friend of mine recently asked for advice as to whether he should go ahead and buy The Orange Box, or wait for it to go on sale. As several friends appealed blithely to frugality, I couldn't help but shake my head. Here are five complete games for the price of one — and people are looking for discounts?
As an undergraduate liberal arts student, I understand that cash isn't always at the ready. But after a 20% rise in Xbox Live annual subscription costs, and with blood already boiling over the threat (or is it a promise?) of more expensive online gaming and costly DLC packages, the question is in order: are gamers just exceptionally stingy?
Too often I hear people referring to an XBLA or PSN title, saying, "Oh, yeah, I loved the demo! When the price comes down, I'm definitely gonna buy it." Have we missed the point? Genius, when and where it strikes, needs to be rewarded; moreover, it needs to be afforded. The less money a game makes — particularly in the initial few months of release — the less willing or able developers will be to take creative risks. These people have bills to pay like anyone else; basic operation costs may put a small company out of business between the time you play that demo and the time you finally decide to scrape the game off the bottom of the discount rack.
Obvious price-gouging notwithstanding, we as a community have received sometimes excessively gracious benefits from the gaming industry. And while it might be worth second-guessing a company's release of premium, expensive content within mere months of launch, the fact remains that production of any content — especially great content — requires heavy capital, labor, and (particularly in terms of online games) maintenance. As the economy languishes and production costs rise to meet consumer expectations, games are going to have to start costing more; complaining about it isn't going to change that.
What do you think? Is the industry to blame for exploiting our willingness to buy into the DLC model? Or is the gaming community made up of a whole lot of penny-pinchers?
Personally, I sort of fall on both sides of this particular fence. If it's a game I really want, I will buy it on launch day for full price with no reservations. Games such as Halo Reach, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Mass Effect 2, and Rock Band 3 are games I bought at full price with no hint of buyer's remorse. At the same time, there are games I would like to own and play, but that I feel I wouldn't have any issues waiting a few months to play (this has included games like Enslaved and Uncharted 2). These games I will typically wait awhile, because it will obviously go down in price during that period.
Obviously this is all very subjective, and I think Michael pretty much nailed it when he said that gamers will pay for what they want. Those franchises or even new IPs that I'm dying to play are going to get bought at full price with no qualms, while other games at lower levels of personal desirability will get bought when they've gone down to $20, $30, or $40.
As far as DLC goes, I typically wait for it to go on sale regardless of how much I want it, just because it almost always seem like it goes on sale right after I buy it. Map packs for Halo 3 or Mass Effect 2 DLC for example. The Halo 3 map packs all ended up being free with Halo ODST, and the ME2 DLC all went on sale for 50% off a couple months after coming out.
So I guess it essentially comes back to the same thing, how bad you want it. If I want it now, I buy it now. If I kind of want it now, I'll probably wait a bit and get it cheaper.
Ummm....no?
Mind you, I have quite a few friends who fancy themselves collectors, buying games mostly for the hell of it (older titles, mostly). And remember when FFXIII came out? There were people who, even if they suspected the game wasn't going to be good, were going to purchase two or three copies (one for each console, and perhaps one to keep sealed).
Waiting for sales is just practical, if one can suspect that it is inevitable. At any given time, one may have a couple games within their currently-playing-inbox. If you're currently being entertained, what difference does it make if you get a game now, or a month from now? (A: ~$10-$20?)
Then again...then again...then again... remember when people were pirating the Humble Indie Bundle? ....maybe you have a point, Adam Bogert.
College-aged (and younger) gamers? Definitely. But beyond a sensible interest in savings, older and self-supporting gamers will pay for what they want.
Pricing of DLC, which I think suffers from the volume-sale misstep, is another matter.