Atrocity Exhibition wrote:
sinister agent wrote:
It will be the same game when it is not more than twice the most I will pay for a game. Forty quid is a ridiculous amount to pay for a game, however good. It's been years in the making precisely because Blizzard might as well own their own mint with their world of warcraft cash cow. If anyone can afford to drop a price, it's them.
Not that I have anything against them specifically for the price, obv - they know there are tonnes of people who will pay forty quid, so I wouldn't expect them to charge much less. I'm not one of them, though.
That's only because the value system around games is so fucked up these days, thanks to vicious price-cutting (especially supermarkets using games as loss-leaders) and the pre-owned market. Not that things getting cheaper is a bad thing, but still, let's keep a sense of perspective.
I've made this point before, but new SNES games routinely cost £50-£60 in the early 90s (I think Doc Glyn said that'd be more like £80+ now, adjusted for inflation), I don't see how £40 is a 'ridiculous' amount to pay for a game as great in scope and content as Starcraft II is - especially considering the backend battle.net system which is essentially free, or at least, doesn't require any kind of subscription. (Unlike, for example, XBox Live.)
In fact, I went for a few beers with my bro on Saturday, two pints of Peroni cost £7.50, four rounds cost me £30. Couple of quid in the jukebox, few games of pool, couple of bags of peanuts - wallop, £40 gone in about three hours.
£40 for Starcraft II is 'ridiculous' how, exactly?
Things being even more expensive twenty years ago (when I
certainly wouldn't have bought them) doesn't really change anything. Booze (which isn't even a fair comparison as it's taxed up the arse) being overpriced in a pub (and seriously, £7.50 for two beers? That's when you go to another pub entirely, sod that) doesn't change anything either.
£40 is ridiculous for any game - I've by no means singled Starcraft out for this. Why? Because they don't need to cost that much. Even before the recent trend of price dropping and download services like Steam and Direct "HEY LOOK NUMBERS R KOOL" Drive, you didn't need to pay that to get good games.
Sure, it's better than it used to be, but the fact that the games industry used to be able to shaft customers even more brutally in the past doesn't change the fact that they're still doing it. Hell, they're looking for more creative ways to do it every day.