EA: Industry Must "Deal With" $60 Pricetags

[metallithrax]

I think what they are trying to say is "Gamers must "deal with" $60 price tags"

[Ravensky]

All I can say is the day EA raises it to $60 is the day I download a Torrent client.

[WelshBluebird]

All I can say is the day EA raises it to $60 is the day I download a Torrent client.

um - nearly all console releases on the PS3 and 360 are $60

[Cormier6083]

It's ridiculous. Archaic physical formats are so last century anyways. It's ridiculous.

[Glassed Silver]

thats one of the two reasons i hate the term "next gen"

next gen's have been yesterday, are they now current? freak no, appart from PS2 maybe.

will next gen compete with next next gen? probably not, the next next gen will replace next gen, easily, and of cause to the likes of the industry!

next gen also gives you this fuzzy feeling, hey... adding 10 bucks and receiving next gen instead of current is not a bad deal huh?... you decide

paying 60 euros, we totally get jacked in Europe! thats like USD86, freak!!!!

Glassed Silver:mac

[kev64]

Game prices must drop, says EA boss

The CEO of the world's largest videogame publisher has told a business school that game prices must drop for the industry to remain lucrative.

John Riccitiello, chief of Electronic Arts, said that the standard price of ?49.99 for next-gen software would have to be restructured, and added that EA may be one of the first to experiment.

?In the next five years, we?re all going to have to deal with this,? Riccitiello told Berkley Hass School of Business.

?In China, they?re giving games away for free. People who benefit from the current model will need to embrace a new revenue model, or wait for others to disrupt.?

;)

[WelshBluebird]

It's ridiculous. Archaic physical formats are so last century anyways. It's ridiculous.

disagreed. Broadband speeds may be fast enough for full digital distribution in some area,s but in others its not.

A lot of people I know can't get faster than 512Kbps, and even for me with my 2Mbps connection, its quicker for me to go to Cardiff by train, grab a game I want in GAME or whatever and get the train back, than it is for me to download a game off steam (and often cheaper too).

Then you have the fact that most ISP's here in the UK have download limits (and some are very small). Its just not feasible yet, as you'd be cutting out too much of the market if you went with a digital only distribution model.

[Cormier6083]

Lol, I was joking, lol.

I can still remember using 28k during the summer.

[TDQuiksilver]

Yeah, let's hand over the decision making to EA in the gaming industry... :rolleyes:

[The Teej]

If it was up to EA we'd all be buying $60 monthly FIFA updates via our set top boxes.

Screw them and their ideals.

[Nicholas-c Veteran]

PS2 game (DVD): ?30

xbox 360 (DVD): ?40 (?50 in some places)

so... why the big difference ? just as much development went into PS2 games as 360 gam:s :s

its annoying

[Ji@nBing]

thats just stupid... for all it costs to make games (physically on a disc, not the coding) they have outragious profit margins.. I think it was like $1 per game goes into packing, marketing and stamping the discs.... I thought when I saw the Wii games at $29 a game, wow the prices are droping... now this from EA? psh EA is a monopoly to start with anymore... of course they would claim they have to raise prices

:blink: Did you even read the article? He said nothing of raising prices. In fact, he was saying the prices are too high and the industry is going to have to look at new models or face a backlash. He meant "deal with it" in a good way.

[SuperJediMedia]

No, $60 is Great for a Game that has Beautiful graphics, Great gameplay plus Long hours, not if they don't meet these criterias.

I rather it NOT become Digital Distribution and Nickel & Dime kinda of deal, that EA/MS tried on Xbox Live so many times (RIPOFF EVEN MORE than a $60 game!!!

Fortune said that EA is currently exploring different pricing models as well as venturing into digital distribution.

Knowing EA, this is NOT Good, don't support it!!!

[WelshBluebird]

if more companies go into digital distribution, then IMO, they need to charge less than in stores. Cos currently, download say Bioshock off steam is more expensive that me paying the train fare to get to cardiff and buying the game in Gamestation. And as I mentioned above, with my current download speed, if would be quicker to do that than downloading the game from steam too.

[Smigit]

if more companies go into digital distribution, then IMO, they need to charge less than in stores. Cos currently, download say Bioshock off steam is more expensive that me paying the train fare to get to cardiff and buying the game in Gamestation. And as I mentioned above, with my current download speed, if would be quicker to do that than downloading the game from steam too.

Yeah thats a problem with digital distribution. In many cases the titles arent cheaper and the only people who benefit are the distributors who save money on manufacturing. Steams a good example, theres some games on there which are really well priced but then others that are going above retail.

The problem in my eye with online distribution is that in order to prevent piracy developers will likely limit their titles to platforms that are proven to be quite secure, ie Steam, since authentication allows them to restrict illegal downloads. While thats all nice for distributors and developers, it means that by adopting one, maybe 2 or 3 companies as their means of distributing the title electronically you completely bypass the competition that a game would receive had it gone retail due to literally dozens or hundreds of places trying to compete for your sale.

With that comes some problems. Game that if they went retail and would have seen a lower price can stick at the higher price due to lack of competition. Not only lack of competition but theres no incentive to clear out stock as a store would do. I cant recall seeing much in the way of 25% or 50% off sales for games over xbox live or steam for instance. In comparrison I've seen the PC retail copy of Shivering Isle (Oblivion expansion) on sale for 50% of the original price.

That last point is something I believe MichaelBL was having what he referred to as a rant the other day in relation to COD3 content which hasnt dropped in price since day one despite being over a year old. I think thats basically stemming from the above...if theres no competition but people still want the content then they are going to have to pay whatever price you set. If people are paying it then why drop the price? If Live downloads could be obtained over the counter too I guarantee you most of the arcade games or addon packs would see some reduction in price over time.

Ultimately I think online distribution will grow but it needs to mature so that dynamics visible in retail like price adjustments and the like also happen with digital content. I think Steam for instance is a wonderful tool and I love that even retail copies can be downloaded at a later date if needed. So the tools there but the ecenomics setting the prices needs adjustment. As it is, I think it would be a very grim day for gamers if a purely digital distribution was adopted at the moment as I dont think the prices in the long run would really benefit consumers. Sure...maybe it'll be $5 cheaper but will there also be a 50% sale in price 6 months down the line...can't say I've seen that happen on Steam or Live yet bar a very very small number of exceptions.

[Samboini]

I'm fairly happy with ~ ?40 here in the UK. I only buy select games that really grab my interest so it isn't as problematic for me as say a parent who buys their child one every week because it is the lastest release no matter how **** it is. Quality not quantity.