Simple question, really, and one I really don’t know the answer to but am genuinely interested in. The PC version is retailing for $40 and the 360 version for $60. I know $60 has been pretty standard for 360 games so far, but $40 is ten bucks less then what PC gamers are use to paying for what ought to be a “AAA” game.
Of course, I played the Overlord Demo (for the PC) and thought it would only make sense as a budgetware title ($20-$30) as I believed the full game would be way to short and easy. Are console gamers expectations that difference then PC gamers when it comes to content? Is this part of a growing trend where costs of next-gen development sends developers to multiple platforms and relatively cheap porting costs mean cheap next-gen games for PC gamers? Anyone else have any thoughts?
P.S. Yeah, I know it was Codemaster’s call based on what they thought and some universal truth machine didn’t spit out the $40 price. I don’t need anyone telling me Codemaster set the price based on what they were willing to sell it for with out supporting ideas.
Platform fees existed in the PS2 era and console games and PC games both still retailed for $50. It just meant publishers got more money per PC game. What’s changed since then and now?
BTW, I don’t think “short and easy” is an accurate assessment of Overlord. From my understanding of the demo, it doesn’t give you a good sense for the full game. I played about five hours into a reviewable copy on my debug 360 before having the flash the system and wipe the drive. I’ll be eagerly starting over once I get a copy of the full game.
But it strikes me as a pretty lengthy and involved game based on what I saw. There seem to be plenty of tough battles that rely on careful use of your minions, which includes complementing their powers with your overlord’s, which can be developed over the course of the game with new spells and an item crafting subgame. I didn’t get the sense that it was “budgetware” at all.
In addition to the royalties going for the console manufacturer, I think the only reason is that console gamers have a higher price threshold than PC gamers.
On the PC, this is true for me as well. (Though I’ve now paid for plenty of 360 games at that price). I still remember the first PC game I paid that much for: Baldur’s Gate. The EB at the mall where I normally bought PC games were all out of the game, and I got really hyped about the game because of the CGOnline forums, so I went to another mall and paid $60 to buy a copy. And oh my god, did I regret that purchase. It’s still the worst game I’ve ever finished to this day.
I paid about $56 for Neverwinter Nights, day one. And I pre-orded Half-life 2 Collector’s Edition for $60 shipped. Both being regrettable purchases. I didn’t need The Collector’s Edition and Neverwinter Nights wasn’t officially good until the second and last expansion.
That’s about it. Every other game I bought was priced at $50 or less. Most falling into the $10-$40 range.
The most expensive console game I’ve ever bought was the first Disgaea for $80 and the second was Senko no Ronde for $60. All others have been less than $50 (usually $40-$45).
On the PC, I haven’t paid over $35-$40 for a game in… I don’t even remember what was the last one.
New games are stupid expensive here: $70-$80 for PC games and up to $95 for console games (excluding things like GH, which was something like $130 with the guitar). That pretty much forces me to either wait months or years for price drops and actively hunt for special sales online.
Hmmm … why is this a big deal now? Hasn’t this been the normal thing since , i don’t know, ever?
Also, roguefrog, might be hard for you to understand but i think most people in their right mind(yeah, that kinda excludes you) expect to pay a bit more for premium editions(limited,collectors, special).
Shang: can’t you import them from the UK? That’s what i do. Portuguese prices are just retarded, PC games here cost nearly as much as a console game so i import all games from the UK. We will still pay a bit more than the americans but not that much.
Oh, I absolutely do a lot of importing (I included that in the “online sales” bit). UK, Jersey, Canada, US, Asia… It’s always cheaper to buy these things from across the globe (even with customs and shipping costs) which is absolutely retarded.
I hear ya and this is one of the reasons why i’ve been gradually changing my opinion about digital distribution even though i’m a collector and like to have the game boxes. At least that way the price is the same for everyone.
Of course that a service like what Stardock did with galciv2 would be the most awesome thing for me, buy the digital download then pay a bit more and have them send you the game box. (Btw, does Stardock do this for the other games in Totalgaming?)
Maybe I’m getting older and my wife and I don’t like spending ridiculous amounts of money on things that will inevitably come down in price, but I haven’t bought a full price PC game since, let me see, oh crap - I bought Tomb Raider Anniversary two weeks ago. Shit, oh well… but apart from that, I hadn’t bought one new since Oblivion actually. And I still haven’t actually played Oblivion yet either! Waste of money that was. So yes, budget markdown all the way for us!
If anything, I’ve noticed that many games that are on multiple platforms are coming in on the PC at even less than that, provided you go look for the early deals in retail.
For example, Spider-Man 3 was available for $9.99 for the first week at Circuit City, but even it’s regular price is $29.99, versus $59.99 on thhe 360. Also, the recently released Transformers game is available for $19.99 at Target this week, $29.99 regularly.
My perception may be off, but it’s always seemed that PC games tend to go down in price significantly faster than console games.
I wonder how much of this is due to games being developed for the consoles first, with the PC version being a sometimes imperfect port of that version.
