LMFAO @ "my parents helped me at first" typical rich kid who has no idea what the rest of us go through, who didn't have mommy and daddy to give us our start.
"I used to think the worst thing in life was to be all alone. It's not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel all alone." Robin Williams
What is so special to get a game at launch that we spend 30 dollars more on a game at launch than what it is on sale for today? I take Shadow Of Mordor as an example here. Fifty six days have passed since its release and is now available for around 20 dollars.
Assassins Creed Unity is available as well for 35 dollars, it has been out for around two weeks which assuming you bought it for 50 dollars it has gone down one dollar each day it has been out.
Call Of Duty, now available for 20 dollars, again not sure the launch price but I would guess it was 50 or more.
From these three games alone if you bought them all today it would of been close to a SINGLE game at its launch price.
Myself I have little to no interest in any of these games, I was interested in Dragon Age, but after seeing the game play I was put off.
Why do people buy games at launch prices when you pretty much can get them all for the same prices a couple weeks or a month later?
Why do you care what other people spend their money on. To some its a premium you pay more to get it first. Here are a few examples.
A new Vette comes out a dealer marks the price up 80k because it's new. Why does somebody pay an extra 80k because they want it first.
You spend $20 for a new movie at a theater when in six month you can spend a $1 at redbox 6 months later.
Its really none of your business if a person wants to pay a premium to play a video game on day one.
You completely missed the point of this whole topic. The poster made a comment as to why people waste money. I explained my view on the topic and the advantages of not wasting money was part of the explanation of my view. I clearly explained why buying a game for 60 pounds when you can buy it at the same time for 30 using the example of dragon age is not smart.
As for if you waste your money or not, I don't care. Ruin your life if you want, I simply answered the poster and explained the benefits of good financial planning. If you don't want to listen, don't. Its not my problem.
What you did was state a bunch of nonsense from someone who was given a start in life, how do I know? Because I was as well, yet I realize that makes me extremely lucky, I also realize I'm in no position to judge anyone or speak from a position of knowing what it really takes to build such a foundation, your parents did it not you, you're simply parroting some of their ideals ignorantly.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
What is so special to get a game at launch that we spend 30 dollars more on a game at launch than what it is on sale for today? I take Shadow Of Mordor as an example here. Fifty six days have passed since its release and is now available for around 20 dollars.
Assassins Creed Unity is available as well for 35 dollars, it has been out for around two weeks which assuming you bought it for 50 dollars it has gone down one dollar each day it has been out.
Call Of Duty, now available for 20 dollars, again not sure the launch price but I would guess it was 50 or more.
From these three games alone if you bought them all today it would of been close to a SINGLE game at its launch price.
Myself I have little to no interest in any of these games, I was interested in Dragon Age, but after seeing the game play I was put off.
Why do people buy games at launch prices when you pretty much can get them all for the same prices a couple weeks or a month later?
Well, first off, the reason they are marketed / sold in that manner to begin with. Most products with the only exception being perhaps what you would find in a grocery store, will be at their highest price when they first come out, and then decrease in price over some amount of time. Games are no different. They know the consumer will want to be first in line to buy their products at top price. A month later that price may be much lower. Over an extended period of time the products are thrown on clearance. That is the nature of most products, not just games. In the game world you even have a more expensive ticket attached to games that are not even completed yet... beta... and even earlier access of alpha.
So the reason you pay more money? Could be to support a company because you believe their product is worth supporting. It could be more selfish than that, and just be to be the first one or as close to first as possible to play it. Hell, I did the $150 for ArcheAge alpha, both to support a game I thought was heading in the right direction and because I am so damn anxious to find a new MMORPG that might actually be worth playing. So in my case, I paid more both to support and as being selfish. Meanwhile I have since uninstalled the game just after the Auroria expansion, not because of any issues the night of Auroria, but because of being at a point at which I could see for myself that the game is heavily pay to win, heavily casino gambling based, and heavily infested with script kiddies armed to the teeth with bought black market hacks, heavily bot infested, and heavily boring as all ****. That's the short version.
Well, I'm old and stupid, but I no longer need any game at release. Well, I never needed them at release, but some I was pretty excited about and got them pretty quickly. So I guess the main problem is really that I'm just not excited about any new game.
But whow, the falling prices for the games you list are pretty entertaining. Right now I'm waiting for the prices for a new camera to fall. Thats because camera companies demand quite a bit more money on release, than later. Since good cameras are sadly hella expensive, waiting a couple months before you buy them pays off substantly now. Still, we talk about about 20% drop in price here, over a couple months. But 35 instead of 50 bucks just after 2 weeks ? LOL, now thats a bad idea. If I was selling any product, I would demand full price for a game (or camera, or any compareable product) at least for the first two years after release. Unless its actually a bad product and actually compares poorly to the competition.
For MMOs, though, I would actually consider spending the 50 bucks just so I have the game in hands 2 weeks earlier. In this special case, i.e. persistent online game, it could be totally worth it.
Originally posted by mmorpglover1
Then there are the last class of people, the people who are multi millionaires and genuinely don't care about investing any of their money to multiply it. For them, its legitimate if they really want to pay 60 pounds for dragon age 3 on origin or get it off g2a.com for less than 30 pounds today.
Dude, thats a very, very small number of people worldwide. Pretty much completely irrelevant.
I never pay full price for games these days I always pick games up from cdkey websites mainly cdeys.com.. Picked up Dragon Age for under £30.. standard origin price is totally stupid.. either way I dont spend more than £30 on a gaem when new if i can find it that cheap or cheaper then I just wait. Most cdkey sites have the games on release or even before release a lot cheaper than on the main platforms.
I guess these cd key websites must buy in bulk in a country where the gaems are a lot cheaper.. I like that this service is available I just hope the publishers dont catch on and start to cry about it.
1) Most people are stupid. With very few exceptions, most countries (the United States included) have a national average for intelligence / education that is below what you would expect. It's a sobering fact, but a fact nonetheless.
2) Marketing capitalizes on fact #1, and manipulates basic human nature to make decisions for the average consumer. Some examples are using sex appeal to make a product more appealing, or clever editing to make something look more exciting than it actually is. Or, in recent years just showing something completely unrelated from the product to distract you from what you're actually buying. It's manipulative, yes, but it's also so effective that you are basically reliant on it to sell anything in significant volume these days. With very few exceptions.
3) The 'premium' effect. With any luxury (and gaming IS a luxury) there is value in having something 'first'. Many people like to talk about the next big thing, and it's no different when it comes to video games. While it's significantly less cost-effective to buy any luxury when it's brand new, there is social value in doing so. More often than not when a game goes on sale, people have already moved on and are no longer talking about it.
So it's a mixture of the above. Also when it comes to #3, there are a decent number of people where the price for premium is negligible. The cost of most video games is significantly less than a lot of career-oriented people make in a day. Furthermore if you work within the industry, you can write off such games as a business expense for the tax break.
What is so special to get a game at launch that we spend 30 dollars more on a game at launch than what it is on sale for today? I take Shadow Of Mordor as an example here. Fifty six days have passed since its release and is now available for around 20 dollars.
Assassins Creed Unity is available as well for 35 dollars, it has been out for around two weeks which assuming you bought it for 50 dollars it has gone down one dollar each day it has been out.
Call Of Duty, now available for 20 dollars, again not sure the launch price but I would guess it was 50 or more.
From these three games alone if you bought them all today it would of been close to a SINGLE game at its launch price.
Myself I have little to no interest in any of these games, I was interested in Dragon Age, but after seeing the game play I was put off.
Why do people buy games at launch prices when you pretty much can get them all for the same prices a couple weeks or a month later?
Well, first off, the reason they are marketed / sold in that manner to begin with. Most products with the only exception being perhaps what you would find in a grocery store, will be at their highest price when they first come out, and then decrease in price over some amount of time. Games are no different. They know the consumer will want to be first in line to buy their products at top price. A month later that price may be much lower. Over an extended period of time the products are thrown on clearance. That is the nature of most products, not just games. In the game world you even have a more expensive ticket attached to games that are not even completed yet... beta... and even earlier access of alpha.
So the reason you pay more money? Could be to support a company because you believe their product is worth supporting. It could be more selfish than that, and just be to be the first one or as close to first as possible to play it. Hell, I did the $150 for ArcheAge alpha, both to support a game I thought was heading in the right direction and because I am so damn anxious to find a new MMORPG that might actually be worth playing. So in my case, I paid more both to support and as being selfish. Meanwhile I have since uninstalled the game just after the Auroria expansion, not because of any issues the night of Auroria, but because of being at a point at which I could see for myself that the game is heavily pay to win, heavily casino gambling based, and heavily infested with script kiddies armed to the teeth with bought black market hacks, heavily bot infested, and heavily boring as all ****. That's the short version.
This is partially true. Sure companies want to capitalize on the early birds, but it's not only that. With things like consumer products, electronics, toys, etc. (especially electronics) it's usually more expensive to produce at the beginning. Take Blu-ray for instance, it was retarded expensive to produce a blu-ray player at the beginning. It cost like $500 for a blu-ray player that you could probably pick up for $50 now. Also, they will generally attempt to re-coop their R&D costs with this. Similarly, video game companies will attempt to re-coop their development costs early, simply because they know that the popularity of their NEW!! game is going to wear off relatively quickly.
As for the OP, the fall-off of pricing is inevitable but simply holding out and waiting for a couple months isn't going to guarantee that the price is going to drop. All you've done is effectively shift the product life cycle 30, 60, 90 days. Everyone who was waiting for the product at launch will not be waiting for it at 30 days, and that price will simply remain steady at the launch price until it has met certain sales targets. It doesn't matter!!!
The fact that you are finding better value for your gaming dollar is great, and you're actually getting a lot out of it, but I wouldn't go tossing around these types of ideas, because the more people who are in the same boat as you, the less depreciation you're going to see in the price, so you should probably start encouraging people to buy early
I see games as multimedia art. I'm paying in respect for the presentation of images, animation, music and story telling. If it's halfway decent, I return and pay more. If it's not, I don't go back. I do some research and ask, "is this game for me?". If I feel it is, I have no problem paying full price.
I also see games as nightclubs. I know I can walk into bars without cover, but when you're in a respectable place that charges cover, there's generally a better attitude from the patronage and venue quality remains consistent.
LMFAO @ "my parents helped me at first" typical rich kid who has no idea what the rest of us go through, who didn't have mommy and daddy to give us our start.
PERSPECTIVE: YOU HAVE NONE
I loved this too. As someone who actually has to work to pay a mortgage, I can't understand some rich kid complaining about poor people not being able to afford paying full price.
What is so special to get a game at launch that we spend 30 dollars more on a game at launch than what it is on sale for today? I take Shadow Of Mordor as an example here. Fifty six days have passed since its release and is now available for around 20 dollars.
Assassins Creed Unity is available as well for 35 dollars, it has been out for around two weeks which assuming you bought it for 50 dollars it has gone down one dollar each day it has been out.
Call Of Duty, now available for 20 dollars, again not sure the launch price but I would guess it was 50 or more.
From these three games alone if you bought them all today it would of been close to a SINGLE game at its launch price.
Myself I have little to no interest in any of these games, I was interested in Dragon Age, but after seeing the game play I was put off.
Why do people buy games at launch prices when you pretty much can get them all for the same prices a couple weeks or a month later?
Most people are impatient and need to play a game at launch, there are a lot of reasons for this. People even show off about getting the game a day early or something like that, as if it's some accomplishment. It's not just games it's everything in the entertainment industry. The majority of sales will be within the first few weeks.
This is a good thing honestly because those of us with patience get to have much better deals later on.
Games are a luxury item (unless you're a game reviewer/tester/etc by trade of course). But for the 99% games are a hobby expense. If I like a game and I want to play right away with my friends then I will spend the extra to do that. If I'm on the fence I'll wait until the price drops.
I personally think it's more about value then price. It's kind of like saying why eat in a restaurant when you can buy the same food for cheaper. It's not, however, like rental properties.
Wow, so many stupid assumptions on this thread. They don't do it because they lack common sense or are stupid. They do it for their own damn reason. It's their prerogative and none of your business on how much, when, or why they spend their money.
Most times i wait several months, until i can pick them up in the summer sale or during christmas, or even longer so i can get a Humble Bundle with several great games at once. But sometime, i like to support a company, or i just can't wait to get my hands on that specific game..or i'm just bored, and i need somehing now, not in six months. Usually, i have enough old games still to play, and there are nearly always games on sale these days, so the last thing doesn't happen all that often, but it might.
Another thing is the price relative to other factors. €10 for a game i want since long before launch is nice..but if it costs $5 (so €4) in the US, i might still skip it. Even more so when the original price is €15 and $15, because not only is the absolute price unfair, the "generous" 30% discount would also be basically a scam. So i might buy a game at a higher price, because the price is fair, or wait until it's low enough that they can't scam people that way (when it's €2 here, there is little to no chance that it's 75% cheaper in the US or UK...).
Overall, there are dozens if factors that determine when to buy a game, and the actual price is just one thing.
I'll wait to the day's end when the moon is high And then I'll rise with the tide with a lust for life, I'll Amass an army, and we'll harness a horde And then we'll limp across the land until we stand at the shore
Hindsight is always 20/20, one never really knows when a game will be on sale. If a game releases that is of great interest there is a certain amount of enjoyment in getting it right away. This same type of enjoyment is why we buy games in the first place. It's an indulgence due to the fact games are "wants" and not "needs." How valuable the enjoyment is of getting it right away cannot be quantified by someone else, just like one person may enjoy, and therefore value, a 5.00 coffee more than another. Could someone enjoy a game later when it's on sale? Sure, but maybe some of that excitement, therefore value, may be lost.
Originally posted by vandal5627 Wow, so many stupid assumptions on this thread. They don't do it because they lack common sense or are stupid. They do it for their own damn reason. It's their prerogative and none of your business on how much, when, or why they spend their money.
If this thread were about an individual, you might be right. However this thread is not about an individual. It's not about you, or I. It's about the collective 'we', people as consumers (gamers) and why they spend premium dollar for games that usually go on sale within a short amount of time.
And I'm sorry, but it's no assumption; Stupidity does play a very significant part of this equation. And 'common sense' doesn't actually exist. It's an assumption in and of itself. You may think it's no one's business how you spend your money, but you'd be wrong. There are quite a few people who make a living making it their business. I've worked w/ a few of them.
There is an overwhelming amount of data & examples that support this, but i'll mention one in particular. There is a somewhat notorious incident that happened with a company known as JC Penney. Some years back the company was going through some rough times, and their sales numbers weren't where they wanted them to be. To help this they brought in a new CEO to try and fix the issue. This guy had a brilliant plan to be completely honest with their customers. They did away with sales, and inflated marketing, in favor of listing everything at it's actual market price.
So what happened? The whole project failed, hard. They lost millions of customers and many more millions of dollars in the process. Why? Because people didn't 'feel' like they were getting a good deal. They felt like they were buying a bunch of cheap stuff. Even though they were buying the exact same products without the markup.
And sadly, that is how most consumers spending habits go. They may think about their essentials more closely, because you need things like water to live. However, when it comes to luxuries (in this case, games), most people don't actually spend with their brain. They buy what feels right, and not what makes sense logically. Even if (in their mind), they think they've made the most intelligent decision of their life. This is how market psychology works, and it's a real thing.
Originally posted by vandal5627 Wow, so many stupid assumptions on this thread. They don't do it because they lack common sense or are stupid. They do it for their own damn reason. It's their prerogative and none of your business on how much, when, or why they spend their money.
If this thread were about an individual, you might be right. However this thread is not about an individual. It's not about you, or I. It's about the collective 'we', people as consumers (gamers) and why they spend premium dollar for games that usually go on sale within a short amount of time.
And I'm sorry, but it's no assumption; Stupidity does play a very significant part of this equation. And 'common sense' doesn't actually exist. It's an assumption in and of itself. You may think it's no one's business how you spend your money, but you'd be wrong. There are quite a few people who make a living making it their business. I've worked w/ a few of them.
There is an overwhelming amount of data & examples that support this, but i'll mention one in particular. There is a somewhat notorious incident that happened with a company known as JC Penney. Some years back the company was going through some rough times, and their sales numbers weren't where they wanted them to be. To help this they brought in a new CEO to try and fix the issue. This guy had a brilliant plan to be completely honest with their customers. They did away with sales, and inflated marketing, in favor of listing everything at it's actual market price.
So what happened? The whole project failed, hard. They lost millions of customers and many more millions of dollars in the process. Why? Because people didn't 'feel' like they were getting a good deal. They felt like they were buying a bunch of cheap stuff. Even though they were buying the exact same products without the markup.
And sadly, that is how most consumers spending habits go. They may think about their essentials more closely, because you need things like water to live. However, when it comes to luxuries (in this case, games), most people don't actually spend with their brain. They buy what feels right, and not what makes sense logically. Even if (in their mind), they think they've made the most intelligent decision of their life. This is how market psychology works, and it's a real thing.
You're right, this thread is not about you nor I but I still will never agree with the lack of common sense and stupidity assumptions regardless of any studies. It could be to some but there are many more factors as pointed out by a good amount of posters.
Why do we buy new models of TVs and new car models or new iPhones... what's wrong with old one /grin?
Human Nature is one thing. We love new stuff and we want it now LOL.
But in more serious note.
Nothing is wrong with it. Entertainment and fun are very important part of our life and if gaming is our hobby and we get the most fun from playing games, then why not to get the game right when it comes out for a full prize. Some people fun is to go to bar and spend hundreds in one night, how that's different? Some people go fishing - trust me fishing hobby is way more expensive that video games
Unless you have financial difficulties, why not to buy something you were waiting for for months or years (like DAI for me) at the time of launch. Why would I want to torture myself by not playing my favorite series just to save couple bucks months later.
Unless the choice is... or I eat today or I play my game... I don't see a reason for delay.
On other note I am not very materialistic, so money are not something that I am obsessed with. They come and they go. I came to this world naked and I will go the same way LOL.
There are the people who say 60 pounds is nothing to them so its ok but these people are not doing it cuz the money is nothing to them in my opinion.
They just lack common sense.
For example, a person with common sense who isn't a millionaire would think like this. I can buy wasteland 2 for 30 pounds or I can go onto g2a.com and get it for 7 pounds, I could buy shadow of mordor for 40 pounds or I could get it for 14 pounds from g2a.com for steam.
Now the senseible person would think, that's a big saving, with that extra money I can save it and buy another house to earn more rental income or buy a nicer car etc.
The person without common sense would say boastfully that's its not a lot of money for them so its ok and doesn't even bother to think forward to how many 1000s it adds up to over the years and how they could have multiplied their earnings if they invested their savings properly into bonds, isas or property.
Then there are the last class of people, the people who are multi millionaires and genuinely don't care about investing any of their money to multiply it. For them, its legitimate if they really want to pay 60 pounds for dragon age 3 on origin or get it off g2a.com for less than 30 pounds today.
They can go for the more expensive option but if they do that, they still have no common sense. In my experience, those with foresight and common sense end up earning the real money and buy games at value for money prices while those who buy things at rip off prices and boast about how they can afford it actually lack common sense and end up poorer than others because they spend their lives wasting money.
Lets face it, for most people like me, every pound I save on a game goes into buying another property to earn rental income from and I don't own enough properties to make me a multi millionaire yet so there is added incentive not to behave stupidly and to buy games at 30 pounds instead of 60 when I can.
At launch, ie now dragon age 3 is 60 quid on origin and less than 30 on g2a.com. I know where I bought the game.
bleh. If you own rental properties then get off this site and find a wicked hot girl..... seriously wtf dude.......
Bah, have some common sense. Do you know how expensive dating a hot girl can get? He would save a fortune by buying some lotion instead.
What is so special to get a game at launch that we spend 30 dollars more on a game at launch than what it is on sale for today? I take Shadow Of Mordor as an example here. Fifty six days have passed since its release and is now available for around 20 dollars.
Assassins Creed Unity is available as well for 35 dollars, it has been out for around two weeks which assuming you bought it for 50 dollars it has gone down one dollar each day it has been out.
Call Of Duty, now available for 20 dollars, again not sure the launch price but I would guess it was 50 or more.
From these three games alone if you bought them all today it would of been close to a SINGLE game at its launch price.
Myself I have little to no interest in any of these games, I was interested in Dragon Age, but after seeing the game play I was put off.
Why do people buy games at launch prices when you pretty much can get them all for the same prices a couple weeks or a month later?
Because they have disposable income and they want to play the game they like fast?
I don't usually pay full price (steam discount is the way to go) but hey, i don't judge how others spend their dough.
I used to pay full price and still do for MMORPGs because I like the vibrance, excitement, crowd, opportunity, fever of a launch of a new MMORPG and that can never be recreated by joining later. Other games like srpg or rts or other genre I just wait for the price to drop but not my MMORPGs.
Instead of waiting for prices to drop, bugs to get fixed, and an edition with all DLCs (5-30 bucks each) included, they run out and buy, buy, buy. But, they get to play the game sooner (and report the bugs) and brag on websites about how they were "first."
It is not just a "monetary" issue
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse. - FARGIN_WAR
Comments
LMFAO @ "my parents helped me at first" typical rich kid who has no idea what the rest of us go through, who didn't have mommy and daddy to give us our start.
PERSPECTIVE: YOU HAVE NONE
What you did was state a bunch of nonsense from someone who was given a start in life, how do I know? Because I was as well, yet I realize that makes me extremely lucky, I also realize I'm in no position to judge anyone or speak from a position of knowing what it really takes to build such a foundation, your parents did it not you, you're simply parroting some of their ideals ignorantly.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
yellow guy gets it!!!!!!!!
Because you're young and stupid.
Well, I'm old and stupid, but I no longer need any game at release. Well, I never needed them at release, but some I was pretty excited about and got them pretty quickly. So I guess the main problem is really that I'm just not excited about any new game.
But whow, the falling prices for the games you list are pretty entertaining. Right now I'm waiting for the prices for a new camera to fall. Thats because camera companies demand quite a bit more money on release, than later. Since good cameras are sadly hella expensive, waiting a couple months before you buy them pays off substantly now. Still, we talk about about 20% drop in price here, over a couple months. But 35 instead of 50 bucks just after 2 weeks ? LOL, now thats a bad idea. If I was selling any product, I would demand full price for a game (or camera, or any compareable product) at least for the first two years after release. Unless its actually a bad product and actually compares poorly to the competition.
For MMOs, though, I would actually consider spending the 50 bucks just so I have the game in hands 2 weeks earlier. In this special case, i.e. persistent online game, it could be totally worth it.
Dude, thats a very, very small number of people worldwide. Pretty much completely irrelevant.
I never pay full price for games these days I always pick games up from cdkey websites mainly cdeys.com.. Picked up Dragon Age for under £30.. standard origin price is totally stupid.. either way I dont spend more than £30 on a gaem when new if i can find it that cheap or cheaper then I just wait. Most cdkey sites have the games on release or even before release a lot cheaper than on the main platforms.
I guess these cd key websites must buy in bulk in a country where the gaems are a lot cheaper.. I like that this service is available I just hope the publishers dont catch on and start to cry about it.
The answer is simple, though multifaceted.
1) Most people are stupid. With very few exceptions, most countries (the United States included) have a national average for intelligence / education that is below what you would expect. It's a sobering fact, but a fact nonetheless.
2) Marketing capitalizes on fact #1, and manipulates basic human nature to make decisions for the average consumer. Some examples are using sex appeal to make a product more appealing, or clever editing to make something look more exciting than it actually is. Or, in recent years just showing something completely unrelated from the product to distract you from what you're actually buying. It's manipulative, yes, but it's also so effective that you are basically reliant on it to sell anything in significant volume these days. With very few exceptions.
3) The 'premium' effect. With any luxury (and gaming IS a luxury) there is value in having something 'first'. Many people like to talk about the next big thing, and it's no different when it comes to video games. While it's significantly less cost-effective to buy any luxury when it's brand new, there is social value in doing so. More often than not when a game goes on sale, people have already moved on and are no longer talking about it.
So it's a mixture of the above. Also when it comes to #3, there are a decent number of people where the price for premium is negligible. The cost of most video games is significantly less than a lot of career-oriented people make in a day. Furthermore if you work within the industry, you can write off such games as a business expense for the tax break.
This is partially true. Sure companies want to capitalize on the early birds, but it's not only that. With things like consumer products, electronics, toys, etc. (especially electronics) it's usually more expensive to produce at the beginning. Take Blu-ray for instance, it was retarded expensive to produce a blu-ray player at the beginning. It cost like $500 for a blu-ray player that you could probably pick up for $50 now. Also, they will generally attempt to re-coop their R&D costs with this. Similarly, video game companies will attempt to re-coop their development costs early, simply because they know that the popularity of their NEW!! game is going to wear off relatively quickly.
As for the OP, the fall-off of pricing is inevitable but simply holding out and waiting for a couple months isn't going to guarantee that the price is going to drop. All you've done is effectively shift the product life cycle 30, 60, 90 days. Everyone who was waiting for the product at launch will not be waiting for it at 30 days, and that price will simply remain steady at the launch price until it has met certain sales targets. It doesn't matter!!!
The fact that you are finding better value for your gaming dollar is great, and you're actually getting a lot out of it, but I wouldn't go tossing around these types of ideas, because the more people who are in the same boat as you, the less depreciation you're going to see in the price, so you should probably start encouraging people to buy early
Crazkanuk
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Azarelos - 90 Hunter - Emerald
Durnzig - 90 Paladin - Emerald
Demonicron - 90 Death Knight - Emerald Dream - US
Tankinpain - 90 Monk - Azjol-Nerub - US
Brindell - 90 Warrior - Emerald Dream - US
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I see games as multimedia art. I'm paying in respect for the presentation of images, animation, music and story telling. If it's halfway decent, I return and pay more. If it's not, I don't go back. I do some research and ask, "is this game for me?". If I feel it is, I have no problem paying full price.
I also see games as nightclubs. I know I can walk into bars without cover, but when you're in a respectable place that charges cover, there's generally a better attitude from the patronage and venue quality remains consistent.
I loved this too. As someone who actually has to work to pay a mortgage, I can't understand some rich kid complaining about poor people not being able to afford paying full price.
Most people are impatient and need to play a game at launch, there are a lot of reasons for this. People even show off about getting the game a day early or something like that, as if it's some accomplishment. It's not just games it's everything in the entertainment industry. The majority of sales will be within the first few weeks.
This is a good thing honestly because those of us with patience get to have much better deals later on.
Games are a luxury item (unless you're a game reviewer/tester/etc by trade of course). But for the 99% games are a hobby expense. If I like a game and I want to play right away with my friends then I will spend the extra to do that. If I'm on the fence I'll wait until the price drops.
I personally think it's more about value then price. It's kind of like saying why eat in a restaurant when you can buy the same food for cheaper. It's not, however, like rental properties.
Most times i wait several months, until i can pick them up in the summer sale or during christmas, or even longer so i can get a Humble Bundle with several great games at once. But sometime, i like to support a company, or i just can't wait to get my hands on that specific game..or i'm just bored, and i need somehing now, not in six months. Usually, i have enough old games still to play, and there are nearly always games on sale these days, so the last thing doesn't happen all that often, but it might.
Another thing is the price relative to other factors. €10 for a game i want since long before launch is nice..but if it costs $5 (so €4) in the US, i might still skip it. Even more so when the original price is €15 and $15, because not only is the absolute price unfair, the "generous" 30% discount would also be basically a scam. So i might buy a game at a higher price, because the price is fair, or wait until it's low enough that they can't scam people that way (when it's €2 here, there is little to no chance that it's 75% cheaper in the US or UK...).
Overall, there are dozens if factors that determine when to buy a game, and the actual price is just one thing.
I'll wait to the day's end when the moon is high
And then I'll rise with the tide with a lust for life, I'll
Amass an army, and we'll harness a horde
And then we'll limp across the land until we stand at the shore
Hindsight is always 20/20, one never really knows when a game will be on sale. If a game releases that is of great interest there is a certain amount of enjoyment in getting it right away. This same type of enjoyment is why we buy games in the first place. It's an indulgence due to the fact games are "wants" and not "needs." How valuable the enjoyment is of getting it right away cannot be quantified by someone else, just like one person may enjoy, and therefore value, a 5.00 coffee more than another. Could someone enjoy a game later when it's on sale? Sure, but maybe some of that excitement, therefore value, may be lost.
We pay for many different things.
If this thread were about an individual, you might be right. However this thread is not about an individual. It's not about you, or I. It's about the collective 'we', people as consumers (gamers) and why they spend premium dollar for games that usually go on sale within a short amount of time.
And I'm sorry, but it's no assumption; Stupidity does play a very significant part of this equation. And 'common sense' doesn't actually exist. It's an assumption in and of itself. You may think it's no one's business how you spend your money, but you'd be wrong. There are quite a few people who make a living making it their business. I've worked w/ a few of them.
There is an overwhelming amount of data & examples that support this, but i'll mention one in particular. There is a somewhat notorious incident that happened with a company known as JC Penney. Some years back the company was going through some rough times, and their sales numbers weren't where they wanted them to be. To help this they brought in a new CEO to try and fix the issue. This guy had a brilliant plan to be completely honest with their customers. They did away with sales, and inflated marketing, in favor of listing everything at it's actual market price.
So what happened? The whole project failed, hard. They lost millions of customers and many more millions of dollars in the process. Why? Because people didn't 'feel' like they were getting a good deal. They felt like they were buying a bunch of cheap stuff. Even though they were buying the exact same products without the markup.
And sadly, that is how most consumers spending habits go. They may think about their essentials more closely, because you need things like water to live. However, when it comes to luxuries (in this case, games), most people don't actually spend with their brain. They buy what feels right, and not what makes sense logically. Even if (in their mind), they think they've made the most intelligent decision of their life. This is how market psychology works, and it's a real thing.
You're right, this thread is not about you nor I but I still will never agree with the lack of common sense and stupidity assumptions regardless of any studies. It could be to some but there are many more factors as pointed out by a good amount of posters.
Why do we go to see brand new movies in theater?
Why do we pre-order games?
Why do we buy new models of TVs and new car models or new iPhones... what's wrong with old one /grin?
Human Nature is one thing. We love new stuff and we want it now LOL.
But in more serious note.
Nothing is wrong with it. Entertainment and fun are very important part of our life and if gaming is our hobby and we get the most fun from playing games, then why not to get the game right when it comes out for a full prize. Some people fun is to go to bar and spend hundreds in one night, how that's different? Some people go fishing - trust me fishing hobby is way more expensive that video games
Unless you have financial difficulties, why not to buy something you were waiting for for months or years (like DAI for me) at the time of launch. Why would I want to torture myself by not playing my favorite series just to save couple bucks months later.
Unless the choice is... or I eat today or I play my game... I don't see a reason for delay.
On other note I am not very materialistic, so money are not something that I am obsessed with. They come and they go. I came to this world naked and I will go the same way LOL.
Sith Warrior - Story of Hate and Love http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxKrlwXt7Ao
Imperial Agent - Rise of Cipher Nine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBBj3eJWBvU&feature=youtu.be
Imperial Agent - Hunt for the Eagle Part 1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQqjYYU128E
Bah, have some common sense. Do you know how expensive dating a hot girl can get? He would save a fortune by buying some lotion instead.
lol
Because they have disposable income and they want to play the game they like fast?
I don't usually pay full price (steam discount is the way to go) but hey, i don't judge how others spend their dough.
In one word: Impatience.
Instead of waiting for prices to drop, bugs to get fixed, and an edition with all DLCs (5-30 bucks each) included, they run out and buy, buy, buy. But, they get to play the game sooner (and report the bugs) and brag on websites about how they were "first."
It is not just a "monetary" issue
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse.- FARGIN_WAR