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Would you like cheaper computer games? Of course you would, who wouldn’t… and whereas game retailers such as Special Reserve offer some of the most unbelievable prices around (classic games for FREE? Your havin’ me on sir!) FreePlay, an organisation set about to reduce the price of video games, still believe it is not enough.
FairPlay’s stance is simple, games cost millions to make, and so do CD’s. Games are no longer made on cartridges they’re made on discs, like CD’s… so why do games cost 3 times more? FairPlay proposed to boycott the gaming industry between the dates of the 1st and 8th of December this year. It didn’t quiet go to plan but the organisation ploughs on, the question is are the organisation right? Naturally they have come to some heavy opposition with this including Roger Bennett, director general of the ELSPA. Roger insists there are many hidden costs they push up the price of software production. And to a degree he is correct, every wondered why Timesplitters 2’s R.R.P was £5 larger than Mario Sunshine’s? Because Eidos had to send the game to Nintendo in order to have it produced, something, which isn’t free. Yet £35 for Mario is still a far cry from £10 for a CD… and if there are hidden costs what are they? Why won’t he divulge further?
Because he is scared claims FairPlay, that after visiting their website www.fairplay-campaign.co.uk have a lot of things to say to the games industry. FairPlay claim that ‘the games industry has chosen to react to the FairPlay campaign with panicked hysteria, rather than actually dealing with the issues raised’. Is that so? In fact the entire website is written as if from some console fan boy hell bent of putting everything down and not addressing some important points. They criticize the comments they can but ignore the ones they can’t, it isn’t an unusual way to conduct an argument… politicians use it all the time but they fail to react to certain begging questions. FairPlay say “We think music CD’s are absolutely the nearest comparison to videogames”, but I don’t agree. Videogames make their profit from themselves, CD’s make money for the artist but then so does tours, merchandise, TV appearances and so on. The games industry does a mere handful of shows a year that hardly generates much more than publicity, all merchandise fails and only exists for truly obsessed fans whilst TV appearances are hardly paid for. So yes the music industry can do it, but the music industry offers much more than simple CD’s.
Unfortunately not all points raised by the public and the industry are as good as that one. Random comments from the industry often include the fact that companies are failing to make a profit as it is. Nintendo being the scare mongers that they are exclaimed that if game prices dropped the industry and Nintendo will be doomed as companies struggle to make money as it is. Perfectly true, over the past year just over 70 development houses have closed down. Capcom, Acclaim, RAGE and SEGA… large 3rd party developers all exclaimed disappointing sales over the past year with SEGA rethinking their strategy and buy outs rumours for Capcom. Squaresoft have failed to make back money after their failed movie despite the release of many titles including ports of the older SNES games and games such as Kingdom hearts storming the Japanese charts. But FairPlay comment on that if games were cheaper more people would buy them, leading to an industry growth overall and sales improving. Yet there is no proof that this will work and FairPlay’s rather obvious comment was ‘there is only one way to find out’. Another comment involves the time and money put into creating a game; the games require a team to work round the clock for years. This is true for Nintendo anyway, the amount of time and effort lavished on a game means that reducing prices would heavily damage Nintendo. But as regards EA is this equally true? A new movie license year in year out that offers the same variety in gameplay but a new storyline? FIFA is a prime example, are the yearly updates worth another £40? Did it cost as much to make as the new Zelda for example? I doubt it heavily and it is Nintendo themselves that generated a more startling point.
With the pre-orders of Zelda and for a limited period after the launch of the game you got a free game. The game was a simple update of the old N64 game Ocarina of Time and Ura-Zelda. But the game was free, it was used to promote the new Zelda yes but it was also free. The games would have required as much effort (with the changing format and frame rate improvements) as the new FIFA. The Sonic Mega collection offers a collection of even older games with no improvements whatsoever (the games still suffer slow down despite being ancient 16-bit titles) and SEGA still ask for a £40 pay out. FairPlay are also keen to point out that if old titles are being repackaged for just £20 (PS2’s platinum range) then why can’t new ones cost the same? Sony says the games are being reproduced internally so there is no need for Namco for example to pay Sony to produce a load of extra games. Sony also stress that they are re-released so gamers believe they could get cheaper games if they wanted.
Personally I question FairPlay, they miss out some vital facts despite being ‘industry insiders’, they attack everything in sight and called ELSPA workers as 50 year olds who haven’t played a game ‘since Galaxian’. A needless and unprofessional comment and FairPlay make them frequently… neither side offers facts of figures and at least one side act professional. Whereas I don’t agree with FairPlay’s boycott I do have to agree that maybe games could be cheaper and that it might be worth a go. After all the ELSPA did comment on the rise of 5% overall revenue saying: "The increase in sales revenue... is due to a significant fall in the price of discs and cartridges".
Here’s to the future
Dringo.
FairPlay’s stance is simple, games cost millions to make, and so do CD’s. Games are no longer made on cartridges they’re made on discs, like CD’s… so why do games cost 3 times more? FairPlay proposed to boycott the gaming industry between the dates of the 1st and 8th of December this year. It didn’t quiet go to plan but the organisation ploughs on, the question is are the organisation right? Naturally they have come to some heavy opposition with this including Roger Bennett, director general of the ELSPA. Roger insists there are many hidden costs they push up the price of software production. And to a degree he is correct, every wondered why Timesplitters 2’s R.R.P was £5 larger than Mario Sunshine’s? Because Eidos had to send the game to Nintendo in order to have it produced, something, which isn’t free. Yet £35 for Mario is still a far cry from £10 for a CD… and if there are hidden costs what are they? Why won’t he divulge further?
Because he is scared claims FairPlay, that after visiting their website www.fairplay-campaign.co.uk have a lot of things to say to the games industry. FairPlay claim that ‘the games industry has chosen to react to the FairPlay campaign with panicked hysteria, rather than actually dealing with the issues raised’. Is that so? In fact the entire website is written as if from some console fan boy hell bent of putting everything down and not addressing some important points. They criticize the comments they can but ignore the ones they can’t, it isn’t an unusual way to conduct an argument… politicians use it all the time but they fail to react to certain begging questions. FairPlay say “We think music CD’s are absolutely the nearest comparison to videogames”, but I don’t agree. Videogames make their profit from themselves, CD’s make money for the artist but then so does tours, merchandise, TV appearances and so on. The games industry does a mere handful of shows a year that hardly generates much more than publicity, all merchandise fails and only exists for truly obsessed fans whilst TV appearances are hardly paid for. So yes the music industry can do it, but the music industry offers much more than simple CD’s.
Unfortunately not all points raised by the public and the industry are as good as that one. Random comments from the industry often include the fact that companies are failing to make a profit as it is. Nintendo being the scare mongers that they are exclaimed that if game prices dropped the industry and Nintendo will be doomed as companies struggle to make money as it is. Perfectly true, over the past year just over 70 development houses have closed down. Capcom, Acclaim, RAGE and SEGA… large 3rd party developers all exclaimed disappointing sales over the past year with SEGA rethinking their strategy and buy outs rumours for Capcom. Squaresoft have failed to make back money after their failed movie despite the release of many titles including ports of the older SNES games and games such as Kingdom hearts storming the Japanese charts. But FairPlay comment on that if games were cheaper more people would buy them, leading to an industry growth overall and sales improving. Yet there is no proof that this will work and FairPlay’s rather obvious comment was ‘there is only one way to find out’. Another comment involves the time and money put into creating a game; the games require a team to work round the clock for years. This is true for Nintendo anyway, the amount of time and effort lavished on a game means that reducing prices would heavily damage Nintendo. But as regards EA is this equally true? A new movie license year in year out that offers the same variety in gameplay but a new storyline? FIFA is a prime example, are the yearly updates worth another £40? Did it cost as much to make as the new Zelda for example? I doubt it heavily and it is Nintendo themselves that generated a more startling point.
With the pre-orders of Zelda and for a limited period after the launch of the game you got a free game. The game was a simple update of the old N64 game Ocarina of Time and Ura-Zelda. But the game was free, it was used to promote the new Zelda yes but it was also free. The games would have required as much effort (with the changing format and frame rate improvements) as the new FIFA. The Sonic Mega collection offers a collection of even older games with no improvements whatsoever (the games still suffer slow down despite being ancient 16-bit titles) and SEGA still ask for a £40 pay out. FairPlay are also keen to point out that if old titles are being repackaged for just £20 (PS2’s platinum range) then why can’t new ones cost the same? Sony says the games are being reproduced internally so there is no need for Namco for example to pay Sony to produce a load of extra games. Sony also stress that they are re-released so gamers believe they could get cheaper games if they wanted.
Personally I question FairPlay, they miss out some vital facts despite being ‘industry insiders’, they attack everything in sight and called ELSPA workers as 50 year olds who haven’t played a game ‘since Galaxian’. A needless and unprofessional comment and FairPlay make them frequently… neither side offers facts of figures and at least one side act professional. Whereas I don’t agree with FairPlay’s boycott I do have to agree that maybe games could be cheaper and that it might be worth a go. After all the ELSPA did comment on the rise of 5% overall revenue saying: "The increase in sales revenue... is due to a significant fall in the price of discs and cartridges".
Here’s to the future
Dringo.
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Mr Snuggly wrote:
> Fairplay is a load of twaddle. If you pay £45 for a new game,
> then you're an idiot.
You're right - Asda are selling any PS2 game for £29.99! ;)
*Cough*
*Runs at threat of banning*
> Fairplay is a load of twaddle. If you pay £45 for a new game,
> then you're an idiot.
You're right - Asda are selling any PS2 game for £29.99! ;)
*Cough*
*Runs at threat of banning*
Mr Snuggly wrote:
> Fairplay is a load of twaddle. If you pay £45 for a new game,
> then you're an idiot. Consoles are cheaper than they've ever been.
> Yes, music CDs retail for around £13.99, but musicians can make
> money back by doing live performances, TV appearances, tours,
> merchandise etc. Games companies get none of this. Their arguments
> strangely fail to point out any of these things. Idiots.
here here!
> Fairplay is a load of twaddle. If you pay £45 for a new game,
> then you're an idiot. Consoles are cheaper than they've ever been.
> Yes, music CDs retail for around £13.99, but musicians can make
> money back by doing live performances, TV appearances, tours,
> merchandise etc. Games companies get none of this. Their arguments
> strangely fail to point out any of these things. Idiots.
here here!
You tell em Snuggers. Fight the power! Or something...
Fairplay is a load of twaddle. If you pay £45 for a new game, then you're an idiot. Consoles are cheaper than they've ever been. Yes, music CDs retail for around £13.99, but musicians can make money back by doing live performances, TV appearances, tours, merchandise etc. Games companies get none of this. Their arguments strangely fail to point out any of these things. Idiots.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again; Fairplay is a crap, ill founded, pointless to all but those employed in it, campaign. Want cheaper games ? Go out and find them because they are there. It has never been easier to pick up second hand games, and prices on new games are falling months after their release.
Back in the days of the SNES a decent new release like Street Fighter had a RRP of £50-£60,and now it's £40-£45 with discount available all over the place - Gamestation and SR to name just two, plus tons of places now do trade ins, unheard of in the big chains like Game during the 16 bit days.
Plus, console prices are stupidly low, lower than ever before in terms of what you get compared to the early 90's.
People who whine about prices need to go take a look at what it was like back then, and then come back and say they are getting more expensive...
Back in the days of the SNES a decent new release like Street Fighter had a RRP of £50-£60,and now it's £40-£45 with discount available all over the place - Gamestation and SR to name just two, plus tons of places now do trade ins, unheard of in the big chains like Game during the 16 bit days.
Plus, console prices are stupidly low, lower than ever before in terms of what you get compared to the early 90's.
People who whine about prices need to go take a look at what it was like back then, and then come back and say they are getting more expensive...
pb wrote:
> Incidentally, I picked up a promotional BMX XXX pen the other day from
> my mate's shop. It was one of those 'turn it upside down and see the
> naked lady' pens. Got funny looks from the wife...
Look out Paul - perhaps she wanted the pen.
*Musters image of Paul and his wife fighting over BMX XXX pen*
Ah, Bisto. :)
> Incidentally, I picked up a promotional BMX XXX pen the other day from
> my mate's shop. It was one of those 'turn it upside down and see the
> naked lady' pens. Got funny looks from the wife...
Look out Paul - perhaps she wanted the pen.
*Musters image of Paul and his wife fighting over BMX XXX pen*
Ah, Bisto. :)
FinalFantasyFanatic wrote:
> Remember what happened with the PSX games price drop to 29.99 for all
> games?
> That was started in a shop (I think it was Virgin for some reason) as
> a promotion which the continued due to it's popularity. All the other
> shops had no choice but to lower their prices also. Could easily
> happen again.
>
> Whilst we're on prices. Has anyone ever seen a game sale? Ever in you
> entire lives? No 'half price games sale'?
> I've never wondered why, either.
> They sell books , CDs, DVDs, TVs, even dishashers for half price in
> the sales, why not games?
> Some internal agreement whithin the industry? It really confused me
> when I thought about it.
LOL there is loads of sales of games at the moment if you look on amazon walk in to game or any game store!!
> Remember what happened with the PSX games price drop to 29.99 for all
> games?
> That was started in a shop (I think it was Virgin for some reason) as
> a promotion which the continued due to it's popularity. All the other
> shops had no choice but to lower their prices also. Could easily
> happen again.
>
> Whilst we're on prices. Has anyone ever seen a game sale? Ever in you
> entire lives? No 'half price games sale'?
> I've never wondered why, either.
> They sell books , CDs, DVDs, TVs, even dishashers for half price in
> the sales, why not games?
> Some internal agreement whithin the industry? It really confused me
> when I thought about it.
LOL there is loads of sales of games at the moment if you look on amazon walk in to game or any game store!!
cookie monster wrote:
> I noted down in my little potential posts book this very topic idea.
I have one of them too! Sadly half of them are really really dull... I'm looking on how to make erm... less dull.
> I noted down in my little potential posts book this very topic idea.
I have one of them too! Sadly half of them are really really dull... I'm looking on how to make erm... less dull.
FinalFantasyFanatic wrote:
>
> Whilst we're on prices. Has anyone ever seen a game sale? Ever in you
> entire lives? No 'half price games sale'?
A certain game retailer is doing a 'up to 50% off game sale'... edgy knows who...
>
> Whilst we're on prices. Has anyone ever seen a game sale? Ever in you
> entire lives? No 'half price games sale'?
A certain game retailer is doing a 'up to 50% off game sale'... edgy knows who...
I noted down in my little potential posts book this very topic idea.
You beat me there.
You beat me there.
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