Do you think video games are over priced?

"@The_A_Drain: Sorry bud, I feel bad about arguing with you again but I disagree. Take a look at Activision-Blizzards Quarterly Report for Q1 of 2009. They reported $182 million in net income beyond the $172 million in net operating income. This is in a quarter where there really were NO major releases. They reported production costs being at 30% of net revenues again in a quarter where there were no major releases. They projected a $0.22 EPS for 2009 with $4.7 billion in net revenues. How could you honestly say this company needs to raise the prices of it's games and that they're barely covering their costs? Game prices are too high and they are simply being treated with supply demand dynamics. Many analysts figured game prices would have to drop less the companies wanted to see net revenues drop, the problem is people are still buying the games at the current price point so there's no incentive for the companies to drop the prices because people continue to buy.If you have a look at Acitivision-Blizzard's year over year net revenues you'll see they are nearly consistently increasing. They are selling more and more games so their net revenues are keeping up with their percentage basis costs and in some cases actually decreasing them.I GET capitalism, yeah the company wants to make money, I know but I don't think anyone could legitimately argue that game prices are low or not high enough. From a consumers point of view we should be dealing with perfect compeitition so until we do get perfect competition prices on products will always be too high. That's the gist of it I guess."

Depends on what game we're talking about.
For a game that you can beat in 2 hours, heck yes, but for other games such as Fallout or Oblivion or even RE:5 that have major replayability, no.

Should I be paying $60-$40 on a game that I'l only play for 12-15 hours? Fuck no, I believe games should be roughly $1 per hour of gameplay, and $3 max. The only time I ever buy a game new is if it's something I really want.

If it was based solely on a brand new game at $60 then yes, far overpriced. If it includes used games and the frequent price drops of games (Amazon sales, etc) then no.

"@The_A_Drain: Yeah you know, telling someone they VAGUELY know what they're talking about isn't insulting at all.Last I checked Activision-Blizzard isn't alone. EA, Ubisoft etc. report MAJOR profits consistently and in some cases increasing in most of their quarterly results and overall on a year over year basis.Besides this is stemming out of the major complaint of Activision increasing prices of MW2 by 5 sterling in the UK. So essentially you're agreeing that all of Acitivision-Blizzard's games are overpriced? Or are you just trying to exclude them from debate?Companies not being able to stay in business is not a consumer based problem. It's a problem with the type of compeitition we have. What major release HASN'T come from a company with yearly and quarterly profits comparable to those of Acti.-Blizz.? The fact is all the major releases that people are complaing about having too high prices are from companies which are making more than enough profit as is (ie. Acti.-Blizz.). FACT.People complaining about prices of major releases being too high are completely correct in their assumption. As long as companies are pulling profits according to economic theory the consumer isn't getting the optimum price. FACT.Sorry to sound douchey at the end but I didn't go ahead and say you "vaguely" know what you're talking about first."

In Norway, where I live, computer games are a lot cheaper than consolegames. A new computer game costs aprox. 400 NOK, about 62 USD or 37 GBP, while a videogame costs aprox. 600 nok, about 93 USD or 57 GBP - thats a major difference for the same game.

while I do understand that 37 GBP might not be a lot of money for something you might get 50 hrs of fun out of, 37 GBP is a lot of money non the less.

Yes.

Less and less so (higher development costs), but for some of them (see movie tie-ins and the usual crappy PS2 and Wii games) really are overpriced.

Not really.

If I bought the game, then clearly I felt that it was worth the cost.  Of course, I wait for sales and price drops on many games.

I don't buy half as many games like I used to, but it's hard to say if thats because they're overpriced. However, if I see an older game that is say $20.00, I'll buy it before a $60.00 brand new game.

"So yes, it is as simple as "they are making large profits therefore the product should be cheaper." "

Yeah well there you go then, if you're going to flat out admit such an ignorant viewpoint why should I bother rebuffing it?

I do know a substantial amount more than 'jack shit' the problem is it's all too easy to troll around the place finding figures for overall icnrease in profits, companies are all too happy to release those publicly, but a might more difficult (read: impossible) to find information on a project by project basis, and solid information in budgets, costs and returns in individual games (apart from those that sell zillions)

So whatever dude, my viewpoints are not based in speculation or opinion, it's just impossible to give solid facts and figures, only estimates that I know (for a fact) to be true. If you don't want to listen to them or to take any of them on board and to continue spouting your narrow minded, selfish, purely consumer standpoint, go ahead make my day. It's a little hard to swallow from someone who thinks that the high price of a luxury and non-essential item gives him the right to pirate it whenever he can't afford it.

I know for a fact that you know your stuff, you just don't know shit about the specifics of where that money is going or how it's breaking down in relation to this specific industry, which unfortunately means you cannot simply say that a large profit equates to overpriced games. I don't see you complaining about DVDs being overpriced, yet the percentages are all the same, some even operate on a higher markup than videogames.

Bottom fucking line, it costs $30 to get that $60 game to you. A 100% markup is pretty fucking low when compared to other products the world over. It's a wonder they have managed to stay at that price with massively increasing budgets and associated costs as well as the current economic climate.

If companies didn't pull profits, that money couldn't be recycled into new project, you're perfect competition bullshit is as ignorant as it is unobtainable, products will always be overpriced until we have perfect competition? Give me a fucking break, even you should realise how ridiculous that sounds. Who's being opinionated and illogical now? Seriously, if you don't think companies taking on such large risks have earned the right to make large profits, thats's fine, don't buy the games.

Said it in the first post i'll say it again, threads like this only incite hatred and ignorance, how can anyone hope to spark a reasoned debate when every single person present is going to be a consumer, how much of a one-sided argument do you want? Heck if you wall want to sit here and bitch about the price of games, go the fuck ahead you won't change anything, and games will be rising in price by 2011/2012 I guaran-fucking-tee it. Bitch whine and moan about it all you want, but in most cases the price hike is necessary, and those where it's not, companies might even be nice enough to take advantage of that by marketing those games at $60.

It all depends on the game. Modern Warfare 2 could be $120 and it still wouldn't be overpriced for me, becasue I know I'm going to get at least 150 hours out of that game. Prototype, on the other hand, was the biggest waste of $60 in my life. Sure, it was fun for 5 hours, but the game should not be bought for more $30.

All Relic Entertainment developed games are 50% off this weekend on Steam.  That's Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War 2 for $24.95 and a Relic Super pack that includes Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War 1 (+ expansion) and Company of Heroes Gold (+ 1 expansion) for $24.95.   That's a great deal, so for PC gamers prices are sometimes still very reasonable.

Everything's overpriced.

60 dollars in the US, 60 euros in Europe, does that make any sense? 60 dollars are 42 euros, that should be the price of the videogamesin europe. 60 euros is just too much money, imagine paying 84 dollars for a videogame.

Whats makes me mad at games prices is that living in Montreal i can get to the states in two hours. However games are 10-15 dollars more expensive yes i know us dollar is higher. but even when the Canadian dollar was worth more we were still getting charged more. another thing is in Canada used games never become cheap when i went to Vermont during the ps2 days think was 2004 i saw games for 9.99 us that would never go below 20 here. In fact I have never seen a  current gen came cheaper then 19 dollars here except the darkness once. oh ya but the way the sales tax in Quebec is bullshit 1.5% but it has gone down form 15% so that's good. really i don't what i just typed but it felt good to vent. hmm i want to buy perfect dark zero that should be cheap now right? wrong 19.99 at most stores still.

ps since this recent economic crisis games are 69.99 plus tax now.

Some games are. If you are paying $60 for a game that may have less than six hours of content, its too much. But if you pay that same price for a game with 15 to 30 hours of content its just right. In the US games cost around $60, and have for a long time. Most games cost more during the SNES days if I recall.

Yes in Australia as the following screeny will show.

I didn't mind when games were new at 50 dollars but 60 seems overpriced, especially for year-to-year games like call of duty and any sports title. I find myself waiting till next year at this price point.