Now that Sony has a deal with Amazon.com, there is competition in the PSN market place.
Prices will go down on everything, even if its by a few cents, but its good for consumers in the long run, with sales going on during holidays and the likes.

I got final fantasy XIV for $10 (usually $40) and Ni No Kuni for $9.70 ( usually $30). That is a sale.

At least Sony is providing us discounts via Playstation Plus while Microsoft raises their prices even after everyone has Xbox Live. If you ask me, that's a clear difference.

@ElementX
Two things:
Playstation Plus and Borderlands 2

Apparently Sony is still selling their digital games for more than retail?

http://www.eurogamer.net/ar...

Looks to be even more expensive than this supposed price hike in the UK.

They don't want to compete with the retailers in price on their online stores. It's really not to take customers from retailers cause that would piss them off.

You must be trolling or never used PS+, the sales are crazy, the discounts are more than just a few bucks, wtf are you talking about. Discounts range from a few bucks for games that cost less than 10 bucks or go upwards of 40 bucks discount for a new game.

It's up to the publishers unfortunately but I agree, digital game prices are extortionate.

There's a lot of misinformation about these pricing issues.

First of all, the fact is that the Big 3 actually set pricing tiers for all 3rd party publishers. The publishers decide what their game is worth based on those tiers and set the price for the game accordingly.

Retail partners are also a factor for console digital games. If digital games on consoles are cheaper than their retail counterparts, then there would be no reason to purchase retail copies unless you like collector's editions or owning your game, which is something that flies out the window if there is a discount involved.

If the retail partners are shunned this way, they will threaten to stop supporting the publishers involved and cut off huge sources of revenue for said publishers. Until every publisher comes up with their own solution by having their own stores and own distribution networks for games and/or consoles, this facet won't be going away any time soon.

And finally, things like government laws and varying taxes have to also be taken into consideration. Many places don't consider digital items to be taxable because they aren't physical products, but there are likely places that don't hold that same idea about them.

So in the end, it isn't as cut and dry as "they want to charge more than retail and are greedy."

am i the only person that thought digital games would be cheaper than disc, as they save money on the disc and case?

3rd party sets the price for their own games on all consoles. This isn't a MS vs Sony thing when the high prices are the same. So stop trying to 1up and defend the expensive digital prices on Live and PSN. Arguing about $80 vs $80 makes absolutely no since.

Steam is looking so good right now.

X1 was meant to force everyone all-digital, I assume that was considered in their revenues forecast for the console...I wonder how much was it adjusted after all 180s and what impact will have in future decisions?

@ElementX

lol You're delusional, and here's why.

Back in July, if you were a Plus member, you could get Max Payne 3: Ultimate Edition for only 12 bucks or 15 bucks without being a Plus member. And the Ultimate Edition comes with all the DLC.

http://www.junkiemonkeys.co...

http://us.playstation.com/g...

12 bucks for Max Payne 3 and all the DLC? That's a great deal right there.

Forward to now, aside from Borderlands 2 being free, there's a Christmas promotion going on.

You can get the Tomb Raider Bundle (Tomb Raider plus extra goodies and a free game, Quantum Conundrum that goes along with it) for 15 bucks even if you aren't a member.

Deal list for Week 2 oF December:

http://www.computerandvideo...

And there's the proof, only a blind person will deny it. :) I kinda doubt you read the responses, you hate to be proven wrong. lol

first party games should be the cheapest. theres no developer to pay and theres no retailer to hike up the price.

take a lesson from steam...they LOWER prices

According to micro those "select" games launched at "promotional" prices and are now changed, still it's amazing how everyone overlooks they are still cheaper than sonys 1st party games but it's OK I'll say it:

"Even after the price revision, Xbox One's exclusive digital titles are still less expensive than Sony's PS4 equivalents. PlayStation exclusives Knack and Killzone Shadow Fall, for example, retail in the UK for £53." -CVG
http://www.computerandvideo...

That said digital should be cheaper but I think it has more to to do with Euro laws and retailer competition.

Ironically, digital games would have been cheaper under MS old digital only model. Why?

Retail games would have been digital, but with a disc (you don't need) and a case. This means, whatever retailers do now with sales, or off loads to their games, they would have done to the digital copies back then.

Because people screamed so hard we don't want that, we are back to the old de-facto standard. Almost any game on console found digital on *ANY* platform is cheaper in physical form than digital.

Even Sony admits, they cannot undermine retail:

"First of all, we want to support a healthy retail channel, so it's not in our interest to go and seriously undermine retail."

http://www.eurogamer.net/ar...

MS was increasing competition, forcing themselves to lower prices, and allow a third party digital market where each individual user could re-sell their digital games. Thanks to a lot of mis-informed whiners, we went back to the defacto standard of getting screwed.

Remember, actual cost of manufacturing and production, as well as getting it to you is for the most part independent of the sale cost. Ask Coach handbags, why their product cost so much?

@ Nuketail

You are completely spot on with that and the fact you have 7 disagrees shows how one-sided this site is. MS original strategy would have saved consumers money, but people here want to bash MS for anything that they cried and cried and cried until MS had to change their policy. MS was moving forward and people, especially on this site, can't adapt to that. Allowing users to be part of their friends and family group and share content was brilliant. I find the most ironic part here is everyone on this site apparently has a gaming PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and X1, and have a good internet connection, yet were still against it. Gaming is a privilege, not a right, and the whining from people who just wanted to bash MS lead to gamers going back to the standard old way of gaming.

Luckily, MS will be pushing digital download and when internet connection per househould increase more over the next several years, you'll see them start adding the great stuff they were going to do.

@nukeitall

Really we are back to that again even after this....

"Retail games would have been digital, but with a disc (you don't need) and a case. This means, whatever retailers do now with sales, or off loads to their games, they would have done to the digital copies back then.

Because people screamed so hard we don't want that, we are back to the old de-facto standard. Almost any game on console found digital on *ANY* platform is cheaper in physical form than digital"

That means their distribution system was basically the same as it is today considering you were still going to be buying games in disc form before installing them to your HDD & the disc being useless there after. So where was manufacturing, production, licensing and distribution cost going to be save to offer these lower prices?

"MS was increasing competition, forcing themselves to lower prices, and allow a third party digital market where each individual user could re-sell their digital games. Thanks to a lot of mis-informed whiners, we went back to the defacto standard of getting screwed"

Where did they announce plans for these things? And before you say people were crying so they couldn't. These are the things they should have talked about from the beginning if they were going to be changing their policies to such a degree but they didn't meaning that was probably not in their plans.

"allow a third party digital market where each individual user could re-sell their digital games". Hmmm.... There was NO support for the reselling, renting of games at launch and the only thing we could do was after 30-days of someone being on your friend's list you could gift them a game forever. And you talk about misinformation when it was MS who started it with all their execs saying different things.

@dcj0524

You wont ever see that I'm afraid. There really are no comparison to steam here; Steam is on an open platform which has competition. The console platform holders can't compete with retailers (which have a high price) cause they wield too much power in terms of sales. This haven't been the case on PC for a very long time. I believe Sony, MS and all the publishers would love to go more digital cause it saves them a lot of money, but due to reasons stated above it wont happen too soon.

like i told my cousin when he bought his xbone home and called me raving about the voice controls....."sounds like you paid $500 for a remote" :-/

just want to jump in here and say im works great to love it. watch a film at loud volume and I can just say xbox pause and it picks me out and pauses. I don't need my pad to watch a film and I don't need to shout for it to pick me up over a loud tv. it works amazingly

No you don't....support the Xbox because you think it is a great piece of kit, I mean. Both of the last two Xboxes (Bone and 360) have been demonstrably worse pieces of kit than their competition. In the case of the Xbone it's worse kit at a higher price. So, unless you are one of those guys who think that all new kit is good kit, supporting the Xbox because you think it's good kit is not going to be the case.

You may support them because you support all game consoles.
You may support them because because you are now invested in Xbox Live.
You may support them simply because you have an emotionally soft spot for Microsoft and/or the Xbox.

But you don't support the Xbox because you think they make good kit. Or at least you didn't think they had good kit UNTIL AFTER you became an Xbox supporter.

Hey, if you want to spend extra money to speak commands and be cool that is obviously your right.

You can say two words and have your living room spring to life. I will stick with keeping $100 and hitting one button on my remote.

I'm sitting here thinking, what makes it a "great bit of kit" or "i wanted the tech."

I could understand if you support them because:

-You like the games on Xbox One
-You have a large gamerscore that you don't want to give up
-You prefer the controller
-You like the color green

But saying its because of the tech just blows my mind. The things design is sloppy at best. Look at the insides of the machine, how its built, the extra space inside, the large powerbrick outside.

What tech did you want? the ability to speak commands? the ability to snap? the ability to scan the re-up card on your Live account?

"I could understand if you support them because:

-You like the games on Xbox One
-You have a large gamerscore that you don't want to give up
-You prefer the controller
-You like the color green

But saying its because of the tech just blows my mind. The things design is sloppy at best. Look at the insides of the machine, how its built, the extra space inside, the large powerbrick outside.

What tech did you want? the ability to speak commands? the ability to snap? the ability to scan the re-up card on your Live account? "

^^

Yes, all of that, and a PS4. Why is it that Playstation fans always want us to explain our decision to them? As if we need to justify why we got an Xbox to you! Who cares? It's a functional machine with some cool tech that plays great games and does other nifty media function for 500 bucks. Could have ripped that off an Xbox add. All the explanation that is needed.

Doesn't matter what we say, your just going to criticize and nitpick, followed by a Sony plug. Little realizing that none of us have anything against Sony, and many of us have Playstations!

Life, it's a funny little thing, aint it?

If you wanted tech should of gone with PS4. I'll see you on the battlefield when you do! Unless you want that Kinect...it scans your bones. Is that why everyone calls it Xbone? I'm serious is it because of that? I never call it that. ^~^

@Darrius Cole - WOW

How dare you tell someone their own mind.

If you don't like Xbox, don't buy it, don't talk about it and don't dare tell someone that their decision was based on some jaded misinformation, idiocy or emotional weakness.

I could say the same thing about your decision to adopt the PS4 citing reasons as Brand Loyalty, Blind devotion, Blind love of the Japanese etc... but I won't.

On Topic: I agree all DD should be cheaper than physical versions, due to lack of VAT and manufacturing costs. All companies are guilty of this.

However I do recognise that MS tried to push us down this road. Which I was happy about. Cutting out the retail arms is a brilliant idea and you can only hope that more of the revenue goes back to the developers. Happy developers = better games for gamers.

@GirlOnFire - PS4 owners call it xbone because it suggests the xbox one is for penis's. But thats only coming from Sony fans. Kinect does identify your skeletal structure but not by scanning your bones only creates a skeleton structure on your form. Though it can work out if your happy, sad or angry or frustrated. Quite useful if you want to make the game harder or scarier for the player.

I was quite surprised that MS fans don't call the PS4 the Praystation