Console-Quality Games/10 Dollar-limit

I expect Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars to be over the $10 point of purchase. How much? No clue. I'm thinking $14.99-$19.99+


People may disagree but to be honest it's a solid game and more than proven franchise. I will be purchasing it regardless of price.

I as well would like to know what others think?

 

Gameloft always releases games under 10 bucks, and they are always really polished, full console-quality games. They keep throwing out smash hits, so I'm sure they will keep going.

 

But as iPhone games start to become PSP-quality games, there is no doubt that the price will increase.

 

People expected The Sims 3 to be over $10. They expected NFS: Undercover to break the $10 barrier. I expected many ported games to be over $10. Not even Assassin's Creed II is over $10. It's a direct port from the DS version, which is about $20-$30. I highly doubt any game will go over the $10 price; not many people will be willing to buy games like that on their iPhone.

 

Well I have a feeling that apple may have leaked assassins creed II at iirc $12.99 just to see if people would bite. They did.

I honestly don't think Rockstar is going to sell themselves short on the franchise that's pretty much the face of there company. You may be the only one who doesn't buy it. I know I will.

 

dunno about that..I remember people were raving about Hero of Sparta and clamoring that it's PSP quality..that once $10 game was $1 at one point and since then a lot of games that are much better than that one are released at around $7. and they still drop to $5-ish soon after

 

Well, I think that the reason many of the "console-quality" games on the iPhone are able to be priced so low is because they don't have to produce a game disk and case for the item. Discs and plastic cases are relatively low in cost, but some of the hardware required to write the discs, punch the cases, and print all those flashy covers can significantly add to the cost of a product. Not to mention all of the personnel that have to be hired to make sure production is running smoothly. A digital download allows the producer to maintain around the same profit while selling the product for a lower price (generally speaking, of course).

So, while premium-priced games may come into existence in the app store, I think we will find that the cost will still be lowered quite a bit from what it may have been had it been produced physically rather than digitally.

I'm probably completely wrong and this isn't the case, but it makes sense to me.

 

It entirely depends on whether the developer can keep their dev costs down.

Part of the reason that iPhone games will always be cheaper than games sold on physical media (cartridges, DVD, UMD, whatever) is that they are completely devoid of physical components - no printed manuals, boxes, discs etc. That stuff costs money, and it costs money to physically ship to stores, who then take a cut, etc. Worldwide distribution is even more costly, since it requires localized discs and manuals for each language you want to release in. The sweet spot for pricing in any market is where revenue and buyer demand align nicely. On the App Store, this target is lower because of the lack of overhead - 70%, no other bull involved.

The other issue is that pretty console games are often made by large teams, which always leads to waste - wasted time, wasted work. I've worked at a few triple-A developers and can verify that in a large office with huge teams, a LOT of time gets flushed down the drain because its really hard to manage big clumsy teams of creative people. Creating console quality graphics does not require a 100-man team if you keep your group lean, focused, and only hire the best.

So yea, you'll definitely see some hi-res visuals in the future, and it probably won't break the bank either if the devs keep it simple and don't kill their bottom line with excessive manpower.

 

I highly doubt apple did that on purpase. And I never said I'd never pay $30 for a game, I said many people wouldn't

 

For GTA CW on my iphone I'm willing to trade all my apps excluding COD Z and that for a total value of aprox. $350. In short, I'm willing to pay over the top just to play it on my 3GS.

 

Actually, this makes perfect sense. Traditional distribution channels eat revenues whereas digital distribution don't eat that much.
Apple is taking their cut for maintaing the distribution channel and creating the initial "console" and giving the rest back to the developers.
If one does the math, a developer can recoup their development costs much faster and earn more revenue by releasing an iPhone hit than trying to go the old-school road of shopping their game/idea around to the various big dev companies, getting a smaller return on their investment, and losing control of their IP.

 

Exactly, that is why it baffles me why game downloads pricing for the PSP go is as high as their UMD counterparts.

 

Who ever said you'd pay $30 for a game? I don't mind paying for quality. Didn't think this would end up my primary gaming device either though. I do still play DJ Hero for ps3 from time to time. I would like to see higher end games show up eventually. It's going to happen in due time. People are paying more through DLC for script games...I will never understand those ones.

 

because if you could get the exact game for a cheaper price by downloading it digitally it would kill the umd, as there is no disk form for the digital downloads on the iphone/touch they can keep it low without outcompeting the other format, if you get what i mean...

 

Makes sense and that will pissed off Gamestop and other retailers.

 

The bitterness has set in a while ago. Gamestop don't wanna here anything about PSP Go nor Ipod Touch. Talk about a bunch of Salty McGee's...

 

For starters there is no $10 limit. It's just no one has stepped over that price to see how the market will take it. From the looks of stuff like NBA GameTime, TomTom etc. People will pay if the game is at the quality. As soon as someone (More than likely GTA) takes the leap then others will soon follow. If there is demand for bigger games expect the big time players like EA to ramp up their games immensely, or at least their prices on some games (The Sims 3 should be worth more than $10 IMO)

 

This.

And for the no-physical-container explanation, let's not forget steam....
60$ games over here.

 

I have a couple thoughts on this... I think the games are so much cheaper because of the reason everyone has said. The simple fact that they don't have any of the physical expenses that other game systems have.

I also think there is one other big difference. The Iphone/Ipod Touch are not just "game consoles". They are an item that is appealing to pretty must everybody. There are a lot more "casual" gamers on this device than any other gaming medium. I believe the reason the games are so cheap is because the sheer amount of people that have access to the games. Sure there are the people that would pay $20+ for a good game, but there are also a ton of people that wouldn't come near it. I think a lot of these companies realize that it's better to see 3 copies of a game at $10, than 1 copy of a game at $20. The lower cost gives people the chance to do spontaneous buying. For all the casual gamers, $10 is acceptable to have a cool thing to show off to all your friends... but $20... thats getting a little to high.

Anyway that is just my thought on why the pricing is so low in the app store. There is no need for it. The companies that put out good games for around $10 will probably make as much or more money than they do on other consoles that sell for $60, just from the number of people that have access to it.