Develop:
This week's Jury Service discusses how developers, publishers and platform holders work together on deciding the price of downloadable games and content.
Given the flexibility and popularity of price deals on the likes of iTunes, Steam and even Kindle, we asked developers:
Should platform holders give developers more responsive control over game prices on PSN, XBL and the Wii/DSi Store?
New report from Skillsearch found that 22% of those surveyed had been laid off within the past 12 months.
It's a step forward for Stop Killing Games.
The Callisto Protocol director thinks the solution involves the right people, the right timing, and perhaps a little bit of AI
I don't agree with that. I WISH I could agree with that. But buying habits and customer opinions prove otherwise
We've seen developers in the AAA space try new things and ideas. More often than not, the customers aren't willing to give things a chance, or not enough people buy into the project for it to grow.
Creativity works better in the indie space because the budgets, pressures, and expectations aren't the same.
it's a nice idea and it worked during the PS2/PS3-era when AAA didn't cost hundreds of millions of dollars. smaller budgets and shorter development time left room for more creativity and more risk. a game didn't need to sell 4 million+ copies to break even. things are different now.
This is the guy who bragged about crunching his staff and having them work through the night. Crunch culture has lost more talent and done more damage to the industry than any other factor. Screw him.
Don't charge me 60+tax for a plastic wrapped game in the store and do the same for a digital copy. Why would you charge the same price? The cost would be much lower, and there's no packaging or even any amount of excessive handling to get it to the consumer. Charge me $45 if you must.
The consumer should control prices. At the moment people are trying to push the price of games up via content that is already on the disc (later released as DLC) or through multiplayer modes and even horse armour in the most famous example.
The consumer is best placed to set the prices of games and when devs use practices that are against the interests of the consumer, pirating of games and trading or renting games is a legitimate yet undoubtedly grubby response.
If the internet were friendlier to boycotts and consumer power then gamers could see games being shaped to suit their tastes and also help to ensure value for money.
My point isn't that games should be cheaper but that games should be sold fairly and in a way that best suits the intended audience. £30 for cooking mama or beach sports compendium? No thanks!
The Wii and DS have brought about a flurry of games that are likely bought on the strength of a misleading game cover with the price in no way reflective of the marketing budget, development costs or even game quality. The reason for this? The consumer doesn't care. Were the intended audience 20 something males with a keen interest in review scores, then obviously such abominations would be cast aside and relegated to the bargain bin.