PC Game Prices

Randall8686 · 25 Feb 2015 at 19:50

Is it me or are PC game prices going up Dramatically, one thing i used to love about my PC over my PS3/PS4 Xbox etc was the games where cheaper than the console equivalent.
However it seems that they are now the same price, I just seen Hardline in Origin for £60 !!! OK its the "special edition" but even the standard one is £50 that on par with Rip off console prices. Any one else noticed this recently ?

Jono8 · 25 Feb 2015 at 19:51

Your problem is that you are looking at the prices on Origin.

dreigns · 25 Feb 2015 at 19:54

The main shops origin or steam are always high better to go else were they are normaly £10 cheaper for pre-order

but yes prices are going up but you have to expect this as we have had the same price for our games since I was 14 which was 18 years ago

Randall8686 · 25 Feb 2015 at 19:57

yea i just like the ease of Steam/Origin. I know i can get the codes else where but for some reason always stick to the main channels. I do wonder why these sources are so high, It like games on the playstation store are £10-20 more than going into Game in town ???? dont see the logic.

TheVoice · 25 Feb 2015 at 19:58

It's £35 on other (legitimate, not CD Key reseller) sites.

mark43 · 25 Feb 2015 at 19:59

Certain games seem rather expensive to me recently, EA and Ubi for example seem to want to make console pricing the norm for PC.

Randall8686 · 25 Feb 2015 at 20:00

TheVoice said:
It's £35 on other (legitimate, not CD Key reseller) sites.

Yea i found it for £36 on the rainforest if i want the CD sent to my house yet if i want a code emailed to me (also from the rainforest) its £49 ????? just dont get it

Mart2912 · 25 Feb 2015 at 20:01

It boggles the mind when in some cases you can buy a physical copy of a game for £10 cheaper and still activate it via steam...

Randall8686 · 25 Feb 2015 at 20:09

Mart2912 said:
It boggles the mind when in some cases you can buy a physical copy of a game for £10 cheaper and still activate it via steam...

This is what i have been doing lately, But i just dont understand how buying the disk and just using the code works out cheaper in any way. I have a bunch of games i have never even put the disk in the pc (infact i dont even have a cd drive) yet in some cases as much as £18 cheaper to get the disk delivered to my house and just type the code in.

spoffle · 25 Feb 2015 at 20:09

Prices aren't going up, just that publishers are trying to make it look like they are.

In reality you can get most new releases for <£30 from authorised resellers.

TheVoice · 25 Feb 2015 at 20:11

Randall8686 said:
Yea i found it for £36 on the rainforest if i want the CD sent to my house yet if i want a code emailed to me (also from the rainforest) its £49 ????? just dont get it

It's cheaper because more physical games are bought by retailers from suppliers so they can negotiate better deals. The retailers are also motivated to clear stock by pricing it lower because otherwise any leftover inventory becomes a liability; it loses value, it takes up space and it can be damaged, lost or stolen.

It's just the way the industry works, and it's why people who want to see gaming (or movies, music etc) go digital-only are rather deluded if they think it will lower prices.

spoffle · 25 Feb 2015 at 20:11

Randall8686 said:
This is what i have been doing lately, But i just dont understand how buying the disk and just using the code works out cheaper in any way. I have a bunch of games i have never even put the disk in the pc (infact i dont even have a cd drive) yet in some cases as much as £18 cheaper to get the disk delivered to my house and just type the code in.

It's not cheaper for them, but this is why they try and set their prices so high, they make significantly more profit from a digital sale than they do from a physical one, and they know some people just can't get physical copies.

Sega Mega Dave · 25 Feb 2015 at 20:12

If they want to start charging console prices then give us the luxury of selling them on as second hand.

spoffle · 25 Feb 2015 at 20:13

TheVoice said:
It's just the way the industry works, and it's why people who want to see gaming (or movies, music etc) go digital-only are rather deluded if they think it will lower prices.

It's not about being deluded, it's about understanding the market. The greedy companies who produce cash grab crap will put their prices up obscenely.

There are however developers that are already digital only, producing high quality games that have pushed their prices down compared to when they were producing hard copies of games.

TheVoice · 25 Feb 2015 at 20:25

spoffle said:
It's not about being deluded, it's about understanding the market. The greedy companies who produce cash grab crap will put their prices up obscenely.

Quite possibly, because when you remove the physical market from the equation you've got far less competition and far fewer influences on the market itself which lead to reduced prices.

If you have a few small devs who decide to pass their savings on to customers that's great, but for the most part prices for the major games would likely normalise at prices higher than we currently see for physical copies.

spoffle · 25 Feb 2015 at 20:33

I don't really buy that it would to be honest, since most PC games are bought digitally as it is anyway. With the likes of GMG and their constant discounts and vouchers, it shows the market rate isn't quite at the prices they've set as standard as it is.

I very rarely buy physical copies as a digital copy is nearly always cheaper from the likes of GMG, so much so that the only time I remember a physical copy being cheaper was when I bought Skyrim, where it was about a fiver less.

Jinxter · 25 Feb 2015 at 20:39

Physical copies of newer, larger capacity games can come in handy especially if your internet connection is slow. I think cheap digitally obtained games have taken away the actual value of the product. I'm a typical sucker for buying loads of cheap games in sales and never playing them (Steam). And don't even get me started with the Humble Bundles....!

dreigns · 25 Feb 2015 at 20:50

Jinxter said:
Physical copies of newer, larger capacity games can come in handy especially if your internet connection is slow. I think cheap digitally obtained games have taken away the actual value of the product. I'm a typical sucker for buying loads of cheap games in sales and never playing them (Steam). And don't even get me started with the Humble Bundles....!

One thing I like about humble thou is it shows you what codes you have used on your steam account unlike bundle stars half of the codes I have on that I haven't used and I can't be a*** to check them other wise I would give them to friends and family

)

mark43 · 25 Feb 2015 at 20:55

spoffle said:
Prices aren't going up, just that publishers are trying to make it look like they are.

In reality you can get most new releases for <£30 from authorised resellers.

Not all games though, Far Cry 4 for example was £50 from all the legit places at launch, and I'm sure there have been others recently.

spoffle · 25 Feb 2015 at 20:59

mark43 said:
Not all games though, Far Cry 4 for example was £50 from all the legit places at launch, and I'm sure there have been others recently.

Ubisoft are mental though, and are clearly living in Pretend Land.

That said though, There's still Green Man Gaming vouchers that would still knock money off that.