Dom

YOU COULD BE paying an extra 10 bucks a title by the end of this year, predicted Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities who has been tracking some of the biggest players in the industry. Other analysts disagree, citing the game industry’s general reluctance to change price patterns — in either direction. But while static or cheaper prices for your games may sound great in theory, the reasons behind game pricing may make you think twice.

THE ‘LIFE CYCLE’ MODEL
Game title pricing isn’t just a matter of costs plus markup. Understanding the pricing game requires understanding how what analysts call the console “life cycle” affects supply and demand.
The “life cycle,” as the name suggests, is the time between a console’s debut and its eventual replacement by a more powerful gaming system. The life cycle of early consoles such as the 8-bit NES or the 16-bit Sega Genesis was about five years, for example.

The current generation of 128-bit consoles, now in their third year on the market, are entering what industry experts call the second half of its life cycle; the period where price points in both hardware and software trend southward.
“Once we see the price of consoles coming down, we see more mass market usage, then we’ll see the price of games coming down.” said Hal Halpin, president of the Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association, a retailing group. “It has this domino effect. The more mass market, the broader the base, the faster the recoup cost.”
Case in point: More than half of the games sold for Nintendo 64 and Sony PlayStation games occurred after 1998, almost three years after the consoles debuted.

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MSX

I jsut hope they don't put that crap on PC games... I'm getting really sick of paying 70 bucks for a new game that is probibly crap because we dont know because nobody releases a demo anymore.

-={420}=-

what are u talking about? games are free

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EcPercy

its just too bad that most of the games that come out suck or have absolutely no replay value... i myself will have to rely on demos to see if i want to attempt to purchase a game... right now $50 is way too high for a game and i dont see why consumers dont take a stand and say "lower the prices or you can watch your products sit on the shelves" that would make them go down... i just dont get it... i mean the average american paycheck goes up about 2-4% for the cost of living adjustment, but the prices on goods and services goes up about 10% in this case if the games go to $60 then thats a 8.5% increase... make better games and then ask for another $10 then i may be willing to pay...