Games on demand. It's just too expensive, captain!

[HappyTree]

Dear Mr Took,

Why, why, why, oh why oh why oh WHY can't the world be exactly the way I want it to be?

Yours unrealistically,Theresa Robbins (Mrs)

Games on demand. Well today I got paid and I see my overtime has finally been calculated. To celebrate I need to spend some money! Flushed with this unexpected windfall, I thought now is the time to get those games that have been hanging around in my Amazon wish list that I couldn't be bothered getting before. Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit looked appealing.

7 quid second hand. Plus postage from the UK, it'll end up being something less than 15 euros.

Then I thought, hmmm. Maybe I could look into instant gratification. Let's see if the New Online World can tempt me away from my old-fashioned practices. I mean, physical media is so Noughties. So I hooked up to XBL and had a look. Yes, NFS is there. I could be playing it within the hour. For 30 quid. 30 QUID! And no case, no manual, no way to sell it on to anyone else once I've finished with it myself.

At least if they're going to sell me something less useful to me they could lure me in by having a lower price. It's only 15 quid new on Amazon too, if I want to compare new games. But paying double that just for the convenience of not waiting a week?

Sorry 21st Century. No deal.

[Phil_A]

Christ man, just get on Steam. They're always having ridiculous sales, and you can pick up tons of good quality games for practically nothing.

[chocky909]

He's got an Xbox.

[HappyTree]

^ indeed. Let's not get into a PC vs console war. This is a physical vs digital media war in here :-D

Not that I would be massively opposed to downloading games if they were significantly cheaper. But to pay twice the price to boot? Not a chance in hell!

[Little Hoover]

I prefer console games, but you can often get things cheap on steam, and it's also an easy way to try out quirky indie games. You already have a PC so it's not like it would mean having to buy any hardware or software.

[Noodle Lizard]

Agreed on On-Demand games being too expensive.  There's no reason for it!  No physical copy, no potential for resale ... what's the big idea?!

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

It is ridiculously overpriced. I'm not fussed about buying current games through it anyway, but there are older ones that aren't otherwise available, like Resi 4 and GTA San Andreas, that I'd get in the blink of an eye, if they were a reasonable price.

[The Boston Crab]

that aren't otherwise available

I guess this is the crux of it :p

[Consignia]

I gather the reason, is there is a lot of pressure from retail not to be undercut by digital distribution. They've long given up PC games, since there is no money there anymore, but they can still make some from the shrinking console revenues.

[chand]

Some of the online game prices are insane for consoles. There are some decent deals to be had for older stuff, but the new stuff is mind-boggling. Driver: San Francisco is £57.99 on PSN, as is Red Faction Armageddon. FIFA 12 is £54.99. Seems it's because they whack stuff up on there at full RRP, and €69.99 is seemingly a common price to pay in Europe.

I do think the OMG WHY SO EXPENSIVE YOU'RE NOT EVEN GETTING A BOX shit is a bit misleading; manufacturing costs and third-party sales costs are a factor but the vast bulk of a game's production costs are still incurred whether it's sold in meatspace or cyberspace, but you'd expect it to be at least some way cheaper, rather than actually more expensive. And it seems weirder because no-one anywhere in real life really charges the actual RRP for a game; it's hard to pay over £40 for a game in a shop, even where £54.99 is the official RRP. Shops seem to be wary of breaking the £40 barrier. This is why the download-only PSP Go seemed like such a mistake; official online Store prices are too high when you can get boxed copies (even new, first-hand ones) for half the price.

[Ignatius_S]

I believe prices are more competitive in the States. Earlier this year, Gamestop announced it was introducing a purchase scheme for PC downloads and at that time, the company had said it had enjoyed great success in selling console downloadable content.

Also, I've read that OnLive regularly undercut market prices in the States.

...but there are older ones that aren't otherwise available, like Resi 4 and GTA San Andreas, that I'd get in the blink of an eye, if they were a reasonable price.

I think that was one of the advantages that Gamestop pointed to – it was able to carry a far bigger stock of titles than just what was in the shop. Another idea it was pushing was that staff could point customers in the direction of digital content that they might be interested in, but may not be aware of.

I gather the reason, is there is a lot of pressure from retail not to be undercut by digital distribution. They've long given up PC games, since there is no money there anymore, but they can still make some from the shrinking console revenues.

Undercutting retail is a big issue, no doubt about that.

With retail stores over here, the real bread and butter is the second-hand trade. With PC games, as the trade is moving more and more into digital distribution, I suspect we'll see retail chains trying to tap into the market. Last year, was a record amount spent on PC games and it's been predicted that in a few years (3?) that more money will be spent on PC games, than console ones – I'm a little way of predications like the last, but there's definitely money to be made and I'm sure retail chains will try to get a slice.

[HappyTree]

To imagine Alf Stewart pitching in on the games market debate, "If you pay full whack for game these days you need your head read!"

Even just the difference between a retail store and Amazon drains the blood from your face. I suppose I am the games industry's worst nightmare in that I buy 2nd hand almost exclusively, don't care about getting in quick to be online with the cool kids and have never in my life paid RRP for any game. I wonder why the RRPs are so high if nobody in the real world pays it.

[Little Hoover]

Americans generally have faster connections as well which is a benefit for downloads. As it is I can go to the shops and buy a game in the time it would take to download something top end.

[glitch]

I wonder why the RRPs are so high if nobody in the real world pays it.

Because quite a few people do pay RRP, particularly with large franchises, multiplayer-heavy games, big boxed sets, preorder/30-day DLC or code locks to recoup costs traditionally lost through second hand markets.

[HappyTree]

If only to prove that 15 quid is reasonable, I snapped up TDU2 on Games Online. Well, also because it would have cost more than that even from Amazon. I loved the first one and reviews convinced me that the issues some people felt spoiled it were not a concern for me. So the moral of the story is that I don't care that much about having a physical disc and manual if the price seems right. But £49.99 can "get tae", as they say round my way.

[buntyman]

If you think the games are unreasonably priced, you should see the films. Out of curiosity, I had a look at what they were charging for the dashboard advertised X-Men film and it's 2120 Xbox points. As they sell these points in multiples of 2100, you would need to but 2 £17.99 points cards in order to get the film downloaded to your hard drive with no extras. A piss take.