Prices for digital games compared to discs

Venom Trav · Feb 14, 2017

Can anyone from MS give a reason as to why Digital Games are generally more expensive than the disc version of the same game?? i'm pretty sure digital versions of the games are cutting out the middle man (Game Stores and disc creation) so why are they more
expensive??

:)

tohellnbak · Feb 14, 2017

physical or digital

digital 100%.... fast switch.... snapping... home gold (2 for 1) .. friends house w/ no discs... Family sharing coming back only digital.... Lending digital games within 6 months... selling digital games in 6 months... better prices compared to disc in
6 months...

Buts thats OK.... trade in your $60 disc at Gamestop for for $12... I dont mind

Randver · Feb 14, 2017

Seriously?

@Egg

Don't they have competition in the form of physical discs vs. the games on demand portion?

Yes, but this is the part I don't have an answer to why it isn't having an impact.

Are enough people paying the higher prices for digital to make it worthwhile to not lower prices? Is Microsoft's cut of the digital distribution of games so small compared to the companies other income that it's not worth the effort to be competitive? Who
knows.......

Smwutches · Feb 15, 2017

Pricing is largely done by the publisher's who leave them at MSRP for a while. Retail stores only have to compensate for their cost so they are able to adjust prices.

Paul1708 · Feb 15, 2017

Its true that the pub sets the price not Microsoft unless its a MS game like Halo

However there is more to it than that. Companies like GameStop Amazon Walmart these are very big companies. If Microsoft under cut them then they could say okay well were not going to stock your products. Again this would be a very risky move for a place
like Gamestop to say that to Microsoft. However its what it is

ngocphi · Feb 16, 2017

because there is no middle man

You don't ge tit

Publishers set the price which is the msrp

Not ms or xbox

Retail stores can set their own price at a loss or they makr.it up by other promotions

ngocphi · Nov 3, 2018

Ms nor Sony can control pricing they can only compensate the publishers for sales

Used disks have nothing to do with digital sales

Also should be noted most of the time ms or sony publisher sales usually have deeper discounts when it comes to publisher sales

Vs store managed discounts

Smwutches

Pricing is largely done by the publisher's who leave them at MSRP for a while. Retail stores only have to compensate for their cost so they are able to adjust prices.

ngocphi

Ms nor Sony can control pricing they can only compensate the publishers for sales

Used disks have nothing to do with digital sales

Also should be noted most of the time ms or sony publisher sales usually have deeper discounts when it comes to publisher sales

Vs store managed discounts

Paul1708

Its true that the pub sets the price not Microsoft unless its a MS game like Halo

However there is more to it than that. Companies like GameStop Amazon Walmart these are very big companies. If Microsoft under cut them then they could say okay well were not going to stock your products. Again this would be a very risky move for a place
like Gamestop to say that to Microsoft. However its what it is

ngocphi

because there is no middle man

You don't ge tit

Publishers set the price which is the msrp

Not ms or xbox

Retail stores can set their own price at a loss or they makr.it up by other promotions

PrimoFuSion

If only MS knew how to price digital games competitively!

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Was having a gander at the prices of on demand games last night, £49.99 for Tiger Woods 14, £45 for Metal Gear Rising, £50 for Forza Horizon and £30 for Modern Warfare 2. Totally unrealistic prices when compared to the (tradeable) disc prices.

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It doesn't bode well for a digital future when you take the current digital pricing model into account.

Prices for digital games compared to discs