Why do games still cost 79.99 CDN or 59.99 USD for digital copies?

[Cyber2B]

So I have been wondering why game devs still charge 79.99 for digital copies of their game when they don't include the CD/contents? I thought game devs ushually factor that out

The only game dev that has deducted the CD costs is Monster Hunter World, they seem to be the only company to get the memo, sure you're only saving $5 (79.99 - 74.99), however every saving counts, and it adds up, for example. you buy 4x 79.99 games, you esentially lost $20 that could have went to another game you wanted. Just like how you would save in real life, once you get your paycheck, you would deduct $20 or less to your savings account, then you would make sure you have enough for bills, then the remaining is yours.

[Kayhan]

Costs for these games gets bigger.

Better Graphics, Bigger Open World, more demand on better Story etc..
and they need to have so many assets built on that Open World with those graphics.
Heck, not every company is EA/Ubisoft.

[?!]

Why charge less, if enough people buy at that price for them to justify charging more?

[Kayhan]

Originally posted by Ms Beak:

Why charge less, if enough people buy at that price for them to justify charging more?

Even then, the prices for Games hardly changed in so many years.

I mean the release price.

[ReBoot]

The only reason games cost that much is people willing to pay the price. Customers have the power to vote with their wallets. I for example just dont buy full-proced games. Were on Steam here, sales are the norm. I dearly think that shelving 60 bucks for a game is plain and simply stupid, i always wait for sales.

[Kayhan]

Originally posted by ReBoot:

The only reason games cost that much is people willing to pay the price. Customers have the power to vote with their wallets. I for example just dont buy full-proced games. Were on Steam here, sales are the norm. I dearly think that shelving 60 bucks for a game is plain and simply stupid, i always wait for sales.

If we are going to do that, what do you think the Devs will do? More unfinished Games + More overpriced DLC. Because they want to max the profits. And there will be always people that buy those unfortunately.

[Radene]

If you think a price is too high, don't pay it. That's the only way to ever get it to go lower.

[ReBoot]

Originally posted by Kᴀʏʜᴀɴ:

Originally posted by ReBoot:

The only reason games cost that much is people willing to pay the price. Customers have the power to vote with their wallets. I for example just dont buy full-proced games. Were on Steam here, sales are the norm. I dearly think that shelving 60 bucks for a game is plain and simply stupid, i always wait for sales.

If we are going to do that, what do you think the Devs will do? More unfinished Games + More overpriced DLC. Because they want to max the profits. And there will be always people that buy those unfortunately.

We already have unfinished games, overpriced DLC and "micro"-transactions in full-priced games. As I said, the only reason this works are people buying this. If people would stop buying overly expensive sruff, the system would break down. Not in the way you describe it though. Unfinished games? Domt buy til theyre finished. Overpriced DLC? One word: Sales. Or not at all.

Of course they want to max the profits but if sheer greed wouldnt yield profits, the publishers would shift to what brings money, namely quality games. Assuming quality games would be THE way to get money. Which it sadly isnt as unfinished games and overpriced DLC sell right now.

Still, not wasting ones own money is a reward in itself. It feels great to read Steam sales charts, seeing how a freshly-released 60 bucks game leads and knowing that ill get the game a year later, cheaper, and actually finished.

[wuddih]

60USD/80CDN is the established AAA price that you pay, just for the game.
the production costs, even for a boxed unit, is under $1.

to your example game.
that is a japanese dev, they are relatively new to releasing stuff on PC and do non-logical things. they did not use Valve pricing tool and did their own research and math based on the japanese established price of 6000JPY. that is probably why they came up with the canadian price, had nothing to do with the costs for the physical production.

[DocShady]

It use to be because retail stores would get upset and stop selling their games if they charged less then retail for digital. But that excuse is pretty much out the window.

[Spawn of Totoro]

Originally posted by TenzoG:

So I have been wondering why game devs still charge 79.99 for digital copies of their game when they don't include the CD/contents? I thought game devs ushually factor that out

The only game dev that has deducted the CD costs is Monster Hunter World, they seem to be the only company to get the memo, sure you're only saving $5 (79.99 - 74.99), however every saving counts, and it adds up, for example. you buy 4x 79.99 games, you esentially lost $20 that could have went to another game you wanted. Just like how you would save in real life, once you get your paycheck, you would deduct $20 or less to your savings account, then you would make sure you have enough for bills, then the remaining is yours.

Still $60 in the US

Developers/publisher are like any buisness. They want to make as much as possible, so they charge as much as they can get away with. Then as demand goes down, they lower the price.

Could be they don't feel the CND market is as interested in the game as the US one. That or conversion rates changed at some point and they felt this was more fair. All we can do is guess, to be honest, since they most likley won't tell us.

Originally posted by DocShady:

It use to be because retail stores would get upset and stop selling their games if they charged less then retail for digital. But that excuse is pretty much out the window.

No that still exists. Retail can cut off console sales for a lot of games, removing a large number of sales for said game.

That will be an issue as long as consoles primarely use physical copies.

[Tito Shivan]

Originally posted by TenzoG:

So I have been wondering why game devs still charge 79.99 for digital copies of their game when they don't include the CD/contents? I thought game devs ushually factor that out

Because that's just a very tiny fraction of the total cost.

[Satoru]

Originally posted by DocShady:

It use to be because retail stores would get upset and stop selling their games if they charged less then retail for digital. But that excuse is pretty much out the window.

As long as consoles require physical disks, retailers will always have leverage

[Chilled Nomi]

Originally posted by Satoru:

Originally posted by DocShady:

It use to be because retail stores would get upset and stop selling their games if they charged less then retail for digital. But that excuse is pretty much out the window.

As long as consoles require physical disks, retailers will always have leverage

Knowing retailers theyd probably try to force them to let them sell download codes for the same price or something.

[Hannibal]

Im old enough to remember the change from physical to all digital. I recall the argument then. Publishers were saying games would sell cheaper because there was no need for boxing or physical manuals. Savings actually never passed to the consumer. Hehe. At that time there was no difference buying physical or digital and prices never dropped they increased. They'll set the price that market will bare.

[Tito Shivan]

Originally posted by •°●○ Jim ○●°•:

Savings actually never passed to the consumer. Hehe.

There weren't that much of saving to begin with. And it was just a matter of changing expenses. Since the money they saved not having to manufacture aand distribute discs had to go in managing and upkeeping servers, CDNs and connections to allow for their customers to download their games.
It's actually even worse, They also changed a single expenditure for a contiunous one. Because once you made the discs you were done. Servers require continuous upkeep and uptime, even years after you're done with the game.

The only time I've seen the argument of price reduction that made a bit of sense is when consoles changed game cartridges for discs.