Do you abstain from paying $60 for PC games?

Yep, and that goes for console games as well.

It's simple enough to avoid, I just tack on 3 months to whatever the release date is and go fishing when the initial rush is mostly dead. Quite often you can find brand new games for 20-30 bucks if you look in the right places.

The 60 dollar price is just for impatient schmucks who can't wait another second. In my opinion, if you've been waiting for a particular game for "ages" you can wait a little longer for it to be economically feasible.

Heronblade said:

The 60 dollar price is just for impatient schmucks who can't wait another second. In my opinion, if you've been waiting for a particular game for "ages" you can wait a little longer for it to be economically feasible.

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For some people $50-60 is not some big huge deal. That hardly makes us "schmucks." Also maybe we care about supporting the developers who often rely on early sales.

Me, on the other hand, for example, I don't have too much money.
I must look what I'm buying, because I just can't spend too much.
Therefore I'm almost only buying budget titles - apart from oher reasons like waiting for patches, for example.

I rarely pay more than $60 for a single game, with exceptions (of which there has been two recently…)
I bought a Collectors Edition of New Vegas ($130 AU) and also a Collector's Edition of Risen ($70)
Both were worth every cent. I tend to plan for such purchases though and save accordingly.

To contrast this relative exorbitancy - I decided last week to buy an Arx Fatalis CE from France. This was only $15! I'd have paid much more if originally there were an english/UK release.

Paid $60 for the PC version of Crysis 2 yesterday on a whim.

I now regret that whim...

I used to say :

"You did what was possible for you in that moment, according to your possibilities, then. No need to be angry about it.

The Moment is important."

It's one of those "generic anime statements".

JDR13 said:

Paid $60 for the PC version of Crysis 2 yesterday on a whim.

I now regret that whim…

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I have been much better about controlling it ... last year was a wake-up call as I found myself with unplayed games that were on sale for half-price already ...

You live... you learn.

JDR13 said:

Are you sure? I definitely remember some of them being $59.99, which ends up being almost $64 after tax.

It's weird that some SNES games were that much though. I don't recall any PS1 games being more than $49.99, and that was a generation later.

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Carts were more expensive to produce than CDs. Most N64 games were 64.99. It's only in the last generation or 2 that optical media costs increased. And I'm betting it hasn't increased that much. The bulk of the additional $10 is probably due to development costs sky rocketing.

$60 Games an "Exploitative" Business Model

Even EA agrees!

I generally determine whether to buy a game at a full price or not, according to its developer. For ex, I always buy Obsidian, Piranha Bytes, Larian, CD Projekt's or Reality Pump's games at full price and will definitely buy it in the future if they reach the 60 $ barrier. Because with these companies every selling number counts and these numbers determine whether they make a new game or not. Also sometimes I can buy a game twice in order to support the company even more (for ex I have 1 boxed copy of D2: ED, 1 digital copy of D2: FoV and 1 boxed copy of D2: DK). But, the case is different with Bethesda, Bioware or Blizzard games. I know that they always guarantee enough sales, so I generally wait until the price drops to acceptible levels (price - content balance) or for the Goty editions. For ex, I haven't bought Dragon Age 2 yet and I'm not going to do it until a Goty edition will be released.

But overall I do not appreciate these new price policies. In the past games were much more expensive than today. But, at least they came with a big box with lots of contents. Standart boxes of the past have contained much more contents than even today's collector editions. We are living in an age even a thin manual that comes with the DVD box counts unnecessary and redundant by publishers like EA.

Long ago I read or heard that it was the retailers who wanted these thin boxes.

Alrik Fassbauer said:

Long ago I read or heard that it was the retailers who wanted these thin boxes.

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I could see that as fact:
-retailer(s) were running into space issues with having to stock more and more console games as well.
-Retailer chains put their foot down and promise fewer PC game purchases if the publisher doesn't reduce PC game footprints.
-5 years thereafter, retailers begin relegating PC games to the long lost corner of the store regardless.

I only buy 3-5 games per year, depending on the year. So I don't care how much they cost.

Alrik Fassbauer said:

Me, on the other hand, for example, I don't have too much money.
I must look what I'm buying, because I just can't spend too much.
Therefore I'm almost only buying budget titles - apart from oher reasons like waiting for patches, for example.

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I am in this boat as well. I cannot buy games new and I wait for the prices to drop, or I buy them used. Also saves me from buying a crap game too. Plenty of forums discussing the game are available. Patches (sometimes multiple) have been released so I can play a relatively bug free game as well. Even if I could afford to, I don't think I would because of the above mentioned. I can get 2, 3, and sometimes even 4 games for that $60. And usually no frustration playing a bug-riddled mess.

Icefire said:

I am in this boat as well. I cannot buy games new and I wait for the prices to drop, or I buy them used. Also saves me from buying a crap game too.

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My advice is to start using Ebay for PC games. I almost always manage to get a new PC game for around $25-$30 within a week of release. Find an auction that ends in the early afternoon for the best chance at a low price.

Yep, good advice.

JDR13 said:

My advice is to start using Ebay for PC games. I almost always manage to get a new PC game for around $25-$30 within a week of release. Find an auction that ends in the early afternoon for the best chance at a low price.

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Thrifty, but not really supporting more and better PC ports and games now is it?

DoctorNarrative said:

Thrifty, but not really supporting more and better PC ports and games now is it?

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I'm sure you're going to explain why that is.

JDR13 said:

Paid $60 for the PC version of Crysis 2 yesterday on a whim.

I now regret that whim…

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That's better than paying $128.00 for fable 3 limited edition.

My son begged for it for Christmas. I think he's played it for 3 hrs to date. The things we do for our children.