So why are the majority of console games priced so similar at launch?

Like the United States, 98% of console games (physical and PS3/Xbox 360) are launched at $60 MSRP. Does System Wars have a logical (trololo logic in SW) answer to this occurance?

The only logical answer I can think of is if retailer cut per game is fixed, shipping and handling cost is fixed, and console license fee are fixed as well. For the ones who don't understand what fixed means. It means that the cut is always the same for every game, no matter the price.

^That is the only understandable thing I can come up with. Publishers make around $15 to $28 per game sold, so any decrease on Release MSRP would come directly from that.

On PC, game prices are shattered across the board. Some games are launched at $20, some at $30, some at $40, some at $50, and the rare and new occurance of $60, and everything in between. This is because it is cheaper to publish games on the PC compared to consoles. Give developers and publishers more wiggle room to adjust pricing.

Like the United States, 98% of console games (physical and PS3/Xbox 360) are launched at $60 MSRP. Does System Wars have a logical (trololo logic in SW) answer to this occurance?

The only logical answer I can think of is if retailer cut per game is fixed, shipping and handling cost is fixed, and console license fee are fixed as well. For the ones who don't understand what fixed means. It means that the cut is always the same for every game, no matter the price.

^That is the only understandable thing I can come up with. Publishers make around $15 to $28 per game sold, so any decrease on Release MSRP would come directly from that.

On PC, game prices are shattered across the board. Some games are launched at $20, some at $30, some at $40, some at $50, and the rare and new occurance of $60, and everything in between. This is because it is cheaper to publish games on the PC compared to consoles. Give developers and publishers more wiggle room to adjust pricing.

Good question. I wouldn't know.

I always thought the 10 dollar difference between a PC & console release were the license fees. But there seem to be bigger differences than that

I do know that shipping & handling costs & retail cuts are rather small compared to what it costs to develop (& market) a game. That is why DD prices aren't cheaper compared to retail.

How much is sonic generations on consoles by the way?

Like the United States, 98% of console games (physical and PS3/Xbox 360) are launched at $60 MSRP. Does System Wars have a logical (trololo logic in SW) answer to this occurance?

The only logical answer I can think of is if retailer cut per game is fixed, shipping and handling cost is fixed, and console license fee are fixed as well. For the ones who don't understand what fixed means. It means that the cut is always the same for every game, no matter the price.

^That is the only understandable thing I can come up with. Publishers make around $15 to $28 per game sold, so any decrease on Release MSRP would come directly from that.

On PC, game prices are shattered across the board. Some games are launched at $20, some at $30, some at $40, some at $50, and the rare and new occurance of $60, and everything in between. This is because it is cheaper to publish games on the PC compared to consoles. Give developers and publishers more wiggle room to adjust pricing.

Good question. I wouldn't know.

I always thought the 10 dollar difference between a PC & console release were the license fees. But there seem to be bigger differences than that

I do know that shipping & handling costs & retail cuts are rather small compared to what it costs to develop (& market) a game. That is why DD prices aren't cheaper compared to retail.

How much is sonic generations on consoles by the way?

R4gn4r0k

Because when developers realize that games DO sell at $60 then of course they're going to try to squeeze every penny out of consumers.

It's just simple supply and demand.

A company knows their game will sell the most at $30, but they also know their game will sell to some people at a price above $30. This developer will decide to release the game at $60 fully understanding that their game will probably require a price drop at around a month into it's sales life. They receive a month's worth of $60-sales-profit, and then begin to sell it at the proper market price it should be.

On the PC it's the same way. Most any big game will come out at $50-$60. The only difference between PC and console is that the pricing model for digital distribution games is so much more dynamic because of all the ways a developer can save money by doing so. They can put it on their own website, or on steam, or they can publish it themselves. On the consoles there are so many costs associated with a retail copy of a game that it only makes sense to try to make the most money possible to ease up on that cost.

Because when developers realize that games DO sell at $60 then of course they're going to try to squeeze every penny out of consumers.

It's just simple supply and demand.

A company knows their game will sell the most at $30, but they also know their game will sell to some people at a price above $30. This developer will decide to release the game at $60 fully understanding that their game will probably require a price drop at around a month into it's sales life. They receive a month's worth of $60-sales-profit, and then begin to sell it at the proper market price it should be.

On the PC it's the same way. Most any big game will come out at $50-$60. The only difference between PC and console is that the pricing model for digital distribution games is so much more dynamic because of all the ways a developer can save money by doing so. They can put it on their own website, or on steam, or they can publish it themselves. On the consoles there are so many costs associated with a retail copy of a game that it only makes sense to try to make the most money possible to ease up on that cost.

SW__Troll

I do know that shipping & handling costs & retail cuts are rather small compared to what it costs to develop (& market) a game. That is why DD prices aren't cheaper compared to retail.

R4gn4r0k

No

Digitally distributed games are not cheaper than retail because of practices within the industry. Walmart (among other retail chains) will not allow another retailer to sell at a price below them (other than a sale price). If they find that a different retailer has a retail price of $40 for a game that costs $50 at Walmart then Walmart will lower their game price to $40 which will end up costing the developer.

That's the reason places like Steam can't (or rather don't) sell cheaper than retail. You can't sell at $40 on Steam, and $50 at Walmart even if it makes sense with the money you save through digital distribution. You can only sell at $40 on Steam if you also want to sell at $40 at Walmart.

[QUOTE="R4gn4r0k"]

I do know that shipping & handling costs & retail cuts are rather small compared to what it costs to develop (& market) a game. That is why DD prices aren't cheaper compared to retail.

SW__Troll

No

Digitally distributed games are not cheaper than retail because of practices within the industry. Walmart (among other retail chains) will not allow another retailer to sell at a price below them (other than a sale price). If they find that a different retailer has a retail price of $40 for a game that costs $50 at Walmart then Walmart will lower their game price to $40 which will end up costing the developer.

That's the reason places like Steam can't (or rather don't) sell cheaper than retail. You can't sell at $40 on Steam, and $50 at Walmart even if it makes sense with the money you save through digital distribution. You can only sell at $40 on Steam if you also want to sell at $40 at Walmart.

[QUOTE="SW__Troll"]

Because when developers realize that games DO sell at $60 then of course they're going to try to squeeze every penny out of consumers.

It's just simple supply and demand.

A company knows their game will sell the most at $30, but they also know their game will sell to some people at a price above $30. This developer will decide to release the game at $60 fully understanding that their game will probably require a price drop at around a month into it's sales life. They receive a month's worth of $60-sales-profit, and then begin to sell it at the proper market price it should be.

On the PC it's the same way. Most any big game will come out at $50-$60. The only difference between PC and console is that the pricing model for digital distribution games is so much more dynamic because of all the ways a developer can save money by doing so. They can put it on their own website, or on steam, or they can publish it themselves. On the consoles there are so many costs associated with a retail copy of a game that it only makes sense to try to make the most money possible to ease up on that cost.

ShadowDeathX

That's exactly what I discussed though.

A game that's worth $30 will still be sold at $60 because the developer knows that there are at least some people who will buy at that price.

Once the game reaches $30 after price drops then it'll start selling even more.

Think about Steam sales for example. Game comes out at $50, lots of people buy it, and then 3 months later the game is on sale for 50% off and manages to outsell all 3 months of sales in a day.

The developer gets the benefit of making $25 extra dollars per sale at $50 for 3 months (even if sales are lower than they could be), and then essentially gets normal sales once the price is lowered.

*cough* L4D2 for example *cough*

[QUOTE="ShadowDeathX"]

[QUOTE="SW__Troll"]

Because when developers realize that games DO sell at $60 then of course they're going to try to squeeze every penny out of consumers.

It's just simple supply and demand.

A company knows their game will sell the most at $30, but they also know their game will sell to some people at a price above $30. This developer will decide to release the game at $60 fully understanding that their game will probably require a price drop at around a month into it's sales life. They receive a month's worth of $60-sales-profit, and then begin to sell it at the proper market price it should be.

On the PC it's the same way. Most any big game will come out at $50-$60. The only difference between PC and console is that the pricing model for digital distribution games is so much more dynamic because of all the ways a developer can save money by doing so. They can put it on their own website, or on steam, or they can publish it themselves. On the consoles there are so many costs associated with a retail copy of a game that it only makes sense to try to make the most money possible to ease up on that cost.

SW__Troll

That's exactly what I discussed though.

A game that's worth $30 will still be sold at $60 because the developer knows that there are at least some people who will buy at that price.

Once the game reaches $30 after price drops then it'll start selling even more.

Think about Steam sales for example. Game comes out at $50, lots of people buy it, and then 3 months later the game is on sale for 50% off and manages to outsell all 3 months of sales in a day.

The developer gets the benefit of making $25 extra dollars per sale at $50 for 3 months (even if sales are lower than they could be), and then essentially gets normal sales once the price is lowered.

*cough* L4D2 for example *cough*

[QUOTE="SW__Troll"]

No

Digitally distributed games are not cheaper than retail because of practices within the industry. Walmart (among other retail chains) will not allow another retailer to sell at a price below them (other than a sale price). If they find that a different retailer has a retail price of $40 for a game that costs $50 at Walmart then Walmart will lower their game price to $40 which will end up costing the developer.

That's the reason places like Steam can't (or rather don't) sell cheaper than retail. You can't sell at $40 on Steam, and $50 at Walmart even if it makes sense with the money you save through digital distribution. You can only sell at $40 on Steam if you also want to sell at $40 at Walmart.

ShadowDeathX

Didn't know that but I guess it makes sense. If a store sells a game at 50 and steam at 30 everyone will flock to DD.

However, you are telling me most of those sales that steam gives are coming from the digital retailers piece of the profit ? How come Valve/steam gives so many than ?

[QUOTE="ShadowDeathX"]

[QUOTE="SW__Troll"]

No

Digitally distributed games are not cheaper than retail because of practices within the industry. Walmart (among other retail chains) will not allow another retailer to sell at a price below them (other than a sale price). If they find that a different retailer has a retail price of $40 for a game that costs $50 at Walmart then Walmart will lower their game price to $40 which will end up costing the developer.

That's the reason places like Steam can't (or rather don't) sell cheaper than retail. You can't sell at $40 on Steam, and $50 at Walmart even if it makes sense with the money you save through digital distribution. You can only sell at $40 on Steam if you also want to sell at $40 at Walmart.

R4gn4r0k

Didn't know that but I guess it makes sense. If a store sells a game at 50 and steam at 30 everyone will flock to DD.

However, you are telling me most of those sales that steam gives are coming from the digital retailers piece of the profit ? How come Valve/steam gives so many than ?

ShadowDeathX

This'll be simple.

Option 1: You sell 5 copies in month one at $100 each, and in month two the price drops to $50, and you sell 10 copies. That's $1000 profit in two months.

Now if you had just started at $50 then you'd be attracting both first and second month buyers.

Option 2: You sell 15 copies in two months at $50 each which gives you a profit of $750 in two months

Option 1 is the best option.

Like the United States, 98% of console games (physical and PS3/Xbox 360) are launched at $60 MSRP. Does System Wars have a logical (trololo logic in SW) answer to this occurance?

The only logical answer I can think of is if retailer cut per game is fixed, shipping and handling cost is fixed, and console license fee are fixed as well. For the ones who don't understand what fixed means. It means that the cut is always the same for every game, no matter the price.

^That is the only understandable thing I can come up with. Publishers make around $15 to $28 per game sold, so any decrease on Release MSRP would come directly from that.

On PC, game prices are shattered across the board. Some games are launched at $20, some at $30, some at $40, some at $50, and the rare and new occurance of $60, and everything in between. This is because it is cheaper to publish games on the PC compared to consoles. Give developers and publishers more wiggle room to adjust pricing.

Because games priced sub $60 at launch are looked down upon by consumers.MFDOOM1983

I think they're rigged :o

Think about it. SONY and Microsoft said that next-gen (before the consoles were released) games would cost $60 USD instead of $50. It happened. They must have some control over it.

I think they're rigged :o

Think about it. SONY and Microsoft said that next-gen (before the consoles were released) games would cost $60 USD instead of $50. It happened. They must have some control over it.

Blade8Aus