Gothic 4 aka Arcania - crazy pricing?

from Stardock Forums

Worrying trend I've noticed recently it that game prices are starting to creep up into the ridiculous. Starcraft 2 was the one which seems to have got this ball rolling, being one of the priciest games I've bought in a long time, but I notice Fallout New Vegas weighing in on the heavy side, and now Arcania at a ludicrous £45. It seems the average price for games has jumped from £25 to £35 overnight (post SC2), yet money is tighter than ever for people (including myself) with the recession.

As much as I'd like to get this title, having loved Gothic 1 & 2 (3 was a grit-the-teeth experience), even assuming the standard -£10 pre-ordering or online store discount this is a still very expensive. If it were priced a bit more reasonably it would be a must-buy on launch date, as is, it'll be a skip the damn thing altogether until it is a bargain bin title. Shame really as rpgs need all the sales they can get to justify making them over generic shooter version 193.

75,206 views 21 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

yet money is tighter than ever for people (including myself) with the recession.

"Depression" would be more like it. We passed the "recession" mark a long time ago. People are just afraid to call it what it is, a Depression.

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Raven, reply 1

quoting post yet money is tighter than ever for people (including myself) with the recession.


"Depression" would be more like it. We passed the "recession" mark a long time ago. People are just afraid to call it what it is, a Depression.

 

Well, it's not so much that they're afraid to call it a Depression, it's that the population has a particular view of what to expect out of a Depression (i.e. soup kitchens and whatnot), and most people don't realize that those who are outside of the 30% unemployment feel a Depression as though it were no different than a Recession, it's just that 30% feels it really hard.

Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

I don't know about in Europe, but in North America Starcraft 2 was priced as any standard 360/PS3 game. PC games had been running at a relative discount.

Arcania seems to just have screwy regional pricing, since it's $50 on Steam and Impulse.

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

As $50 is around 32 pounds, it sounds like prices are just finally starting to correct for the weak pound. It's devalued quite a bit in the past couple of years relative to other western currencies so UK gamers have really been getting things for cheap up until now.

Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

Looks like the box version would set me back £24.99 , with a £29.99 rrp. Another title beset by quirky digital distribution pricing / regional issues?

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Tridus, reply 4
I don't know about in Europe, but in North America Starcraft 2 was priced as any standard 360/PS3 game. PC games had been running at a relative discount.

 

thats because pc gamers do not have to play platform royalities, unlike PS/Xbox ect. games, where 8$ or so go to the platform owner.

 

Anyway, Modern warfare 2 was also 60$ on PC, another Activision game.

Reply #8 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Bodyless, reply 7

Quoting Tridus, reply 4I don't know about in Europe, but in North America Starcraft 2 was priced as any standard 360/PS3 game. PC games had been running at a relative discount.
 

thats because pc gamers do not have to play platform royalities, unlike PS/Xbox ect. games, where 8$ or so go to the platform owner.

And they get the benefit of reduced development costs due to only having one hardware/software configuration to develop and test for. Pick your poison. :P

 

Reply #9 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Tridus, reply 8

Quoting Bodyless, reply 7
Quoting Tridus, reply 4I don't know about in Europe, but in North America Starcraft 2 was priced as any standard 360/PS3 game. PC games had been running at a relative discount.
 

thats because pc gamers do not have to play platform royalities, unlike PS/Xbox ect. games, where 8$ or so go to the platform owner.


And they get the benefit of reduced development costs due to only having one hardware/software configuration to develop and test for. Pick your poison.

 
There are software solutions for PCs that do a lot to simplify PC development, though.

Reply #10 from Elemental Forums Top

...Starcraft 2 was the one which seems to have got this ball rolling...

I just wanted to correct this: it was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 that started this trend of charging as much as you possibly can, and keeping the title at release price until the next title in the series is out.  You can thank Activision for making this a trend.

Reply #11 from Elemental Forums Top

Well, PC game prices have been stagnant at the $49.99 price point for at least 10 years. Even with the recent price increase of console games to $60, console prices are still actually cheaper compared to the cartridge days. Remember, Nintendo used to charge 3rd party publishers $35 for a cartridge during the NES/SNES days. That pushed retail to around $70 on occasion.

Honestly, I don't see why prices have to standardized. I think Torchlight had the right idea. Casual games don't have to be the only games released at a low price. There should be a market for smaller games like Torchlight who sell at a lower price compared to AAA, big budget games.

Reply #12 from Elemental Forums Top

Worrying trend I've noticed recently it that game prices are starting to creep up into the ridiculous. Starcraft 2 was the one which seems to have got this ball rolling, being one of the priciest games I've bought in a long time, but I notice Fallout New Vegas weighing in on the heavy side, and now Arcania at a ludicrous £45. It seems the average price for games has jumped from £25 to £35 overnight (post SC2), yet money is tighter than ever for people (including myself) with the recession.

As much as I'd like to get this title, having loved Gothic 1 & 2 (3 was a grit-the-teeth experience), even assuming the standard -£10 pre-ordering or online store discount this is a still very expensive. If it were priced a bit more reasonably it would be a must-buy on launch date, as is, it'll be a skip the damn thing altogether until it is a bargain bin title. Shame really as rpgs need all the sales they can get to justify making them over generic shooter version 193.

Boxed on Amazon.co.uk is £19.99 with free P&P, where are you getting your prices?! Even the console versions are not £45.

Reply #13 from Elemental Forums Top

I remember buying Morrowwind for around 80 dollars. Normal edition. Nothing special. Thats pushing it.

Reply #14 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting Thizzbaby, reply 12


Boxed on Amazon.co.uk is £19.99 with free P&P, where are you getting your prices?! Even the console versions are not £45.

exactly. shop around. in this day and age if you can't find a reasonable price, you're not looking hard enough.

Reply #15 from Elemental Forums Top

Good luck finding Starcraft 2 for a good price. That game is going to stay high priced for ages and ages.

Reply #16 from Elemental Forums Top

Diablo 2 Battlechest is still over 40 dollars in lots of places.

Reply #17 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting DariasDruss, reply 13
I remember buying Morrowwind for around 80 dollars. Normal edition. Nothing special. Thats pushing it.

You can almost be forgiven for this, since I personally consider Morrowind to be the best video game ever made. :D

The key to combating this overpricing is for players to stop preordering games and to stop buying games within the first month of release.  99% of PC games need patching right after release anyway, so just wait for the patch and the price will drop as well.  People pay a lot for their impatience.

Reply #18 from Elemental Forums Top

I can't seem rdy to forgive myself for it either.

 

Didn't even know what the series was or about. Only looked like a good rpg.

Reply #19 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting Tourresh, reply 15
Good luck finding Starcraft 2 for a good price. That game is going to stay high priced for ages and ages.

Picked it up for $69AU, which is one of the cheapest PC games I’ve ever bought on release day.

Reply #20 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Tridus, reply 4
I don't know about in Europe, but in North America Starcraft 2 was priced as any standard 360/PS3 game. PC games had been running at a relative discount.

Blizzard decided that currency differences shouldn't matter and just sold their digital copy for €50. :) In the US they offered it for download at $50. I bought my boxed version for about €45, which is fairly standard in Germany for a new PC release. (The CE was €99 and I decided I don't really need it, though it was the first Blizzard game that I didn't get the CE for, when one was offered.)

Reply #21 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Mivo, reply 20

Blizzard decided that currency differences shouldn't matter and just sold their digital copy for €50. In the US they offered it for download at $50. I bought my boxed version for about €45, which is fairly standard in Germany for a new PC release. (The CE was €99 and I decided I don't really need it, though it was the first Blizzard game that I didn't get the CE for, when one was offered.)

Ouch! Might have been cheaper to import from Canada. :P