Not All Digital Versions of Vita Games Are Cheaper

@MordeaniisChaos said:

@FluxWaveZ said:

Except this doesn't factor in taxes, which is not present on PSN. Here, sales taxes are 14.5%.

Jeez, 14%?

Price of free health care, cheap education and such, I guess.

As long as Sony keeps up the discounts I have no problem with this! Plus I buy my games from For Your Entertainment (FYE) So I already get a 10% of physical copies!

.

@peteace said:

If you factor in the cost of space on your memory card, large games like Uncharted: Golden Abyss are actually more expensive digitally, even with their discount, than they are in their retail forms. 32GB card is $99, which is roughly $3 per GB. Uncharted is a 2.7GB download, which equals roughly $8.10. $44.99 + $8.10 = $53.09. The retail version only requires 64MB, which is only about 20 cents. The retail version is actually cheaper in that case.

Suck on that math!

It's a shame that the memory cards don't allow you to delete stuff and store new things on it like some sort of digital storage device.

Your math is missing the most important variable, which is logic.

@Napalm said:

I find it slightly amusing all of the blue names are voicing their disgruntled attitude at the existence of this article.

Also, charging the same amount for a digital version as you would a retail copy is bullshit. Sure, bandwidth costs need to be covered if people choose to go that route, but it still doesn't make sense, since they don't have to cover all of the expenses that come with retail games. It's also why I don't buy digital now, since pricing is literally the same.

It doesn't make sense to you, but it makes sense to the publisher. They can charge an amount equal to the physical retail release and reap a higher profit because they don't have to worry about the cost of manufacturing or shipping.

Either way, I don't really care. If the option is there, I always choose physical over digital.

@mabber36 said:

man, the vita had the potential to be a really cool download only device, but sony and other companies keep squandering all the potential with small or zero discounts for downloads

read it again.

@Moncole said:

Capcom loves your money

I literally lol'ed at this comment. Good one! :)

Oh, Capcom. Fuck you, too.

I wish I could go all digital, but Sony can't keep up with Amazon. New games on Amazon are already cheaper than PSN i.e. WipEout 2048 and Hot Shots Golf: WI. Sony needs to figure out a way to ape Steam by having daily discounts and frequent price cuts. Oh how I envy PC gamers.

This concept is so hard for me to understand. It's like publishers are blind to the fact that they could kill the resell market with logical digital pricing... If a game costs $50 at retail but you can sell it back used and someone buys it the publisher doesn't see that extra money, that effectively means two people bought the game for $25. But if they price the digital copies at $35 compared to retail $50, the same two people who purchased it would have given them $70. Plus you have no worries of them reselling the digital copy, I bet they'd sell more games priced aggressively like that too. God, someone needs to put me in charge of running this stuff.

Don't forget that for the games that have an online mode you have to spend 10$ for the 'online' pass. so digital games end up costing 5$ MORE! What a friggin rip! Now I gotta go back to the store to buy hot shots golf!

@StitchJones said:

Don't forget that for the games that have an online mode you have to spend 10$ for the 'online' pass. so digital games end up costing 5$ MORE! What a friggin rip! Now I gotta go back to the store to buy hot shots golf!

Wait wait wait, really!? That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. If companies want to curb used games sales then why would you encourage people to buy in-store copies...?

EDIT: Also, leave it to Capcom, EA and Sega to do something like this

@StitchJones:

Wait, doesn't buying it digitally count the same as buying it new? Meaning the online pass is included? :/

I'm not really interested in dedicated handheld systems anyway, but I can say I would never buy a DRMed and account-locked digital version of a game for the same price as a physical copy of the game that I could lend to friends and resell when I am finished with it. I wouldn't even buy the digital version for that tiny $5.00 discount either.

@StitchJones said:

Don't forget that for the games that have an online mode you have to spend 10$ for the 'online' pass. so digital games end up costing 5$ MORE! What a friggin rip! Now I gotta go back to the store to buy hot shots golf!

I think you have your information wrong there. The online pass is meant for used games. You always get it if you buy new and buying it digitally would mean that yes you bought it new.

@Shaka999 said:

@StitchJones said:

Don't forget that for the games that have an online mode you have to spend 10$ for the 'online' pass. so digital games end up costing 5$ MORE! What a friggin rip! Now I gotta go back to the store to buy hot shots golf!

Wait wait wait, really!? That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. If companies want to curb used games sales then why would you encourage people to buy in-store copies...?

EDIT: Also, leave it to Capcom, EA and Sega to do something like this

I think he's wrong. He probably heard that some of the games had online passes forgetting that the games that require online passes have retail releases where they can be returned used. If you buy it digitally that means you bought it new and it'll have online anyway.

@SethPhotopoulos said:

@Shaka999 said:

@StitchJones said:

Don't forget that for the games that have an online mode you have to spend 10$ for the 'online' pass. so digital games end up costing 5$ MORE! What a friggin rip! Now I gotta go back to the store to buy hot shots golf!

Wait wait wait, really!? That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. If companies want to curb used games sales then why would you encourage people to buy in-store copies...?

EDIT: Also, leave it to Capcom, EA and Sega to do something like this

I think he's wrong. He probably heard that some of the games had online passes forgetting that the games that require online passes have retail releases where they can be returned used. If you buy it digitally that means you bought it new and it'll have online anyway.

No, the digital versions of games with online passes are $10 less if you don't want the online pass, and the online pass is $10.

@MooseyMcMan said:

@SethPhotopoulos said:

@Shaka999 said:

@StitchJones said:

Don't forget that for the games that have an online mode you have to spend 10$ for the 'online' pass. so digital games end up costing 5$ MORE! What a friggin rip! Now I gotta go back to the store to buy hot shots golf!

Wait wait wait, really!? That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. If companies want to curb used games sales then why would you encourage people to buy in-store copies...?

EDIT: Also, leave it to Capcom, EA and Sega to do something like this

I think he's wrong. He probably heard that some of the games had online passes forgetting that the games that require online passes have retail releases where they can be returned used. If you buy it digitally that means you bought it new and it'll have online anyway.

No, the digital versions of games with online passes are $10 less if you don't want the online pass, and the online pass is $10.

http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/719512/hot-shots-golf-world-invitational-ps-vita-game-requires-online-pass/

http://www.destructoid.com/vita-hot-shots-golf-requires-a-separate-pass-for-online-218635.phtml

http://www.maxconsole.com/cgi-bin/maxconsole/rknewz.pl?function=detail&id=RKSID00000000000000000366&cat=PSP

You're right I was wrong.

@tightestjeans said:

@msavo: I think they usually do a pre-purchase discount on steam of 10% on new games, like Skyrim, but as of right now steam and retail price for Skyrim are both $59.99.

The 10% discount for preorders on Steam is quite common in most cases, but if a game thinks it is really hot shit, they often won't do it. Specifically, I remember that being the case for Skyrim, Modern Warfare 3, and RAGE, who not coincidentally are also in that category of Steam games that decided to launch at $59.99 USD instead of the usual $49.99 USD.

So this issue with digital Vita games not always being cheaper should be familiar to people who follow the pricing on Steam games. Publishers charge what they know they can get away with, in a lot of cases. I'm sure in some cases they charge more when the game legitimately cost more to make, but they'll also charge more if they know the demand is so high that people will pay whatever you ask.

@AngelComa said:

A real shame. Sony could have really boosted its online catalog and still made hand over fist in money. But developers are too damn greedy.

I should point out that developers rarely have a significant say in the pricing of the game. In most cases, developers are pitching their game idea to a publisher, and if the publisher approves, they say "OK, your idea seems alright. We'll give you [an amount of money] and [an amount of time], and we'd really prefer it if you can deliver the game before either of those things run out". The publisher then handles just about everything business-related, from how much money to spend on marketing to how many copies of the game to print to how much the game costs to buy (though I imagine the console manufacturer puts some limits on the cost; no publisher can charge $100 for an XBLA game or something).

I believe the only time the developers set the price themselves is if they completely self-publish, either on their own website (like Minecraft) or on something like Xbox Live Indie Games.

Additionally, I think part of the reason that digital Vita games aren't heavily discounted isn't even the fault of publishers or developers. If digital Vita games were a LOT cheaper, less people would buy physical Vita games (new or used) from a retailer. If less people are buying Vita games from retailers, retailers are making less money. If retailers are making less money, they might say "Hey Sony, looks like I 'forgot' to order very many Vitas, and I 'forgot' to tell my employees to inform customers about them." That happened to the PSP Go to an extent, and if you walk into any retailer you can see that there must be almost no demand for physical PC games because retailers barely stock PC games anymore.

... well THAT'S a** backwards... what the hell, Sony?!?!? That's one of the only selling points of digital copies of ANYTHING... it's a tad cheaper! You're doing it wrong!!!

I've been leaving this all over Vita threads, but I may as well hit this one too. Other PSP games will work too.

@Marino: For some odd reason that procedure is not working for me. It keeps showing me that there are no games to transfer. Alas there is another way, just go to your download history on your Vita and scroll through the list. Next to most it will tell you not available to download on your Vita yet, but those will be your PS3 stuff. By all your PSP games and some Mini's there will be a download button to re-download onto your Vita.

@SethPhotopoulos said:

@MooseyMcMan said:

@SethPhotopoulos said:

@Shaka999 said:

@StitchJones said:

Don't forget that for the games that have an online mode you have to spend 10$ for the 'online' pass. so digital games end up costing 5$ MORE! What a friggin rip! Now I gotta go back to the store to buy hot shots golf!

Wait wait wait, really!? That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. If companies want to curb used games sales then why would you encourage people to buy in-store copies...?

EDIT: Also, leave it to Capcom, EA and Sega to do something like this

I think he's wrong. He probably heard that some of the games had online passes forgetting that the games that require online passes have retail releases where they can be returned used. If you buy it digitally that means you bought it new and it'll have online anyway.

No, the digital versions of games with online passes are $10 less if you don't want the online pass, and the online pass is $10.

http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/719512/hot-shots-golf-world-invitational-ps-vita-game-requires-online-pass/

http://www.destructoid.com/vita-hot-shots-golf-requires-a-separate-pass-for-online-218635.phtml

http://www.maxconsole.com/cgi-bin/maxconsole/rknewz.pl?function=detail&id=RKSID00000000000000000366&cat=PSP

You're right I was wrong.

No, you were right the first time. Check the update on the Destructoid article, it's at the top. Also this: http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2011/12/29/digital-download-of-everybodys-golf-6-comes-with-online-pass/

Also G4TV should never be counted as a source. Look at the comments on it. They /still/ haven't updated it...

The online pass that's available on the store is for those who buy a retail copy pre-owned, like on PS3 and 360.

@nemesisND1derboy said:

@SethPhotopoulos said:

@MooseyMcMan said:

@SethPhotopoulos said:

@Shaka999 said:

@StitchJones said:

Don't forget that for the games that have an online mode you have to spend 10$ for the 'online' pass. so digital games end up costing 5$ MORE! What a friggin rip! Now I gotta go back to the store to buy hot shots golf!

Wait wait wait, really!? That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. If companies want to curb used games sales then why would you encourage people to buy in-store copies...?

EDIT: Also, leave it to Capcom, EA and Sega to do something like this

I think he's wrong. He probably heard that some of the games had online passes forgetting that the games that require online passes have retail releases where they can be returned used. If you buy it digitally that means you bought it new and it'll have online anyway.

No, the digital versions of games with online passes are $10 less if you don't want the online pass, and the online pass is $10.

http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/719512/hot-shots-golf-world-invitational-ps-vita-game-requires-online-pass/

http://www.destructoid.com/vita-hot-shots-golf-requires-a-separate-pass-for-online-218635.phtml

http://www.maxconsole.com/cgi-bin/maxconsole/rknewz.pl?function=detail&id=RKSID00000000000000000366&cat=PSP

You're right I was wrong.

No, you were right the first time. Check the update on the Destructoid article, it's at the top. Also this: http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2011/12/29/digital-download-of-everybodys-golf-6-comes-with-online-pass/

Also G4TV should never be counted as a source. Look at the comments on it. They /still/ haven't updated it...

The online pass that's available on the store is for those who buy a retail copy pre-owned, like on PS3 and 360.

I was just going based on what I saw during GB's live stream, and what I saw there featured downloadble Vita games that were $10 cheaper and had a $10 online pass.