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OK. Something occured to me over the weekend... The cost of Games.
Lets look at the average cost over the formats:
PS2 - £44.99
PS1 - £39.99
N64 - £44.99
GBA - £34.99
GBC - £29.99
DC - £29.99
Now lets look at the "Bits" size:
PS2 - 128bit
PS1 - 32bit
N64 - 64bit
GBA - 32bit RISC
GBC - 16bit?
DC - (apparently) 128bit
Now the console costs:
PS2 - 199.99
PS1 - 69.99
N64 - 49.99+
GBA - 89.99
GBC - 69.99
DC - 99.99
The reason I noticed these comparisons was that my wife wanted a GBA unitl I saw how muchthe games would be! How do these companie justify these cost especially with the difference in performance across the various platforms?
OK, so there's the development costs: Creating a 128bit materpiece now runs into bugets equalling that of movies but coulf you say that for the creation of a GBA game? I think not!!
Then there's the licence costs: Nintendo are notorious for charging developers the earth for creating games for their platforms as oposed to Sony (Fools that they were) granting licences to anyone who wanted to make a game. Does this qualify the £10 difference between a PS2 game and a CBA title? I think not...
Then you have the Taxation etc: As I understand it, the taxing on games is the same no matter what format, so the tax retailers etc pay for their PS2 titles is about the same as those for GBA title... Does this justify the high costs? Naaa!!
Personally I think most of it is down to the retailers...
Gaming is a huge market, and obviously, there is a lot of money to be made buy it if you think about it. Lets take GT3 for example: 2million copies at £40 a go, thats £80million... blimey!! Now if one retailer was responsible for all those sales, taking a 30% margin, that reatiller looks to take £24million quid!! Being o tad over generous on estimation here, say that retailer had one shop, with 2 staff, accounting for his overheads (rent, wages etc) he could still be looking at taking £20million (I'm guessing here!!)
I challenged one high street retailer about the difference in price of the sales in the shop and on the internet. Aparently they have higher over heads in stor and have to charge more? MMMMM!! Lets see...
In the store, they unpack the box, put it on the shelf, the shopper comes in, picks it up off the shelf and pays thjen leaves... Over heads, mainly rent and staff
Online: The shopper places his order, enters his transactions details, the retailer then processes the order, sends it to the warehouse, the warehouse guy picks it up off the shelf, packs it the mails it then send an invoice to the customer. Overheads... Admin staff, servers, rent for Warehouse,warehouse staff, pickers and packers, delivery etc etc... And yet the games online are cheaper? HOW?
The retailers mark up is pretty high. Some titles are now selling for as little as £20 due to their age/popularity, but they are still able to make a profit on these! But what really gets on my goat is the ability to sell a 32bit title for £10 less than one ai,ed for 128bit especially if it's the same game!! (Bad example but look at BustaMove4!!)
I think it's about time gamers started fighting for lower prices. We're the market, we buy the games, we tecnically keeo these people in jobs... Remeber what happened to the Major Legue Baseball in the USA when they started asking for higher wages.. people stopped going and it was axed for a year!!
We should no longer be taken for fools or taken advantage of. you don't see bands selling their CD's at higher prices because they have more fans do you? And if they did, I'm sure they would loose them quite quickly!!
I have one solution... Return them after playing them and get your money back! Legally (Consumer law here!!), if you are unsatisfied with a product, the retailer has to give you your money back (though certain ones will try to tell you they can't). So I suggest that next time you buy a game costing a fair packet, when you get home and find out it a)crap and b)short. Find and excuse to take it back and demand your money back... And buy another game!!
Think next time you buy a game... How much has your collection cost you and how much is it really worth?
My rant is over... I've found Silent Hill 2 for £32.99 as opposed to £44.99 and guaranteed on day of release... I'm off shopping!!
Bye
Lets look at the average cost over the formats:
PS2 - £44.99
PS1 - £39.99
N64 - £44.99
GBA - £34.99
GBC - £29.99
DC - £29.99
Now lets look at the "Bits" size:
PS2 - 128bit
PS1 - 32bit
N64 - 64bit
GBA - 32bit RISC
GBC - 16bit?
DC - (apparently) 128bit
Now the console costs:
PS2 - 199.99
PS1 - 69.99
N64 - 49.99+
GBA - 89.99
GBC - 69.99
DC - 99.99
The reason I noticed these comparisons was that my wife wanted a GBA unitl I saw how muchthe games would be! How do these companie justify these cost especially with the difference in performance across the various platforms?
OK, so there's the development costs: Creating a 128bit materpiece now runs into bugets equalling that of movies but coulf you say that for the creation of a GBA game? I think not!!
Then there's the licence costs: Nintendo are notorious for charging developers the earth for creating games for their platforms as oposed to Sony (Fools that they were) granting licences to anyone who wanted to make a game. Does this qualify the £10 difference between a PS2 game and a CBA title? I think not...
Then you have the Taxation etc: As I understand it, the taxing on games is the same no matter what format, so the tax retailers etc pay for their PS2 titles is about the same as those for GBA title... Does this justify the high costs? Naaa!!
Personally I think most of it is down to the retailers...
Gaming is a huge market, and obviously, there is a lot of money to be made buy it if you think about it. Lets take GT3 for example: 2million copies at £40 a go, thats £80million... blimey!! Now if one retailer was responsible for all those sales, taking a 30% margin, that reatiller looks to take £24million quid!! Being o tad over generous on estimation here, say that retailer had one shop, with 2 staff, accounting for his overheads (rent, wages etc) he could still be looking at taking £20million (I'm guessing here!!)
I challenged one high street retailer about the difference in price of the sales in the shop and on the internet. Aparently they have higher over heads in stor and have to charge more? MMMMM!! Lets see...
In the store, they unpack the box, put it on the shelf, the shopper comes in, picks it up off the shelf and pays thjen leaves... Over heads, mainly rent and staff
Online: The shopper places his order, enters his transactions details, the retailer then processes the order, sends it to the warehouse, the warehouse guy picks it up off the shelf, packs it the mails it then send an invoice to the customer. Overheads... Admin staff, servers, rent for Warehouse,warehouse staff, pickers and packers, delivery etc etc... And yet the games online are cheaper? HOW?
The retailers mark up is pretty high. Some titles are now selling for as little as £20 due to their age/popularity, but they are still able to make a profit on these! But what really gets on my goat is the ability to sell a 32bit title for £10 less than one ai,ed for 128bit especially if it's the same game!! (Bad example but look at BustaMove4!!)
I think it's about time gamers started fighting for lower prices. We're the market, we buy the games, we tecnically keeo these people in jobs... Remeber what happened to the Major Legue Baseball in the USA when they started asking for higher wages.. people stopped going and it was axed for a year!!
We should no longer be taken for fools or taken advantage of. you don't see bands selling their CD's at higher prices because they have more fans do you? And if they did, I'm sure they would loose them quite quickly!!
I have one solution... Return them after playing them and get your money back! Legally (Consumer law here!!), if you are unsatisfied with a product, the retailer has to give you your money back (though certain ones will try to tell you they can't). So I suggest that next time you buy a game costing a fair packet, when you get home and find out it a)crap and b)short. Find and excuse to take it back and demand your money back... And buy another game!!
Think next time you buy a game... How much has your collection cost you and how much is it really worth?
My rant is over... I've found Silent Hill 2 for £32.99 as opposed to £44.99 and guaranteed on day of release... I'm off shopping!!
Bye
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OK. Something occured to me over the weekend... The cost of Games.
Lets look at the average cost over the formats:
PS2 - £44.99
PS1 - £39.99
N64 - £44.99
GBA - £34.99
GBC - £29.99
DC - £29.99
Now lets look at the "Bits" size:
PS2 - 128bit
PS1 - 32bit
N64 - 64bit
GBA - 32bit RISC
GBC - 16bit?
DC - (apparently) 128bit
Now the console costs:
PS2 - 199.99
PS1 - 69.99
N64 - 49.99+
GBA - 89.99
GBC - 69.99
DC - 99.99
The reason I noticed these comparisons was that my wife wanted a GBA unitl I saw how muchthe games would be! How do these companie justify these cost especially with the difference in performance across the various platforms?
OK, so there's the development costs: Creating a 128bit materpiece now runs into bugets equalling that of movies but coulf you say that for the creation of a GBA game? I think not!!
Then there's the licence costs: Nintendo are notorious for charging developers the earth for creating games for their platforms as oposed to Sony (Fools that they were) granting licences to anyone who wanted to make a game. Does this qualify the £10 difference between a PS2 game and a CBA title? I think not...
Then you have the Taxation etc: As I understand it, the taxing on games is the same no matter what format, so the tax retailers etc pay for their PS2 titles is about the same as those for GBA title... Does this justify the high costs? Naaa!!
Personally I think most of it is down to the retailers...
Gaming is a huge market, and obviously, there is a lot of money to be made buy it if you think about it. Lets take GT3 for example: 2million copies at £40 a go, thats £80million... blimey!! Now if one retailer was responsible for all those sales, taking a 30% margin, that reatiller looks to take £24million quid!! Being o tad over generous on estimation here, say that retailer had one shop, with 2 staff, accounting for his overheads (rent, wages etc) he could still be looking at taking £20million (I'm guessing here!!)
I challenged one high street retailer about the difference in price of the sales in the shop and on the internet. Aparently they have higher over heads in stor and have to charge more? MMMMM!! Lets see...
In the store, they unpack the box, put it on the shelf, the shopper comes in, picks it up off the shelf and pays thjen leaves... Over heads, mainly rent and staff
Online: The shopper places his order, enters his transactions details, the retailer then processes the order, sends it to the warehouse, the warehouse guy picks it up off the shelf, packs it the mails it then send an invoice to the customer. Overheads... Admin staff, servers, rent for Warehouse,warehouse staff, pickers and packers, delivery etc etc... And yet the games online are cheaper? HOW?
The retailers mark up is pretty high. Some titles are now selling for as little as £20 due to their age/popularity, but they are still able to make a profit on these! But what really gets on my goat is the ability to sell a 32bit title for £10 less than one ai,ed for 128bit especially if it's the same game!! (Bad example but look at BustaMove4!!)
I think it's about time gamers started fighting for lower prices. We're the market, we buy the games, we tecnically keeo these people in jobs... Remeber what happened to the Major Legue Baseball in the USA when they started asking for higher wages.. people stopped going and it was axed for a year!!
We should no longer be taken for fools or taken advantage of. you don't see bands selling their CD's at higher prices because they have more fans do you? And if they did, I'm sure they would loose them quite quickly!!
I have one solution... Return them after playing them and get your money back! Legally (Consumer law here!!), if you are unsatisfied with a product, the retailer has to give you your money back (though certain ones will try to tell you they can't). So I suggest that next time you buy a game costing a fair packet, when you get home and find out it a)crap and b)short. Find and excuse to take it back and demand your money back... And buy another game!!
Think next time you buy a game... How much has your collection cost you and how much is it really worth?
My rant is over... I've found Silent Hill 2 for £32.99 as opposed to £44.99 and guaranteed on day of release... I'm off shopping!!
Bye
Lets look at the average cost over the formats:
PS2 - £44.99
PS1 - £39.99
N64 - £44.99
GBA - £34.99
GBC - £29.99
DC - £29.99
Now lets look at the "Bits" size:
PS2 - 128bit
PS1 - 32bit
N64 - 64bit
GBA - 32bit RISC
GBC - 16bit?
DC - (apparently) 128bit
Now the console costs:
PS2 - 199.99
PS1 - 69.99
N64 - 49.99+
GBA - 89.99
GBC - 69.99
DC - 99.99
The reason I noticed these comparisons was that my wife wanted a GBA unitl I saw how muchthe games would be! How do these companie justify these cost especially with the difference in performance across the various platforms?
OK, so there's the development costs: Creating a 128bit materpiece now runs into bugets equalling that of movies but coulf you say that for the creation of a GBA game? I think not!!
Then there's the licence costs: Nintendo are notorious for charging developers the earth for creating games for their platforms as oposed to Sony (Fools that they were) granting licences to anyone who wanted to make a game. Does this qualify the £10 difference between a PS2 game and a CBA title? I think not...
Then you have the Taxation etc: As I understand it, the taxing on games is the same no matter what format, so the tax retailers etc pay for their PS2 titles is about the same as those for GBA title... Does this justify the high costs? Naaa!!
Personally I think most of it is down to the retailers...
Gaming is a huge market, and obviously, there is a lot of money to be made buy it if you think about it. Lets take GT3 for example: 2million copies at £40 a go, thats £80million... blimey!! Now if one retailer was responsible for all those sales, taking a 30% margin, that reatiller looks to take £24million quid!! Being o tad over generous on estimation here, say that retailer had one shop, with 2 staff, accounting for his overheads (rent, wages etc) he could still be looking at taking £20million (I'm guessing here!!)
I challenged one high street retailer about the difference in price of the sales in the shop and on the internet. Aparently they have higher over heads in stor and have to charge more? MMMMM!! Lets see...
In the store, they unpack the box, put it on the shelf, the shopper comes in, picks it up off the shelf and pays thjen leaves... Over heads, mainly rent and staff
Online: The shopper places his order, enters his transactions details, the retailer then processes the order, sends it to the warehouse, the warehouse guy picks it up off the shelf, packs it the mails it then send an invoice to the customer. Overheads... Admin staff, servers, rent for Warehouse,warehouse staff, pickers and packers, delivery etc etc... And yet the games online are cheaper? HOW?
The retailers mark up is pretty high. Some titles are now selling for as little as £20 due to their age/popularity, but they are still able to make a profit on these! But what really gets on my goat is the ability to sell a 32bit title for £10 less than one ai,ed for 128bit especially if it's the same game!! (Bad example but look at BustaMove4!!)
I think it's about time gamers started fighting for lower prices. We're the market, we buy the games, we tecnically keeo these people in jobs... Remeber what happened to the Major Legue Baseball in the USA when they started asking for higher wages.. people stopped going and it was axed for a year!!
We should no longer be taken for fools or taken advantage of. you don't see bands selling their CD's at higher prices because they have more fans do you? And if they did, I'm sure they would loose them quite quickly!!
I have one solution... Return them after playing them and get your money back! Legally (Consumer law here!!), if you are unsatisfied with a product, the retailer has to give you your money back (though certain ones will try to tell you they can't). So I suggest that next time you buy a game costing a fair packet, when you get home and find out it a)crap and b)short. Find and excuse to take it back and demand your money back... And buy another game!!
Think next time you buy a game... How much has your collection cost you and how much is it really worth?
My rant is over... I've found Silent Hill 2 for £32.99 as opposed to £44.99 and guaranteed on day of release... I'm off shopping!!
Bye
Thats a bit of naive view son!
Of course overheads are going to be more in a high street store than on-line stores.
Also your comparisons of price to "bits" makes only a little sense and even then only if you think further into it.
Still, I get what you're saying - "games are cheaper if bought on line", listen to your own ranting and your problems are over.
Of course overheads are going to be more in a high street store than on-line stores.
Also your comparisons of price to "bits" makes only a little sense and even then only if you think further into it.
Still, I get what you're saying - "games are cheaper if bought on line", listen to your own ranting and your problems are over.
Demand and supply dictate prices to a greater extent than any overheads.
People will pay for the good at the price it is offered, and hence the price is dictated
People will pay for the good at the price it is offered, and hence the price is dictated
Tyla wrote: Lets look at the average cost over the formats:
PS2 - £44.99---- 34.99
PS1 - £39.99---- 24.99
N64 - £44.99 ---- yup
GBA - £34.99--- 29.99
GBC - £29.99---- 21.99
DC - £29.99--- yup
where the hell do you shop?
PS2 - £44.99---- 34.99
PS1 - £39.99---- 24.99
N64 - £44.99 ---- yup
GBA - £34.99--- 29.99
GBC - £29.99---- 21.99
DC - £29.99--- yup
where the hell do you shop?
I am the Tarrant wrote:
Still, I get what you're saying - "games are cheaper if
> bought on line", listen to your own ranting and your problems are over.
Actually, I was trying to find someone who could justify why a small, easiliy produced title for something like a GBA could be sold for £10 less than a PS2 title that takes a damn site more time to design, build and develop?
Owning both platforms, would you rather spend £40 on (bad example again) Quack attack on the PS2 or the GBA?
Online shopping can be "cheaper" but only depending on the firm. A lot of firms make up for the cheaper title by charging you huge posting costs!!
I tried to avoid mentioning specific companies, but I could name one or two to aviod at all costs and on to use all of the time. Even SD are still quite pricey even after your membership discount (Sorry SD!!)
Your right, £'s per bit is a crap argument, but £'s vs complexity and programming time does and there a lot of difference in 128bit complexity and 16bit basics!.
Look at PC gamers... they have the best deal!! Even though console gaming out does PC gaming, their titles are still a damn site cheaper than us console users...why? If they can sell Winback on the PC for £29.99 why can't they do the same for the N64 or the PS2?
My argument is a little fluffy up above, possibly due to staring at teidious GUI's all day, but it is one that I have heard many a time before...
Still, I get what you're saying - "games are cheaper if
> bought on line", listen to your own ranting and your problems are over.
Actually, I was trying to find someone who could justify why a small, easiliy produced title for something like a GBA could be sold for £10 less than a PS2 title that takes a damn site more time to design, build and develop?
Owning both platforms, would you rather spend £40 on (bad example again) Quack attack on the PS2 or the GBA?
Online shopping can be "cheaper" but only depending on the firm. A lot of firms make up for the cheaper title by charging you huge posting costs!!
I tried to avoid mentioning specific companies, but I could name one or two to aviod at all costs and on to use all of the time. Even SD are still quite pricey even after your membership discount (Sorry SD!!)
Your right, £'s per bit is a crap argument, but £'s vs complexity and programming time does and there a lot of difference in 128bit complexity and 16bit basics!.
Look at PC gamers... they have the best deal!! Even though console gaming out does PC gaming, their titles are still a damn site cheaper than us console users...why? If they can sell Winback on the PC for £29.99 why can't they do the same for the N64 or the PS2?
My argument is a little fluffy up above, possibly due to staring at teidious GUI's all day, but it is one that I have heard many a time before...
The Insane man is right. The price is dictated by the market. GT3 sold millions within its first month. It would have sold exactly the same amount if it was priced at 29.99, 34.99, 39.99 or 44.99. If 44.99 was the average and everyone was fed up, we would stop buying games and complain. However, games are still being sold by the bucket load. Ask anyone at Sony and they will tell you that the price is just about perfect !
Mystique wrote:
where the hell do you shop?
These prices came from a very well known UK based online comapany!! Compare to another very well known high Street/Online retailer!!
I can give you addresses if you wish!:-)
where the hell do you shop?
These prices came from a very well known UK based online comapany!! Compare to another very well known high Street/Online retailer!!
I can give you addresses if you wish!:-)
a-man5150 wrote:
> The Insane man is right.
Cheers!! My mum always said "I was different":-)
However, games are still
> being sold by the bucket load. Ask anyone at Sony and they will tell you that
> the price is just about perfect !
Sony price all of "their" titles pretty much at the same level and go buy previous experience. Other Houses, sucj as EA, Enix, Square etc vary a lot.
We all buy at that price because we're a captive market. Change only comes when enough people catch on!
Another example is the $ for £ conversion... why is it that a $44.99 game costs £44.99 here? Haven't these people heard of exchange rates?
> The Insane man is right.
Cheers!! My mum always said "I was different":-)
However, games are still
> being sold by the bucket load. Ask anyone at Sony and they will tell you that
> the price is just about perfect !
Sony price all of "their" titles pretty much at the same level and go buy previous experience. Other Houses, sucj as EA, Enix, Square etc vary a lot.
We all buy at that price because we're a captive market. Change only comes when enough people catch on!
Another example is the $ for £ conversion... why is it that a $44.99 game costs £44.99 here? Haven't these people heard of exchange rates?
nah its all right i will stick with my dirt cheap source
ta anyways
ta anyways
The reasons that online shops are cheaper is simple.
To run an online shop, all you need is the web address, a warehouse, lots of envelopes, an internet connection, and lots of stamps.
Warehouse space is about 1/5th the price of high street rent, if not more. You could run the warehouse business yourself. Just sit at the computer and as soon as an order comes in, chuck it in an envelope and put on the "to post" pile.
High street shops have the same ougoings irrespective of their incomings.
Also, as for saying that GBA games are a lot easier to program than DC/PS2 games, how can you say that? Look at games like Tony Hawks 2, MarioKart etc on the GBA. Could thye be programmed in just five minutes? No.
To run an online shop, all you need is the web address, a warehouse, lots of envelopes, an internet connection, and lots of stamps.
Warehouse space is about 1/5th the price of high street rent, if not more. You could run the warehouse business yourself. Just sit at the computer and as soon as an order comes in, chuck it in an envelope and put on the "to post" pile.
High street shops have the same ougoings irrespective of their incomings.
Also, as for saying that GBA games are a lot easier to program than DC/PS2 games, how can you say that? Look at games like Tony Hawks 2, MarioKart etc on the GBA. Could thye be programmed in just five minutes? No.
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