Xbox 360 games cheaper than expected?

[TomO]

Amazon.co.uk has listed several Xbox 360 games for pre order at a lower than expected price.

Recent reports (http://www.pro-g.co.uk/news/nid/1235/) have suggested that Xbox 360 games would retail for £44.99 when the console is launched in the UK later this year. However, Amazon.co.uk has begun listing Xbox 360 games for pre order with the prices at either £29.99 or £32.99. So far the only games listed are Call of Duty 2 - £29.99, Kameo: Elements of Power - £29.99, Perfect Dark Zero - £32.99, Quake 4 - £29.99, Tony Hawk's American Wasteland - £29.99 and GUN - £29.99.

Full story (http://www.pro-g.co.uk/news/nid/1256/)

[Commissar Rob]

So that's about $55 to $60 USD right? Sounds like the "premium" pricing for current gen titles, but not the $60 a pop across the board figure that's been making the rounds (and btw is what is on the US Amazon site at present).

Still, five bucks is five bucks (or 2.78 pounds is 2.78 pounds). Good news, mayhaps.

[Savok]

Sounds about normal I think. Console games are $90-$100AU here, translates to $68-$76US currently. PAL pricing, learn it, live it, hate it.

[TRiLoGY]

heh, I would guess that if we pay £30 you will probably pay $30.. (but that is only a guess based on 1$=£1 as the exchange rate does not normally apply..)

[bean19]

heh, I would guess that if we pay £30 you will probably pay $30.. (but that is only a guess based on 1$=£1 as the exchange rate does not normally apply..)

What do you pay for a PS2 or Xbox game at release (that isn't discount priced)?

[TRiLoGY]

What do you pay for a PS2 or Xbox game at release (that isn't discount priced)?

For ps2 normally about £40 (£39.99) :)

[Furious Wang]

UK Tariffs cause high prices. Sounds like the price for US games will stay the same next gen.

To US readers: Did you know that minimum wage in UK is 9$ American and set to rise in October?

[MrMeatshake]

this IS cheaper than i was expecting. i definately thought that the much vaunted $60 price point would mean us suckers would get them for £50/60. and i'd have to start whoring myself out in order to feed my gaming addiction.

[drakkarim]

don't worry, they'll still be higher here in the states, they have to make up their 'losses' somewhere :)

[Intruder]

This is the reason I may not be getting a next gen system. Sure the graphics are great but lets face it folks, throughout a systems lifespan there are very few MUST HAVE games, and even for those it is hard to justify spending $60 on them.

Where will it end? What will you all do once the price reached 70 or 80 dollars per game? Will you still go out and buy it? I knopw I won't.

My hope is that enough people will snub the new prices that the companies will realize that a $50 price point is thier sweet spot and stick with it. Or a better solution is that the pricing will stay the same with a few "Premium" prices every so often.

I have a feeling that if the prices continue to rise, piracy will also become much more rampant and much more acceptable.

And then you have those in the PAL districts, those guys I really feel sorry for.

BTW: $9 minimum wage, wow. How much skill does it take for someone to flip burgers :)

[Atorak]

BTW: $9 minimum wage, wow. How much skill does it take for someone to flip burgers :)

Well, in the UK, they don't have as many fast food restaurants as the lard-asses in the US, so burger-flippers are more of a rarity. :)

PS: Yes, I'm American.

[Justin_McElroy]

I was going to post something witty on this topic but I don't know how to make the "£" symbol.

Wait..holy fuck, how did that get there?

[bean19]

Well, in the UK, they don't have as many fast food restaurants as the lard-asses in the US, so burger-flippers are more of a rarity. :)

PS: Yes, I'm American.


Lots of factors really. English citizens have a higher average education level. Corporations less powerful. The government is centralized and this raises voter knowledge and lowers corruption.

The U.S. system was suppossed to work this way by having a strong federal government and strong State governments that decided the day-to-day issues, but the federal government has greatly expanded through the use of the necessary and proper clause. The result is our country that suffers from a two-party system that allows the choice of corrupt or even-more corrupt politicians due to poor voter knowledge and corporate influence.

Anyway, good show and all that. I'd gladly move to your fine little island country if I can get a job with Lionhead or Rockstar upon completing college. :) Btw, would having a Texan accent score me points the way having a Brittish accent scores points for people in the States?

[mister_slim]

BTW: $9 minimum wage, wow. How much skill does it take for someone to flip burgers :)
Are we talking just flipping them or flipping them and making sure the cheap beef is cooked until the E. Coli is dead?

[*Legion*]

Where will it end? What will you all do once the price reached 70 or 80 dollars per game? Will you still go out and buy it? I knopw I won't.

Jesus Christ. Game prices have barely moved in 20 years, and we get crybaby bitching like this? Unbelievable.

$50 games in 1992 (Super NES) = $67 and change in 2004 money.
$40 games in 1988 (NES) = $63 and change in 2004 money.

We should be so lucky for games to only cost $60 today. Just because we've been spoiled doesn't mean we're getting ripped off with a price adjustment.

[Achilles]

English citizens have a higher average education level. Corporations less powerful. The government is centralized and this raises voter knowledge and lowers corruption.From what I understand watching British parliament, the minimum wage was increased to try to stimulate the economy, and it worked. That ran counter to how I used to think of it, but if it worked for you guys maybe it would work for us too. I wonder if any small businesses went under because of the increased labor cost. It seems like corporations would be best able to conform to the new minimum wage.

The area where I live has a $7.50 minimum wage, which is only $1.50 off of England, so I don't know about all these other causes you mention being that big a factor. We also pay a lot less in taxes, so even though the minimum wage is lower the people who earn it probably have about the same standard of living.

[Rangoth]

I'm not paying $60 for a game.
They can kiss my ass.

[Sanchez]

For ps2 normally about £40 (£39.99) :)


Actually, on most online stores the games won't be more than £32, for all platforms, only highstreet stores have games at £40.

Cheaper games are always good, but this is bad news for Nintendo, who were expecting sales on their cheaper to make and sell games.

[RicoSuave77]

Jesus Christ. Game prices have barely moved in 20 years, and we get crybaby bitching like this? Unbelievable.

$50 games in 1992 (Super NES) = $67 and change in 2004 money.
$40 games in 1988 (NES) = $63 and change in 2004 money.

We should be so lucky for games to only cost $60 today. Just because we've been spoiled doesn't mean we're getting ripped off with a price adjustment.

Absolutely. Final Fantasy 3 retailed for $70 in 1990 (as did several other games around the same time - Street Fighter 2, Phantasy Star 3, etc.) - that is nearly $100 in today's money. Until Sony set the $50 standard with the Playstation, game priced fluctuated wildly, often being much more than the $60 per game that's being suggested today.

[01010]

However what you don't realise is the the cost of living here in the U.K is ridiculous. I couldn't even afford to live in a 2 room bedsit by myself on minimum wage. The increase will be nice but it's a token effort by New Labour at appeasment.

[bean19]

Absolutely. Final Fantasy 3 retailed for $70 in 1990 (as did several other games around the same time - Street Fighter 2, Phantasy Star 3, etc.) - that is nearly $100 in today's money. Until Sony set the $50 standard with the Playstation, game priced fluctuated wildly, often being much more than the $60 per game that's being suggested today.

Yeah. . . well they sell a shit-ton more units now which is what keeps the costs down.

The risk for video games and the payoff are similar to movies (at a ratio, games still cost less to develop than big budget movies, but "Titanic" probably made more than GTA: San Andreas). So having lower pricing makes sense on paper even with rising development costs.

Still, I expect a rise in prices for other titles as the initial lower cost games are probably for marketing purposes. Microsoft probably wants to lower the barrier to entry for buying their new system in order to take full advantage of their head start.

There is a downside to this, of course. It means that developers are much more likely to follow the current trend of making most high budget games sequels or appealling to mass market crowds. However, we still see companies shelling out big bucks to develop new intellectual properties (i.e. God of War, F.E.A.R., Gears of War). Just like there are mass market films that are fun and enjoyable, some of these mass market games rock the house.

The days of the successful independent games or off-the-wall smaller designer games certainly aren't over either. In the past year we've seen such jewels as Katamari Damacy and Psychonauts, and two games I'm looking forward to in the fall that look really original and fun are "The Movies" by Lionhead Studios and "Bully" by Rockstar. Equally cool, "City of Villains" is the first game I can think of that allows players to take on the role of a comic book supervillain and it's an MMORPG. Fans of the MMORPG genre are actually looking at quite a bit of innovation really, Dungeons and Dragons Online is throwing away a lot of what we know about MMOs by adding a limited amount of twitch gameplay and making their xp modeled off of quest completion entirely (no xp for killing mobs - it's ALL about beating the handcrafted dungeons, and Auto Assault is a car battle MMORPG.

The industry is thriving despite rising development costs. Nay-sayers be damned. The only problem I have is with publishers and their fondness of large stacks of crisp green peices of paper is their pig-headed insistence on releasing games all at once as the holiday season begins.


Note to self: I really need to stop writing editorials instead of just normal human replies.

[TRiLoGY]

Actually, on most online stores the games won't be more than £32, for all platforms, only highstreet stores have games at £40.

Cheaper games are always good, but this is bad news for Nintendo, who were expecting sales on their cheaper to make and sell games.

yes.. but he asked for High street prices ;)

[Achilles]

However what you don't realise is the the cost of living here in the U.K is ridiculous. I couldn't even afford to live in a 2 room bedsit by myself on minimum wage. The increase will be nice but it's a token effort by New Labour at appeasment.Yeah, that was kind of my point when responding to Bean 19. He was talking about all this corruption and States having power as being factors, but when I was living on $8 an hour I had a 53” HDTV, broadband and cable as well as my own apartment. Now I had to eat ramen and rice most days, but still, it’s minimum wage, what do you expect? At that point your income tax is down around 15% (no state income tax here), and renting you don’t have any other taxes except for sales tax. If anything I think the States rights system we have in the US has kept federal taxes from being too high, and since we have more control over our local State governments we can give them the boot when they start to raise taxes.

[Sanchez]

yes.. but he asked for High street prices ;)
Who did? Amazon isn't highstreet..

[oneway23]

Bottom line is, we can discuss price adjustments and inflation all we want, but as the value of the dollar has decreased, the standard of living has sharply increased, particularly here in NY....Shelling out any more cash for what essentially amounts to a hobby is simply not an option for me, increased development costs or not.

[TRiLoGY]

Who did? Amazon isn't highstreet..

Bean19 asked me earlier in the thread, and yes, Amazon isn't highstreet... well done ;)