What justifies the 20% price increase for PC? : V - Skyrim

» Thu Aug 11, 2011 4:30 am

Like any price hike, They feel that the people would buy it. They're a company and they're selling a luxury so they ask for what they think the people are willing to pay.

Exactly!!

» Wed Aug 10, 2011 10:06 pm

just checked steam its 50 euro : / now im definitely buying a physical copy

» Wed Aug 10, 2011 8:51 pm

THE CONCEPT IS "WHAT REASON ARE YOU RAISING PRICES ON ONLY 1 PLATFORM RATHER THAN ACROSS ALL 3?"

The concept is "PC games in general have started to increase to $60 this year." It's got nothing specifically to do with Skyrim, PC vs console, or Bethesda. It's a general industry trend that's been going since spring.

Inflation.

And yes - it's not being consistent between PC and consoles... but there are different market forces and decisions at work in those two cases. Console games will likely increase at in the next couple years, probably when the new gen comes out. And PC games won't increase at the same time. Because they're two different markets.

:shrug:

» Thu Aug 11, 2011 5:12 am

Its [censored] disgusting that you want console users to have to pay more then you, is it petty. You can get alot of games for cheap on PC so why is it so bad that there is an extra 10 bucks?

This!

PC gaming is superior to console gaming in a number of ways, I have no qualms with Bethesda charging more for a better experience, and if this is some form of jealousy towards console gamers then thats wrong,

I am going to get this game on PC and dont mind paying a little extra for better experience :spotted owl:

» Thu Aug 11, 2011 1:58 am

Given that the price hike only seems to apply in the US have you considered that it may be the US retailers, not Bethesda, who are trying to force the price up?

» Thu Aug 11, 2011 10:10 am

Maybe because you get more... Enhanced graphical capabilities and mods.

Since when do top teir games go for less the 69.99? Anyways?

» Thu Aug 11, 2011 8:42 am

I don't know. What justifies the belief of so many PC gamers that PC games have to be $50 for the rest of eternity? That raising the price of these games is a matter of "greed" and "consolization"? Makes little sense to me. Especially considering that it's only been within the past 15 years or so that this hard $50 standard has existed, and it was basically created by consoles, and it's a totally arbitrary figure in the first place.

That would have made sense for the game's MSRP to have been upped, but having done so would have increased the console prices respectively as well; but that's hasn't happened. And that's what I'm trying to understand.

» Wed Aug 10, 2011 11:18 pm

Prices listed on any pre-order website are estimates. The actual prices will be determined by the amount Bethesda Softworks charges the retailer for the game (which will then be passed on to you after a store mark-up).

Also, console games have a higher development cost associated with them which is why their games tend to cost more (you can thank Microsoft and Sony for their licensing fees for that).

» Thu Aug 11, 2011 2:43 am

Skyrim is by far the most exphensive game iv ever seen ($130 in NZ)

» Thu Aug 11, 2011 4:01 am

The concept is "PC games in general have started to increase to $60 this year." It's got nothing specifically to do with Skyrim, PC vs console, or Bethesda. It's a general industry trend that's been going since spring.

Inflation.

And yes - it's not being consistent between PC and consoles... but there are different market forces and decisions at work in those two cases. Console games will likely increase at in the next couple years, probably when the new gen comes out. And PC games won't increase at the same time. Because they're two different markets.

:shrug:

Yeah, I noticed EA was doing that with their games for PC: Dragon Age 2, Crysis 2, Battlefield 3, Mass Effect 3. What irked me is after the release they'll say "We're doing great sales, but it seems that sales are down on the PC from what we expected" I'm sure if they chose to make the console versions $72 each, they'd see a respective amount of declined purchases in consoles.

I understand inflation, but in the video game market, inflation has been across the board. It's never affected (as far as game pricing) just 1 platform. Especially when you see that many of today's PC versions of the game are getting WORSE treatment (porting rather than being developed for).

I guess what I can do is just wait for the title to go on sale. Luckily with as close to Christmas as this game is being released, I'm sure Steam will have it on sale for $49.99.

I would actually buy the game on Day 1 if I saw that all games went up in prices (because I know the game will be worth it) But since it wasn't a uniform increase, I'll just hold off.

» Thu Aug 11, 2011 9:17 am

That would have made sense for the game's MSRP to have been upped, but having done so would have increased the console prices respectively as well; but that's hasn't happened. And that's what I'm trying to understand.

No they wouldn't. Prior to the Xbox 360, console games cost the same as PC games including "licensing fees". Pricing has always been set to what people are willing to pay. The fact that a bit more of the $60 for a PC sale will be going to the publisher than the $60 from a console sale is irrelevant. It's the same reason that a publisher that has its own purchasing service doesn't charge less than other retailers, even though buying directly from the publisher will give the publisher more money. It's not about who gets what, it's about how much the consumer pays.

» Wed Aug 10, 2011 11:05 pm

Having just paid $45 for a tank of gas, when I can remember paying $15 for it? The PC price going up $10 really doesn't ping on my radar. :shrug:

» Thu Aug 11, 2011 3:08 am

Mods and capabilities have NOTHING to do with price hikes, even more so about people say we're getting a better product? um where were you when Todd was going on about all platforms being = in everything? mmk and I cannot believe this turned into a PC users are elitist because they don't want a n unjustified price hike when Consoles costing as much as they do are due to sony and MS...like really

» Wed Aug 10, 2011 11:28 pm

First of all let me preface this by saying that Skyrim looks absolutely phenomenal. This isn't a question of whether I'm impressed with the game or not (because I am), but I have a question that comes down to respect.

Why exactly does Bethesda increase the price of the PC game from $49.99 up 20% to $59.99 without doing likewise to the console versions ($59.99 -> $71.99)?

If Bethesda had raised all games across the board, I would have taken this as "Bethesda feels the game's development warrants a more expensive game, so they adjusted the cost respectively." But instead, having just raised the PC version, and not giving it any unique features or content to justify this is, well, disrespectful. It's as if you see the PC community as nothing more than something to milk.

Is there anyone from Beth who is qualified to explain to me why this course of action was taken? EA is doing it with its titles, and I really was hoping that other devs/pubs wouldn't take to the same course of action.

Generally, the game costs $50 across platforms, but then Microsoft/Sony require $10 in licensing fees per game. PC doesn't have any licensing fees similar to this, so I'm left wondering what justifies the price hike.

The pricing is very different overseas. In the UK, the PC version is cheaper.

And you never know, maybe Beth will throw us PC users a bone and release an official high res texture pack or something similar.

In any event, considering the tremendous replay value of Skyrim and the typical marathon playing time for each playthrough, it has a much lower cost per hour of entertainment value (even at $60 I'm estimating around $0.02 - 0.03 per hour), compared to a typical game that costs $50 and provides 40+ hours of entertainment value ($1.25 per hour), or a game like Portal 2 which is on sale for $30 (very expensive $3.75 per hour, assuming 8 hours of playing time)

» Thu Aug 11, 2011 6:01 am

Are you a child?

1. No game TO DATE has ever had as many hours of play as the dev said they did for an average gamer. Cut their estimate buy 2/3 (~100 hours) and that'd be more accurate.
2. It's already been said that this isn't a question of whether the game will be good; so making it a counterpoint again proves you can't pay attention, like a child.
3. With such an inept response and lack of any point made, you're significantly closer to a whiner than anyone asking a legitimate question.

May I just interrupt your first point with one name?
"World of Warcraft"

» Wed Aug 10, 2011 10:01 pm

quit [censored]in', the price is fine.

May I just interrupt your first point with one name?
"World of Warcraft"

I think if the WoW box said, "Average # of hours played: 3000" people would pick up the box at Best Buy, then quickly put it down and wash their hands.

» Thu Aug 11, 2011 8:17 am

Prices listed on any pre-order website are estimates. The actual prices will be determined by the amount Bethesda Softworks charges the retailer for the game (which will then be passed on to you after a store mark-up).

Also, console games have a higher development cost associated with them which is why their games tend to cost more (you can thank Microsoft and Sony for their licensing fees for that).

Well, I check around, but the distributor in question here was Steam; they've usually been spot on from the price they start a preorder on to the game's release. And they showed $59.99. Usually digidist allows devs/pubs to keep prices to consumers low and profit margins high due to the virtual process of developing and publishing it.

» Wed Aug 10, 2011 8:10 pm

The price increase is possibly because of the inflation, and also because there's sizable difference between sales on consoles and sales on PC, and there has been a noticeable migration of developers to the consoles, long quote from tweakguides following.

The Move to Consoles

Spoiler

A noticeable change in PC gaming over the past few years has been the move away from PC exclusives. More and more games are now being developed first and foremost for the popular gaming consoles: the XBox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii. The fundamental reason for this is a large discrepancy in sales figures - console versions of games routinely outsell the PC versions by many times the number of units. Ok, so what does this phenomenon have to do with piracy? Well as it happens, the majority of PC developers are laying at least part of the blame for their decision to move to focusing on console-based development squarely in the lap of piracy:

Cevat Yerli of Crytek, the makers of Far Cry, Crysis and Crysis Warhead has publicly stated:

We are suffering currently from the huge piracy that is encompassing Crysis. We seem to lead the charts in piracy by a large margin, a chart leading that is not desirable. I believe that’s the core problem of PC Gaming, piracy, to the degree [that PC gamers who] pirate games inherently destroy the platform. Similar games on consoles sell factors of 4-5 more. It was a big lesson for us and I believe we won’t have PC exclusives as we did with Crysis in future.

John Carmack, often called the 'father of PC gaming', and co-founder of id software, makers of the Doom and Quake series, recently stated:

It's hard to second guess exactly what the reasons are. You can say piracy. You can say user migration, but the ground truth is just that the sales numbers on the PC are not what they used to be and are not what they are on the consoles.

Cliffy B, lead creator at Epic Games, makers of the Unreal Tournament and Gears of Wars series, has been quite outspoken on this topic:

Here's the problem right now; the person who is savvy enough to want to have a good PC to upgrade their video card, is a person who is savvy enough to know bit torrent to know all the elements so they can pirate software. Therefore, high-end videogames are suffering very much on the PC. Right now, it makes sense for us to focus on Xbox 360 for a number of reasons. Not least PCs with multiple configurations and piracy.

Chris Taylor of Gas Powered Games, makers of Supreme Commander, also chimes in with his assessment:

...people are going to stop making [games] on the PC because of my earlier point, what's happened on the PC with piracy. The economics are ugly right now on the PC. You're not going to see these gigantic, epic investments of dollars on the PC when it just doesn't work. The economics have to work. You're going to see those investments made on the console side and it's going to become a more console-centric investment. And then you're going to see them ported back over to the PC and that creates a different experience on the PC.

Robert Bowling, Community Manager at Infinity Ward, the makers of games such as Call of Duty 2 and Call of Duty 4, provided a fairly blunt opinion on the issue. He made a blog post entitled 'They Wonder Why People Don’t Make PC Games Any More', the title of his post along with the contents clearly linking the move away from PC game development with piracy:

On another PC related note, we pulled some disturbing numbers this past week about the amount of PC players currently playing Multiplayer (which was fantastic). What wasn’t fantastic was the percentage of those numbers who were playing on stolen copies of the game on stolen / cracked CD keys of pirated copies (and that was only people playing online).... the amount of people who pirate PC games is astounding.

The people quoted above are some of the most successful and prominent PC developers of our time. Virtually every PC gamer has played one of their games, and all of them have demonstrated a high degree of dedication to PC development over the years.

I think the price increase is an attempt to keep the PC a profitable platform, so even though there are fewer buying the game for PC, it will be offset by a price increase.

Hahaha.

PC players are butthurt that they are on level ground with console gamers.

What justifies the price increase? What about the increased price for console games? What justifies that?

What justifies the fact that PC games are a good deal cheaper?

Could you please not insult an entire platform, you're a console player, you're supposed to be better than that.

» Wed Aug 10, 2011 9:52 pm

It's a reasonable price. PC versions are usually better anyway at least on some aspects, so I don't think the price is too high.

I'm pretty damn glad I preordered Skyrim for 35€ (about $49) from a local gamestore, although the low price had me suspicious for a while (normally the prices are about 42€ for new games here).

» Thu Aug 11, 2011 3:28 am

Are you a child?

1. No game TO DATE has ever had as many hours of play as the dev said they did for an average gamer. Cut their estimate buy 2/3 (~100 hours) and that'd be more accurate.

Are you someone who has never played Morrowind and Oblivion before?

300 - 500 hour playthroughs are not uncommon and there are even quite a few people with single playthroughs in excess of 1000 hours.

Moreover, Skyrim would seem to have a much higher replay value than those two games

280 perks, out of which you can select only 70 - 80 allow for greater specialization of each character build (for the first time I'm interested in playing pure warrior and pure stealth characters)
Radiant Story Quests that make each playthrough unique in some ways
AMAZING CHARACTER DESIGNS (at least for the races we've seen screens for: Dunmer, Orc, Khajit, Nord, Redguard) make me want to play the game 10 times so I can try each race.
greater complexity in NPC relationships
lots of new features suggest we may see some truly ambitious mods with Creation Kit
possibly a more dynamic main quest, considering the backdrop of the civil war and the player's involvement with either the Rebel or Empire factions
deeper crafting system providing greater replay value to try different specialist builds

Accordingly, I'm personally estimating somewhere around 5 - 10 playthroughs of 300-500 hours each, spread out over a period of several years.

This is a much greater replay value than my experience with Oblivion and Morrowind

» Thu Aug 11, 2011 2:34 am

I don't understand the problem with paying the same as console gamers. We get the same amount of content. So what if pc gamers get a little better resolution it's a video game.

» Thu Aug 11, 2011 2:13 am

May I just interrupt your first point with one name?
"World of Warcraft"

...OK, you got me.

I've never played a subscription game, but in my defense, did Blizzard ever give people an estimate on how many hours the game offered?

In my experience, when a dev tells you how many hours a game is, it's to help boast that it has a lot of content (because many people have been concerned with the relatively new practice of chopping up a base game and selling off its pieces as DLC.

I'm sure there will be a LOT to do with Skyrim, and I'm the kinda person who won't just rush through it; but I'm expecting at most, 100-120 hours. Yes, that's still a great amount of time, and it IS worth $60 ($0.50/hour of entertainment, heck yeah)

» Thu Aug 11, 2011 12:26 am

Oh hey, check what I found; http://www.sainsburysentertainment.co.uk/en/The-Elder-Scrolls-V-Skyrim/product.html?product=E10960322&utm_medium=basefeed&utm_source=google
￡34.99. Sainsbury's for the win!

» Thu Aug 11, 2011 8:53 am

I wonder how many times it can be pointed out that it is cheaper on PC compared to consoles in loads of countries other than US. Is it because it is hard to rant when there is a sensible answer?

» Wed Aug 10, 2011 11:31 pm

I don't understand the problem with paying the same as console gamers. We get the same amount of content. So what if pc gamers get a little better resolution it's a video game.

We don't pay the same because Microsoft/Sony is charging console players a separate license fee (something they don't do on PC games)

If the game cost $50, it would be $60 on console because of those license fees that console gamers endure. There are no license fees on PCs.
So if you wanted the PC game to cost $60, then it would cost console gamers $72 for that same game, again, due to license costs.

I feel for you guys; I wish M$/Sony didn't charge you guys licenses. But they do.