Overpriced Full Games on PS Store

[AndyD]

First off, I can only comment on my PS Store and not the prices of the UK, US or rest of the world stores. Hopefully, other members will advise on that.

I have a gripe with the pricing of full games on the PS Store. Its absolutely ridiculous IMO. Some full games cost as much as €79.99 which by todays exchange rates is equivalent to USD $102 or GBP £64.

Source (http://fxtop.com/en/cnv.php?C1=EUR)

Here's some games and the prices on my PS Store. I'll add more when I get home.

Sleeping Dogs - €59.99 - Personally bought this on Amazon UK for £25 New
Dishonoured - €59.99 - Most expensive in store price I've seen is €45
Tiger Woods Golf - €79.99 - Seriously!
LBP Karting - €49.99
FIFA 13 - €59.99
Prototype - €69.99

Even the cheapest game above (LBP Karting) works out at $64 and £40.

I thought digital downloads were supposed to be cheaper??
Whoever is in charge of pricing this content really needs to get some common sense. The prices are crazy!

Does anyone else think the same?
Are the games on other PS Stores cheaper or more expensive than physical media?

[Rblu-Dblu]

I dont think Sony is really trying to compete price wise with the digital downloads. They are probably just going for the convenience and impulse buys. Dad doesnt want to take the kids out to the store so he buys them the game from the PS store. He's probably willing to pay more money to get the kids to shutup for a while.

[Groo The Perverted]

I agree on the pricing being ridiculous on a lot of games. There are some full games that are still crazy in price, but they have been dropping prices on games I've noticed.

Batman: Arkham City is $29.99 which isn't a bad price, although you can probably get it cheaper physically.

There are others though I would love to see drop in price a lot. Hoping Prototype 2 drops down to $19.99

[beadelf]

Was talking about this with my mate the other day! its way over price! why would anyone download it when they can get a physical copy far cheaper! (also with a physical copy you can trade it in or lend it to a mate) Download on major games is a waste of money IMO

[Petra_Kalbrain]

Originally Posted by beadelf

Was talking about this with my mate the other day! its way over price! why would anyone download it when they can get a physical copy far cheaper! (also with a physical copy you can trade it in or lend it to a mate) Download on major games is a waste of money IMO

As mentioned above, parents might be willing to spend a few extra dollars for the convenience factor to shut the kids up.

I'll go even one step further and say that Sony probably knows that there are some people out there who have their accounts fully accessible to anyone who sits at the console. Thus, kids might see the games and just download them without their parents even knowing about it until the next time they check their e-mail (if notifications are turned on) or the next time they look at their credit card statements.

To me, this stage of the digital download "revolution" is all about taking advantage of consumer ignorance... which is the perfect place for it to start in my opinion since most of us "in the know" want the concept to have a bad name right out of the gates while teaching some people a valuable lesson about fortifying their accounts properly.

[partridge]

Next time round for Xbox and PlayStation I think all games will be available as DD (digital downloads) and if that happens I hope the pricing is more sensible.

Those old rumours about games being tied to your account or console (for physical) discs are doing the rounds again too in an attempt to kill off the 2nd hand game market.

I'm cautious about DD, I want some assurance that if I buy something digitally for PS3 it will be valid for PS4, whether it's a game, DLC or a film/tv download. I would imagine there are people out there who have invested in a sizable digital library on their PS3's, so Sony better make sure all that stuff can be transferred to their new console.

But right now, the pricing is ridiculous. I'd consider buying a new title if the price was competitive with retail. Given the savings digital has over the disc version, it's obscene that gamers are expected to pay over the odds.

[TheTenth]

only recently I understood why price of games on PSN is not much cheaper than in shops : because if you'd buy a DLC game for 20$ and the game in shops is 60$ the shops would be at a severe disadvantage

[AikonEnt]

This is exactly why I choose to buy physical instead of digital for full priced games. The smaller PSN games that cost £5 or so I have no problem with, but paying 2, 3 or even 4 times as much for digital vs. physical is not something that is encouraging me to switch.

[tarvis]

Prices on PSN and Xbox Marketplace are in part regulated by agreements made with brick and mortar retail spaces. The price matching so many engage in. I'm sure the PS+ discount on new digital downloads was a way for Sony to get around that. Whether or not the pricing will ever be as attractive as Steam, shrug.

[ThePhantomOak]

It could be a non-compete agreement.

Why would any store agree to carry your product if you are perpetually matching or undercutting them?

[Groo The Perverted]

Originally Posted by ThePhantomOak

It could be a non-compete agreement.

Why would any store agree to carry your product if you are perpetually matching or undercutting them?

Like any B&M store is going to stop selling Sony or Microsoft products. If say, Best Buy decided "alright, you're charging less for games on the store than we sell them for, so we're no longer going to sell Playstation 3 games or consoles".

Then the natural response from Sony should be "alright. We're pulling EVERY sony product and subsidiary product from Best Buy immediately.

I guess that would not work out well for Best Buy. Sony would take a hit too, naturally, but I think the threat would put off any attempts by Best Buy or any other store from taking that tactic.

Just my thoughts though. I could be wrong on that.

[tarvis]

Originally Posted by Groo The Perverted

Then the natural response from Sony should be "alright. We're pulling EVERY Sony product and subsidiary product from Best Buy immediately.

The stores are dealing with the publishers, like EA, not Sony. And the publishers have more to lose than the stores.

[Groo The Perverted]

Originally Posted by tarvis

The stores are dealing with the publishers, like EA, not Sony. And the publishers have more to lose than the stores.

But if the B&M store decided to stop selling Playstation or Microsoft games due to pricing on the online store, and Sony or Microsoft decided to retaliate by pulling every Sony or Microsoft related item in the store, that would destroy that store because I would wage that, particularly a store like Best Buy who does a lot of electronics/computer business, would lose an incredible amount of business. How much of their electronics are Sony or their subsidiary related? How much of their computer equipment is reliant on Windows or other Microsoft software?

And would Microsoft be able to pull computers that are bundled with Windows?

I think that would prove such a detriment to the store that it would never get to that point. It would be the equivalent of the nuclear option that neither side would want to get to, but I think it would hurt the store a bit more.

I'm not a business guy though, so I'm just leaning on what seems rational to me.

[tarvis]

Originally Posted by Groo The Perverted

But if the B&M store decided to stop selling Playstation or Microsoft games due to pricing on the online store, and Sony or Microsoft decided to retaliate by pulling every Sony or Microsoft related item in the store, that would destroy that store because I would wage that, particularly a store like Best Buy who does a lot of electronics/computer business, would lose an incredible amount of business. How much of their electronics are Sony or their subsidiary related? How much of their computer equipment is reliant on Windows or other Microsoft software?

And would Microsoft be able to pull computers that are bundled with Windows?

I think that would prove such a detriment to the store that it would never get to that point. It would be the equivalent of the nuclear option that neither side would want to get to, but I think it would hurt the store a bit more.

I'm not a business guy though, so I'm just leaning on what seems rational to me.

If a publisher were to pull all their games from a store, the store is only losing a small fraction of revenue. One publisher of one department. If a store like Walmart forbids a publisher from selling their games in their entire chain, that is a substantial loss in sales.

Sony and Microsoft neither gain nor lose anything in this hypothetical case. Assuming, of course, it's not a Sony or Microsoft published game.