11 replies to this topic

[JamesD]

Does anyone else find it strange that a 360 title costs $10-$20 more than the same game for the PC and both are being launched at the same time?
From the latest BestBuy weekly add:

Frontlines: Fuel of War
360 $59.99
PC $49.99

Turning Point: Fall of Liberty
360 $59.99
PC $39.99

Too pricey for my taste either way. Myself, I just picked up LOST PLANET for $20 at Circuit City.
BTW, the PS3 version is going to be $39.99. It will be interesting to compare the two.

[Atariboy]

Licensing cost from MS, sadly so far people seem to have shown a willingness to support this price point, I've even done it a couple times (Most recently with PGR4, which is now 20 bucks and I've only had time to play it a couple hours, makes me mad).

[Gabriel]

Most of the time, the games which are also on PCs don't really interest me. So, it's most often an irrelevant issue.

But for the longest time I was wondering why I should bother paying $60 for Battlestations Midway when the PC version could already be found for $15.

[harveymush]

Don't know about the US but in the Uk its alot to do with the way consoles are Taxed, PC games are sold as software, consoles games fall in to a different brack, for example I buy most of my games of Play.com who sell most new PC games for as little as £18 but the console games are the same price usually as the stores (around £39.99) cause of the way they are taxed, although I have noticed that most of the new 360 and PS3 titles that are to be released in March are all £29.99 which is at least £10.00 cheaper than the shops.

So hopefully things are changing for the better here, can't wait for Frontlines been playing the MP demo since it went up on Xbox live.

regards

Rob

[Gregory DG]

Gabriel, on Mon Feb 25, 2008 9:30 PM, said:

Most of the time, the games which are also on PCs don't really interest me. So, it's most often an irrelevant issue.

Which is why I think these games are cheaper. To interest similar people. The might even do better to drop the price another $10.

[HammR25]

Demand for console games is much higher than PC games so it doesn't surprise me at all.

[moycon]

This might explain it....

http://xbox360.ign.c...8/848036p1.html

People don't buy many games for the PC compared to consoles. If they charged more or the same, they'd probably sell even less.

[MCHufnagel]

moycon, on Fri Feb 29, 2008 8:57 PM, said:

This might explain it....

http://xbox360.ign.c...8/848036p1.html

People don't buy many games for the PC compared to consoles. If they charged more or the same, they'd probably sell even less.

Moycon, those sales figures for the PC don't take into account MMO monthly fees or downloads. I think I read that you could basically triple PC game sales if you added those things up. I do know that future figures will be including those.

If you break down each console and handheld sales figure as a separate item instead of lumping them together, even current PC sales figures look decent.

The biggest factor in pc games being cheaper has to do with the fact the publisher isn't paying any licensing fees to the console maker.

Edited by MCHufnagel, Sat Mar 1, 2008 8:02 AM.

[moycon]

MCHufnagel, on Sat Mar 1, 2008 10:57 AM, said:

Moycon, those sales figures for the PC don't take into account MMO monthly fees or downloads.

I'll bet those sales figures don't take into account the 10 million + monthly subscribers to Xbox Live or Xbox and PS3 Store games purchases either.
Seems to me me...doesn't matter how you look at it. Consoles sell considerably more games.

Edited by moycon, Sat Mar 1, 2008 9:51 AM.

[MCHufnagel]

moycon, on Sat Mar 1, 2008 10:47 AM, said:

MCHufnagel, on Sat Mar 1, 2008 10:57 AM, said:

Moycon, those sales figures for the PC don't take into account MMO monthly fees or downloads.

I'll bet those sales figures don't take into account the 10 million + monthly subscribers to Xbox Live or Xbox and PS3 Store games purchases either.
Seems to me me...doesn't matter how you look at it. Consoles sell considerably more games.

Wasn't that 10 million figure for XBL both Gold and Silver accounts? I can't believe that there are 10 million Gold members out there. Besides WOW probably generates sales close to all XBL marketplace downloads by itself.

I'm not saying that PC sales are higher than console sales. I'm saying it's not as bad as people like to make it.

[moycon]

MCHufnagel, on Sun Mar 2, 2008 12:48 PM, said:

Wasn't that 10 million figure for XBL both Gold and Silver accounts? I can't believe that there are 10 million Gold members out there. Besides WOW probably generates sales close to all XBL marketplace downloads by itself.

I'm not saying that PC sales are higher than console sales. I'm saying it's not as bad as people like to make it.

You may be right, It may be both combined.

I couldn't tell you how many people play WoW though. I've known a lots of people that were members that quit after reaching the level cap. I do know that right now, few (none) online games are as outrageously popular as WoW is. But you're right. If we weren't talking about software sold, and were instead discussing digital downloads or MMO fee's. The PC would look a bit better.

[Video]

I'm perfectly happy to pay a little more for a working game that uses a decent controller, as opposed to a buggy as hell, download a schitload of patches, then be screwed into useing the keyboard and/or the mouse anyways, despite there being quiet a few PeRfEcT replicas (and adaptors for actuall console) controllers on it.

Of course, I rarely play $60 for ANY game. Even ones I want gotta have types. Most of my collection of, ahem, 'new' games were $20 purchases. In fact, the only game I paid more than $20 for, was Oblivion GOTY, which I bought as soon as I could. (oh, and Halo, which I bought for $70...actually, though you can probably get the full collectable thingy at any used game shop for $20)

Then there's the whole licensing thing, already bought up, yeah, they don't have to pay that on PC, but what you save on games, you make up for in having to buy hardware just to keep up to the minimum (about $500 a year) or god help you if you gotta have the state of the art, which could be as much as $3000 per quarter.

As I said, give me the console any day. Even if it is $10/$20 more. (just don't expect me to pay $60 very often)