Was a rise in game prices inevitable?

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Over the last couple of years we've seen PC games slowly rise up to the same price point as their Console brothers.

Where previously a PC game would cost you £27-£30 now they are regularly £40 (or more!)

With repeated news stories of game studios going bust, was this just inevitable and a necessity in order to keep the industry going? Or is this the result of consolidation in the development market (with the likes of EA, Activision etc buying up smaller studios), with a reduction in competition allowing for these price increases?

It could be argued that 'costs' have dramatically reduced for publishers, they no longer need to 'press' discs and spend money on packaging, distribution etc, as sales are now done electronically. They have also cut out the middle man, and so should be receiving far greater percentage of the sale of a game.

However, on the flip side, gamers expectations have risen dramatically, no longer can half a dozen developers spend 2-3 years on a game and release it "when its done". Gamers expect a release each year or 18 months, and they often expect it to be 'a cinematic experience'. As such game studios are frequently tens or hundreds of people working on multiple titles at any one time.

Discuss (please) :)
 
Yet we get far better deals now (usually just sales, sometimes massive incompetence from giant studios, EA and BF3 Premium being an example), the emergence of Kickstarter,

Hmm.

For most folks, it has actually gotten cheaper.
 
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PC games still regularly cost me £30 or under even on release as I wouldn't buy from Steam, Origin or walk into a high street store and pay over the odds for it. I'd shop around, can even get good prices at Overclockers these days (Dead Space 2 £32, Crysis 3 £30, CoH 2 £30, Tomb Raider £25... all pre-orders).
 
In my opinion, most of the games that are in the £40 range are marketed like crazy and then gamers do the rest by hyping it up, leading to (but not always) prices around the £40-£45 mark, and it could also be due to gaming studios struggling financially, or it could also be due to what i mentioned previously.

However, if you wait a couple of months and for sales, you can pick up a game for £20-£30 or less depending on the title.
 
I can't think of any new games that weren't available for around £30 at launch. The only place that regularly over prices them is Origin, and to a lesser extent steam.
 
I'll never pay £30 for a PC game.

I reckon at the moment £25 is my absolute top limit.

Most if the time I just wait until new releases are cheaper, most games at least need a patch or two anyway, so I might as well save money and not play broken games. Dishonored wad the last game I bought on release and I paid £22. I only bought that because of staggered release dates meant reviews and user experiences were available before the official UK release. Before that it was Battlefield 3.
 
Going off The first post if gamers wanted yearly releases its that lot that has ruined the quality of them mainly the mp experience, I get sick of playing a game for a few month and then the mp aspect is dead and everyone has moved onto the next, gone the days where a game would last a couple of years unless its a mmo anyway.
 
That's one game... There are a lot of games hitting the £40-£50 mark these days I just hope it dosent catch on unless they go back to 1 game every 2-3 year in the series cod, bf etc
 
It's just cod and bf3 premium isn't it, and gw2

Often games are 22 -25 quid preorder, and drop in price or sale soon

It's actually pretty cheap now if u get the deals
 
Games are cheaper that ever, now i don't buy direct from steam or crap origin. Infact im never buying another Ea game again. I just buy them elsewhere but less that half the price usually.
 
Hitman £21 - Borderlands 2 £21 - Dishonored £20 - X-COM:EU £21 all pre-ordered from various sites.

did you even bother to look into prices OP or just decide that all PC games cost £40 >?
 
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