Why do PS3 and 360 games cost more than PC games?

Licencing fees, development costs, and consoles are generally sold at less than manufacturing price.

PC developers don't pay Microsoft a single penny no matter how huge their games are.

$10...you have nothing to complain about. In Poland pc games cost on avarage 80zl (zl is the polish currency) and console games cost above 200. Most are 240zl. Since a dollar is worth about 2.6zl that makes PC games cheap and console game expensive as hell Explain that...rzepak

The Australian dollar is currently worth 92 US cents. This means that a $50.00 PC game in the US should be worth $54.25 or there abouts in Australia. That's a direct comparison of exchange rates by the way, doesn't include any import fees or whatnot, but still. We get slugged about $100.00AUD for a PC game, and anywhere between $100.00 to $120.00 for Console. Kinda being ripped off, over here.

[QUOTE="rzepak"]$10...you have nothing to complain about. In Poland pc games cost on avarage 80zl (zl is the polish currency) and console games cost above 200. Most are 240zl. Since a dollar is worth about 2.6zl that makes PC games cheap and console game expensive as hell Explain that...axearmor426

The Australian dollar is currently worth 92 US cents. This means that a $50.00 PC game in the US should be worth $54.25 or there abouts in Australia. That's a direct comparison of exchange rates by the way, doesn't include any import fees or whatnot, but still. We get slugged about $100.00AUD for a PC game, and anywhere between $100.00 to $120.00 for Console. Kinda being ripped off, over here.

same for Canada. 1us$=1$can and we still pay our console video game 69.99 to 79.99. Pc video game on the side are alway 20$+ cheaper than console, I will let you guess why I became a pc gamer :P Paying 50$ for the orange box on the pc instead of 70 for the x360 version. Greedy company.

Because if you have a console, what else can you do with it?

If you have a PC, you can surf the net, write text, checks news/website/youtube. You have also more gaming options.

They take into account the fact that peoples with a consoles have only 1 thing to justify this purchase, games. So games will cost more. This is a simple mindtrap setting. PC gamers? Well, for one, if the game is to expansive, some players will start checking other illegal avenues (I would never myself, but I know some/most does).

The game industry is a business. And like most businesses, its all about making money. Console games on average sell more than PC games. That's why PC games are cheaper and tend to drop in price faster. As long as we (the consumer) are willing to shell out $60 bucks or more for a game the prices will remain the same or go even higher.BaconBurns

That has nothing to do with it....nor is that true at all.

If there are people willing to pay, the prices will continue to rise. The only reason why console games cost more than PC games is because Sony and Microsoft know that people will pay 10 extra dollars for a game because its "next-gen."foxhound_fox

Well there is licensing fees but I see where you are coming from. I mean I didn't think that people were stupid enough to pay for online and downloadable content but hey it worked.

PC games are cheaper because developers have to pay licensing fees to have their games play on consoles (Roughly $10 per copy). Microsoft gets $10 for every game sold on their platform, same with Sony and Nintendo. The PC doesn't have those licensing fees. If the 360 version cost the same as the PC version, the developer would be making $10 less profit per copy sold. This way, all different versions yield the same $$$ profit.SupremeJinni

Then how come this wasn't a problem last gen? Also, how come first-party games are the same price as third-party if that's all there is to it? Royalties aren't anywhere near $10 a copy, that would be insane.

[QUOTE="SupremeJinni"]PC games are cheaper because developers have to pay licensing fees to have their games play on consoles (Roughly $10 per copy). Microsoft gets $10 for every game sold on their platform, same with Sony and Nintendo. The PC doesn't have those licensing fees. If the 360 version cost the same as the PC version, the developer would be making $10 less profit per copy sold. This way, all different versions yield the same $$$ profit.UpInFlames

Then how come this wasn't a problem last gen? Also, how come first-party games are the same price as third-party if that's all there is to it? Royalties aren't anywhere near $10 a copy, that would be insane.

It wasn't a problem last gen because the development costs (I forgot to include that part in my previous post) were much lower than they are today. I admit that I went off base about the part on licensing fees, but there's no denying that the $10 increase was due mainly to high development costs. The publishers argued that the $10 increase was needed to help offset the rise in production costs as more and more money were being spent on big budget games.

[QUOTE="rzepak"]$10...you have nothing to complain about. In Poland pc games cost on avarage 80zl (zl is the polish currency) and console games cost above 200. Most are 240zl. Since a dollar is worth about 2.6zl that makes PC games cheap and console game expensive as hell Explain that...axearmor426

The Australian dollar is currently worth 92 US cents. This means that a $50.00 PC game in the US should be worth $54.25 or there abouts in Australia. That's a direct comparison of exchange rates by the way, doesn't include any import fees or whatnot, but still. We get slugged about $100.00AUD for a PC game, and anywhere between $100.00 to $120.00 for Console. Kinda being ripped off, over here.

Damn you guys have to pay 120 bucks for ONE game?

[QUOTE="axearmor426"]

[QUOTE="rzepak"]$10...you have nothing to complain about. In Poland pc games cost on avarage 80zl (zl is the polish currency) and console games cost above 200. Most are 240zl. Since a dollar is worth about 2.6zl that makes PC games cheap and console game expensive as hell Explain that...Franko_3

The Australian dollar is currently worth 92 US cents. This means that a $50.00 PC game in the US should be worth $54.25 or there abouts in Australia. That's a direct comparison of exchange rates by the way, doesn't include any import fees or whatnot, but still. We get slugged about $100.00AUD for a PC game, and anywhere between $100.00 to $120.00 for Console. Kinda being ripped off, over here.

same for Canada. 1us$=1$can and we still pay our console video game 69.99 to 79.99. Pc video game on the side are alway 20$+ cheaper than console, I will let you guess why I became a pc gamer :P Paying 50$ for the orange box on the pc instead of 70 for the x360 version. Greedy company.

Franco, you're WAY off. 1 US dollar=1.50 canadian dollars, so that's why things seem more expensive there.

Franco, you're WAY off. 1 US dollar=1.50 canadian dollars, so that's why things seem more expensive there.UT_Wrestler

I'm sorry but your way off. As of Friday the exchange rate was/is 1 USD = 0.991 CAD http://www.x-rates.com/

~edit~ whoops sorry read the wrong line
It's actually 1 USD = 1.0088 CAD :)