'NBA 2K21' Will Cost $70 USD for PS5 and Xbox Series X. Is this the new normal?

kju1 said:
Obviously whoever wrote that article has not driven through Baltimore or Chicago...where I see poor, and I mean truly poor people, driving some really nice cars. They will spend their money on that and the government will pay for their housing. So yeah I would say they can "afford" it.
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Keep in mind that the areas you speak of are not statistics of America entirely. Around 7 million Americans are 90 days late on their auto loan payments, and this was before COV19.

Domingo said:
Video games have cost the same (or less) for the last 35 years. In a lot of cases they're cheaper. Stuff goes on sale quicker and we don't ever have those zany outlier cartridges that were $75-80. If I can afford a $1000 video card, I don't really have any room to gripe over $10 for a game that's 10x longer than the games I dropped $60 for when I was 10.
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Lets look at movies for example. The magic number for VHS prices of the 80's and 90's was $20, and they definitely had movies as high as $80. Nowadays Blu-Ray movies are generally ~$10. How much does it cost to make a game vs a movie? Infinity War cost $321 million to make and made over $2 billion in profits, while GTAV cost $265 to make while it made $6 billion in profits.

Stop trying to justify the $70 price increase because the video game industry doesn't need more billions. The movie industry seems to be happily chugging along selling movies at lower prices than VHS, so the gaming industry should be fine with $60 or lower prices.
 
DukenukemX said:
Keep in mind that the areas you speak of are not statistics of America entirely. Around 7 million Americans are 90 days late on their auto loan payments, and this was before COV19.


Lets look at movies for example. The magic number for VHS prices of the 80's and 90's was $20, and they definitely had movies as high as $80. Nowadays Blu-Ray movies are generally ~$10. How much does it cost to make a game vs a movie? Infinity War cost $321 million to make and made over $2 billion in profits, while GTAV cost $265 to make while it made $6 billion in profits.

Stop trying to justify the $70 price increase because the video game industry doesn't need more billions. The movie industry seems to be happily chugging along selling movies at lower prices than VHS, so the gaming industry should be fine with $60 or lower prices.
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TLDR; bullshit.

You keep citing this statistics without providing the necessary scope. Sure 7 million are latte on loan payments but there are 128 million households and over 300 million people in the US. Even if you assumed that 7 million was a households number we are still only looking at 5% of the total number of households. But 10% of all households in America down own cars so thats probably closer to like 6% (you can get that data from the bts and/or census). Bloomberg (in 2015) put it at 12% https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...arts-global-car-motorcycle-and-bike-ownership. Close enough.

Blu-ray movies are generally $10 MONTHS after their release. Take look at the new release shelf or page. If you go to amazonhttps://www.amazon.com/s?bbn=2901953011&rh=n%3A2625373011%2Cn%3A%212644981011%2Cn%3A%212644982011%2Cn%3A2901953011%2Cp_n_date%3A2693526011&dc&fst=as%3Aoff&qid=1594731951&rnid=2693522011&ref=lp_2901953011_nr_p_n_date_0 and look at the titles you'll see the vast majority that arent B movies are listed as $20+.

The bottom line is nobody here needs to justify the price. You will either pay it or you won't. They will charge what they think they can get and everyone expects release day to be higher now. So they will get it. Period. Its not about if its fair or not or what it costs to make etc. Its about their bottom line. They want more money and as long as people keep paying for it they will get it.

Dont like it? Dont buy on release day. I dont, I think its stupid given how fast the price will drop and all I have to do is have a little patience. Same reason I rarely go to the movies. I dont want to pay $25 for a single ticket. Not when I can wait a year (or less in some cases) and watch it on streaming or rent it for far less. And yet (stupid virus restrictions aside) box offices are still hugely popular.
 
kju1 said:
TLDR; bullshit.

You keep citing this statistics without providing the necessary scope. Sure 7 million are latte on loan payments but there are 128 million households and over 300 million people in the US. Even if you assumed that 7 million was a households number we are still only looking at 5% of the total number of households.
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5% is not an insignificant number. Because of COV19 the used car market boomed, which suggests a lot of people couldn't make payments for their auto loans. One things for certain is that things aren't going well for a lot of Americans financially and $70 games will probably push consumers to save money. This sorta thing will backfire on the game industry.
Blu-ray movies are generally $10 MONTHS after their release. Take look at the new release shelf or page. If you go to amazonhttps://www.amazon.com/s?bbn=2901953011&rh=n%3A2625373011%2Cn%3A%212644981011%2Cn%3A%212644982011%2Cn%3A2901953011%2Cp_n_date%3A2693526011&dc&fst=as%3Aoff&qid=1594731951&rnid=2693522011&ref=lp_2901953011_nr_p_n_date_0 and look at the titles you'll see the vast majority that arent B movies are listed as $20+.
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Lets look at Troll World Tour for example. The movie was released online for $20 to rent for 48 hours and that didn't go well with a lot of people. As of right now Trolls World Tour DANCE PARTY EDITION is $24 on Blu-Ray through Amazon. That's a relatively new movie. Doom Eternal which is even older than Trolls World Tour is still $60 on Steam, or $70 for the Xbox One version. Considering that VHS tapes in the 80's and 90's were $20, we haven't seen a major price increase for movies


The bottom line is nobody here needs to justify the price.
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Yes they do.
You will either pay it or you won't.
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Or piracy and game rentals, assuming you were smart enough to get the PS5 with a disc drive.
Dont like it? Dont buy on release day. I dont, I think its stupid given how fast the price will drop and all I have to do is have a little patience. Same reason I rarely go to the movies. I dont want to pay $25 for a single ticket. Not when I can wait a year (or less in some cases) and watch it on streaming or rent it for far less. And yet (stupid virus restrictions aside) box offices are still hugely popular.
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I have so many games I haven't played that I can afford to wait, and I think that's what may become the norm for a lot of people. Wait if you can or don't and pirate/rent.
 
DukenukemX said:
Lets look at Troll World Tour for example. The movie was released online for $20 to rent for 48 hours and that didn't go well with a lot of people. As of right now Trolls World Tour DANCE PARTY EDITION is $24 on Blu-Ray through Amazon. That's a relatively new movie. Doom Eternal which is even older than Trolls World Tour is still $60 on Steam, or $70 for the Xbox One version. Considering that VHS tapes in the 80's and 90's were $20, we haven't seen a major price increase for movies
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:ROFLMAO:

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Idiot me, I forget this was a topic of discussion 2 yeas ago by Extra Credits. The ratio to likes and dislikes suggests that consumers weren't ready for $70 games 2 years ago. It's funny that the idea of $70 would help remove micro-transactions and DLCs but we know that won't be the case either. Funny how this stuff cycles back.

 
DukenukemX said:
5% is not an insignificant number. Because of COV19 the used car market boomed, which suggests a lot of people couldn't make payments for their auto loans. One things for certain is that things aren't going well for a lot of Americans financially and $70 games will probably push consumers to save money. This sorta thing will backfire on the game industry.

Lets look at Troll World Tour for example. The movie was released online for $20 to rent for 48 hours and that didn't go well with a lot of people. As of right now Trolls World Tour DANCE PARTY EDITION is $24 on Blu-Ray through Amazon. That's a relatively new movie. Doom Eternal which is even older than Trolls World Tour is still $60 on Steam, or $70 for the Xbox One version. Considering that VHS tapes in the 80's and 90's were $20, we haven't seen a major price increase for movies



Yes they do.

Or piracy and game rentals, assuming you were smart enough to get the PS5 with a disc drive.

I have so many games I haven't played that I can afford to wait, and I think that's what may become the norm for a lot of people. Wait if you can or don't and pirate/rent.
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I highly doubt $70 games will do shit besides make release day purchasers pay a few bucks more.

Jaws is almost $20 for a Blu-Ray still and its over 30 yrs old. Your argument holds no water.

Nobody has to justify anything to you. If you dont like the price dont buy it. As I said waiting clearly isn't the norm because these prices can and do stick around I mean how many fucking times have people bought Skyrim? Most of my friends bought it 3 times...me? Just once. I am not the norm. You are not the norm. People on the [H] are not the norm.
 
DukenukemX said:
Idiot me, I forget this was a topic of discussion 2 yeas ago by Extra Credits. The ratio to likes and dislikes suggests that consumers weren't ready for $70 games 2 years ago. It's funny that the idea of $70 would help remove micro-transactions and DLCs but we know that won't be the case either. Funny how this stuff cycles back.

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Nobody is going to LIKE a price increase. Come on. People will bitch about it all day long but if they pay it thats the real tell. If it sells the price is automatically justified.
 
kju1 said:
Jaws is almost $20 for a Blu-Ray still and its over 30 yrs old. Your argument holds no water.
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And Trolls World Tour is $24. It just means that Blu-Ray movies seem to average around $20 just like VHS tapes from the 90's. BTW, Jaws is $6 on Blu-Ray on Amazon. Maybe you meant the 4k Ultra HD version for $18? Either way you're wrong.
Nobody has to justify anything to you. If you dont like the price dont buy it. As I said waiting clearly isn't the norm because these prices can and do stick around I mean how many fucking times have people bought Skyrim? Most of my friends bought it 3 times...me? Just once. I am not the norm. You are not the norm. People on the [H] are not the norm.
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I'm just telling you what'll happen, not what is or isn't justified. What people will start doing is finding alternative methods to the new $70 price and corporations won't like what consumers will do to avoid paying that price. As the saying goes, if you get too greed then you'll lose everything. This is tied to the new PS5 and Xbox Series X consoles, which can really cause a rubberband effect. Do I need to remind you that websites like G2Play.net exist and that consumers might find it justified to purchase games there regardless if the games are legit or not? Here's a copy of Doom Eternal for $38. Don't forget piracy, and I don't mean just on PC. PS4 owners can pirate Red Dead Redemption 2 before PC gamers, so piracy on consoles maybe a bigger thing than on PC.

You think consumers will just roll over and accept the new price increase but I'm telling you that won't happen.
 
DukenukemX said:
Idiot me, I forget this was a topic of discussion 2 yeas ago by Extra Credits. The ratio to likes and dislikes suggests that consumers weren't ready for $70 games 2 years ago. It's funny that the idea of $70 would help remove micro-transactions and DLCs but we know that won't be the case either. Funny how this stuff cycles back.

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I would be fine paying $70, $80, even $100 for a good complete game, but that's not what these companies are going to offer. Most AAA games already don't cost $60, that's just become the entry price, more akin to a demo, while the complete experience is locked behind hundreds, if not thousands of dollars of DLC, microtransactions, lootboxes, season passes, and other assorted BS. Increasing the "base price" of the game isn't going to be instead of all the ridiculous other monetizations, it's going to be in addition to them.

Most of the big game companies are publicly traded and publish their financials, so any concerns about the rising costs of game development are made moot by just looking at those financials and seeing that video games have become far more profitable over time. I'm not really sure why people (like that Extra Credits video) try to justify a company's actions by pleading poverty for companies that are posting record profits year after year.
 
VHS tapes off an on for many years were $80-100+ because movie companies didn't want to sell $20 tapes that rental companies like Blockbuster would buy up and rent cheap. My parents sure weren't interested in paying $60+ for a vhs movie. Cheaper to record it off cable or tv if you must or just rent it at Blockbuster.
 
Ranulfo said:
VHS tapes off an on for many years were $80-100+ because movie companies didn't want to sell $20 tapes that rental companies like Blockbuster would buy up and rent cheap. My parents sure weren't interested in paying $60+ for a vhs movie. Cheaper to record it off cable or tv if you must or just rent it at Blockbuster.
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The main thing here to realize is that film piracy is still very strong and still very capable of taking profits away from corporations at any time. The thing that killed Blu-Ray was the same thing that diminished piracy and that was Netflix like streaming services. There was a point when a Blu-Ray movie was $60. Gaming does have a similar service but you won't see Assassin's Creed Valhalla on there for a while. Xbox Game Pass like services maybe what people will use instead of $70 games.
 
DukenukemX said:
And Trolls World Tour is $24. It just means that Blu-Ray movies seem to average around $20 just like VHS tapes from the 90's. BTW, Jaws is $6 on Blu-Ray on Amazon. Maybe you meant the 4k Ultra HD version for $18? Either way you're wrong.

I'm just telling you what'll happen, not what is or isn't justified. What people will start doing is finding alternative methods to the new $70 price and corporations won't like what consumers will do to avoid paying that price. As the saying goes, if you get too greed then you'll lose everything. This is tied to the new PS5 and Xbox Series X consoles, which can really cause a rubberband effect. Do I need to remind you that websites like G2Play.net exist and that consumers might find it justified to purchase games there regardless if the games are legit or not? Here's a copy of Doom Eternal for $38. Don't forget piracy, and I don't mean just on PC. PS4 owners can pirate Red Dead Redemption 2 before PC gamers, so piracy on consoles maybe a bigger thing than on PC.

You think consumers will just roll over and accept the new price increase but I'm telling you that won't happen.
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Last I checked $18 qualifies as "almost" $20. But whatever. Have fun with that.

DukenukemX said:
The main thing here to realize is that film piracy is still very strong and still very capable of taking profits away from corporations at any time. The thing that killed Blu-Ray was the same thing that diminished piracy and that was Netflix like streaming services. There was a point when a Blu-Ray movie was $60. Gaming does have a similar service but you won't see Assassin's Creed Valhalla on there for a while. Xbox Game Pass like services maybe what people will use instead of $70 games.
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Tired old argument that nobody cares about. Movie studios and game corps have been screaming since the invention of the tech that piracy will shut them down.

Lets see what happens when $70 is the new norm. My bet is pretty much a big meh after a subset of people bitching.
 
kju1 said:
Last I checked $18 qualifies as "almost" $20. But whatever. Have fun with that.
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That's for the 4K disk. The blu ray (which is what you referred to) is, apparently, 6 bucks.

DukenukemX said:
5% is not an insignificant number. Because of COV19 the used car market boomed, which suggests a lot of people couldn't make payments for their auto loans. One things for certain is that things aren't going well for a lot of Americans financially and $70 games will probably push consumers to save money. This sorta thing will backfire on the game industry.
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If this was for existing consoles, i'd agree, but if someone is spending 500-600 for a console, I don't think they're worried about spending 70 for a game. If they are, then they'll wait for a price drop.

DukenukemX said:
Lets look at Troll World Tour for example. The movie was released online for $20 to rent for 48 hours and that didn't go well with a lot of people. As of right now Trolls World Tour DANCE PARTY EDITION is $24 on Blu-Ray through Amazon. That's a relatively new movie. Doom Eternal which is even older than Trolls World Tour is still $60 on Steam, or $70 for the Xbox One version. Considering that VHS tapes in the 80's and 90's were $20, we haven't seen a major price increase for movies
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AFAICT, Trolls world tour the studio netted more money from VOD than it would have in theaters, despite grossing less money. https://deadline.com/2020/04/trolls-world-tour-vod-revenue-universal-coronavirus-1202919723/

That said, I think that's in part because it's a kids flick and a family of 3 likely saves money spending 24 bucks to watch at home. It's not for me, but there are no rug rats running around here ;)
 
kju1 said:
Either way its still a blu-ray.
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But it's not, it's not called a blu-ray. It's called an Ultra HD Blu-ray, and marketed as 4k Ultra HD. Nowhere is it ever referred to as "blu-ray." Doing so would be ridiculous, as the formats are not compatible, and not interchangeable. "hey this blu-ray disc doesn't work in my blu-ray player :(" -- Yea because they aren't the same format.
 
Verge said:
But it's not, it's not called a blu-ray. It's called an Ultra HD Blu-ray, and marketed as 4k Ultra HD. Nowhere is it ever referred to as "blu-ray." Doing so would be ridiculous, as the formats are not compatible, and not interchangeable. "hey this blu-ray disc doesn't work in my blu-ray player :(" -- Yea because they aren't the same format.
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Only difference between the two as far as we know (since the BD spec isn't public) is the maximum supported bit rate. All Blu-ray discs can be played back in a UHD Blu-ray player, but not vice versa since regular Blu-ray only supports up to 54 Mbps. Both use the same laser and encoding schemes.
 
Armenius said:
Only difference between the two as far as we know (since the BD spec isn't public) is the maximum supported bit rate. All Blu-ray discs can be played back in a UHD Blu-ray player, but not vice versa since regular Blu-ray only supports up to 54 Mbps. Both use the same laser and encoding schemes.
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No, this is not correct. UHD Blu-ray's use HEVC, blu-ray is mpeg2 / AVC / VC1.
 
zamardii12 said:
Interesting. I also remember back when Steam launched thinking games would be cheaper since we didn't have to buy the case or discs... but we never saw any price decreases. Prices just stayed the same.
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But games are legitimately cheaper on steam than physical. When is the last time you saw anything even close to a steam sale in stores? We have seen the best deals consistently through digital stores on PC but people still keep saying games didnt get cheaper?!?!

The MSRP may have stayed the same but gaming has never been more affordable on PC thanks to steam.

Before steam you had to go to the store and buy that shit at full price 99% of the time. Now we get regular 50-90% off deals on AAA games. People seem to forget that AAA games always stayed at MSRP for literally years before steam.
 
Good point. There were fairly new AAA games that were 50% off on the last Steam sale. I bought a few.

Nothing like the GameStop days where you would pay $50 for a used $60 game months after release.
 
It was already hard enough to justify $60 for a game; especially for a game like NBA2K. Good luck game industry.
 
thelead said:
It was already hard enough to justify $60 for a game; especially for a game like NBA2K. Good luck game industry.
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There is no luck needed. The fools will be willing to pay. What's another $10 when they drop hundreds on micro transactions.
 
vegeta535 said:
There is no luck needed. The fools will be willing to pay. What's another $10 when they drop hundreds on micro transactions.
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Plenty of fools? Yes. The same amount of fools that pay $60? No. The AAA games probably won't notice too much of an affect due to slightly less sales but more profit will get them close to where they are now. But not sure it's worth the bad PR.
 
It's funny, people will complain that a title only has 12 hours of gameplay, but then also won't spend an extra $10 for a bigger development budget.
 
kju1 said:
And what media format is a 4K disc (not disk) again? Oh right...bluray.
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You didn't say 4k Blu Ray. you didn't say UHD disk. you said Blu Ray. If I ask for a Blu Ray at Best Buy, I'm getting a 1080p movie, not a 2160p movie. If you mean UHD disk, then you should have said that.
 
My rule of thumb for years has been not to buy until it's either 75% off or $7.50. All depends how much I want the game. I have a backlog I can catch up on, and there's a lot of repetative mechanics on endless sequels anyway, so I don't care how long it takes. I'll never pay full price ever again. (I learned the hard way, dare I say? From Brink. Ugh, ashamed to admit I fell for the hype on that one.)
 
nilepez said:
You didn't say 4k Blu Ray. you didn't say UHD disk. you said Blu Ray. If I ask for a Blu Ray at Best Buy, I'm getting a 1080p movie, not a 2160p movie. If you mean UHD disk, then you should have said that.
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90% of people dont know the difference. Ill test your theory out tonight and go to Best Buy and ask them where the bluray movies are....I guarantee you there will be UHD discs, again NOT disk, in wherever they direct me to.
 
thelead said:
But not sure it's worth the bad PR.
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What bad PR? A lot of people won’t even notice and will buy dlc on top of it.

if yo not really into sports games it’s hard to explain, but people will pay to play whatever the newest one is, and they’ll pay for dlc for their favorite players or home team or whatever, and an extra $10 on day one won’t even register.

just like everyone here saying they’ll wait for games to be on sale before buying, the initial price won’t matter. And if you do want it day one you're already paying $60 (or more for “digital deluxe”) so another $10 isn’t going to make a difference in the decision, because “wanting it now” usually overrides “but not for an extra $10”.
 
Wait til you see that FS2020 is coming in three different packages priced at $59.99, $89.00, and $119.99. The extra money gets you more planes & detailed airports though. Flight simmers are accustomed to investing hundreds of dollars for 3rd party add-ons for a given flight sim platform already. A bit of apples & oranges as there's a lot more going on with a flight sim than just new player rosters for these sports games IMO, but still pertinent to game pricing.
 
IcePickFreak said:
Wait til you see that FS2020 is coming in three different packages priced at $59.99, $89.00, and $119.99. The extra money gets you more planes & detailed airports though. Flight simmers are accustomed to investing hundreds of dollars for 3rd party add-ons for a given flight sim platform already. A bit of apples & oranges as there's a lot more going on with a flight sim than just new player rosters for these sports games IMO, but still pertinent to game pricing.
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I was just thinking this last night. IMO it seems kinda lame to be "extra airports and planes" but hey thats their choice and I am aware others buy virtual planes specifically for the last version of the game so I am sure it will do well.
 
kju1 said:
90% of people dont know the difference. Ill test your theory out tonight and go to Best Buy and ask them where the bluray movies are....I guarantee you there will be UHD discs, again NOT disk, in wherever they direct me to.
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Ask them for a blu ray of Trolls or Trolls World Tour (doesn't matter which). FFS, I could ask them were DVDs are still end up where 4K disks are. though exact position literally changes in every single store. Some have 4K, Blu Ray and DVD right next to each other. A few have 4k section and others have a 4K section and still have 4K Blu Ray and DVD next to each other.

Alternatively, order a blu ray of those on the web and lemme know when you get a 4K copy of said movie. They are distinctly different products. If someone doesn't know what a 4K disk is, they're not going to pay an extra 5 bucks for it.
 
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