Game Prices

Why can i buy Assassins Creed Unity from amazon for $17.99 with Microsoft listed as the seller, but the same Microsoft wants me to pay $39.99 to down load a digital copy of what appears to be the same game??

Shouldn't retail prices for games be approximately the same regardless of where they are bought? And why are digital downloaded game the same price as buying a disk ? I would have thought that digital games would be at lease a little cheaper.

:)

 

Game Prices

I think the current trend of rising prices in video games is going to eventually hurt both the companies and consumers. For years big game releases were being released at $59.99, but with more bonus content becoming available game prices are rapidly
rising. Games are now starting as high as $69.99 for their base prices. If you want to receive games early or get potentially even more bonus content, the price can even reach $120 or more. I don’t think the average consumer (15-30) can afford to keep buying
games continually at these rising price points. Also digital game downloads offer an opportunity for Xbox to give a slight discount on game prices which could lead to increased sales overall.

In addition to these rising prices, games are now available to be purchased directly through the console. All one has to do is go to the marketplace and purchase the game and it will be digitally downloaded. This is good for the consumer in theory,
because it eliminates the need to go to a store and purchase the game, while also eliminating the need for having and maintaining a physical disk. The problem with purchasing games online, for me, is that the games are the same prices as they are in the store.
Games should be cheaper online because it costs Xbox much less to have them there. For example for Target to sell the game, they have to purchase it, ship it to the store, have employees handle it, and have it occupy space both on the floor and in the stockroom;
all of which costs them money. While I’m sure it costs Xbox money to sell the games digitally, they don’t have to pay any of the storage or handling or damage fees that physical stores do. So if Xbox is saving all that money, I think at least a portion of
those savings should be passed to the customer, via the digital game price.

So in summation, while in the short term higher game prices might seem like it would increase profits, in the long run I think it will lower profits due to consumers purchasing games less frequently than they currently do. Also I think games
purchased digitally should be at least partially discounted for the consumer.

 

Games prices

Salute,

Why the prices of the games appears in Euros, being that my account area is United States.

Thanks

 

I feel as if I've read this thread about 3,572 times now.

Sometimes you'll find better prices on Amazon... sometimes you'll find a good deal for the digital copy.... sometimes Walmart.... sometimes Gamestop.

From my understanding, the publisher sets the price for the game on Xbox Live, so it is definitely better to wait until a good deal comes along (if you're looking at going all-digital). As for these online distributors, they constantly put things on sale,
mainly in the effort to get you to buy other things from their website/store.

As for why they tend to be more expensive, well I've already listed the main reason, but you (the customer) always seems to pay more for convenience. The bandwidth costs are there, paying for server access, etc etc. I'm not trying to make excuses as I
wish the prices would come down, but I can understand why they are higher (sometimes).

 

Never ever compare online retailers such as Amazon or eBay to Xbox Live prices. It is not even comparable. Amazon always has the lowest prices.

Xbox Live's digital prices are dictated by the publisher. Not Microsoft

 

Thank you all for taking the time to reply to my post, it is really appreciated.

 

Thank you all for taking the time to reply to my post, it is really appreciated

 

Just buy it from amazon, the disc version of ANYTHING is hundred times preferable to a digital download anyway.

 

besides digital distribution costs alot more due to data costs and bandwidth costs.

 

"besides digital distribution costs alot more due to data costs and bandwidth costs."

I don't think anybody buys that. That's just the poppycock excuse they use for charging the same for digital as physical merchandise. The real truth is digital is way cheaper to make and sell and that is why everybody is pushing it over physical. It's cheaper
than physical and they get an even bigger profit buy charging the same as physical. If digital was really more expensive, they'd all be pushing physical media.

 

^ Umm.... I agree with what eber3 said.

The "Distribution costs alot more due to data, and bandwidth costs" Is nothing more than worthless talking points put out by the industry itself, and repeated here to no avail to those who have *ears to hear.

*For those that don't. All you got to do to figure out how "talking points" works is to watch C-Spam, or whatever gobernment media your country has out. And you'll see that industry is just copying politicians ways of duping the public into the idea of buying
bridges to no-where. (figure of speech)

 

ok, take it for example, call of duty = approx 40GB, if that is downloaded 10,000 times that is 400TB approx, and that is just one game, digital distribution can cost as much as a case and booklet (which cost approx 5 pence in bulk each), data distribution
is not cheap and it surely is not free.

 

I don't think anybody said it was free. I just don't for a second think it costs the same, or remotely close too, the cost of physically making a disc, buying the case etc, packaging, shipping, storing the product etc along the way before it reaches the
consumer.

Your example is faulty, it doesn't matter how many times it is downloaded, each download is paid for by each consumer. If a game is downloaded 10,000 times, 7 billion times, or only once, the cost to each consumer is for one download. One download is surely
much cheaper than one physically made and shipped game... I'd say at least half the cost and probably less.

 

Do get your point, eber

You would expect that the disk copy would be more expensive because you are paying for the disk and packaging for the game. Whereas with the digital copy, your just buying the game.

I am only in College at this moment in time, but I don't think the other poster is right with the cost of bandwidth. We pay that anyway, with our internet usage.

What I think happens is: The game publisher decides their standard price on the Xbox Live service. This is because, for them to continue publishing games on Xbox and Microsoft services, they need to make a minimum of £500 just for the MSDN subscription.

The game shops buy the disks in bulk, meaning they get it cheaper then what we would. They then sell them for less, and in some cases less then other stores, for competition with the other stores, and Xbox.

Think of Game. When Xbox has a game on sale, with deals with Gold, then Game generally lower their prices so they can attract more buyers. This, in my view, would be the same with Amazon.

***This is only my view***

 

You guys do realize that when buying in bulk (this was already mentioned), the disc/sheet of paper in case/case costs literally pennies. As for storage, that is covered by the retailer, as the games are shipped to them, probably in a warehouse.

I don't think people realize, or are failing to realize, when it comes to bandwidth, while we (customers) pay to have Internet, MS has to have the ability to upload all of the downloads to us. Hence where all the bandwidth discussion comes from.