I sometimes wonder what planet the Games Industry's business directors are on. I was in my local GameStation the other day, and walked past the Top 10 PS3 games, and there in the number one spot was Modern Warfare 2, released about a month before. It was on sale for £44, I think.
Not more than two feet away was the 'Pre-Owned' display rack, and mirroring its brand new neighbour it had used copies of Modern Warfare 2 proudly displayed... for £42.
I don't get the logic? Firstly, no one in their right mind is going to pay £40 for some game Little Timmy Tourette has already slobbered over; particularly not when eBay has them for £10-£20 cheaper than that, or I can get the cellophane wrapped version for the price of a Happy Meal extra.
Secondly, how much did GameStation pay the original owner in order to charge such a premium? I'd be surprised if Timmy T went home with more than twenty quid in his sweaty fist, so to fleece Tim then try and fleece me isn't doing GS's brand any favours - its hardly held in high regard as it is.
If 'Pre-owned' is to work, the money-grabbing bastards need to take a look at the real world and give a fair price to the original owner and a fair price (+ reasonable mark-up) to the consumer. Half price is probably a good yard stick to work to.
If that kind of price cut scares the retailers, then they should stay the hell out of the second-hand market and leave it to eBay, Oxfam and the Epsom Hospital Car Boot Sale - every Sunday, come one come all.
Downloadable content: a right way and a shite way
DLC is great for lazy people like me. Pay-per-view movies, demos, add-ons, fan maps, mods and all the other gubbins that I've been clogging up the interweb with for the past decade or so, bring me great pleasure for minimum cost and maximum convenience.
So if this has all been around so long, why don't Sony get it? iTunes gets it. 99p for a digital song, when a CD single (remember them?) would cost at least 50% more, is a bargain and a convenience. Okay, so I'm not getting a physical item. Okay, so I can't lend it to my mates or burn it onto a mix CD for some girl I'm lusting after. But for a 50% discount and zero movement from the armchair, I can accept that. After all, the music still sounds the same, still goes in both ears the same.
So over to Sony. The PlayStation Store. Lots of retro games to download and play. Ooh, some PSone classics to re-experience. What a minute? Six fucking quid?! You have got to be joking!
Have these people not been into the Cancer Research shop in the High Street? PSone games 99p, heck even PS2 games aren't much over a quid or two, and you want me to pay £7 for The Little Mermaid game that wasn't worth £7 when it first came out? Are you deranged Mr. SCEE?
Okay. Calm down. Breeeeeeaaaaathe. Phew. Okay, so the retro game pricing structure is spazzed out, but look at this... oooh, some shiny, digital Marvel Comics for my PSP. Brilliant. As a comic fan and PSP owner this is going to be right up my street. Hold on. Wait a goddam minute. Two pounds? TWO POUNDS? To get a Spider-Man comic that I can't lend, that I can't re-sell and that I can't save as an investment for Cash In The Attic 2065? And I have to view it on that little screen? You are having a bubble, my son!
Comics. Actual comics. Made of paper. Comics that give the benefit of large(ish) pages. Comics that utilise the artist's storytelling skill to bring a page to life by cramming it with boxes for tension, or deliver a single, epic double page spread image that smacks you between the eyes. Comics that when kept in good condition could actually increase in value, or at the very least be an interesting diversion for your little nephews in ten years time. Those comics, those ones I just mentioned... they cost about £2. So why on God's good green Earth would I want to download your sub-standard pixels for the same price?
I'm doubly annoyed because given a logical pricing structure - say, 50p an issue - I'd probably spend more money here than I would have done scouring the shelves of Forbidden Planet. My expanding physical comic collection is proving a storage headache anyway.
I'd have tried issues of comics I'd not yet sampled. I'd have made a concerted effort to catch up with Marvel's 'Ultimate' universe (ironic considering it was created so that new readers of Spider-Man, Avengers, et al wouldn't have to catch up with 40 years of back story). But no. They have to try and rape your wallet*. Idiots.
I can sum up my PlayStation Store rant with these words taken from its new movie download service - "Beetlejuice - £6.99".
* And talking of wallets, what's the deal with only being able to add money to your PSN wallet in £5 increments? That's gotta be borderline illegal, hasn't it? Tossers!
So how DO you do it?
Look not further than Steam. Valve's pioneering and opinion-dividing online gaming service for the PC community. All questions of the Digital Rights issues aside, they know how to price things fairly.
Buy a download version of Mass Effect 2 from Steam? It'll cost you about £10 less than the shops. Even the games they can't discount often come with extra bits and bobs to help sweeten the deal. But it's not the new games that really impress me on Steam, it's how they handle the old stuff.
With the possible exception of Patê manufacture, games must be one of the most transitory industries out there. Games lose their sheen so quickly that you'll be amazed that that tatty PSone classic you loved, was cutting-edge only 10 years ago.
1996 saw the release of Trainspotting, Fargo, Jerry Maguire - all astonishing films that still hold up against the best in cinema today. '96 also saw the debut of Tomb Raider, the original one; no denying it's a classic, but the graphics are awful by today's standards and in terms of spectacle somewhat laughable when seen in the light of say... Uncharted 2.
What I'm rambling about trying to say is, old games are... well, old. And as such, if you're looking to 'monetize your back catalogue' (as the industry might say), or as you and I might say "get money for old rope", your pricing needs to be fair.
For my money - literally - Steam's pricing structure sees this common sense approach. Since Christmas 2009 I've got some indie and retro games for one or two pounds a pop - Titan Quest, Torchlight, Day of Defeat Source, Zombie Driver - and some recent delights for about double that - Frontlines, Dead Space. That's over a dozen games (including the expansion packs they threw in) for about £16. In PSN terms that would be about two and bit PSone 'classics'.
Priced like crap, addictive as Crack
At these prices it becomes addictive. I was like a kid in a sweetshop elbowing my way through the menus trying to find more gems to add to my pocket-money collection. Psychonauts for a quid? Don't mind if I do. Civilisation IV for some loose change? You betcha. The fact that these were limited timed deals ensured I was scanning my inbox everyday to see what the 'Offer of the Day' was.
I doubt this fire-sale pricing is down to any altruistic feelings at Valve Towers; Steam's marketing cad-about-town was being ridden me like a dirty Victorian trollop. I knew it, but didn't mind. It was one of those rare retail synergies where I actively enjoyed parting with my cash, and the retailer obviously enjoyed taking it (while twirling his greased moustache and flapping his red-lined cloak). No strings. No catch. One very happy customer.
Add in the fact that Valve insist on all in-house DLC is free once you have the basic game (such as Left 4 Dead) and you can see why I evangelise this service. Compare this service to Xbox, which charges more for L4D than the PC version, charges people a monthly fee to take the game online, then vetoes Valve's good intentions and charges extra for any L4D DLC on its way. Utter bastards. Steam clean the lot of 'em.