Expensive games could accompany a shift in business plans over at Sony.
by Anoop Gantayat

September 23, 2006 - Following up on Ken Kutaragi' s pre-TGS keynote address, Japanese site Impress Watch has posted the latest in its " Random Tracking" editorial series. This periodic feature is written by Munechika Nishida, a well-known contributor to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper and Ultra One PC magazine, and this latest update has some surprising revelations on the PS3.

To most gamers, the most eye-catching part of the feature is a claim about game prices. Citing " multiple information sources," the article states that the price of PS3 games will be concentrated in the 8,800 to 9,800 yen range. The primary reason given is the rising cost of development.

In Japan, the standard price of a PS2 game is 6,800 yen, with only the biggest titles like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy rising to the 8,800 yen mark.

There' s a deeper story to this price hike. According to the article, Sony was, as of E3, planning to alleviate cost pressures on 3rd parties by lowering royalty costs. The thinking at the time was that users would be able to create their own games and distribute them online throught he PS3, and Sony would not be able to charge royalties for such titles. The company would want to offer 3rd parties a similar pricing environment, with the savings from royalty costs passed on to consumers in the form of lower software prices.

However, this strategy has apparently been put on hold as Sony has been unable to complete preparations for turning the PS3 into an open platform. The article claims that Sony has made no progress in the preparations for allowing users to make their own games. Such preparations include a development environment, manuals, security management and community features.

It should come as no surprise that preparations have been delayed, as the article also claims that even support for 3rd party developers is lagging.

With the delay in progress towards an open platform, the site speculates that Sony is switching to a more traditional business model where the PS3 will be sold at a " surprisingly low price" and losses will be recouped on software royalties. This is the business model that was used for the PlayStation and PlayStation 2.

As part of this strategy shift, we could be seeing changes to Sony' s plans for multiple PS3 SKUs. The article claims that while the 60 gigabyte PS3 will still be available, the company' s focus will be shifted to the 20 gigabyte model. This is part of Sony' s hope to change from a multi SKU business model to a single SKU model. The article cites as a source software distribution firms which noticed, at the end of August, a change in Sony' s marketing approach for the PS3.

Some big revelations to be sure. We should be able to get a grasp on how accurate Nishida' s sources were as PS3 pricing and shipment details become available in the coming weeks.

IGN

9800 Yen = $84

It' s possible, and Sony themselves said that the cost of games might rise, but $84 would be improbable. Would Sony do that?

Call them and ask

Sinking ship.

Okay, since this isn' t confirmed yet, lets go in a slightly different direction...

...what' s the most you' ve ever paid for a game, and whatplatform was it for.

I paid £89.99 ($171) for Perfect Dark. And i had to buy the expansion pak too wich cost £40 ($76) at the time, to be able to play it.

$200 for Steel Batallion. It came with that beast of a controller which makes it worth it. People' s jaws drop when they see that ting, lol. I bought the Online expasion for it too in the same day In one purchase I almost hit $300 after tax and stuff.

I' ve paid £50.00 for xbox 360 games.

If you were to ask me what' s the only game you remember getting and at the
exact time... I would say Ninja Gaiden May 12th 2004, Wednesday at 9.32am.

I' d like to mention that really was a one time thing. When Steel Batallion was announced I wanted it from day one. I promised myself that if I ever saw it in a store I would purchase it instantly. Nearly a year after its launch I found it in an EB sitting on some shelf in the back corner and I grabbed it. I probably wouldn' t do this for any other game. Would hesitate spending anything more that $70 on a game and even $70 is rare (cost of 360 special edition games). Oblivion is the only game I' ve bought in special edition form for the 360 (well that and PD0 but it was $60 and I traded that in).

I remember N64 prices becoming ridiculous at the end of its lifetime. Sure, no loading times was a big bonus for cartridge games but PD set me back close to $AU200. I think Majora' s mask was similarly priced. But I can excuse PD as it literally gave me and my brother thousands of gameplay hours.

ORIGINAL: UnluckyOne

I remember N64 prices becoming ridiculous at the end of its lifetime. Sure, no loading times was a big bonus for cartridge games but PD set me back close to $AU200. I think Majora' s mask was similarly priced.

Yeah, but it was because the carts were expensive to make. Some games, and especially the ones that required the expansion pak were stupidly priced. I got an N64 at launch and the games were £65-£70 each. I could only afford Super Mario 64 and Pilotwings, and it took me two months to get the money for Turok.

But I can excuse PD as it literally gave me and my brother thousands of gameplay hours.

Well that' s the point. If a game provides that much replay value then the price isn' t really a factor, ...but for games that last say 6 hours like Kameo, or Prey on 360 (because they' re recent) asking for £50 is a bit of a joke. I paid it, and i enjoyed the games, but i don' t think they were worth what i paid for them. Advanced warfighter on the other hand has easily been worth the RRP + the cost of the downloadable content.

I just wish games had a staggered pricing structure based on their value.

ORIGINAL: Rampage99

$200 for Steel Batallion. It came with that beast of a controller which makes it worth it. People' s jaws drop when they see that ting, lol. I bought the Online expasion for it too in the same day In one purchase I almost hit $300 after tax and stuff.

That raises a big question in my head:
Was the game good?

The game is damn god but hard as hell. I still haven' t beaten it. The best part about the whole thing is how engrossing it is. Just starting up the mech by going through the whole start up process flipping switches, checking read outs, watching the mech OS debug, and finally pressing the ignition and then have your entire mech cockpit lock down is one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had with a videogame. I' ll boot up the game every now and then just to start my mech and it puts a smile on my face.

Pictures in the gearwhores thread -NOW!

99 bucks for FF3 and Chrono Trigger each. I' ve never paid as much for games as I did at the end of the SNES cycle. This is all in Canadian dollars though, and had a lot to do with exhange rates at the time.

I paid £80 for the original devil may cry (jap import version). Yes I was crazy then, and I loved the game! But never again.

The special edition of Oblivion is probably the highest I' ve gone with paying for a game. That game obviously makes the price/value ratio very nice. I came close to convincing myself to get Steel Battalion. Just coulndt do it tho...dont think I' d have the room for it anyhow.

Hey, where' s Evil Man? Because as we all know, I was pulling figures like this out of my anus yesterday, stuff that had no base in reality... mmhmm...

It' s really not suprising, not when you look at the price of the media itself. I mean, what are blank Blu-Ray disks gonna run for now?

The most I' ve ever payed for a game? I buy used, so it' s not a problem, but I spent 750 in August on gaming alone. (360, 360 game, and random ps2, GC and DS games.

I seem to recall that when Virtua Racing came out for the Genesis/Megadrive, it was a special cartridge that contained at least one extra chip which enabled the system to run the fully 3D polygonal graphics... I think it was US$99.99. I didn' t buy it, but I rented it, and it was fantastic. Not worth paying to own it, though.

I want to make one comment on that article...

Sony was, as of E3, planning to alleviate cost pressures on 3rd parties by lowering royalty costs. The thinking at the time was that users would be able to create their own games and distribute them online throught he PS3, and Sony would not be able to charge royalties for such titles.

I have to say, I think this scenario is largely wishful thinking. Sure, there are millions of gamers who idly fantasize about designing their own games. Then they get into some sort of programming environment, even just one of the ' click and create' types of applications, and quickly realize that designing and programming a game as archaic as Dig-Dug is a formidable task... not to mention dealing with 3D graphics, physics, dynamics and so forth.

I think it' s great that all three console manufacturers are moving towards a more open development model, but who will really utilize it? We' ll probably see some projects by student development teams, maybe a few games here and there by old school homebrew types, but it' s not going to be an avalanche of new software.

800$ for Garou: Mark of the Wolves, AES version.

ORIGINAL: UnluckyOne

I remember N64 prices becoming ridiculous at the end of its lifetime. Sure, no loading times was a big bonus for cartridge games but PD set me back close to $AU200. I think Majora' s mask was similarly priced. But I can excuse PD as it literally gave me and my brother thousands of gameplay hours.

Um is that 200 Australian Dollars? You must be kidding me. During the N64 era i bought all my games when they launched and all were AUS$100 or less (i have over 20-30 N64 games). If you were buying it at that price that store was really pulling a fast one on you or your just unlucky ;p

And back on topic i can definately see this happening. Apparently sony loses up to US$300 per console - thats a lot of money that they need to recoup. On top of this if the games are on blu ray that media ain' t cheap, thus further increasing the price or (keeping the price competitive but) reduce profits. Releasing a console with such high loss per console sold is a lose - lose situation for both sony and its fans, especially with 360 being out for almost a year and Wiis affordability & unique controller.

Apparently sony loses up to US$300 per console

If not more, I heard it cost somewhere in the lower 800' s to manufacture, but I can' t back it up with anything.

Releasing a console with such high loss per console sold is a lose - lose situation for both sony and its fans, especially with 360 being out for almost a year and Wiis affordability & unique controller.

But some people don' t look at that as an advantage, the 360 HAS been out for a year, that means that some people are already bored with what they' ve seen, they want more, and they think PS3 will provide. Many people like the Wii idea now that they' ve seen it, but you' ve gotta admit, it' s gonna be a completely different style of gaming. And like it or not, there are going to be a good number of people who absolutely refuse to try it.

It' s pretty traditional for console makers to lose alot of money on first console sales anyway, this is just on a bigger scale. So the way I think, it' s either going to be a total success, or an absolute failure. The more you bet, the more you win or lose.