"Games are Too Expensive"-Todd Howard (Skyrim dev)

[Amari24]

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Director Todd Howard has spoken up about the current pricing strategies used by video game developers and surprisingly he thinks that they are too expensive.

The developer said “I’ve thought for a long time that games are too expensive,” going on to say “I don’t put us in that category of course – for what we give you, for sixty bucks or however many ‘quid’ it is.”

“That’s a lot of money for entertainment, so I think the good news is that in certain markets – PC, iPhone, mobile – we can see prices coming down.”

“But I do think industry-wide we would benefit from more games out at $19 or $29. I would try more games. Because I’m not going to try a game for $60. It’s a tough decision.

Honestly I have to agree with him – we need more budget titles. I would be much more likely to pick up a game that I have never heard of for $19 than for full price.

Either way it’s nice to see someone from the industry side of things speaking up for the consumer (even if he does exclude his own game.) It’s an expensive hobby so even if just half of the developers out there used a lower price point it would be awesome.

Source via @CVG

I recall how NES games back in the day were sold at $50. I know if games were still at that price, I could play more and more of them, but sometimes that $10 difference from $50 to $60, is huge.

Games back then were mostly made by one developer. Sometimes there would be a couple of guys for music, artwork, etc. but now game developing consists of huge teams, and they take much longer to make, and are obviously more expensive. So I can understand the $60 price-tag for them.

But when you take a look at a Dreamcast game, Shenmue in this case. The game cost $70mil for Sega to make, although it was only sold at $40 (I believe Dreamcast games were that much). That was only one generation ago. Who knows how expensive they'll get next gen, hopefully $60 will be the lock for these games.

[beastlyskronk]

Awww I thought he was setting us up for a big announcement that Skyrm would only be 30 or 40 dollars.

[Jermz79]

If only the cost of a loaf of bread were still 25¢ and a gallon of gas was 99¢ ....

I look at it this way, if I KNOW I like a game I will pay $60 for the game and I will play that game until the cows come home! I have games such as Hot Shots Golf that I paid full price for 4-5 years ago and still play it on a regular basis.

If I am not sure I will like a game, I'll rent that game for a few dollars per night and then make a decision.

[LordTrychon]

Well, I didn't remember what new NES games ran. I was pretty young and got a lot of used games.

$50 back then was more than $50 or even $60 now, probably.

Harder to rent and try games these days, too though.

[Jermz79]

Harder to rent and try games these days, too though.

https://www.gamefly.com

[LordTrychon]

www.gamefly.com

Yeah, if I had more free time, I'd totally be a gamefly guy. I would probably rent for 1-2 months and give it back. Good deal.

As it is, I get a few hours to play a week if I'm lucky sometimes... and that's during summer break.

One full time job, one part time job, partner in a Graphic Design Start up (I help with the web stuff), and a student again in a month...

I've got just a few games I'll likely play this year. But for just the rare occasion I want to rent something to just give it a shot, it would be less than once a month.

That said... I love the idea of gamefly.

[Jermz79]

Yeah I hear ya, if you don't use it right services like Gamefly and Netflix cost more in the long run.

[Hoserman117]

I definitely agree. There are usually 5-7 games a year that are truly worth the $60, but outside of that... not really. I would try many more of the new games if they released at a lower price point, say for example if Red Faction Armageddon was $30 or $35, I probably would have picked it up, but no way am I going to get a largely single player experience that isn't that great to begin with for $60.

Stuff like Skyrim is easily worth the price point, but that can't be said for the majority of games on the market.

[Amari24]

The way I see it, certain games are worth $60, and others simply are not. To Todd Howard's defense, Skyrim is a game that's worth $60 simply because you get tons of content. Fallout is worth $60 (if the bugs don't ruin the game). Assassin's Creed is another one.

I'm sorry, but a FPS simply isn't worth $60. Unless we're talking about a massive FPS like RAGE, Borderlands, or something like that, FPS simply don't contain the amount of content like a game such as Skyrim. Now, I'm certainly guilty of spending $60 on FPS.

I spent $60 on Crysis 2 and Killzone 3, that's it. Even though I liked Killzone 3 a lot, I felt I got robbed at the end of the day. Crysis 2 is a different story, however.

But they simply shouldn't be sold at that price. If a FPS only offers a 6-8 hour single player experience, they should be no more than $50, especially since the genre has devoured the game industry.

That's how feel, but I'll always continue to pay the same price for a game I'll enjoy. I'll be paying full price for Skyrim, RAGE, ME3, Revelations, and maybe ORC.

However, we should be lucky we aren't paying the same amount for games that people in Australia are. Games down there are sold for $120 just for ONE GAME. That's twice as much that we're paying in the States, Euro, and Japan. I can't even grasp paying that much for a game, unless it's rare and obscure.

[Amari24]

Well, I didn't remember what new NES games ran. I was pretty young and got a lot of used games.

$50 back then was more than $50 or even $60 now, probably.

Harder to rent and try games these days, too though.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure new NES games ran for $50 new. There's also this one massive NES games called "Action 52". It contains 52 HORRIBLE games all on one cartridge. It was sold for a spanking $200 I believe. Now that's ludicrous.

It also goes back to my point about the Dreamcast. New games for that ran for about $40 I believe, maybe $50. That was only one generation ago. It goes to show how fast these prices can change.

[Hoserman117]

Well I mean Xbox, PS2, and GC games were all $50. It was this generation that it took a price increase.

I don't really have a problem paying $60 for FPS games when they have a good multiplayer. I've put in hundreds of hours in CoD and Halo MP, so it's easily worth it when they feature something like that.

[BarkdogRX7]

It's amazing to me, I was looking at some of my old comic books when I moved and I saw an back ad for Street Fighter II Turbo for SNES, it said: Reserve now at Toys-R-Us for only $75.00 I was facepalmed!



I don't recall too much of the costs for games as a child, I know obviously the economy was a lot better in the 80's and 90's for most of us growing up but NES games were $39-49 avg, and then I remeber as a pre-teen/teen sega and snes games being like $40 new or so but then used game stores were everywhere and so I never bought ANYTHING brand new except Sonic the Hedgehog.

As a teen when I had my first few jobs, I had no bills so I bought new $40-50 games for my PsONE and thought nothing of it, I do remember the jump from $50-60 and remember thinking "Oh no one will pay this, it will go back down", it never did and I got used to it but what really irks me is DLC, Do you guys remember when ALL DLC was free? I dont mind paying $60 for CoD but when their DLC is $15 for MAPS...nothing new story wise...no new guns, just maps...drives me nuts.

And it's enough people who dont mind paying for it that makes me mad cause most of us now who are older want to keep enjoying games we love but when you add up all the total expenses for a CoD game, you're over $150.00 and then you have to do it all again a year later (And that's if you bought the standard edition game too )

The DLC pricing is what is annoying me, I don't like $60 games but then again thats why we have so many review sites and gamefly (Which I live by) so I know I'm just ranting but it's my :2cents:

[Amari24]

Also, forgot to mention that Neo-Geo games were over $150 a cartridge. The system itself was about $500, and that was in the same generation as the SNES and Genesis. Hell, I remember N64 games being sold at $75, and we considered that cheap for games back then. We also have to remember that around that time, 80s-90s, the industry was coming off a video game crash. DLC is what kills me. 75% of all DLC, is content that developers purposely leave out of the game to sell. I don't buy games like CoD or BF, because they're controlled by selfish greedy companies who will try their best to drain you of your money after you buy their $60 game.

I honestly feel bad for the people who pay $15 just for 2 new maps and a weapon.

[BarkdogRX7]

Also, forgot to mention that Neo-Geo games were over $150 a cartridge. The system itself was about $500, and that was in the same generation as the SNES and Genesis. Hell, I remember N64 games being sold at $75, and we considered that cheap for games back then. We also have to remember that around that time, 80s-90s, the industry was coming off a video game crash. DLC is what kills me. 75% of all DLC, is content that developers purposely leave out of the game to sell. I don't buy games like CoD or BF, because they're controlled by selfish greedy companies who will try their best to drain you of your money after you buy their $60 game.

I honestly feel bad for the people who pay $15 just for 2 new maps and a weapon.

Yeah except with CoD, its NO new weapons ever...it just new environments to run around on, no new features...nada, $15? GTFO! I admit I've caught myself on payday buying some CoD DLC here and there but it's different in games like Assassins Creed or Dragon Age/Mass Effect where they add 6-10 hours of NEW gameplay, new voice recordings, new characters, new items to earn etc, but shooters could just pkg all that or say, "Hey loyal fans, these maps didn't make the game for storage - go home and download these for buying our games year in and year out" but no, Activision and Capcom (My fav. gaming company) are getting insanely greedy now with DLC, Capcom itself, as if it weren't bad enough they made you re-BUY their entire game on disc again, they have the nerve now-a-days to charge for small things like "Shadow battle" on MvC3 and costumes which are...ehhh, I'd pay $2 for a set of those but they are nickel and dime'ing us to death and it's seriously gotta stop at some point. I dunno - again I got on a rant, sry

[Luckyshot]

Rule I always followed is that games I want to play but do not have multiplayer that I care about, I wait about 6 months for them to go on sale.

I bought Fallout 3, New Vegas, Total War Series, Crysis 2, Total War Series for 10 dollars or less on steam.

New games I want to play with buddies etc, I gladly play the $60 for, but the way I look at it is, if i get more than 60 hours of entertainment out of the game, even if it takes a year to get to that point it was a steal.