Variable Pricing in Games

This topic was brought up in the Tuesday (5-5-09) edition of the Bombcast. I thought it was a very interesting topic and I was curious to see what the thoughts on the matter were from the rest of the Giant Bomb community. Do you agree with Brad, do you think we should go with a $5 per hour pricing model? Do you think it would be safe to do this knowing that publishers could start charging $100 for the next Persona game or something along those lines? At what point in a game's length or into am experience do you think it is finally acceptable to charge $60 for a game? Do you think that the longevity of an experience should dictate the pricing model for games and even factor into a reviewers (such as Ryan with Wolverine) decision on whether or not to recommend that game? Maybe if we have a cap off limit of $60 for a game and then do variabe pricing under that cutoff point it would help. However, even with that I feel developer's and publishe rs might get shafted when the Average Joe consumer sees a $40 game and buys it over the $60 game, not even considering the value you can get out of that experience, and the $40 game does better by selling 1.5 million units where the $60 game only sells 500,000, ultimately resulting in a larger profit for the (potentially) worse experience.

I think its a very interesting and vexing issue and its not likely going to be solved  anytime soon. Thats my two cents. What are your thoughts on the questions I wrote or just pricing in general? Is it a factor for you?

P.S. Sorry if I repeated myself a little with the questions while writing that. I wrote pretty quickly. Thanks.  :)

How about supply and demand?

I see what you're saying verve.  But if you did that (lets take persona as a case), you would be alienating a HUGE amount of the potential audience if you were to price it at 100$.  I never really heard of the series before I was taking in the build-up before/during the release of P4.  If it were priced at 100 bones, there would be no way I would think about buying it.  I was kinda thinking along the same line you were after I went back to listen to that segment again.

I hope everyone understands $60 for a game is cheap compared to the rest of the world.  A DS game here is close to $60, and when MGS4 came out it was a little over $90 (normal edition).  It's only a matter of time until America catches up with the pricing...

...I'm not for variable pricing.  RPGs would be over $100...and then multiplayer games would be insane. 

"I hope everyone understands $60 for a game is cheap compared to the rest of the world.  A DS game here is close to $60, and when MGS4 came out it was a little over $90 (normal edition).  It's only a matter of time until America catches up with the pricing......I'm not for variable pricing.  RPGs would be over $100...and then multiplayer games would be insane.  "

I can see variable pricing in the games industry future but not following the model you suggest.  In fact, we already have a working variable model in place.  If we look at Itunes or Amazon MP3, we see that songs that are popular or are from highly regarded artists cost $1.29, while songs that are from new independent labels or from older less sought after performers go for $0.69 to $0.99.  In the video game world, titles that have past their prime as well as "risky" and casual games are sold between $20.00 to $40.00 while their AAA competition sells for the standard $60 or more.  I don't see anyone purchasing a game based off it's perceived playtime unless it's a MMO subscription model.  A market where consumers are charged for the amount of time it takes to complete the adventure will only result in shorter games or games with less freedom to explore.  Do any of us want a debt clock in the corner of our U.I.s clicking off the pennies spent everytime we play?

I don't think the Personas or Valkyria Chronicles of the world have to worry about being sold at variable prices but the Final Fantasys might.

"I don't think the Personas or Valkyria Chronicles of the world have to worry about being sold at variable prices but the Final Fantasys might."

"PenguinDust said:

"I don't think the Personas or Valkyria Chronicles of the world have to worry about being sold at variable prices but the Final Fantasys might."

When FF12 first came out here in Japan it was a little over $90.  You can bet your ass that FF13 will be more.  Hell, Dissidia was $65 on launch but went down in price to $55 after a couple weeks.  "

thanks guys. but do you think that the price of a game should be a factor in a reviewer's score though?

How about any game with anything like wii, party, games, or sports in the title is 30 dollars or less.