GameGirl

Awesome article. I love your rant articles. Another reason why i love my DS games only cost $30-35 for hours and hours of fun anywhere.

Yeah they should extend the generation to 10 years so we don't have to spend $1000+ buying all the consoles again (the 1000 is after the price drops). Plus i don't think MS is going to end it anytime soon with the release of Natal next year and they like having the lead over the PS3. Plus i read an article that MS will not kill the 360 until 1 day after Sony kills the PS3 and we know Sony has the whole 10 year plan like they do with the PS2 which is still alive and selling units. So this generation might go on a while. Also they both offer lots of good services like xbox live/PSN with movies, tv shows, and original games. Plus the soon to be facebook and twitter applications for the 360. The PS3 is also going to release their wii-like 2nd attempt at motion control so we will see how that goes.

But yeah i agree paying $60 is a bit too much for video games especially if they suck it really bites like on the gamefly commercials. With so many games coming out it's hard to choose which one to buy seeing how it cost like $130 to buy just 2 games including taxes.Not to mention buying the Download content. They already make lots of money on advertising in the game so they need to reduce it down to $40-50 like before.

I don't buy new games anymore. It's gotten ridiculous. I'd rather wait a few weeks for someone to turn it in used.

Honestly, I do not mind paying $60 for a brand new game that I am interested in getting. I am an informed consumer! I do tons of research before purchasing the game to know (to the fullest extent possible pre-purchase) that what I am buying will entertain me.

As well the $60 brand new purchase helps the developers, supports them, tells them "Good job guys, I am confident in your product."

If I am complaining about spending a pitiful $60 on a game, well.. maybe I shouldn't be buying a game in the first place! I make minimum wage, and work part time while going to college full time and I am still somehow managing to spend upwards of 500$ + on this upcoming fall season of games.

@Myzt, buying used games from game stores such as G@mestop is furthering that single companies development, not the creators of the games themselves. That corporate companies profit relies heavily on their used sales, as they buy them cheap and put a huge mark-up on the prices.

Don't support retailers, support the developers and the industry that we all love so dearly.

@williampansky,

I agree that money should, in principle, go to developers and that GS et al are real gougers; however, it doesn't sit well with me to fault them for running a business. Business is business. It's a service like all others. And don't forget that when one sells a game on auction sites or cg list, the developer isn't getting any cut either.

I agree with the rant, though, that games are overpriced. Developers need to find a way to lower the prices of games--old ones too, why is Halo 3 still $35? But I think they're between a rock and a hard place. I think that Microsoft and Sony gave them more technology than they can afford to handle. Perhaps Nintendo was right, then, to make the Wii with its current specs if developers have to charge high rates for their games. Then again, maybe we're just nuts for paying the high prices in the first place.

What bothers me the most are different price tags for different platforms. Some random title will cost 40 € (~ $60) for PS2 (Yes, I still use that ...) and the very same title for PC will cost 25 € (~ $35). Why? Beats the hell out of me.

And some of the games I'd prefer playing on PS2. It turns out that in the end I don't play them at all, because of the silly price difference.

Oh and the fact that a lot of publishers decide that game will cost 40 something, then in the US the stick $ in front of the number and here in Europe they slap € behind it, annoys me too.

@anonjpx

I suppose I cannot disagree with you. Business is most definitely business.

The reason why game price have to rise for HD systems such as the PS3 and the 360 is the ever growing development cost!!! Back during the PS2 era...1-2 millions would be a decent investment for a big budget games

Nowaday...price can go anywhere from 20 millions to 80 millions (for GranTheftAuto IV i presumed). Not only that....they raised a measly the price we buy by10$ wherea development cost have went up at least 10 times or even more.

compare to that...nintendo is laughing hard with the DS and the Wii....games doesnt cost a lot to develop (DS production are around 200k and imagine for simple game such as nintendog and brain age...) and they sold relatively well too!

easy to dump port (psp-ps2-wii) and at the same time, more room for creativity (my library of wii games...there are a lot of gems and original game not found on other system)

which might explain the unsucess of the PS3 (and to a lesser extend psp since it have similar cost development of a ps2) which is not only a HD system that required significant development time but it is also more harder to code than the 360, hence the lack of exclusif and more games going multiplatform (and the reason i just sold my ps3 to get a 360, lack of games and i really mean it...i mean obscure jap games such as Oneechanbara, raiden fighters/raiden 4, etc coming only on....xbox 360???)

I may be wrong on some account but i do know that it cost way more to make games for HD system this generation...not only that..the price raise is only 10$ per game and the HD user base is nowhere near the ps2 user base
and also....the price drop pretty quickly for new release...if you are patient the 60$ price will go down half in a few month for a lot of released, also used games and craiglist doesnt help games company :P

if games ever go up to $70 i am never buying a new game, i will buy all mine used or reactivate my gamefly

Back in the 16 bit days, games cost $70-$80; in a few cases, games would cost more. Phantasy Star IV for the Genesis cost $90 and Virtua Racing, also for the Genesis cost $100. Neo-Geo games cost $200 each. This was due to the high cost of manufacturing cartridges. Also, back then, games didn't drop in price like they do today. They pretty much stayed to same price throughout their lifespan. Their prices didn't start dropping rapidly until the PS1 and N64 came around. If you wait a few months, most games will drop to $20-$30 to clear out for the ever increasing new releases.