Michael Pachter, industry analyst and professional guess-barbarian, has stated that evil publisher Activision's decision to price Modern Warfare 2 at £54.99 has nothing to do with a weak pound. The excuse of a poor UK economy has been cast aside by the almighty Pachter, who instead accuses the nefarious company of simply charging what it knows it can get away with.
"The price increase is a business decision," he explains. "Activision knows it has a ‘hot’ game, knows that the market will pay an additional 10 percent, and has decided to increase price accordingly."
I think we all knew that Activision was just being bastardly, but it's always nice to have such thoughts validated elsewhere. Pachter also notes that the pound is stronger than it was when Call of Duty: World at War was released, lending further evidence of Activision's excuses being horsesh*t.
It seems that the malevolent publisher is doing what Microsoft did with Braid -- testing the water to see if its consumers are loyal/gullible enough to pay for a price hike, thus setting a brand new pricing precedent. I hope against hope that it fails and Activision gets stung for its greed and hubris, but we all know that's going to happen. UK gamers will make MW2 soar to the top of the charts, letting publishers know that they can get away with a brand new price point in the UK.
Thus a sad new age shall begin.
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
11:00 AM on 07.22.2009
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Hah.
So at that pricepoint the game will still e worth it. You know it.
No, Pachter = a less accurate Sword of Omens
and @jakysan i know you were joking but
"Scottish inventor John Logie Baird demonstrated the transmission of moving silhouette images in London in 1925, and of moving, monochromatic images in 1926. Baird's scanning disk produced an image of 30 lines resolution, just enough to discern a human face, from a double spiral of lenses."
and just in case you find that hard understand, that basicly says television was invented over here.
Don't they?
I can suddenly see a mass wave of imports from here...
40 - 42 is the normal price.
45 rarely.
Doomsday:
£ = $ is a common conversion.
Of course, £59.99 and $59.99 should be £59.99/$98.74 as of today's market.
I don't get econ and I don't pretend to, but something just doesn't seem right is all. =P
Hell, if come xmas season I can only afford to buy one game, I'd rather pay a little more for MW2 than another new release that looks good, but is a bit more of a risk.
Seriously, I'm really sick of you and your trolling. It isn't even good news most of the time. You write like a student just out of secondary school, and your bullshit reverberates throughout this site.
You are the cancer that is killing Dtoid. You are the reason I no longer spend any reasonable amount of time on this site. Stop writing about shit, take an advanced writing class, clean up your act.
I wish I could hate you to death through the internet.
Also, downloaded the trailer for MW2 from the US PSN store yesterday, & had a look. Graphics looked a bit naff..or maybe that's because I played MW1 on the PC.
Yeah, I was posting to help back up your point. It kills me.
The fact our hardware and service is inferior, (When it comes to Sony anyway) is a whole different kettle of fish.
@Your Moms Hot Lover
Define Triple AAA (9 A's?). Every game dev in the world thinks their next game is going to be AAA standard. So they'll charge 55 quid too. And then MW3 will be 65, because they think their game is AAAA standard, but so will the other devs.
It's a radical example, but it's only going to start a trend that doesn't need encouraging.
Really all they have done is stop me from picking up the Hardened Edition because I'm not paying £70 for a game. COD1 will most likely be £10/1200 separately so for £55 and I'd miss is the metal case and art book. The £120 Prestige Edition makes the £70 Legendary Edition of Halo 3 looks like a great deal now.
No.
Fixed.
"How dare a publisher decide to actually make people pay what a game is actually worth in a free market system?!?! That's the most horrible thing I've ever heard of!"
£54.99 = $90.24
My wallet finds your sarcasm insulting.
Hey, fuckring, I don't think I read anything that said Activision doesn't have the right to price their games however they wanted. All I saw was a hope that it backfires on them, and I hope it does too, and I myself support the free market. Half of the free market is people deciding whether or not they feel something is WORTH the price charged for it; if I happen to think people are idiots for judging Modern Warfare 2 worth THAT much money, that still doesn't put me at odds with support of the free market.
I think people should have a little more respect for themselves and their money, and refuse to buy. Market does its job, Activision suffers, they drop price to something more reasonable. And when I say reasonable, I mean something that translates to a value roughly equivalent to what we're getting in the US. Why is the exact same game suddenly "more valuable" in the UK? It's not. Activision are just being cunts.
Also, step in front of a bus. Thanks.
A game here used to cost 20% more than in the UK, but now the prices are equal!
Autobiographical Wins!
/discussion.
*sadly i know we wont but i mean really come on!*
BTW Game.co.uk and amazon are both doing it for £44 as a side note
The same friend who told me about this said that it wouldn't be so bad if this was the initial price--sorta like "you pay this much to be the first to play, and after two weeks we bring it down to normal price." Of course, people could have a problem with that, but if you really want to have the game "early," then you're gonna have to shell out for it. Otherwise, you can wait.
And pay for those ridiculous shipping prices?! I don't think that's a very good idea... lol. Luckily for me I don't live in the UK where MW2 will be slightly more expensive.
The only reason Activision partnered up with Blizzard was because they masterbated every night to all the money they were making. thier just glad they are getting in on it now. Thier only pissed they couldnt buy Blizzard out enough to absorb the company whole.
So MW2's price hike is for
1. greed
2. greed
3. greed
4. we're activision, now dance f*****s!
What I was saying was I personally am willing to pay more for MW2 than say, Dante's Inferno. Therefore, in my case, they are making the absolute right decision, because they will get more money out of me.
It doesn't make them "cunts" as many people are commenting. It's means they want to *shock horror* make some money. How dare they.
This is how the UK government has gotten away with raising the tax on smokes so much over the last 20 years. Everyone complains, buys them anyway.
The 40 pound price point had been around for years, It's tried and tested. It was fine for the PS1-era. It was fine for the PS2-era. It's fine this era. The reason why people are in uproar over this is because it's not trying to find the right price point, It's pure greed.
Just because you think MW2 is worth more than Dante's Inferno, to use your example, does not justify potentially upsetting the balance of computer game pricing, Not everyone has 15 quid extra to blow on each game.
How much money do you think they make of these games in the first place? The extra money on top will mean Activision make another couple of million ontop of the millions they're going to make anyway. It's nothing but greed.
Comparing this to raising the taxes on Cigarettes is simply mindboggling.
The government raises taxes on Cigarettes to cover the cost of Cancer Treatment for Smokers on the NHS. If it was up to me, I'd bang an extra fiver on every pack. If you're going to give yourself Cancer, you can pay for the Chemo too.
Forbes breaks down the cost here: http://www.forbes.com/2006/12/19/ps3-xbox360-costs-tech-cx_rr_game06_1219expensivegames.html
You'll see the profit margin for the publisher is only 1.5%
And even if it is "pure greed". So what? What's wrong with that? That's the driving force behind capitalism. They don't owe us gamers anything.
Plus your historic price point actually argues FOR a price hike. 40 pounds in 1995 equates to 60 pounds now due to inflation alone.
I agree with your comment about smoking - I was just using that as an example of a product that gets massive price hikes but people keep buying.
Jim Sterling is the reason I read Dtoid. So there is that.
And no, i would not buy a used game to save 5$ if the game company was even half ass decent. (like valve and any non EA company)
I choose to support worthy companies that deserve the support, by using my wallet.
just think of it this way, you stop buying greed driven companies games, they soon go out of business, therefore teaching other companies to stop being pricks and make QUALITY games.
also, they wonder why more and more people pirate. this here is one prime reason
Thank god there is always possibility to import games.
Also, Activision are greedy bastards.
and its worth for the mp....if they dont make it like valve with l4d2.