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Microsoft Businesses Nintendo Sony Entertainment Games

MS and Nintendo Won't Go Budget 62

Posted by Zonk from the who-wants-more-sales? dept.
GamesIndustry.biz reports that Microsoft and Nintendo will not be following Sony into budget pricing. From the article: "Sony's initiative will inevitably force its two console rivals to fall in line sooner rather than later. With price pressure on full price titles forcing the high street to adopt aggressive tactics, older titles are looking disproportionately expensive."
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MS and Nintendo Won't Go Budget More

MS and Nintendo Won't Go Budget

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  • Price Reduction Not needed! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 05, 2005 @05:20PM (#12988905)
    XBox owners pirate all their games.

    Gamecube owners get their parents to buy the games.

  • With all 3 consoles' successors about a year away (Score:5, Informative)

    by Txiasaeia ( 581598 ) on Tuesday July 05, 2005 @05:20PM (#12988908)
    ...it's definitely time for the prices for these console games to come down. Although I love my Gamecube, this is what drives me nuts about it: the prices never seem to really go down. Take, for instance, super smash brothers melee: up here in Canada, it's *still* $40 or $50 brand new, depending on the retailer, and it's what, four years old? There are the odd exceptions, but it's extremely rare to get *any* gamecube game brand new for under $40, unless it's crap.

    PC games drop much quicker, which is nice because people who want to play the game on release date get to pay a premium and the rest of us just have to wait a month or two before it drops $10-15. On the other hand, I've been waiting over six months for Resident Evil 4 to drop from $50 to $35 or $40, and it's still only down to $45.

    Sony's move is definitely welcome; too bad I don't have a PS2 ;)

    • ...I really think that a "Greatest Hits" line should be done for the GBA. Not much is coming out for it anymore (other than a new Gunstar Heroes) and the DS is doing well enough on its own. Plus, a lot of the better games for the system (like the Castlevanias) are really hard to find, let alone at a price that isn't HIGHER than what they started out at. It'd definately help keep GBA system sales stable while all of those DS games come out in the fall. It'd also help just because GBA games disappear off
    • You can buy a used copy of RE4 in great condition for $30 plus shipping [amazon.com]. Why do you need to buy a new copy? Used computer games are typically indistinguishable from new ones.
      • Because I'm in Canada and, for starters, the link you provided doesn't have any sellers willing to ship to Canada, and second, even if they did, the shipping & exchange rate would make it almost the same as it would be to buy brand new.

        I don't know if you've ever bought a used 'cube game, but the last one fom EB (Eternal Darkness) was so scratched and thrashed that it wasn't playable. When I buy games, I buy them to play & to KEEP so that I'll be able to play it in the future.

    • In the article the response from Microsoft and Nintendo was non-committal. A "no plans at this time" response merely means they will see if Sony's move costs them sales first.

      From your post it seems that game sales in Canada may be done quite differently from the US. Here, major retailers will discount a new title $10-$15 in the first week since that is it's sales peak. Or they may choose not to lower the price but do a value added promotion such as giving away the hint book with it. Not only do they m
      • God, wouldn't *that* be nice! As it is, the game at release was $50 USD in the US and $50 CAD up here in Canada. This is typical for most computer and video games. What I can't figure out is why you yanks don't shop at Amazon.ca and save a ton of cash! Anyway, I've never seen a dip in price within the first month on any 'cube game, at any rate; Metroid Prime 2 is still $50, which is what I paid for it at Christmas.
        • Because we don't want any freaking French anywhere with our games. I got screwed with French stuff in my copy of Two Towers which I bought from a Canadian online store since it was cheaper. I would have gladly paid full price not to have the French.
          • I meant specifically amazon.ca, not a smaller online retailer. I buy box sets from .com all the time because they're typically $20-30 CAD cheaper than up here. Sorry you had a bad experience! Out of curiousity, do you guys have any duties or taxes to pay to import stuff from Canada?
            • Not that I've seen when I've ever purchased anything. As for the French comment every game in Canada must come with at least a French manual, and sometimes they even include French in the game at times. It has something to do with that wierd Quebec region. Thankfully while visiting the majority of Canada is sane, and hates them just as much as everyone else.
    • I've also noticed that Super Smash Brothers Melee has not become cheaper, but that's not really representative of Gamecube games in general. In most cases, I wait for games to drop to the US$20 level before buying them, and lately I've picked up many games at that price which were US$50 when I first got the cube (a little over a year ago). So many, in fact, that I don't have time to play them.

      I don't know what's up with SSBM. Perhaps someone else can clue us in. As for your general experiences with no

    • Take, for instance, super smash brothers melee: up here in Canada, it's *still* $40 or $50 brand new, depending on the retailer, and it's what, four years old? There are the odd exceptions, but it's extremely rare to get *any* gamecube game brand new for under $40, unless it's crap.

      In the US, SSBM is a $20 title, if that. Pikmin, Mario Sunshine, Mario Golf and other major games are also $20 new, and less used.

      So you may be right complaining about Canada for all I know, but I'm routinely pretty shocked b

  • Nintendo already (Score:3, Informative)

    by FidelCatsro ( 861135 ) <fidelcatsro&gmail,com> on Tuesday July 05, 2005 @05:22PM (#12988919) Journal
    Nintendo'S Budget range are all priced around 30 Euros last time i checked.,
    Which looking at the exchange rate , and the average higher price of consumer electronics and software in the EU pretty much means they are about in line with Sony's new US pricing scheme.
    I'm not up on the Xbox side of things but I would imagine it would be simmilar
    • 30 Euros is WAY more than $15. $15 in euros would be around 7.50-8 euros. You are being ripped off.
      • OH its 15 , right yeah that is a lot more then . I Read 35USD, I do imagine i require a little sleep.
        Though coming to think about it , Comparatively its still not that bad considering how badly we are ripped off over here (well we also get a load of perks so its not all bad)
    • Even according to the old Sony pricing scheme, a "Platinum" game for the PS/2 was around 20 Euro at EB Games, less in other places. (Even less if you buy it used.) Bear in mind that this includes a rather hefty VAT, before you compare it to US prices.

      And on the PC, I can think of old games I bought for 5 Euro. Not used, just 2-3 years old.

      So Nintendo charging 30 Euro for its "budget" games, sorta makes me wonder what dictionary they used to define "budget". Did they use the government employee definition,
      • Bear in mind that this includes a rather hefty VAT, before you compare it to US prices.

        When I import a game from Lik-Sang, the game costs 60$ and the customs add 16% VAT and 3.5% duty, I still come out with less than retail price. A game sold locally doesn't pay those 3.5% duty and could cost 50$ without tax.

  • Not just budget, but smaller games too (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Peter Cooper ( 660482 ) on Tuesday July 05, 2005 @05:30PM (#12988984) Homepage Journal
    There are a lot of "casual" gamers out there who aren't interested in the full price titles, and perhaps only have a couple. (I only have one full price PS 2 game - Gran Turismo 4) Casual gamers prefer cheaper and smaller games to pass away an hour now and then. I paid £10 ($18) for a reasonably unknown pool game which has been great fun to play.. but £30-£40 ($50-$60) for a single full price game which might suck is crazy.

    We've had lots of articles on /. lately talking about how "casual gaming" is becoming a massive industry of its own. Casual gamers and hardcore gamers are rarely interested in the same stuff, so why don't companies like Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo produce games for this audience too? We'll pay $20 for simple, fun games with low production costs.. and not $60 for over-produced, multi million dollar titles. Where are the simple console games? Bring em on!
    • Microsoft is catering to the "casual gaming" audiance ... lookup "Live Arcade"

      • How many casuals are going to get a credit card and XBox Live (Live requires the CC) just to play some simple games they could probably play on some website as flash games?

        Remember, in Europe credit cards are a rarity.
        • How else are you going to distribute the games? Stores won't replace $50 games on their shelves with $5 games. If you can't get the stores to stock $5 games then how are you going to distribute games to people?

          If credit cards in Europe are rare, tough cookies. Doesn't change the fact that MS is the only company trying to go after the casual gamer.
          • Just because there's no alternative doesn't mean the only possible solution is workable. The arcade is still too casual unfriendly to appeal to them and I don't think they're going to care that there's no other way for those games to be released.

            Besides, the PC shelves are full of 5$ games that are probably knock-offs of some flash game.

            Oh and so far all three companies have declared they're going after the casual gamer, especially Nintendo who are building entire systems around that idea. The DS is meant
            • If Live Arcade is too casual "unfriendly" because it requires a credit card, Nintendo won't have any success either. Of course, I would argue that the casual gamer isn't going to buy a console in the first place...

              Of course, you're still missing the point. The original poster was complaining about how the big 3 were ignoring the casual gamer market. I noted that at least one of them was doing something TODAY.

    • We'll pay $20 for simple, fun games with low production costs.. and not $60 for over-produced, multi million dollar titles. Where are the simple console games? Bring em on!

      Haven't rushes of low quality games caused the game markets to crash in the past?

      Games should get cheaper over time. Lots of my friends enjoy the sports games (Madden football for instance). They intentionally buy the year old version for $10 -$20 around the time the newest latest greatest comes out for $50 - $60. I was impresse

  • It's not "budget" enough... (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Did they saiy they were dropping prices on thier budget games to something rediculous like $34.99? Sorry, Sony, but maybe that would be news to me if it were, say, $19.99 down to $15.99 or something. 35$ is not exactly cheap.
  • I've noticed that it takes a pretty good game to get me to pay CDN$60. However, I'll buy even mediocre games on the spur of the moment for $20. I'll even buy bad games for $10.

    A smarter pricing scheme, IMHO, would be $30 new, then down to $20 after a year, and $10 after three. To me, that sounds about right for proper game pricing. But that's just me, and I haven't done any real market analysis. (Then again, it seems that most game companies don't bother with market analyses anyway.) All I know is,

    • "All I know is, I'd be buying new games left right and center if they were $30 brand new."

      "I'd buy MORE shitty games if only they were cheaper" is not the message I want to send developers.
      We should reward their good work with a surrogate form of ours... ($$)

      • well thankfully, developers don't price the games, the middle-men aka publishers do.
      • I have no problem paying full price for a game that will give me many hours of enjoyment. I look at it as an investment in future games I'm going to like. It takes money to create new games. While it would be nice to see lower priced games, I don't want to sacrifice innovation and creativity to save a few bucks.
        • I have no problem paying full price for a game that will give me many hours of enjoyment.

          Neither do I. But it's so rare today that a game is sufficiently fun and fresh to warrant a high price.

          While it would be nice to see lower priced games, I don't want to sacrifice innovation and creativity to save a few bucks.

          IMHO, innovation and creativity are not exactly commonplace in the gaming market today. In fact, many developers seem to have incredible difficulty even including the bare minimum require

    • There have been a few articles speculating that the current pricing system hasn't adjusted for inflation since the last console generation, and that we, as consumers, should reasonable expect to pay as much as US$70 for a new launch title for the next gen systems.

      However, past attempts at this have met resistance.
      How many of you remember when the N64 Launched, the "Star Wars: Shadow of the Empire" game retailed for US$90. That was intended to be the average for most new titles.

      And let's not forget the Ne
      • There have been a few articles speculating that the current pricing system hasn't adjusted for inflation since the last console generation, and that we, as consumers, should reasonable expect to pay as much as US$70 for a new launch title for the next gen systems.

        I've kind of wondered about that, too. But then I think about how many more systems games are available for and how many more copies of each are sold. Does this inflation adjustment take into account the increase in the total number of sales?

        • Ok, when a company tells you they had a staff of a million people working on games, it's total BS.

          Game companies like to tell you these things so you feel "SPECIAL". Like your product took the efforts of thousands, and you feel great. In reality, some intern highschool kid added a 1 line of comment, and he could have been considered +1 to the headcount.

          Look at the game credit for ANY GAME, that's where the real count usually is. Marketers always tell you this game is bigger, badder, had a huge workforc
          • The game credits have been getting longer and longer. Back then each position was staffed with one or two people and most had multiple positions, now most positions have 4-5 people with fewer positions per person. Take the game credits for the original Zelda and hold them next to the credits of some Ea game.
      • N64 and NeoGeo games were overexpensive because of the physical media used (ie. ROM cartridges). Mass produced CDs or DVDs cost are the complete opposite, costing only a few cents each. That's the biggest reason why consoles (and coin-ups) have shifted to optical disc media.
    • I remember when the console market crashed back in the 80s and Atari carts were a couple of bucks apiece. We amassed quite a library of decent games at those prices.

      The key work is "crashed." As in, the games were worthless and retailers would do anything to dump them because no one was buying. When the Atari-Intellivision-Coleco-etc. craze was in its heydey, games went for $25-$60... Same as now, and that's in early 80's dollars.

    • Reminds me of the Dreamcast.

      Mars Matrix is still the best shmup ever, Ikaruga doesn't compare. There were other great games for that system that I got for $5-$15, some never released for anything else.
  • as to why this story is such a big deal. I've seen it on all the major game sites, and to me it doesn't even seem news worthy.
  • The original story wasn't news. Neither is this. Raise your standards a little, please. Don't just link press releases.

  • Sony blowing smoke (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Mirkon ( 618432 ) <mirkon.gmail@com> on Tuesday July 05, 2005 @08:15PM (#12990084) Homepage
    So the original news was that platinum titles would MSRP for $35. So what? Is this a big discount? If it is, it's more of a correction than an initiative. I can't speak for Microsoft, but Nintendo's Players' Choice [wikipedia.org] line has had lower prices (if I recall, $40 or less) for years. In fact, this IGN article [ign.com] from nearly two years ago talks about some popular Gamecube titles being discounted to $30 and even $20.

    MS and Nintendo "won't go budget?" Go look at a game rack, buddy. Nintendo's been acquainted with budget pricing longer than either of the other Big Three, and Microsoft has its own Platinum Hits campaign from several years back. We're supposed to be siding with Sony for cutting the high-end budget price by a fiver? Give me a break.
    • The original Slashdot blurb was misleading. Sony were cutting the price of their budget range (PlayStation Platinum) from £20 (~$35) to £15 (~$25). This article is saying that Microsoft and Nintendo are saying Xbox Classics and Gamecube Player's Choice are staying at £20.

      It's of more intrest to European games, but it does illustrate how overpriced games in Europe are.
    • Yes, Slashdot claims to be only about the US but this story is about Europe. Most budget lines are 30 Euros here, which is 35USD. I think that's a conversion error in the story however because I doubt that's much of a price drop even in the UK (probably would be in Denmark or Sweden or something). Standard pricing for console games is 60 Euros. PC games are priced the same as in the US, just converted to Euros.
      • The UK numbers, if anyone cares, are that Platinum/Classics/Whatever budget lines for all three were £20, and Sony are officially reducing the PS2 Platinum range from £20 to £15.

        The fact that they have been running virtually non-stop "2 for £30" offers on the entire range for what feels like a good year or so means that this isn't really much of a change anyway, however.
  • I always see best-selling or platinum titles for $19.99, but I always balk at picking them up when I'm out shopping. I really want to pick up Soul Calibur II, but I feel like it's still too expensive.

    Now the a few weeks ago I saw Burnout 3 for $18 and picked it up immediately even though it's only a measly 2 bucks cheaper. I'll bite easier that that price point. Probably has to do with knowing that $19.99 is actually $20 that turns my impulse buying off. $17.99 turns into $18 which nicely removes that '2'
  • On Xbox Live [xbox.com] you can sort of do this already.

    Check out the games - arcade classics and games developed on the Torque engine for $10.

    Admittedly you need to be on X-Box live to get this, but nonetheless MS are using their online service to enter the low priced market.

    It's inevitable. Paying full price for a AAA that has graphics better than anything you've seen before is kinda worth it, but most games are merely slight improvements over previous incarnations. The back catalogue will catch up with the

  • I was amazed when I saw Battlefield 2 brand new at Fry's Electronics for only $35 American. There is no way I could have not bought it for that price. Of course I also had to buy a $300 dollar Graphics Card from them to play it.
  • You'd have to do something other than a price cut to get me to buy an XBox game. Just the amount of fun I get playing a Nintendo game makes it worth more than an XBox title, in my opinion. Now I know you're thinking that this is a fanboy post, but I just don't enjoy XBox games. I guess I'm more of an "E rating, but not a sports title" fanboy than a Nintendo fanboy.

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