PS4 & Xbox 720 games to cost $70, says Pachter

Wouldn’t surprise me if it was the case, but c’mon…Pachter?

Didn’t Jack Tretton say, that he expects games to be no more than 60$? Nonetheless, 70 is way too much. This would kill Day-1 buys. At least for me.

Someone needs to make a portmanteau word out of ‘Pacther’, ‘speculation’ and ‘relevance’…

Wasn’t the ‘current’ generation software priced higher to offset the unprofitable hardware (along with the acknowledged license fees). I’m sure the Wii (which made a profit from very early on) was cheaper as a result.

Sick of seeing this man’s name. Aren’t there any other analysts we can here from?

My PC games cost 51$ and will cost as much on Steam (and i’m in Europe where console games cost 100$)

If 70$ is the future I won’t buy console anymore and I don’t believe that they are going to cost 70$ unless Microsoft and industry want to FAIL Hard.
I can see some serious shit happening in the Europe where games will start to cost for 110$ or 120$

Yeah, the current gen was heavily subsidised to help sell the units. The same may well be true next time so I’m not surprised by this.

Edit: Doesn’t make it sensible and they need to reverse this course. They attracted ‘non gamer’ types with the previous generation. If they’re to sell the millions of units again, they need to appeal to people on a financial level. This is a time of austerity. Many households will forego a luxury they could afford 5-6 years ago.

I don’t see why price need to go up. Most of developers already are making assets in high resolution and than they are lowering poly-count for game. Also there are really huge games today that cost 50-60$. Also making and porting games from platform to platform should be way easier with next-gen. Now why should price go up i really don’t understand.

In my country PS3 games already cost €70 on most stores. But nowadays you only pay full-price if you really want to (or can’t buy cheaper for some reason). Thank goodness for online stores.

To even make a statement like that is a bit nonsensical. The trend is towards a vast swathe of pricing structures. It used to be all retail games were £50 and budget re-release titles were £20. NextGen systems will have flexible pricing from freemium up through cheap then XBLA/PSN on to premium XBLA/PSN and on to big retail releases and AAA. It makes no sense to say PS4/NextBox games will be $70.

Lol you f**king losers! How can you pay more than 50 dollars for a game!? That’s so stupid.

so how is that different from today?
breaking news: game prices stay like they are now.

@11 games are typically $60.

one thing is for sure if this becomes true… first day buy days are over, it will be more like a 5 months or as long it takes until the price drop buy. no point at buying used if your not sure the mp is a total waste. because buying used then buying a online pass, only will crank up the price further… online buying can also be a option if the price is good like 40-50(no psn digital arse rentals only retail)

In America they are, not many other places in the world.

As #9 said, its nonsensical. But for AAA titles, it may well happen.
Just a fact, 60$ of 2005 means 68.70$ approx today (according to US gov labour dept.) , so 70$ make sense that way.
But there are so many options now. I don’t buy day one generally and 5-30$ downloadable games are getting better. But increasing prices will surely deter customers.

Love my job, since I’ve been bringing in $5600… I sit at home, music playing while I work in front of my new iMac that I got now that I’m making it online.(Click Home information)
http://goo.gl/dGvMp

@3: “Someone needs to make a portmanteau word out of ‘Pacther’, ‘speculation’ and ‘relevance’…”

Patchulance. There. If Dave starts using that as a tag I will be happy.

Fine with me. I actually am a patient gamer, I tend to buy complete/goty edition of games for like ~20€. I’m done spending 50-60€ for a video game, I just can’t see why should I.

@Erth, where do you actually live in Europe that games cost ~100$? Do you mean 100$ after the conversion $/€?

“Do you mean 100$ after the conversion $/€?”

Yes.

Can someone tell me why anything that this guy says is deemed newsworthy by so many sites, including VG247? He doesnt get almost anything right.

@20 Throw enough shit at the wall and some will stick

12 not im my world.
the rrp of almost every game is 70€. i dont expect games to cost more than 70€ next gen.
i anyway dont buy day one usually. Last game i bought day one was GoW3, next game i get day one is GoWA. Then i dobnt know. Propably the next GoW..

A lot of games already cost $80 or $90 on console assuming that you buy them new, and buy the couple of bits of DLC to complete the package.

I know we could argue about definitions, and look at the DLC as a separate entity, and maybe that’s the correct way to think of it, but I just don’t see it that way. I want the full experience, and to get it you usually have to pay easily $70+ new on console…

Look at Asura’s Wrath, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Prince of Persia, Mass Effect 3, Dark Souls, Deus Ex: Human Revolution and probably Dead Space 3. I’m not having a go at the devs or even the publishers now, I’m just saying that for each of those games, the DLC in some way completes the original game, and that’s content that is very hard to leave on the table. There’s an argument there for saying that the original game was incomplete, and by buying the DLC and bumping the de facto price to circa $75, you’re getting the real thing. (By contrast, DLC like in Skyrim or Portal 2, Infamous 2 or Red Dead feels like proper DLC, an extra, and not something integral to the original game.)

Anyway, what I’m trying (badly I suppose) to say is that in a certain sense, games are already a stealth $70+, and even if digital sales manage to mitigate some of the extra dev costs of the new hardware, I don’t see any reason why it would be cheaper. We’ll get more insidious DLC, micro-transactions and maybe have to pay for PSN as standard. One way or another, I think we’ll pay at least $70 a pop new on console…

Console gamers will still take it up the arse from Sony & MS. They never learn…

Some people like it up the arse. Think about it… /deep

Hmm it seems that “GAME-PASS” is included?, when used the gamer can buy at game-stop instead of $20,- like $30($10, gamepass)….

SO…..

GAMESTOP CAN MAKE MONEY AGAIN!!!!

@24

you pc-elites have been taking it up the arse for years with the digital rental services like steam,uplay,origin,winlive always online drm crap. hopefully some of you waked up after the simcity scandal. i bought my last pc game in 2007 and got my ps3 in 2010.

things have been good on the ps3 but i think ps4 will be my last gaming device, after all this cloud, digital and rental service talk. the future of gaming don’t looks promising and not something i want to spend my money on. good things don’t last forever but gaming have had a good run from 1980-2013(maybe 5-7 years more). i can’t justify paying 70 or more dollars foe each game on a rental only service in the cloud. it is like throwing the money in the toilet and flushing.

In the Netherlands I pay €50-60 for brand new games. I think it should stay that way. About dlc the only dlc I ever bought were COD map packs. Im happy to buy certain games full price day one like watchdogs and last of us.I dont buy tht many games like most nerds do.

Taking it up the arse from Steam? You mean their anal of low low prices and convenience?

Havn’t games been roughly the same price now for about 20 years? Seriously, every new gen of console and the prices don’t really change at all.

They’ll be £40. Same as they always was.

Yeah, and an interesting link for people in the UK.
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-1633409/Historic-inflation-calculator-value-money-changed-1900.html
Handy to see how inflation isn’t taken into account by our fond memories of gaming long since past.

@2 he did but all it will take is a publisher with money in their eyes and gets that $70 retail price.

@28, thats a normal price over there €50,- yall have a higher minimum wage..

Maaruh die kutbelasting-dienst krijgen van mij GEEN ENUH ROOIE ROTCENT.. whahahahahahahhaa

If inflation made all the difference, games would cost well over $100 already. Gaming is nonessential. Beyond a certain price, sales will plummet. I don’t know if the market can bear $70 apiece or not. Maybe it can. I typically wait for prices to drop anyway, so it won’t make much difference to me.

Just for fun, but if there aren’t any second hand games for sale…the pubs/platform holders can set any damn price they want. What are you going to do? Wait for the price to come down? Again without cheap second hand copies lining the shelves of your local retailer, the games prices WON’T be coming down for a very long time.

Love them or not, used games force new game prices down over time.

Next gen is really shapping up to be a bitch. Really. Hard to be excited.

Oh and TG +1.

@35: Again, gaming is nonessential. I can’t wait long to eat or fuel my transportation, but I can certainly wait a very long time for prices on games to become acceptable (especially considering my backlog of cheap games).

Understood Cobra, and I agree. But just because you or I can wait, doesn’t mean that the pricing is a good idea. Or infact doesn’t mean that the pubs intend for you to wait. They will still want the same strong day one sales, and will rely heavily on preorders and DLC incentives.

In the end I think it will prolly lead to less trip A games.

The gap that high pricing will create will prolly be filled with cheaper digital only lower budget games. Like the Steam/XBLA/PSN/WiiWare stuff. I have been thinking more and more that the consoles will be alright, it is the high profile, big budget AAA games that are endangered. And if they fade in pulling power, then consumers could flood to moblie and PC is droves, or just drop off.

In order to have staying power, consoles need to deliver gaming experiences that can NOT be found on mobile, but at a price point that can be reasonable to the average person. Because hardcore gamers don’t make or break a system. The average everyday walmart shopers do. No way they start buying systems with 70usd games.

Instead of expanding the audiances, consoles will narrow them if the prices go up.

@35, Not gonna happen OG. If it was just one publisher & one platform ruling them all, then yeah… Maybe. But even then, people would just stop buying.

Their will be plenty of competition next-gen, even if they do away with used game sales.

@OG
“the pubs/platform holders can set any damn price they want.”

If second hand is not an option and they set them too high either people won’t buy them, or they will buy less of the top price products. The pubs/platform holders don’t win in that situation either. Particularly in a more digital product world where they have fewer overheads per units sold.

It won’t be sustainable to sell at these prices and keep them high if people aren’t willing to pay them.

I think the explosion next generation will be in the regular to premium XBLA/PSN titles – with AAA in further decline. So any point about games costing $70 will be moot. “Games” are a lot more than the AAA retail releases now, and will be even more so in the future.

i rareley buy games at release these days, because of the pricing. if i do i mostly buy in uk because they are sometimes much much cheaper than in germany. gow ascension is 69,99 on amazon germany. on amazon uk i pay 55 euro. no brainer. i am buying british.
i am hoping for sony here and i really have a feeling that they have something in their sleeves. ps+ is great. i just joined for the first time. if you have a vita and a ps3 it´s totally worth it. i hope they will go further with that service. since i do not really collect games and would totally love to go all digital (if pricing is fair), i would totally embrace a digital, subscription based, premium rental service (if there wouldn´t be time pressure to play and finish those games). i am hoping that sony is cooking something like that…

This:

“Maybe. But even then, people would just stop buying.”

And, this:

“If second hand is not an option and they set them too high either people won’t buy them, or they will buy less of the top price products”

Here was my thought:

“The gap that high pricing will create will prolly be filled with cheaper digital only lower budget games. Like the Steam/XBLA/PSN/WiiWare stuff. I have been thinking more and more that the consoles will be alright, it is the high profile, big budget AAA games that are endangered”

I think it is important to look at WiiU and Vita and even 3DS as to the tie in with adoption rates and price point. I don’t expect much easier going for either PS4 or XBNXT. 400usd+ systems will have a hard time selling beyond early adopters. If the software is there, that will help. Lack of software, imo, along with price hurt 3DS, Vita, and WiiU. But if said software is 70usd…that adds in another wrinkle.

It is easier to sell a system at the store when people can also see boxed software to buy/play on it. It is harder to move that same system with the idea of “take it home, and find something to download on it”. Sure there will prolly be a influx of cheaper download only games, but does that move hardware off the store shelf at Walmart or Toys r Us or Sears or Target or anywhere that less informed but still extremly vital purchaser will be shoping?

I am not very sure about that. I have to wonder if digital games move systems. It seems a given today that everything will have digital only downloads. And many people will prolly feel that their current systems, PC, Mobile, PS360 also offers the same type of games. And they already have those, so why invest in new hardware?

My biggest fear aren’t game prices, but always-on and DRM. What if I can’t play a beloved game after five years because the developer is shutting down the server or worse, bankrupt? The digital future is here and the always-on will come sooner than later. Plus microtransactions everywhere. You wont pay $70 anymore because it’s f2p and p2w …

@OG
Thing is the publishers won’t just go “Ah nobody is buying our AAA games at $70, bugger lets do something else” will they?

“It is easier to sell a system at the store when people can also see boxed software to buy/play on it.”

Surely people are well over this hurdle now? Mobile phones, tablets, PC’s even. This is known and understood.

“I think it is important to look at WiiU and Vita and even 3DS as to the tie in with adoption rates and price point.”

Do we even know what these are given digital numbers aren’t released?

“And many people will prolly feel that their current systems, PC, Mobile, PS360 also offers the same type of games.”

People do like new and shiny though. They also will buy/upgrade for specific titles – regardless of whether they could have been done on previous systems – and specific features (social).

I do that for sports games Manamana. I will buy a game, buy the DLC and then wait a few years before investing in another one. If EA shuts down all access to a sports game after 18months(because they want me to buy a new one) that is going to be a problem.

I still say it has potential pitfalls Doc. Lots of them. I think early adopters will buy. WiiU sold 3.5million systems in the “launch” window. That was .5million more then Wii did during the same period.

But once the dedicated fans were owners, the sales stoped cold.

I think it is important to not over value the importance of dedicated core gamers while undervalueing the need for average everyday consumers to buy one. Your Teas, Lexs, Gads, Docs and what not will prolly preorder their fav systems, no questions asked. they will do so in good faith based on past experiences. But those folks are grossly outnumbered by the average joe. The one that isn’t buying WiiU right now. The one that, I don’t think, will bite on a 400usd+ system sporting 70usd games at the store.

After launch, new systems could have a very slow go at retail sales.

@43: But that’s where your choice comes in. If you allow yourself to get forced online to play, you are assuming the risks of bad service and eventual lack of service. So far, Sony seems to be checking all the right boxes, including the continued ability to play offline. If MS goes the other way with the next box, they can die, for all I care. They’ll never see my money. As long as you have a choice, make the right one.

@44
“People do like new and shiny though.”
Exactly. Otherwise smartphone biz would have been in an downward spiral for years now.

I remember these words from Peter Moore to IGN previous year (not exact quote, but the meaning is same)-
Our job is to push people into paying max they will for the content.

And really,if you think its wrong, then you are silly and have never sold a thing in life. You try to extract the most you can from your sale.
Now, no one is forcing anyone to buy games. If they indeed cost 70$, don’t buy them, simple as that. I am very optimistic that when the next-gen starts in holiday 2013, they will sell well, but if they are near the WiiU levels, then I am sure drastic steps will be taken across the board.

@OG
Yeah see my comment in the other thread …
http://www.vg247.com/2013/03/11/ps4-is-gaming-console-at-heart-pc-architecture-requested-by-devs/comment-page-1/#comment-456845

The trick will be in getting past the first lull. Who knows what Joe Public will latch on to – they are a weird bunch

@cobra we need to wait and see what’ll be released by the big players, actually. I still think that Valve has something mindblowing to show at E3 …