Why are digital games on Xbox live so expensive?

Desdicado-[xboxvenue] · Nov 3, 2016

I was looking just now to buy my wife Skyrim special edition on Xbox one as she's never played it, I checked various online stores where it's 32£ to 35£. I thought I'll check the Xbox store, 49.99£! Crazy, how can they justify being almost 20£ more expensive
for an entirely digital product, with no packaging etc.

:)

robrulesall2 · Nov 3, 2016

Random game uninstalls

So I just got on my Xbox one and 8 of my games have uninstalled. These eight games are: forza horizon 2 (digital), diablo 3(digital), Crimson dragon (digital), super time force (digital), minecraft:Xbox one edition (digital), destiny (disc), chariot (digital),
strike suit zero (digital). Unfortunately now i can't really enjoy any of these games until they re install. So I would like to know what can be done about this? Am I the only one having this issue? why did this happen and what will be done to prevent this
from happening again? Honestly, I will not be satisfied until these questions are answered properly by an Xbox rep (forums mod). Of course if anyone else has any theories about why this happened to me, I'd love to hear it. I'm not mad or anything. Im just
disappointed and I would not wish this on any gamer.

Also, I have Xbox live, an Internet connection. I wouldn't know of any reason why this happened seeing as how I played just fine yesterday.

Jason Griffith · Nov 3, 2016

Here is why you should care about the used disc policy.

If digital content is the future and supposed to reduce cost then why are digital console games still full price? PC gamers pay $50 while console gamers pay $60, and console games are inferior to PC. Games also get cheaper on PC just weeks after release
while some console games stay full price for years. $60 for a console game, plus Xbox Live, online passes and more expensive DLC = Xbox more expensive than any other platform. All I see is the cost getting higher not lower. 2 year old CoD games on Live are
still $60 but on Steam those same games are $30 to $40. If digital content is supposed to get cheaper they would have proved that this gen

Smwutches · Nov 3, 2016

Prices on Xbox are mostly set up by the Publishers, who usually set them at MSRP and try to leave them there as long as possible.

Firestarter1475 · Nov 2, 2018

One of the reasons I still buy physical. Y'know, aside from actually owning the product completely, being able to loan it out, return it if I don't like it, or sell it on sometime down the line.

Smwutches

Prices on Xbox are mostly set up by the Publishers, who usually set them at MSRP and try to leave them there as long as possible.

Firestarter1475

One of the reasons I still buy physical. Y'know, aside from actually owning the product completely, being able to loan it out, return it if I don't like it, or sell it on sometime down the line.

Misses Quinzel

Hey there, GothZilla! This thread is a bit old, originally over a year old. Prices are not set by Microsoft, but by the publisher. You will want to reach out to them about pricing issues you may have. If you need assistance with any support issues, please
post up a new thread detailing what you're running into and troubleshooting you've completed. This way our community can get you the individual support that works best on the forums.

Darth Mobius

The real reason for the disparate pricing is in regards to getting people used to the profit gouging Microsoft is doing, in 7 years time when the next Xbox comes out, games will be as much as $95 to $250 for the basic and then the 'deluxe' versions, this
doesn't include DLC either.

The strategy is to squeeze as much profit out of the 'gaming industry' as possible before they strangle the market to death.

Vote with your wallets people.

Bazajaytee

Publishers can't offer games cheaper than they tell physical retailers they should sell them for. In the UK, 44.99 is typical and some at 49.99 or higher. It is to do with fair trading practices.

Until physical retail becomes the minority instead of majority of where Publishers get sales from we'll be stuck paying the retail price for digital.

Amazon etc sell at "offer" price to entice you to buy from them. It is why GAME appears more expensive than Amazon, because they don't start selling at the knock down price.

Why are digital games on Xbox live so expensive?