the rising development costs is the inevitable adverse effect on the types of games made, with companies eschewing originality in favour of lower risk franchises and licenses. A quick glance at the All-Formats Top 20 already shows that movie spin-offs and franchise sequels command the vast majority of sales, with EA undisputed kings of the crop.

Brown confessed: "The franchise strategy is good for the company, investors and consumers as this is a hit-driven business."

However, he did explain that the high costs makes it imperative that developers make good games, so as to reduce the risk of failure. "It is good for the consumer," he said, "as video games cost a lot of money to make and have a high price at retail. If you buy three or four games a year, you don’t want to make a mistake."

Finally, the interview finished on the subject of Brit publisher/developer Eidos’ ’for sale’ status, a company that has been strongly linked with EA.

"I’m not going to tell you that we are not in the hunt for talent, but I would not make any assumptions," he said, leaving us none the wiser just to what the situation is between the two publishers currently.


All I have to say is what a crock!

200 percent? That means your next video game purchase will cost between $100-$120.

Are you willing to pay that much? Is anyone?

I highly doubt EA's alledged "development costs" have a damn thing to do about this forthcoming price hike.

Instead, it is the sheer greed of giant, monopolistic publishers like EA to wring every last dime out of video game buyers.

A perfect example is EA versus ESPN (SEGA) and theitr respective football games.

Let's see, $20 for ESPN and full retail for EA? I bought ESPN Football as a statement in the hopes it will convince other publishers to lower their game prices.

EA has become a fat, bloated pig of a company and it sickens me to see them already talking about jacking prices for games on systems not even to market yet.

Can you imagine this happening and a game being priced on sale for $50 being considered a bargain in the future????

This really has the chance, if it happens, of leading to a video game crash on the scale of the one witnessed in the 1980's and could send the industry into a spiral for years to come.

Weigh in here with your thoughts and hopefully send a message to EA in the process that we won't tolerate this garbage.
 
It won't happen, the N64 games cost $70 at one point and that was because of carts. No one would buy a $100 game, easy as that. In the end they would just loose money and the rest of the video game feild would be fine.

Hell I refuse to buy $50 Nintendo games because they aren't worth that anymore. The last $50 game I bought was Metriod Prime and the next one might be RE4 or Mario Tennis.

No one would buy a game that cost the same as a system does now.
 
I remember seeing "Virtua Racing" or "Virtual Racing" for Sega Genesis for $100.

Now, it's like.. a penny or two.
 
Doesn't Madden cost $5-10 million to make every year? So that goes to $10-20 million... BFD. They sell 2 million every year at $50 a piece for a $100 million gross. They're not jacking prices on franchises.

What will happen though is you won't see as many neat niche titles like Disgaea, La Pucelle, Ico, Mark of Kri, Beyond Good & Evil, Rez, Growlanser or Ikaruga. That's what's going to disappear or become extremely rare. When games like that go, I'm out of gaming.
 
[quote name='PittsburghAfterDark']Doesn't Madden cost $5-10 million to make every year? So that goes to $10-20 million... BFD. They sell 2 million every year at $50 a piece for a $100 million gross. They're not jacking prices on franchises.

What will happen though is you won't see as many neat niche titles like Disgaea, La Pucelle, Ico, Mark of Kri, Beyond Good & Evil, Rez, Growlanser or Ikaruga. That's what's going to disappear or become extremely rare. When games like that go, I'm out of gaming.[/quote]

They shouldn't ever *go*. People make games like that because they like gaming and want to make something enjoyable. You'll just have to keep your eyes peeled.
 
Well, atleast for this generation prices are going down. Some games are launching at a $40 price point, and their is the rare exception like ESPN that launch even lower. Few games launch for more then fifty, but if they do they often have extra stuff, like the Collector's Edition of Madden and the Halo 2 Limited Edition.
Of course, prices could really go up. I though Microsoft was working on some tools that help developers keep cost down. I think it is called XMS (I could be way off on this, I remember seeing a car crashing demo). Are these tools supposed to be for something else, or am I remembering correctly?
 
PittsburghAfterDark Posted: August 27, 2004, 3:36 pm Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Doesn't Madden cost $5-10 million to make every year? So that goes to $10-20 million... BFD. They sell 2 million every year at $50 a piece for a $100 million gross. They're not jacking prices on franchises.

What will happen though is you won't see as many neat niche titles like Disgaea, La Pucelle, Ico, Mark of Kri, Beyond Good & Evil, Rez, Growlanser or Ikaruga. That's what's going to disappear or become extremely rare. When games like that go, I'm out of gaming.
Click to expand...

You can expect to see more games like Disgaea, Ikaruga, La Pucelle, and Growlanser... those titles all sold extremely well in Japan. I think EA is overestimating on developement costs. Initially it will be around 150%, but after a few years you can expect it to go much smoother and games should cost the same to make as they do now. Plus, I heard it's much cheaper to use Blue-Ray discs than DVDs, which may change the royalty fees. EA puts a lot of money into their sports franchises because they have to pay a lot of people. They have real athletes go into the studio so that they can record their movements, and they have to pay for these teams and the NFL for letting thier likenesses/names be used in the game. They have to put out these games every year and they need to advertise them heavily, it all gets really expensive. Then take a game like Phantom Brave. It has PS1 graphics, pretty standard compositions, and a small crew of disciplined workers. I know it still costs a lot to make it, but compared to a Madden game, there's no contest.
[/quote]
 
never again will we see games priced beyond 49.99 imo..

sony,ms,whoever will take the hit initially to build a customer base and then everything will be okay
 
[quote name='gamefreak'][quote name='PittsburghAfterDark']Doesn't Madden cost $5-10 million to make every year? So that goes to $10-20 million... BFD. They sell 2 million every year at $50 a piece for a $100 million gross. They're not jacking prices on franchises.

What will happen though is you won't see as many neat niche titles like Disgaea, La Pucelle, Ico, Mark of Kri, Beyond Good & Evil, Rez, Growlanser or Ikaruga. That's what's going to disappear or become extremely rare. When games like that go, I'm out of gaming.[/quote]

They shouldn't ever *go*. People make games like that because they like gaming and want to make something enjoyable. You'll just have to keep your eyes peeled.[/quote]

People don't make games for shits and giggles. They make games for money, its a business. If a game cant sell, no matter how much fun they may find it to be, they will not (and cannot) make the game.

And to gsr.. yes, we will eventually see games priced beyond $49.99.. inflation alone tells you that.
 
Let us not forget about the good ol' Neo Geo and it's $200+ carts. But yeah, customers these days are barely willing to pay $50 for most games which is why the preplayed games market is becoming more prolific so there'd be no way games would be marked up for over than much. Except of course for cases like Doom 3 which are over retail price for no good reason, there should be a soundtrack or bonus DVD or figures or something with it to validate that particular price.
 
[quote name='russtophiles']Let us not forget about the good ol' Neo Geo and it's $200+ carts. But yeah, customers these days are barely willing to pay $50 for most games which is why the preplayed games market is becoming more prolific so there'd be no way games would be marked up for over than much. Except of course for cases like Doom 3 which are over retail price for no good reason, there should be a soundtrack or bonus DVD or figures or something with it to validate that particular price.[/quote]

Doom 3 was over $50.. because they could. It was superhyped, and it sold like hell at a higher price point. If it has been me, I hope I'd have been smart enough to do the same thing.
 
[quote name='David85']It won't happen, the N64 games cost $70 at one point and that was because of carts. No one would buy a $100 game, easy as that. In the end they would just loose money and the rest of the video game feild would be fine.

Hell I refuse to buy $50 Nintendo games because they aren't worth that anymore. The last $50 game I bought was Metriod Prime and the next one might be RE4 or Mario Tennis.

No one would buy a game that cost the same as a system does now.[/quote]

Really no one? Did you put some effort into thinking abou that? Some games used to cost at least $100 (any of the 4 Phantasy stars come to mind, not to mention the $200 Neo Geo carts). Not to mention all the rare games, like suikoden 2, people shell out $200+. No matter what it costs if it's worth that much, then people will buy it.
 
One problem there.. Suikoden II isn't worth nearly $200. Collecting and buying for play (where most of the sales come from) are two very different things.
 
Well, I am sticking with primarily PC Games for now since games are A. Cheaper most of the time and B. More "sticking" power.
 
If this were to happen they would see a huge increase in people pirating games, and they would see me crying...
 
If prices went that high, I would simply not buy EA games, simple as that. Hopefully ESPN will start a line of sports games to replace EA if they do that.
 
[quote name='el bobo']If this were to happen they would see a huge increase in people pirating games, and they would see me crying...[/quote]
I agree, piracy would go through the roof.
 
I wonder how long this executive has been at EA. Long enough to remember Wing Commander IV? That remains, IIRC, the most expensive game production to date at over $10 million but didn't carry a premium price other than demands on player's patience. This was largely due to the use of fairly well-known actors and elaborate sets. Almost all of it would be done with both virtual actors and sets todayy with the paycheck for voice-over work considerably lower.

While a new game won't look as good in realtime as Shrek 2 (yet) the effectiveness of vactors is growing rapidly as improved tools reduce the cost just as rapidly. The stuff a Cal Arts student can crank out in Maya today over the course of a semester on sub-$5,000 PCs would have set a movie studio back $Millions less than a decade ago.
 
the price of the game isnt gonna go up 100-200%. the ammount it costs to make the game will go up that much.

it may cost like 20 milloin to make a game right now, but you dont see us paying 20 million per game.
 
[quote name='-Never4ever-'][quote name='David85']It won't happen, the N64 games cost $70 at one point and that was because of carts. No one would buy a $100 game, easy as that. In the end they would just loose money and the rest of the video game feild would be fine.

Hell I refuse to buy $50 Nintendo games because they aren't worth that anymore. The last $50 game I bought was Metriod Prime and the next one might be RE4 or Mario Tennis.

No one would buy a game that cost the same as a system does now.[/quote]

Really no one? Did you put some effort into thinking abou that? Some games used to cost at least $100 (any of the 4 Phantasy stars come to mind, not to mention the $200 Neo Geo carts). Not to mention all the rare games, like suikoden 2, people shell out $200+. No matter what it costs if it's worth that much, then people will buy it.[/quote]

Like said that's collecting not playing. No one means that the company would only sell a few coubles. Not more than 10 people whould waste $100-$200 on a game. Video game companies know that the higher the price the less it will sell, it'c common sense. So get your head out of your ass.
 
Production costs will level off and eventually fall as they do in, oh, I don't know, every industry imaginable? Video games are still rapidly progressing in terms of technology but it will level off. Microsoft with their new development platform is looking to change the cost model already and EA bought out Criterion for their Renderware code, not for Burnout.

Think of all the wasted money that goes into redundant modeling in games right now. Many devs are making their own poly models, game engines, etc. What we will see is more companies focusing on the engine side of things (HaVoK comes to mind) and more specific "creative" companies who use that technology. This division of labor will drive down costs AS IT ALWAYS DOES.

Also, EA can bite me. I won't pay $50 for their drivel and I'll laugh when they want me to pay more. The reason their production costs are so high is because that's how they sell their games to an undiscerning audience. Disgaea, Culdcept, Rez, etc. are made for a FRACTION of the cost of most EA titles and are (gasp!) great to play. EA has to spend tons more on production value because that is the only thing they can sell on.
 
I think he completely overestimates the rise in devolpment costs. There certainly is a change in development costs when you jump to a new system, but its nothing new. I am sure there was a huge jump in cost from the snes to playstation/N64 generations and yet prices went down, especially with playstation games because of the cheaper medium. I see prices getting cheaper (with inflation taken into account though), or staying relatively the same as video games continue to expand their influence/markets.
 
[quote name='russtophiles']Let us not forget about the good ol' Neo Geo and it's $200+ carts. But yeah, customers these days are barely willing to pay $50 for most games which is why the preplayed games market is becoming more prolific so there'd be no way games would be marked up for over than much. Except of course for cases like Doom 3 which are over retail price for no good reason, there should be a soundtrack or bonus DVD or figures or something with it to validate that particular price.[/quote]

I was just thinking about the Neo-Geo when i read this(saw the Legends: SNK on G4TTV a couple of nights ago, wow $200-$250 for a game jeez!), and i really dont see games gettng that expensive. the most ive ever spent on a game was $70 for the second Zelda on NES. but I really dont see games being $100.
 
EA can raise their prices all they want. I rarely care about most EA games, not even their sports ones. I would take the ESPN Sega games over any of the EA games anyday.
 
If ESPN continues with the current level of presentation in future sports games, it's costs will be as high if not higher than EA. Also, people have to realize, when a new console comes out EA and Sega will HAVE to make new game engines to take advantage of the hardware. The cost (not retail, the cost to developers to make the game) for the first year of Madden and ESPN will be higher than in the years to follow.
 
[quote name='Cracka']the price of the game isnt gonna go up 100-200%. the ammount it costs to make the game will go up that much.

it may cost like 20 milloin to make a game right now, but you dont see us paying 20 million per game.[/quote]

That's a pretty good (although rather off topic) point, If a normal, fifty-dollar game costs about 10 million to make (I'm pretty sure it might be more, but I think Shenmue costed $25 mil to make, so i doubt $20 milion is the average cost), then the company would have to sell (one... two... carry the four...) 200,000 copies before it could make a profit! That's a huge risk, considering if it bombs then the companies losing millions of dollars
 
[quote name='David85'][quote name='-Never4ever-'][quote name='David85']It won't happen, the N64 games cost $70 at one point and that was because of carts. No one would buy a $100 game, easy as that. In the end they would just loose money and the rest of the video game feild would be fine.

Hell I refuse to buy $50 Nintendo games because they aren't worth that anymore. The last $50 game I bought was Metriod Prime and the next one might be RE4 or Mario Tennis.

No one would buy a game that cost the same as a system does now.[/quote]

Really no one? Did you put some effort into thinking abou that? Some games used to cost at least $100 (any of the 4 Phantasy stars come to mind, not to mention the $200 Neo Geo carts). Not to mention all the rare games, like suikoden 2, people shell out $200+. No matter what it costs if it's worth that much, then people will buy it.[/quote]

Like said that's collecting not playing. No one means that the company would only sell a few coubles. Not more than 10 people whould waste $100-$200 on a game. Video game companies know that the higher the price the less it will sell, it'c common sense. So get your head out of your ass.[/quote]

Yes, they will sell less if games cost more. Simple supply and demand economics. But the question is, will it sell enough at the higher price point to make overall sales more? Without remembering the economic term, there's a price point that maximizes the total sales/profit reap. Is that more or less than $50? Don't know, but it sounds like EA thinks it's more. Do they know what they're talking about? I hope not.
 
[quote name='cavalier']From xboxaddict.com (pertains to PS3 as well as Next Box)

Uh-oh, prepare to dig deep if an Xbox 2 or PS3 lurks high on your shopping list - EA’s vice president Jeff Brown has warned that developing games for the new consoles could cost up to 200 percent more than current titles, something that is bound to be reflected in the retail price for individual games...

...EA has become a fat, bloated pig of a company and it sickens me to see them already talking about jacking prices for games on systems not even to market yet.

Can you imagine this happening and a game being priced on sale for $50 being considered a bargain in the future????

This really has the chance, if it happens, of leading to a video game crash on the scale of the one witnessed in the 1980's and could send the industry into a spiral for years to come.

Weigh in here with your thoughts and hopefully send a message to EA in the process that we won't tolerate this garbage.[/quote]

EA didn't say prices would be increased, the "editor" of this "article" assumed as such. EA is just stating the obvious. Everybody else pretty much covered the rest.

By the way, not too suprised to read such drivel from such a site.
 
[quote name='kev']Also, EA can bite me. I won't pay $50 for their drivel and I'll laugh when they want me to pay more. The reason their production costs are so high is because that's how they sell their games to an undiscerning audience. Disgaea, Culdcept, Rez, etc. are made for a FRACTION of the cost of most EA titles and are (gasp!) great to play. EA has to spend tons more on production value because that is the only thing they can sell on.[/quote]

Bravo. So long as this is true, there is hope for the medium of games.
 
i dont know if anyone has read the gi article about ea`s new residence but thats why production values are up. Each floor has a kitchen and longe area. Ping Pong tables, pool tables, arcade games, football field, basketball, volleball nets are all part of the complex. Yeah thats over doing it. Not to mention the starbux.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top