So these days everyone needs wants more money, the recession has hit everywhere! Even the gaming industry, naturally is suffering, but its suffering rather interestingly! People keep questioning pricing decisions. I’ve already done a piece of the PSPgo, and on Left for Dead 2, and now its Halo 3. Though the game was indeed announced as an expansion, it has since then morphed into a complete campaign game, with a decent amount of new multi-player content as well, including I think what is a new kind of Multi-player game.
So, somehow I never saw people really questioning the price of games, quite frankly, I thought you just buy what you see, and if you don’t like the price, look for something cheaper! But I suppose what has changed is that with Franchise games coming out in several sequels etc. The gamer feels entitled to continue that relation ship with the game series, and so has a legitimate demand for a price that is accessible to him.
But the nature of ‘bargaining’ is sort of dif. Because while in the case of most products, sellers can keep the actual contents and quality secret, and actually charge you premiums on assumed better quality… in the gaming industry, the quality bit is really not something gamers bother with.
Quality is just sort of assumed! And rightly too, cause game developers will try to keep ahead of the pack to attract newer gamers, and so the quality is something gamers don’t necessarily need to pay for, the competition takes care of that. Actually also, the quality of the physics and stuff in a game are sort of pre-determined by which generation of gaming we’re in.
So the bargaining is actually a very basic sort of we want more for the same price kind of peeve. Which makes me wonder, whether or not its just the usual every guy wants more for his dollar kind of syndrome or do these guys really have a point?
And I guess the answer is, it varies from game to game, and what’s going on!
I’d really like to figure out how powerful the gamers are in such a negotiation. Like the proposed L4D2 boycott having any effect on the developers? And what could the possible repercussions for the game be, if the boycott actually is successful… with every franchise attracting a core set of die hard fans of the game, its becomes truly difficult to see the real effects of this whole negotiation will be.
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