WTF - why are PC versions cheaper?

cruster

cruster

CAGiversary!
More a rant than anything, but maybe someone can give me a valid reason, 'cause right now I don't see one.
Psychonauts just came out, right? I want it. So I'm checking prices. EB has it for $49.99 for X-Box, $49.99 for PS2. And...$29.99 for PC version! WHY is that version $20 cheaper straight out of the chute?! They were all released at essentially the same time, and the PC version is really the same game on a different platform. So...why am I getting screwed because I want to play it on a console?!
This is not the first time I've seen this; it seems to be the standard - PC versions seem to go at least $10 lower than their platform counterparts when new.
WHY? Why is this OK? Am I the only one ticked off about it?
 
Because the PC market is in a lot worse shape than the console market, so they need to attract anyone they can. Or at least that's my guess.
 
Licensing/royalty fees to Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo account for some of it.
And, yes, the PC market needs to make themselves more attractive. I just read an article today that said that only about 15% of the combined PC/console software market is PC games. Their sales are dropping, consoles are going nowhere but up.
MMORPGs are big, but then people are more likely to spend 10-15/month on one game, than buy a new game every month or two.
 
One reason that PC version are often cheaper is because developers/publishers don't have to pay the licensing/royalty fees required when publishing a console game, to publish a game on PC.

Edit: beat to it.
 
OK, conceptually I buy the licensing fees notion. But...does it really cost $10-$20 PER UNIT to license a game for a particular console?
 
I'm going to go out on a limb here, and assume it's because most PC Gamers don't want to play shoveled out ports of console games in the first place.

Most PC Gamers are a very proud bunch, who spend hours on end tweaking their systems to get just the right settings to play something amazing like World of Warcraft and Half Life 2 (for example). They usually have 0 interest in console games, and chances are if they do, they've already bought the game on the system of their choice.

Also, when console ports are compared to the games PC gamers usually have access to, it just dosen't compare. Publishers, knowing this, use a lower price to hook in customers, so they don't have to directly compete with all the 49.99 PC games.

If a PC gamer has 49.99 to spend, chances are they will go for Guild Wars, World of Warcraft, Half Life 2, etc etc etc instead of a console port.

Something may be the "best game to hit xbox / ps2 in a long time!" but on the PC it may be "merely average", when compared to the lineup.
 
If you just hate using the mouse and keyboard just get the PC version, and buy one of those PS2/XB to PC ports that allow you to use a ps2,xb controller on a pc system.
 
IMHO, PC ports are normally Bug Fest. It's rare that there is a good conversion. As much of a PC Gamer as I am, I always get the console version instead of a PC port.
 
[quote name='Roufuss']Something may be the "best game to hit xbox / ps2 in a long time!" but on the PC it may be "merely average", when compared to the lineup.[/QUOTE]

Well, that's a matter of opinion...and hey, you forgot Cube. ;)

I personally find that PC-only gamers (at least, the ones I know; sorry for making generalizations) are often too caught up in their perceptions of what makes games cool to just sit back and see how fun console/console-style games can be.
 
i thought it was because that people could buy as many consle games as they want with out worrying about space, but only a limited amount of pc games because of the hard drive etc.
 
[quote name='MillerTime2523']i thought it was because that people could buy as many consle games as they want with out worrying about space, but only a limited amount of pc games because of the hard drive etc.[/QUOTE]
Well, with (most) non-cartridge console games, you need memory card space to save, so there is a limit on consoles, as well.
 
I wish this were true for KOTOR II, I don't have an Xbox and I want the PC version. But its still at $50, I wish it was like $30.
 
Maybe PC games are cheaper because a PC to run them costs 500-2000, dont' forget upgrades, patches, ooh, is this the right video card, need more ram, etc; whereas 300 bucks will get you up and running with 99% of console games.
And most PC games are either MMORPG, RTS, FPS or RPG, so they have to have the lower price to stand out when your title is one out of 100 similar titles.
 
I always figured that the price was lower to curb piracy. Why spend 50 dollars on a game you can just download. 30 seems more reasonable, and will cause more people to buy rather than download. The music industry has done the same thing with CD's. They used to be much more expensive than they are today.
 
[quote name='CoffeeEdge']Well, that's a matter of opinion...and hey, you forgot Cube. ;)

I personally find that PC-only gamers (at least, the ones I know; sorry for making generalizations) are often too caught up in their perceptions of what makes games cool to just sit back and see how fun console/console-style games can be.[/QUOTE]

Well... I agree with that too. Sometimes it's good to have a good, simple game to play.

But honestly, in my initial statement, look at something like Chronicles of Riddick. Amazing on Xbox, everyone loved it, but that's only because there wasn't much FPS competition at the time of it's release, so there wasn't much to compare it to.

When it gets ported to the PC, suddenly it's compared against a whole new lineup, that features games such as Half Life 2. I always assumed this is why they come out at 29.99 - nobody will take CoR over Call of Duty or Half Life 2, but maybe at 29.99 they would simply because people like a bargain.

And I believe the only reason KOTOR 2 isn't cheaper is because the first game was universally praised by not only Xbox magazines, but PC ones as well. I think it's probably the first game both PC gamers and console gamers loved equally.
 
I would think that it also has to do with PC games being so easy to pirate. If a game is $30 more people are likely to buy it. When a game is $50, a lot of people will not be willing to pay and download it instead.
 
[quote name='dtcarson']Maybe PC games are cheaper because a PC to run them costs 500-2000, dont' forget upgrades, patches. . .[/QUOTE]

I'm still waiting for someone to say how they built their cutting edge technology-based PC from scratch out of toothpicks and empty soda cans. In polls I've seen at GameFAQs, some 75% of respondents claim to own a "gaming-caliber" PC, but I often wonder if these people consider a game like mine sweep to be a high caliber PC title.
 
That and games are usually done when they are released to playstation and xbox. You don't see them patching games to make them playable on consoles. When you buy a game on a console it works when ya buy one on a PC its like 30 percent odds of it working right with it getting up to about 80 percent after a year.
 
[quote name='cruster']OK, conceptually I buy the licensing fees notion. But...does it really cost $10-$20 PER UNIT to license a game for a particular console?[/QUOTE]

Yes. How do you think the "Big Three" make money when they barely break even on console sales?
 
Either buy a good PC gamepad or buy a usb converter for your favorite console and play the games on your PC for cheap.
 
The PC Maket has something called COMPETITION unlike the video game market. It's basically controlled by Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo.

PC games have historically always been lower and their price drops more quickly because instead of being price controlled by a particular organization it's fractured between multiple studios large and small.

And personally, except for recently, in the last three years, PC games were highly superior on pretty much every level compared to console games because of the PC's power and competition.
 
I believe console games licensing fees are a percentage of the sales price, not a fixed amount. After all, some console games are released at $29 or $19, and others drop as low as $10 or less, as you all know so well. On a $50 game, the licensing fee is around $6 or $7, I believe.
 
I think another question should be, why do the components required to play a top notch game on PC cost so much? I mean $900 for a video card? I could buy all three consoles and them some for that. I'm sure they cost a lot to produce with cutting edge technology, but then the same thing is $400 two months later, so it can't cost the manufacturer that much.
 
[quote name='tcrash247']I wish this were true for KOTOR II, I don't have an Xbox and I want the PC version. But its still at $50, I wish it was like $30.[/QUOTE]

I want it too!
 
[quote name='lionheart4life']I think another question should be, why do the components required to play a top notch game on PC cost so much? I mean $900 for a video card? I could buy all three consoles and them some for that. I'm sure they cost a lot to produce with cutting edge technology, but then the same thing is $400 two months later, so it can't cost the manufacturer that much.[/QUOTE]

Noone actually needs a $900 or even $400 videocard to play top-notch games. My videocard cost $90 and it can run every game I've tried at least the level an XBOX could play them at.
 
Like the last guy said, they charge less for pc games to convince more people to actually pay cash for the game. Only a small few have the ability to play bootlegs on consoles but just about everyone has the ability to play bootleg pc titles. They keep the prices cheap so you dont mind paying for them. I'm a console guy myself i'd rather play games in the living room than sitting at my computer desk.
 
newer console games are put on dvd-rs, im not sure if that is too much more expensive but thats my guess because dvd versions of PC games cost a little more also.
 
The main reason has already been mentioned; console manufacture royalties and production.

Xbox is anywhere from $10-15 per game. There are fees to MS through development for testing, quality control and finally only Microsoft can certify a game for "gold" or release. If it doesn't have their electronic signature okay on a game it doesn't get released. As part of the quality control process only Microsoft can print games and put together packaging for release as well. That's covered in the $10-15 though.

Sony's royalty rate at the beginning of the PSone era was a mere $10 per game with certification, CD printing and packaging. In comparison Sega and Nintendo rates were sometimes as high as $35 for games with large cartridge memory requirements. ROM for a while was in very short supply and those rates were cut in stone if not increased accordingly.

These are the main reasons PC games are cheaper. Makers don't pay MS a fee per XP game released.
 
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