Deering: Blockbuster games need to cost £70 to support industry

That's it, I'm quitting videogames. Time to find a cheaper addiction, like heroin or cocaine.

The real problem is what constitutes a "AAA" title. If it's simply another entry from a AAA franchise, sorry, not good enough. If it's a game that, say, maintains a 90+ score on metacritic, I'm willing to pay top dollar for that.

Too often we nitpick price, whether it be a AAA title, a sub/RMT MMO, or even a console, yet don't seem to stress quality. I'd honestly rather pay $115 for a phenomenal game, than even $20 for the typical shovelware we get these days (yeah, I'm lookin' at you, EA and Activision).

Here's a thought: good games save me money!

When I have a really good game, I'm hooked for months, even years sometimes, and I play it almost exclusively. When I don't, I'm buying games left and right, PC game here, console game there, some Xbox Live Arcade downloads, a new MMO sub, etc. Adding up, I'll spend easily over $200-300 a month on mediocre titles searching for that next extraordinary title to hook me.

I payed $750 for 3 copies of my favorite game of all time, Steel Battalion and the sequel Line of Contact for the original Xbox, and I would have payed double, even triple, if they could have just fixed the netcode and kept the campaign server running. You'll say I'm crazy, but that game would have saved me a ton of money in the long run, becuase I would have NEVER purchased anything else for as long as it was running.

TL;DR version: I'll pay top dollar for games with REAL QUALITY, POLISH and REPLAYABILITY (90+ metacritic games), not for the typical shovelware we're fed on a regular basis.

I suppose he must be right. As the article mentions briefly, I find it insulting that the answer for gaming companies is to raise prices. Really? That's the best you can come up with? I may not know the ins and outs of game development like the back of my hand, but I'm not a complete moron. Seeing some of the things these places do, the trips they take, promotions, excess in offices, etc. it's hard for me to agree to pay more.

It seems like every media outlet is telling me that I need to be more fiscally responsible. Money saving tips are left and right. Where's the accountability for corporations? Why don't we make THEM be more responsible? Does it take a news story on bankrupt companies flying in private jets to make this happen? What's good for them can be good for us and vice versa.

Especially in light of the recent publicity on the largest dip in gaming since forever, you'd think companies would be inclined to put more thought behind their efforts. It simply should not take umpteen million dollars to produce a title. Companies going out of business, buyouts, titles without a home, come on. Charging consumers more is NOT going to fix your industry.

I don't know, I think gaming is a lost cause. It has seen its peak. It's like the movies or music business have become. It's about pumping out money making titles with 2 or 3 quality titles in a year if we're lucky. Stop diluting the market with crap, smarten your budgets, and you'll make a lot more money selling games at an affordable price tag.

That's more like my 50 cents than 2, but take it or leave it, I don't care.

Why does this remind me of the old Neo-Geo system. Games were much better then most other systems, however, the price point killed the system and how it never really made it?

*sigh*

Here's a short list of alternatives to price bilking:
1. Cut your staff from 350 to 100
2. Stop building games that rely on rights licensure (I'm looking at you Call of Duty style military games)
3. Mitigate the cost of game engines by using older technology, yes the games will look less amazing but in time Unreal, Id and Crytek engine costs will suffer a significant price dip.
4. Tell Autodesk to shove it! There are other 3D programs out there people that are far more cost effective.
5. Try releasing your sh!t before or after the holiday season.

Just a few suggestions from a fellow who's not gonna pay more than $60 for a game he probably won't ever finish, a game that provides no money back guarantee in the event of suckage.

Thank You

I seriously thought that was a picture for a second. This game is gonna pwn.

This just says, if anything, that PS3 and 360 overshot the development market significantly. The funny thing is that 3rd parties campaigned for a lot of the extra power in these systems, like the extra memory in the 360

It's okay, Deering's just a little bit special...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IFUNIa2NU8&feature=related

I'm not paying more money for better graphics but the same old gameplay.

games are media entertainment.

movies are media entertainment.

some movies cost hundreds of millions to make.... and you still pay THE SAME DAMN PRICE TO SEE THEM EVERY TIME

you're not supposed to make more money by raising the price, you're supposed to make it up in volume.

good luck with your new plan, idiots

Developers don't "have" to spend more if they stopped bleeding budgets over $60 million. Movie makers complain about the same thing, but they don't have to blow up their budgets to make a good movie.

i will drop gaming like a bad habbit if games cost $115. devs need to find a better way to lower costs or something.

yeah, i was computerless for awhile...

now that i got it back and see the deals on Steam, and how fun some of my old computer games were, i barely turn my PS3 on anymore...

"...publishers are having to spend more than ever before. That's the key problem." No, the problem is that the majority of the industries publishers agreed to pay relatively steep licensing fees and spend princely sums of money on development tools with the idea that console exclusivity or a console-centric focus would automatically make them wealthy beyond their wildest dreams; instead of saying, "Oi...how much are you charging us just so we can touch your system? Why am I spending $10,000+ for what's basically a console in a larger case and set of debug tools when, in all likelihood, it and the software costs slightly more?" at the very beginning of this generation and negotiating with console makers to keep those costs reasonable, all they simply thought as they hurriedly signed the dotted line was, "Why sweat the small stuff? We're going to make a fortune anyway!"

They all knew what they were getting into before this generation even began and only now are they saying, "It costs too much! We need to raise our prices!" We, the consumer, already paid a substantial price increase ($60-$70 up from $50 CDN) this generation to ease the burden of rising costs; it's not our fault publishers lacked the foresight and were too fucking to stupid to make the negotiations necessary to keep an average console game's budget below a minimum of $16,000,000 while maintaining the same level of quality.

Mr. Deering...if people like you sign a Faustian pact for wealth, don't whine when the devil raps at your bedroom door expecting his payment in one outreached hand while holding your contract in the other even though, while rich, your life is miserable.

In response to the question of cost in Europe vs cost in US I think its unfair to proclaim that Europeans should pay more because they happen to not speak English... I live in England and could argue that games should be released in the UK at the same time as North America as we speak English. I'm paying for a translation that i don't need!

The fact is that in the UK and other PAL territories such as Australia, we all pay a premium for ALL goods. Games companies put $299 on a console in the US, when that console is released in the UK they simply exchange the dollar sign for a pound sign! This is of course completely unfair, but it is the way it is.

Anyone remember the N64 release of Turok ? That was £70 on release!

No-one wants to go back to those dark days..... other industries adapt to new costs (e.g. DVD and Blu-Ray which started off £25 plus in some cases) and will reduce manufacturing costs, or in game development terms, reduce team size.

"We've got huge problems with piracy and used sales in this industry, so let's raise the prices to encourage even fewer people to buy new!"

WTF?

the never ending quest for realism