Counting the Pennies

Counting the Pennies

What is the real cost of gaming? Dog Pants challenges common assumptions on what gamers can afford.

Buying Trends

A typical gamer will probably hold to certain principles when it comes to buying their next PC game. A glance at any given weekly top ten reveals two general categories. The most persistant chart toppers are the games which casual players buy, such as The Sims and Football Manager. However, while popular in general these games are considered niche by more serious gamers and are often ignored. The other category, then, are our triple-A games; Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, Command and Conquer, etc. Assuming they have the expendable income, most will not hesitate to buy a triple-A title, and for many gamers these will be the only games they buy. These highly advertised and published games are anticipated for months, sometimes years, in advance and are frequently bought purely on that basis. Even when reviews score less than favourably, many gamers will refuse to deviate from the big-budget titles. For the most part these games will be single-player.

Should there be a lack of polished, GPU-busting big hitters, some will reluctantly fill the gaps with budget games, or cheaper 'casual' games. These are often downloaded, and developers like PopCap using have been making them more popular in recent years, coupled with the convenience of digital distribution services such as Steam. These games form a strange but expanding segment of the market, that of cheap, short games which give the player a few hours entertainment for a fraction of the cost of a full price title. As yet though they are still merely a curiosity, bought occasionally when nothing new is available.

For the most part subscription based games are considered expensive and frivolous, although the proportion of gamers who play them exclusively is ever on the increase. Having to pay a charge every month is galling to many, even among hardcore gamers, and peering into the future reveals mounting costs exceeding and in opposition to the one-off payment a regular game costs.

Mainstream Titles

The RRP for a mainstream release is £35, although typically this is reduced by retailers. For this a player will usually get around 30-40 hours play from a single player game, with multiplayer games potentially extending into hundreds of hours. Sticking with the single player experience for the time being, this would equate to roughly £1 per hour in value for time, assuming the game was played to completion. In the grand scheme of things that's not bad value for money. Now take games which include a multiplayer component. The maths gets a little more foggy as the amount of time playing the MP part of a game varies by player, but for the sake of argument assume a reasonable figure of 60-80 hours. A game with a decent multiplayer mode can therefore potentially triple the value of the game, bringing it down to about 35p per hour.

Multiplayer only online games such as the Battlefield series are well established now, and frequently hold a place in the games charts. While the multiplayer components of regular games only occasionally offer prolonged interest, those designed specifically for online gaming will frequently offer hundreds of hours for the same price. A conservative estimate of between 150 and 250 hours averages a cost of around 17p per hour, an improvement again.

Casual Games

The rise of Steam has allowed small developers to release their games effectively without the need for expensive packaging and advertising. This is leading to a rise in small, modestly priced games which can be downloaded in a few minutes and for a few pounds, and played for a couple of days. Quality and pricing varies wildly, between a couple of pounds up to almost full price. However, Steam's rating system allows gamers to make a more informed choice before buying, and indeed those who do buy this sort of game are generally more inclined to do a little research. A rough estimate of averages then could put a popular game at 20-30 hours for around £10, for a value of about 25p per hour.

Subscription Games

Subscription based games are almost exclusively massively multiplayer online games. Some require a full priced client to be purchased, others offer it for free, but all charge a monthly rate to be able to access their servers and play the game. This fee varies, but us usually around £8 per month. The very nature of these games is to play them for a long time, and their pricing model depends on it. Successful MMOs like World of Warcraft and Eve Online hold their players for many months and even years. During this time the player will pay much more than the cost of a mainstream title, for example a not unusual six months of play might cost £48, a year £96. However, the games also have the content to keep a player interested for far longer than a regular release. 20 hours a week is not unusual, frequently more. Using 20 hours as a typical example, though, results in a value of 10p per hour. Subscription methods which offer a discount for buying several months at a time can reduce this further.

Examples

Using my own xfire profile as an example, these values can be tested.

• Mass Effect (mainstream single player) - £35, 36 hours = 97p/hour
• Call of Duty 4 (mainstream SP with multiplayer) - £35, 120 hours = 29p/hour
• Battlefield 2 (mainstream multiplayer) - £35, 211 hours = 17p/hour
• Plants Vs Zombies (Casual) - £7, 20 hours = 35p/hour
• World of Warcraft (MMOG) - £125, 1,175 hours = 10p/hour

Conclusion

While these values are somewhat arbitrary, it is likely that they aren't too dissimilar to any other regular gamer. Looking at the results, it would appear that the majority of gamers are paying more than they have to for their entertainment. Obviously personal preference plays a part in which games a person will buy, but it seems that cost shouldn't be a reason to stick to the big releases. Gamers are now being given more and more options on how to spend their money, and the traditional titles may start to see themselves losing out to small Steam games and MMOs. With more and more big developers switching to console only releases or games developed primarily for consoles with shoddy PC ports, could we see the PC rise as an alternative? Certainly the argument that PC gaming is expensive looks less steady when these simple equations are applied to similar console games with even less value per hour. Speculation on the future of the platform aside though, even taking these figures with a pinch of salt is should be clear that our established habits are making us pay for the most expensive games. Don't be scared of deviating from the well trodden path, fellow gamers. At least not on account of the price.