Monday, April 25, 2011

Game prices- Rant and Surprises

I haven't been in the reviewing mood for the past few days and even though I want to write at least 1 blog post a day when you aren't in the mood the content, review, and general wording seems to go down. Who wants to read some rushed piece of crap literature? So instead of making a horrible review I think today I'll just write about whats been on my mind for the past few days (more like 1 day and on and off thought through my week).

As the title suggests, its about game prices. If you read one of my previous blog posts about Corporation games stores versus local self-owned game stores then you kinda get where my stance is on game prices. I'm not the kind of guy that needs to have new games; thats not to say that I don't enjoy having that shinny new box and game, or that collectors edition of a game; because I do and I have shelled out that extra cash for a Collectors edition or pre-ordered a game (most recently Pre-ordered: Guild Wars: Eye of the North [yeah its a while ago but thats the most recent pre-order], Collectors Edition: Assassins Creed: Brotherhood [Also a while ago but I wanted that Harley skin and the jack-in-the-box] and Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty [got off ebay so didn't pay full price])

Now that you know a bit about my stance, lets get down to the "meat' or "core" of this rant.

I was born in the U.S. so there are a variety of stores, though most stores are chains [i.e. Gamestop, Walmart, K-mart, etc.] and very few of those self-owed stores. This forced me to go their if I wanted some convenience, but this also meant that I learned how the pricing went for them and which store would offer the better deal. Now I go to college in Europe and while it is also dominated by stores like Gamestop [why wouldn't it be] there are also a bunch of other self-owned game stores that are a bit more in reach so almost just as convenient as that Gamestop in the mall.

The main part of this rant is when I was walking with some friends and we walked past a self-owned game store. To my surprise I saw an extremely overpriced game. Portal 2 was going for 70 euros! Even in Gamestop that game would go for 60 euros [in the U.S. its probably $60 since they seem to just convert the price straight]. I understand that games are becoming more advanced and even more expensive to make and this would result in an increase in game price (if you remember new games used to be $50, even further back $40 and even $30). This price increase for new games was noted by me with the release of Starcraft 2 (or maybe it was a game before hand that was marked as being $60). This was fine but if the new tread is a $10 or 10 euro price increase ever few years I am going to go insane. Imagine paying $100 for a new game, thats insane!

Maybe its just me but things like this force me to reconsider even looking at new games since I know they are going to be this expensive and I might as well wait a year or 2 for the price to drop.

Thats it and thanks for reading my rant. If you have comments please leave them below.

39 comments:

  1. Why is the fully boxed version you get from a game store the exact same price as the electronic download only version?

    ReplyDelete
  2. i think euros are worth more than dollars (like 1 euro = 1.4 dollars)

    but you're right, pricing is ridiculous on stuff now, back in the day, 50 bucks for a game was pushing it and now their 60. Nintendo just released the 3DS and its 250!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. ^2nd for Amalek, they should reduce the price of the download/steam versions of games, and have a more expensive in store version with physical bonuses.

    ReplyDelete
  4. yeah, i agree with you, it's insane :(

    ReplyDelete
  5. video games prices are indeed crazy, though the cost of producing them has also skyrocketted these past few years;

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yeah games are far to expensive.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is very true and I agree.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is very true, nice rant.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I hate the price of games lol. Awesome post!
    Followed & Supported <3
    Check out my Blog datdamnews.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. yet minecraft continues to be <$20 and has taken more of my time than SC2, CoD:Black Ops, Halo 3 and FF13 combined. Now i pirate everything or just wait will it gets cheaper (like i will for Portal 2).

    ReplyDelete
  11. agreed. games are getting expensive, and there are so many good games coming out this year too. oh well, we gotta adapt

    Happy gaming man.

    Following

    ReplyDelete
  12. Can't agree more. I live in Norway, so the prices are even higher. Portal 2 goes for about 600 NOK in gamestop, that's almost 80 euros.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I completely agree with you, the price increases are just incredible.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I completely agree with you, price increases and game prices in general are ridiculous.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I rarely buy games when they first come out. It has to be a really good game in order for me to pay 60$+ for a game.

    ReplyDelete
  16. interesting points. nice work!

    ReplyDelete
  17. People started pirating games because the prices were so high, and now the game companies have to increase the prices even more so that they can continue to make a profit, which just leads to more people pirating. Vicious cycle.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I'm an avid gamer, and I'm upset by this, too. Usually, I get a list of must-buy games and wait for them to go down in price. For the bigger names, like the recent portal 2, it sometimes takes 1-3 years to drop in price. In that case, i usually bite the bullet and just buy it at the inflated price.

    ReplyDelete
  19. That's why I only buy used. So what if I have to wait a couple of months? I pay half the price most people do.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I haven't buyed brand new games for a long time because of this raise. Just wait for a year, and you'll probably get this game for the half of the original price.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I don't think its game prices that is going up, its simply the amount of worth of the dollar being used to get said game. Example is housing. The price of your house doesn't increase over 20 years from 100k to 300k. Its the amount of inflation, etc that is going up and the more dollars you'll need to buy the same 100k house.

    ReplyDelete
  22. games are cheaper than ever before actually, games hit the bargain bins insanely fast now, even big hits

    also you have services like steam that have crazy deals every week

    ReplyDelete
  23. could not agree with you more, i thought it was bad at $50!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Try renting with GameFly: www.gameflyfreetrial.com ;)

    ReplyDelete
  25. sometimes video games developers act totally silly,i say get a new accountant u silly gooks lol

    ReplyDelete
  26. I remember when I bought San Andreas brand new for the PS2 for 49.99. Things are crazy these days.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Why your blog name is "Your second life"?
    Gaming is my main Life and only one :D
    Great blog, keep going!

    ReplyDelete
  28. seems like with every new console the games go up 10$

    ReplyDelete
  29. agreed, games are expensive thats why i stick to the free ones online :) check my blog out for more info on them

    ReplyDelete
  30. I don't think its game prices that is going up, its simply the amount of worth of the dollar being used to get said game. Example is housing. The price of your house doesn't increase over 20 years from 100k to 300k. Its the amount of inflation, etc that is going up and the more dollars you'll need to buy the same 100k house.

    ReplyDelete