EA Boss Says Games Too Expensive
EA's John Riccitiello has been shaking things up at EA lately, with everything from layoffs to the purchase of BioWare. Now he's suggesting the company take some really drastic measures: make their games less expensive. "Riccitiello says the $31 billion gaming industry will suffer if it doesn't start to reevaluate its business model. Game executives at Sony, Microsoft and Activision must answer some tough questions in the coming years, like how long they can expect consumers to pay $59 for a video game. Riccitiello predicts the model will be obsolete in the next decade. 'In the next five years, we're all going to have to deal with this. In China, they're giving games away for free,' he says. 'People who benefit from the current model will need to embrace a new revenue model, or wait for others to disrupt.' As more publishers transition to making games for online distribution, Riccitiello says he expects EA will experiment with different pricing models."
Was in the Virgin Megastore at Picadilly Circus the other day (ok, possibly not a representative choice) but all PS3 games were at least £50 each. That's just crazy. Decent Wii games tend to top £30 when released, and that's pushing the expensive side for me. Also: "Different pricing models" sounds like it might be "cheaper in the US and Japan, but more expensive in Europe, and with half the content removed".
Hah, no fear there! I imagine my PC will outstrip the capability of the PS3 in not too long, and there just aren't the games around to even begin to contemplate buying one.
Lateralus wrote:Hah, no fear there! I imagine my PC will outstrip the capability of the PS3 in not too long, and there just aren't the games around to even begin to contemplate buying one.
Hardware arguments aside, I'd usually defend a console format but in this case the range of games for the PS3 is pretty poor.
EA think games are too expensive, so they make you pay less for them but you have to buy them every six months over EA Link. It's the way of the future.
I suspect someone's probably noticed that budget games sell more stock than full priced games.
Honestly, the last full price game I've bought was probably Stalker and [Edit: Twas Bioshock, cheers pete], but I normally stalk around for offers and budget games.
Barring Valve, who've got the pricing just right imo for a game, even if they don't supply hard copies.
Last edited by buzzmong on November 2nd, 2007, 15:49, edited 1 time in total.
I bought bioshock in its shiny tin box, but I haven't bought much for ages, I'm a big fan of sweeping now. If I think a game really is good enough for my money, I'll buy it, but I haven't got the monies to throw around on all the games that are out now.
EA Boss Says Games Too Expensive
PS3 is a customer trap. Don't buy one!
