Again some of you crybabys baffle the shit out of me. EVERY company charges the same for digital copy or a box copy. Go troll somewhere else and again if this isall you can complain about get over yourselfs.
On the topic of it being cheaper ? Maybe but the internet isnt free they pay something for thousands of people to download over 8 gbs of data it is not free.
It's still cheaper to distribute digital even if you have to pay for the bandwidth. Do you think that NCSoft will sell the game 50$ to gamestop (or whichever) and then they sell for 50$ too. NCSoft probably get 25$ out of the 50$ minus all packaging, transport and all cost relate to it. Even if they sell the digital copy 40$ they will make more profit.
Remember the whole suggested retail price issue? Well why would stores want to get the game from NCSoft to sell for $50.00 when NCSoft would undercut them and sell it for $40.00. Gamestop would feel screwed.
Whats happening now is that NCsoft themselves get undercut :P
Originally posted by ghost047 Originally posted by Markn12 Again some of you crybabys baffle the shit out of me. EVERY company charges the same for digital copy or a box copy. Go troll somewhere else and again if this isall you can complain about get over yourselfs.
On the topic of it being cheaper ? Maybe but the internet isnt free they pay something for thousands of people to download over 8 gbs of data it is not free.
It's still cheaper to distribute digital even if you have to pay for the bandwidth. Do you think that NCSoft will sell the game 50$ to gamestop (or whichever) and then they sell for 50$ too. NCSoft probably get 25$ out of the 50$ minus all packaging, transport and all cost relate to it. Even if they sell the digital copy 40$ they will make more profit.
Digitals are cheaper for companies than boxes.
When they make boxes, they have to pay for someone's packaging and shipping as well. Digital there is no packaging.
Reaganomics baby! The trickle down effect only takes place after a company feels they've made enough profit, which really means you will hardly ever see prices that reflect reduced overhead or production costs. Digital downloads save companies a lot of money, so they charge the same and make a killing and that makes everyone happy, right? Only a small percentage of people benefit from capitalism while the rest get screwed, yet everyone is so quick to scream it's virtues in the face of opposition.
With PvE raiding, it has never been a question of being "good enough". I play games to have fun, not to be a simpering toady sitting through hour after hour of mind numbing boredom and fawning over a guild master in the hopes that he will condescend to reward me with shiny bits of loot. But in games where those people get the highest progression, anyone who doesn't do that will just be a moving target for them and I'll be damned if I'm going to pay money for the privilege. - Neanderthal
Reaganomics baby! The trickle down effect only takes place after a company feels they've made enough profit, which really means you will hardly ever see prices that reflect reduced overhead or production costs. Digital downloads save companies a lot of money, so they charge the same and make a killing and that makes everyone happy, right? Only a small percentage of people benefit from capitalism while the rest get screwed, yet everyone is so quick to scream it's virtues in the face of opposition.
So you are using digital distribution to slam capitalism? Wow, now that is a reach my friend. Capitalism is by no means perfect, but its pretty much the best system the world has come up with to date.
Markets are all about charging the price the market will take, and currently folks are more than happy to pay 50.00 for a game, regardless of its distribution. Until consumers change this, then companies would be silly to charge less.
However, one could argue that with digital distribution customers are experiencing cheaper prices, mainly as PC games havent had a price spike in almost 20 years. Not many products can hold their prices through inflation for that long of a period of time and still be a success. Look at console games, they are up to 60 bucks a pop now, while PC prices have been fairly stable since the 90's. One could argue the reason behind this is through cost cutting methods of distribution such as digital downloads. This allows the game companies to make up some of the profit of the high production costs that have been increasing.
But hey, to each his own. I assume you would prefer socialism?
This is interesting because I was just thinking the same thing when I pre-ordered the game today.
I searched around and found the amazon.co.uk was selling the standard copy of the game for £25 - £10 cheaper than NCsoft. I didnt understand this and the only reason I could think for it being cheaper is that the buyer has to wait for it to be delivered. How can amazon afford to sell it so cheap??
Most I spent on the pre-order straight through the site is 60 bucks. Generally pre-orders most I've spent is about 60 bucks. Sack Rome while your on your Rage fit. Grow up.
When did you start playing "old school" MMO's. World Of Warcraft?
This is interesting because I was just thinking the same thing when I pre-ordered the game today.
I searched around and found the amazon.co.uk was selling the standard copy of the game for £25 - £10 cheaper than NCsoft. I didnt understand this and the only reason I could think for it being cheaper is that the buyer has to wait for it to be delivered. How can amazon afford to sell it so cheap??
They are trimming their profit thats why. NCsoft charges a set price to retailers, lets say 30 bucks per copy, they can then sell it for whatever price they wish.
I wanted to prepurchase directly from NCsoft, and the collectors edition costs 60 euros and 50 euros for standard edition. Whilst normal physical copies from stores are 45 euros. Isn't digital distribution supposed to be cheaper? Hello... there is no physical product involved with digital distribution. No fancy box, handbook/manual, poster/artwork, soundtrack composition cd and what else is included in the CE I don't know. How much does NCsoft charge for the digital versions in U$ dollars? Seriously, I don't want to make a big deal out of it, but its just a matter of principle. You feel like getting scammed.
Really? That is definitly strange, too bad I did not know about this. I bought the digital copy, would have liked to save those 5 euros.
You could think of it like this, the time that it takes you to go to the store is also worth something, so maybe NCSoft defined the saved time as worth 5 euros? lol
Just because you pay the same for a digital copy doesn't mean you are ripped off. You are paying the same because you are getting the same content. Realism aside.. it's like going to the supermarket and buying the dented cans for a discount. Stores don't do that anymore since they will tell you to go get a perfectly good can.
The company doesn't care which way you pay for the game, as long as you do pay for it. The fact you want it now versus release date doesn't matter to them (although they hope you do it now for obvious reasons). Otherwise, they would have offered a discount based on beta access as well as their "preview weekends".
Is this something new? I thought this was pretty standard nowadays on MMOs. I could swear I have seen the same thread 3 times for three different games.
I wanted to prepurchase directly from NCsoft, and the collectors edition costs 60 euros and 50 euros for standard edition. Whilst normal physical copies from stores are 45 euros. Isn't digital distribution supposed to be cheaper? Hello... there is no physical product involved with digital distribution. No fancy box, handbook/manual, poster/artwork, soundtrack composition cd and what else is included in the CE I don't know. How much does NCsoft charge for the digital versions in U$ dollars? Seriously, I don't want to make a big deal out of it, but its just a matter of principle. You feel like getting scammed.
lol even if ncsoft charged 10 euro less then store it still would be too epensive for this game ,espacially with all the new goody in wow,the max im willing to pay for this game is the monthly fee alone not a penny more
I bought it on play.com for like 32€ , free shipping and received beta code soon enough to get in the next event , if people try to rip you off , buy elsewhere /thread
God if every company decides to download there game product on the internet..That would put allot of other people out of business and out of a Job..Just a thought as to why they keep it at the same price? Shrugs..
Some people rob you at gun point..Others will rob you at "Ball Point Pen"
Actually what usually happens in the case of digital and retail box distribution is that the distribution network will not bother to carry the product if the digital version is not comparibly priced. Why might you ask, What person would carry a product that would have a significant discount digitally, they need x number of product sell through just to break even. On new Video games and pc games, the retailer basically pays approx $54 for a $60 game. (this is what I was seeing from a small business standpoint, I am sure bigger chains see a slightly better discount) That main reason I stopped carrying new release games at my store. Console hardware is worse. I am sure they would love to lower the digital distro price to get more sales, but on shelf sales are significant, How many people buy books and games from the cover.
Reaganomics baby! The trickle down effect only takes place after a company feels they've made enough profit, which really means you will hardly ever see prices that reflect reduced overhead or production costs. Digital downloads save companies a lot of money, so they charge the same and make a killing and that makes everyone happy, right? Only a small percentage of people benefit from capitalism while the rest get screwed, yet everyone is so quick to scream it's virtues in the face of opposition.
So you are using digital distribution to slam capitalism? Wow, now that is a reach my friend. Capitalism is by no means perfect, but its pretty much the best system the world has come up with to date.
Markets are all about charging the price the market will take, and currently folks are more than happy to pay 50.00 for a game, regardless of its distribution. Until consumers change this, then companies would be silly to charge less.
However, one could argue that with digital distribution customers are experiencing cheaper prices, mainly as PC games havent had a price spike in almost 20 years. Not many products can hold their prices through inflation for that long of a period of time and still be a success. Look at console games, they are up to 60 bucks a pop now, while PC prices have been fairly stable since the 90's. One could argue the reason behind this is through cost cutting methods of distribution such as digital downloads. This allows the game companies to make up some of the profit of the high production costs that have been increasing.
But hey, to each his own. I assume you would prefer socialism?
What, you can't see this is an aspect of capitalism and how the overall behavior of the system isn't reflected by it? The current downslide, thanks to unbelievable greed isn't enough of an example? Where do you draw the line on what the consumer will bear versus what they have to deal with when there is no real competition to keep these corporations honest? Greed, unchecked is evil, whether put a face on it and call it capitalism or socialism. I don't see much if any difference between the two. When people will gladly defend a company that would rather keep charging you regular price when costs have been reduced, then there is something wrong with the system and the people who defend it. Markets are suppose to be self policing, but there has been precious little of that for a very long time.
One other thing. What is the cost of doing the right thing. They still make a profit, make the consumer happy and retain loyalty, which has huge long term benefit. Isn't that better than scamming for all you can, eventually getting burned, going out of business as a result, then paying executives their precious bonuses so they can move on to the next big thing like the parasites they are?
With PvE raiding, it has never been a question of being "good enough". I play games to have fun, not to be a simpering toady sitting through hour after hour of mind numbing boredom and fawning over a guild master in the hopes that he will condescend to reward me with shiny bits of loot. But in games where those people get the highest progression, anyone who doesn't do that will just be a moving target for them and I'll be damned if I'm going to pay money for the privilege. - Neanderthal
You guys realize that downloading the beta client now... and leaving it installed until september means you are only paying 65 bucks so steam can sell you a cdkey right?
Its much cheaper just to go buy the box, seriously is walking to the store that hard?
And the best part is... you can still take advantage of digital downloads even after you own the box!! OMG it is amazing.
Quotations Those Who make peaceful resolutions impossible, make violent resolutions inevitable. John F. Kennedy
Life... is the shit that happens while you wait for moments that never come - Lester Freeman
Lie to no one. If there 's somebody close to you, you'll ruin it with a lie. If they're a stranger, who the fuck are they you gotta lie to them? - Willy Nelson
I wanted to prepurchase directly from NCsoft, and the collectors edition costs 60 euros and 50 euros for standard edition. Whilst normal physical copies from stores are 45 euros. Isn't digital distribution supposed to be cheaper? Hello... there is no physical product involved with digital distribution. No fancy box, handbook/manual, poster/artwork, soundtrack composition cd and what else is included in the CE I don't know. How much does NCsoft charge for the digital versions in U$ dollars? Seriously, I don't want to make a big deal out of it, but its just a matter of principle. You feel like getting scammed.
Well, i agree that a digital copy shoulçd be ab bit cheaper, but what you are saying is not true, the psysical copies will also cost 49,99 euro and 59,99 euro for CE, those prices are on the official site and also on every major retailer across europe, not 45.
Reaganomics baby! The trickle down effect only takes place after a company feels they've made enough profit, which really means you will hardly ever see prices that reflect reduced overhead or production costs. Digital downloads save companies a lot of money, so they charge the same and make a killing and that makes everyone happy, right? Only a small percentage of people benefit from capitalism while the rest get screwed, yet everyone is so quick to scream it's virtues in the face of opposition.
So you are using digital distribution to slam capitalism? Wow, now that is a reach my friend. Capitalism is by no means perfect, but its pretty much the best system the world has come up with to date.
Markets are all about charging the price the market will take, and currently folks are more than happy to pay 50.00 for a game, regardless of its distribution. Until consumers change this, then companies would be silly to charge less.
However, one could argue that with digital distribution customers are experiencing cheaper prices, mainly as PC games havent had a price spike in almost 20 years. Not many products can hold their prices through inflation for that long of a period of time and still be a success. Look at console games, they are up to 60 bucks a pop now, while PC prices have been fairly stable since the 90's. One could argue the reason behind this is through cost cutting methods of distribution such as digital downloads. This allows the game companies to make up some of the profit of the high production costs that have been increasing.
But hey, to each his own. I assume you would prefer socialism?
What, you can't see this is an aspect of capitalism and how the overall behavior of the system isn't reflected by it? The current downslide, thanks to unbelievable greed isn't enough of an example? Where do you draw the line on what the consumer will bear versus what they have to deal with when there is no real competition to keep these corporations honest? Greed, unchecked is evil, whether put a face on it and call it capitalism or socialism. I don't see much if any difference between the two. When people will gladly defend a company that would rather keep charging you regular price when costs have been reduced, then there is something wrong with the system and the people who defend it. Markets are suppose to be self policing, but there has been precious little of that for a very long time.
One other thing. What is the cost of doing the right thing. They still make a profit, make the consumer happy and retain loyalty, which has huge long term benefit. Isn't that better than scamming for all you can, eventually getting burned, going out of business as a result, then paying executives their precious bonuses so they can move on to the next big thing like the parasites they are?
There is plenty of competition. NCsoft competes with EA who competes with Cryptic, etc etc. What we are at now is the market equilibrium price. Did you just ignore the part where I said the prices have stayed the same for almost 20 years? Do you know how rare that is?
Inflation happens regardless, and do to this, the price of products (and wages) change, cost of living and all that. For games to stay the same price since they were in the 90's while costs of creating said games has gone up, means corners must be cut, or new cheaper methods must be found so they can keep selling the product at the same price.
Digital distribution has nothing to do with greed, its about market price, and charging what folks are willing to pay. If someone charges to much consumers simply dont buy the item, and the product is forced to lower price, or go out of business. NCsoft has already sole RECORD pre-order numbers. This shows that the majority of consumers have no issues with the price being charged.
You guys do realize that NCSoft already made the money from the copy you haven't bought yet right? When you order through a store that isn't NCSoft (any retailer), they are the ones who paid for the copy, and you are paying the retailer. NCSoft only makes money off of you as a subscriber.
They don't care about individual copies. They don't cater to the consumer heh. They cater to all the retailers who resell the product to consumers. IE- you and me.
You not buying a copy only makes a difference if you are a subscribing customer or not. Gamestop, Amazon etc are the ones who care about copies being sold, they already paid for them. That's why digital and physical copies stay the same price. Which, is actually a good thing because sometimes it is nice to own the disk for the same price, while knowing digital copies exist so you know you aren't forced to risk your disk getting broken at the cost of playing the game.
Well i bought my copy online for 49,99 $ but i went to the store to buy my husbands, they wanted to charge me 59.99 for the same game, 79.99 for the collectors edition, so i dont know why but here in canada, online is cheaper the stores add 10$ and 20$ to make their own profit.
As far as I am concerned I am paying a fair price having pre ordered via NCSoft europe.
RRP is listed as £44.99 (ok hardly anyone sells it for that)
The mail order boys are doing it for around £30 and true you get a dust collector...mmm box
I paid £35 and got four weekends of beta, my client is already downloaded (less updates) so I KNOW I will be playing on release and I get to play nearly a week before release.
Never had a problem with the DL prices, bandwidth isn't free either for the supplier. Sure, it would be nice if the DL price was a bit closer to the Amazon/Play prices but still I don't feel robbed. Aion/NCSoft are not doing anything out of the ordinary, as others have rightly pointed out.
People could always play FTP games and pay £100 just for a digital pixel pet via the mall!
Comments
It's still cheaper to distribute digital even if you have to pay for the bandwidth. Do you think that NCSoft will sell the game 50$ to gamestop (or whichever) and then they sell for 50$ too. NCSoft probably get 25$ out of the 50$ minus all packaging, transport and all cost relate to it. Even if they sell the digital copy 40$ they will make more profit.
Remember the whole suggested retail price issue? Well why would stores want to get the game from NCSoft to sell for $50.00 when NCSoft would undercut them and sell it for $40.00. Gamestop would feel screwed.
Whats happening now is that NCsoft themselves get undercut :P
http://www.vanleest.nl/pc_dvd/aion-tower-of-eternity
http://www.freerecordshop.nl/pc_dvd/aion-tower-of-eternity
Well I understand the whole thing is problematic. But I think I'l most likely go for retail box in the end. If I decide to buy the game that is.
You do realize you cant undercut the person who sold you the product right? Well...technically you can but you'd be out of business rather quickly.
Digitals are cheaper for companies than boxes.
When they make boxes, they have to pay for someone's packaging and shipping as well. Digital there is no packaging.
"TO MICHAEL!"
Reaganomics baby! The trickle down effect only takes place after a company feels they've made enough profit, which really means you will hardly ever see prices that reflect reduced overhead or production costs. Digital downloads save companies a lot of money, so they charge the same and make a killing and that makes everyone happy, right? Only a small percentage of people benefit from capitalism while the rest get screwed, yet everyone is so quick to scream it's virtues in the face of opposition.
With PvE raiding, it has never been a question of being "good enough". I play games to have fun, not to be a simpering toady sitting through hour after hour of mind numbing boredom and fawning over a guild master in the hopes that he will condescend to reward me with shiny bits of loot. But in games where those people get the highest progression, anyone who doesn't do that will just be a moving target for them and I'll be damned if I'm going to pay money for the privilege. - Neanderthal
So you are using digital distribution to slam capitalism? Wow, now that is a reach my friend. Capitalism is by no means perfect, but its pretty much the best system the world has come up with to date.
Markets are all about charging the price the market will take, and currently folks are more than happy to pay 50.00 for a game, regardless of its distribution. Until consumers change this, then companies would be silly to charge less.
However, one could argue that with digital distribution customers are experiencing cheaper prices, mainly as PC games havent had a price spike in almost 20 years. Not many products can hold their prices through inflation for that long of a period of time and still be a success. Look at console games, they are up to 60 bucks a pop now, while PC prices have been fairly stable since the 90's. One could argue the reason behind this is through cost cutting methods of distribution such as digital downloads. This allows the game companies to make up some of the profit of the high production costs that have been increasing.
But hey, to each his own. I assume you would prefer socialism?
This is interesting because I was just thinking the same thing when I pre-ordered the game today.
I searched around and found the amazon.co.uk was selling the standard copy of the game for £25 - £10 cheaper than NCsoft. I didnt understand this and the only reason I could think for it being cheaper is that the buyer has to wait for it to be delivered. How can amazon afford to sell it so cheap??
Most I spent on the pre-order straight through the site is 60 bucks. Generally pre-orders most I've spent is about 60 bucks. Sack Rome while your on your Rage fit. Grow up.
When did you start playing "old school" MMO's. World Of Warcraft?
They are trimming their profit thats why. NCsoft charges a set price to retailers, lets say 30 bucks per copy, they can then sell it for whatever price they wish.
Really? That is definitly strange, too bad I did not know about this. I bought the digital copy, would have liked to save those 5 euros.
You could think of it like this, the time that it takes you to go to the store is also worth something, so maybe NCSoft defined the saved time as worth 5 euros? lol
Richijefe
Just because you pay the same for a digital copy doesn't mean you are ripped off. You are paying the same because you are getting the same content. Realism aside.. it's like going to the supermarket and buying the dented cans for a discount. Stores don't do that anymore since they will tell you to go get a perfectly good can.
The company doesn't care which way you pay for the game, as long as you do pay for it. The fact you want it now versus release date doesn't matter to them (although they hope you do it now for obvious reasons). Otherwise, they would have offered a discount based on beta access as well as their "preview weekends".
Is this something new? I thought this was pretty standard nowadays on MMOs. I could swear I have seen the same thread 3 times for three different games.
lol even if ncsoft charged 10 euro less then store it still would be too epensive for this game ,espacially with all the new goody in wow,the max im willing to pay for this game is the monthly fee alone not a penny more
I bought it on play.com for like 32€ , free shipping and received beta code soon enough to get in the next event , if people try to rip you off , buy elsewhere /thread
God if every company decides to download there game product on the internet..That would put allot of other people out of business and out of a Job..Just a thought as to why they keep it at the same price? Shrugs..
Some people rob you at gun point..Others will rob you at "Ball Point Pen"
Actually what usually happens in the case of digital and retail box distribution is that the distribution network will not bother to carry the product if the digital version is not comparibly priced. Why might you ask, What person would carry a product that would have a significant discount digitally, they need x number of product sell through just to break even. On new Video games and pc games, the retailer basically pays approx $54 for a $60 game. (this is what I was seeing from a small business standpoint, I am sure bigger chains see a slightly better discount) That main reason I stopped carrying new release games at my store. Console hardware is worse. I am sure they would love to lower the digital distro price to get more sales, but on shelf sales are significant, How many people buy books and games from the cover.
So you are using digital distribution to slam capitalism? Wow, now that is a reach my friend. Capitalism is by no means perfect, but its pretty much the best system the world has come up with to date.
Markets are all about charging the price the market will take, and currently folks are more than happy to pay 50.00 for a game, regardless of its distribution. Until consumers change this, then companies would be silly to charge less.
However, one could argue that with digital distribution customers are experiencing cheaper prices, mainly as PC games havent had a price spike in almost 20 years. Not many products can hold their prices through inflation for that long of a period of time and still be a success. Look at console games, they are up to 60 bucks a pop now, while PC prices have been fairly stable since the 90's. One could argue the reason behind this is through cost cutting methods of distribution such as digital downloads. This allows the game companies to make up some of the profit of the high production costs that have been increasing.
But hey, to each his own. I assume you would prefer socialism?
What, you can't see this is an aspect of capitalism and how the overall behavior of the system isn't reflected by it? The current downslide, thanks to unbelievable greed isn't enough of an example? Where do you draw the line on what the consumer will bear versus what they have to deal with when there is no real competition to keep these corporations honest? Greed, unchecked is evil, whether put a face on it and call it capitalism or socialism. I don't see much if any difference between the two. When people will gladly defend a company that would rather keep charging you regular price when costs have been reduced, then there is something wrong with the system and the people who defend it. Markets are suppose to be self policing, but there has been precious little of that for a very long time.
One other thing. What is the cost of doing the right thing. They still make a profit, make the consumer happy and retain loyalty, which has huge long term benefit. Isn't that better than scamming for all you can, eventually getting burned, going out of business as a result, then paying executives their precious bonuses so they can move on to the next big thing like the parasites they are?
With PvE raiding, it has never been a question of being "good enough". I play games to have fun, not to be a simpering toady sitting through hour after hour of mind numbing boredom and fawning over a guild master in the hopes that he will condescend to reward me with shiny bits of loot. But in games where those people get the highest progression, anyone who doesn't do that will just be a moving target for them and I'll be damned if I'm going to pay money for the privilege. - Neanderthal
You guys realize that downloading the beta client now... and leaving it installed until september means you are only paying 65 bucks so steam can sell you a cdkey right?
Its much cheaper just to go buy the box, seriously is walking to the store that hard?
And the best part is... you can still take advantage of digital downloads even after you own the box!! OMG it is amazing.
Quotations Those Who make peaceful resolutions impossible, make violent resolutions inevitable. John F. Kennedy
Life... is the shit that happens while you wait for moments that never come - Lester Freeman
Lie to no one. If there 's somebody close to you, you'll ruin it with a lie. If they're a stranger, who the fuck are they you gotta lie to them? - Willy Nelson
Well, i agree that a digital copy shoulçd be ab bit cheaper, but what you are saying is not true, the psysical copies will also cost 49,99 euro and 59,99 euro for CE, those prices are on the official site and also on every major retailer across europe, not 45.
So you are using digital distribution to slam capitalism? Wow, now that is a reach my friend. Capitalism is by no means perfect, but its pretty much the best system the world has come up with to date.
Markets are all about charging the price the market will take, and currently folks are more than happy to pay 50.00 for a game, regardless of its distribution. Until consumers change this, then companies would be silly to charge less.
However, one could argue that with digital distribution customers are experiencing cheaper prices, mainly as PC games havent had a price spike in almost 20 years. Not many products can hold their prices through inflation for that long of a period of time and still be a success. Look at console games, they are up to 60 bucks a pop now, while PC prices have been fairly stable since the 90's. One could argue the reason behind this is through cost cutting methods of distribution such as digital downloads. This allows the game companies to make up some of the profit of the high production costs that have been increasing.
But hey, to each his own. I assume you would prefer socialism?
What, you can't see this is an aspect of capitalism and how the overall behavior of the system isn't reflected by it? The current downslide, thanks to unbelievable greed isn't enough of an example? Where do you draw the line on what the consumer will bear versus what they have to deal with when there is no real competition to keep these corporations honest? Greed, unchecked is evil, whether put a face on it and call it capitalism or socialism. I don't see much if any difference between the two. When people will gladly defend a company that would rather keep charging you regular price when costs have been reduced, then there is something wrong with the system and the people who defend it. Markets are suppose to be self policing, but there has been precious little of that for a very long time.
One other thing. What is the cost of doing the right thing. They still make a profit, make the consumer happy and retain loyalty, which has huge long term benefit. Isn't that better than scamming for all you can, eventually getting burned, going out of business as a result, then paying executives their precious bonuses so they can move on to the next big thing like the parasites they are?
There is plenty of competition. NCsoft competes with EA who competes with Cryptic, etc etc. What we are at now is the market equilibrium price. Did you just ignore the part where I said the prices have stayed the same for almost 20 years? Do you know how rare that is?
Inflation happens regardless, and do to this, the price of products (and wages) change, cost of living and all that. For games to stay the same price since they were in the 90's while costs of creating said games has gone up, means corners must be cut, or new cheaper methods must be found so they can keep selling the product at the same price.
Digital distribution has nothing to do with greed, its about market price, and charging what folks are willing to pay. If someone charges to much consumers simply dont buy the item, and the product is forced to lower price, or go out of business. NCsoft has already sole RECORD pre-order numbers. This shows that the majority of consumers have no issues with the price being charged.
You guys do realize that NCSoft already made the money from the copy you haven't bought yet right? When you order through a store that isn't NCSoft (any retailer), they are the ones who paid for the copy, and you are paying the retailer. NCSoft only makes money off of you as a subscriber.
They don't care about individual copies. They don't cater to the consumer heh. They cater to all the retailers who resell the product to consumers. IE- you and me.
You not buying a copy only makes a difference if you are a subscribing customer or not. Gamestop, Amazon etc are the ones who care about copies being sold, they already paid for them. That's why digital and physical copies stay the same price. Which, is actually a good thing because sometimes it is nice to own the disk for the same price, while knowing digital copies exist so you know you aren't forced to risk your disk getting broken at the cost of playing the game.
Well i bought my copy online for 49,99 $ but i went to the store to buy my husbands, they wanted to charge me 59.99 for the same game, 79.99 for the collectors edition, so i dont know why but here in canada, online is cheaper the stores add 10$ and 20$ to make their own profit.
As far as I am concerned I am paying a fair price having pre ordered via NCSoft europe.
RRP is listed as £44.99 (ok hardly anyone sells it for that)
The mail order boys are doing it for around £30 and true you get a dust collector...mmm box
I paid £35 and got four weekends of beta, my client is already downloaded (less updates) so I KNOW I will be playing on release and I get to play nearly a week before release.
Never had a problem with the DL prices, bandwidth isn't free either for the supplier. Sure, it would be nice if the DL price was a bit closer to the Amazon/Play prices but still I don't feel robbed. Aion/NCSoft are not doing anything out of the ordinary, as others have rightly pointed out.
People could always play FTP games and pay £100 just for a digital pixel pet via the mall!