I'm pretty sure people are buying things from XBLA, because it's hard to find an article that has anything to do with sales numbers that doesn't mention the millions upon millions of dollars worth of sales they make. People will buy download-only consoles and games, there will be the initial kicking and screaming period across the blogosphere much like when Steam was originally released, but it will happen.
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics." You can show me any article you want, but i will never believe that the average xbl member has more than 3-5 arcade games priced at 800MSP or above. Judging from what i have seen so far (looking at my friendslist, chat over xbl, looking at friends who own a 360, even looking at sites like x360a, etc.) it is a big exception when people own more than 10 arcade games... There are already many people that are not willing to pay full price for retail games. Having talked to my local dealer, there are more and more people that buy used games or games on sale (many others don't even bother to buy, but rent games). That seems to be a general direction. People are fed up with games at those prices. Imagine how they will feel when they do not even get the chance to sell a completed game anymore. With appstore prices at the momen the threshold is pretty low, but i cannot see the mass to buy at much higher prices or without an actual physical media...
No. DS games have an RRP of $60-$70, but normally around $50 at JB. Plus you can't sell iPod games so you are stuck with it. No more than $20 for me.
Just to stick something in here. I have just been playing CIVREV and its identical (cept for graphics) to the console games. Everything is there. All the buildings, options. I would consider it a VERY full game.
walsh06: Graphics are one of the most expensive parts of a game. Imagine this scenario: You have one character which can do 6 different moves standing up -> 6 animations. Now if you decide the character should be able to do all those 6 moves while crouching -> 6 becomes 12 animations. Let's say you have two playable characters -> 12 becomes 24 animations. It just keeps adding up by huge numbers. For an action game that could be the bare minimum moveset, it would be nowhere near Uncharted 2 or Assassin's Creed (console version) quality - those games have thousands of animations. So what happened in Civ Revolution is that they took out one very expensive element and also it's a port from existing game. They most likely couldn't sell it at that price if they developed it from ground up only for iPhone. Interesting results on the poll. If a game like Zelda Phantom Hourglass were released on iPhone I personally would buy it in a heartbeat at $30, because it's even less in euros! iPhone games are probably the only games which have same pricing in US and Finland, usually if it costs $60 in US retail the price is 60 over here. (60 is 85.1983 USD)
After a long thinking session I came up with comparison that better illustrates Civ Rev: A game has 10 different units, each of them can walk, idle and die. It's manageable 30 animations. Now the game designer decided each of them needs to be able to fight, retreat and taunt -> Now we just went to 60 animations. Game designer has another great idea, let's make them able to move by running, wounded or starving so they drag their spears on the ground. Oh great, now it's 90 animations The complexity of the character mesh is another element. If it has 5 moving parts it's fast to animate, when it has 50 moving parts it's very slow to animate. Anyone noticed that we don't have idle animation in Minigore? THIS is the reason We would need it for all three health stages, for all characters. This generation of gamers have been treated with nearly animated film quality ingame graphics. The crowd at sites like GameTrailers.com can find a way to flame even the prettiest games around: "Master Chief looks blocky", "Killzone 2 has lowres textures" "Lara Croft character model has too pointy elbows " etc. The picky GameTrailers crowd is representative of the AAA blockbuster games market where the real money is made. AAA games can sell in excess of 5 million with $60 price tag. iPhone's best sellers are Flight Control and Pocket God at little less than 1.5 million copies sold each, at price tag of 0,99$ - the markets are not anywhere near comparable, yet. -Timo
No! These are digital downloads. If we pay as much as a DS/PSP game we are getting ripped off my friend. There are numerous factors that go into making a shelf bought games costs so high. Digital download has none of these beside the work put into them. No shipping, no packaging etc.... $20 dollar max for a full game, or port. Besides if you could get a game like Monster Hunter on the idevice it may be a different stroy, but you cant. So we will have to just deal with what the buttonless device can handle.
I voted with the last option. I don't see why any game would need to be $30-$40 when you have games like Madden, Sim City, The Sims, and others not even over $10. Unless a sudden App Store trend of games with the velocity of console games comes forward, I don't see any reason for a game to cost that much. However if there ever is, and I want the game, I would wait.
yeah, i'd love to see a port of those 2 games, but unfortunately, bethesda is currently being a**holes and suing interplay, so there wouldnt be a port anytime soon. also, a legendary rpg like that would frustrate your casual rpg gamer these days.
Depends on the game and the developer/publisher. If it was a well-known developer like Bungie, Epic Games, Infinity Ward, Bethesda Studios, etc., then yes. I would if the game appealed to me.
I'm not paying DS or PSP prices for a digital download. As others have pointed out, part of the $29.99 - $39.99 retail price for new games on those portable game platforms is due to: 1. packaging 2. manufacturing (they have to pay the manufacturers for the print runs, and if they need more games "printed", they need to pay another fee) 3. distribution 4. contingencies for retail sales 5. cost of retail space (you...you don't think those retailers actually give away that space...do you?) 6. marketing, not only media marketing but also in store marketing We already have those types of games on this platform. That said, those types of games are not the norm precisely because this isn't a portable game system but a mobile platform. Listen...I know people tire of me repeating it, but I have to because it's true and it seems not to "sink in" with some of you: This is not a portable game system. It's a mobile platform that has a viable game market. There's a distinct difference. Different types of users, different types of devices, different types of games due to those two things. Hell, portable game system games themselves are not all that alike those on home console. They tend to be shorter, more pick up and play sorts of games. Mobile games even quicker pick up and play. Arcade games quicker still due to the emphasis on quarter munching, but unlike mobile games arcade games have to emphasis "better than home graphics" and "experiences you cannot have at home". PC gaming ebbs and flows, but due to the different type of platform, different stock input interface, and the fact it is not a dedicated game platform is a different market as well. Arcade. Home console. PC. Portable. Mobile. Thems the markets in the game industry (the main ones anyway). I didn't make this stuff up. Hate the message all you want, but don't hate the messenger. Frankly I don't want too many portable game system style games on this mobile platform. I want more games that could only exist on a platform like this, and that are geared especially toward the more pick up and play style of gameplay. Modern Combat every now and again is nice, but I'd rather more games like Eliss, Zen Bound, SPiN, Toy Bot Diaries, Sway, Squareball, etc., etc., etc. Again, there's a reason the physical copies at retail cost that much that have nothing to do with quality and everything to do with associative costs of selling a retail product. I'm not paying retail prices for digital downloads, as DD games don't have those associative costs. Honestly, I'd go as high as $15 - 20 at most for DD games on a mobile platform (as that's honestly how high some PocketPC games were). For home console (if there's ever a DD only home console, and I do believe that Apple will one day get their heads out of their asses and issue a next gen AppleTV with an open SDK and it's own App Store - wouldn't be a video game console, but close enough) I'd go as high as $34.99 - $40.
Higher price. Maybe. "Full" games. We already have a few. An FFVII style "deep" JRPG? Eh. I'd rather something like Song Summoner (which we will get, apparently) which fits the platform better. Just because the platform is capable technically of such games like FFVII style console JRPGs doesn't mean said games really "fit" the platform. Honestly, they don't even really "fit" portable gaming, PSP fanboys aside, as has been shown by the less powerful more pick up and play library having DS spanking PSP everywhere. Only in Japan does PSP truly sell well, and IMHO that wasn't until the Slim came out, and as that redesign wasn't that slimming I gather JP gamers went for PSP for the real major design change in PSP2000 (and shared by 3000 and Go): TV output. I really think JP gamers are using their PSPs as portable/home console hybrids. A mobile platform like iPhone/touch? Those types of games "fit" even less. Once in a while releases, maybe...but I don't really think there's as huge a market for such games as people around here seem to think. Not gonna happen. Not if those consoles really want to take off. Again, there's a reason retail games are as high priced as they are. DD should be less expensive to the consumer due to the exclusion of said associated costs. If the console manufacturers and developers and publishers do, in fact, charge retail prices for DD only games, DD acceptance (and hence those console's acceptance rates) will be lower than they'd like. And, if they do go full retail price, it'd be to appease brick 'n mortar retailers. Honestly, the only company I see going DD only, full on DD only, with a home console next gen is...Apple. And it won't be a video game console, but a next gen AppleTV with an open SDK and App Store, ala iPhone/touch. However, Sony and possibly Nintendo will go DD only for their portable game systems. And if they charge "full retail price" for those games, I personally will stick two middle fingers in the air and tell Sony and Nintendo to both take them for a spin. I don't doubt it...but pointing out Steam does not help build up the case for "full retail price" releases, as Steam games usually release for less than what you would've paid in retail a few years back. And there's always those nice sales on Steam. Yeah...Steam is actually a pretty good implementation of DD.
^^^^^^^^ what abou the psp go? Isnt that thing a download only console? And besides that, I read somewhere sales are actually netter than any other psp device. But I don know how much the games are for digital only copies. But anyways I'd pay 30 if the original bioshock came to the iPhone with same or better grapics and great control somehow..
I'd probably pay >$80 for the original BioShock with the same graphics. But that won't happen because BioShock is a next-gen console game. But still, watch this: Seems like an early build:
