It has been a lifetime since I contributed to Tap, but Steerpike’s/Matt’s latest IGDA article called “The Facts of Life” got my blood boiling. It had little to do with what Steerpike said, but a whole lot to do with the philosophy so current in our marketplace. The article pointed out a series of glitches and faux pas in Obsidian’s latest, Alpha Protocol, while indicating that he was able to “overlook its many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many technical faults.” That is fair enough and I can respect him for that attitude. What I can’t respect is Obsidian Games for releasing such a game and charging full retail for it.
Steerpike used the following analogy: “Is it fair to blame a Ford Fiesta for not being a Corvette ZR-1?” And he is right, it is not fair to blame a Fiesta for not being a Corvette; on the other hand, the base list price for a Fiesta is $13,999. The new ZR-1 starts at $106,000. How many of us would pay the same amount for a Fiesta as we would for the Corvette? The fact is, virtually all games today, whether crap or not, seem to come in at the same price to the gamer. The gamer, like any customer, trusts the reputation of the developer…and he or she should. That said, once the trust has been violated, how many times should we be willing to pay out the fifty (or sixty!) bucks without being willing to punish the developer?
Unfortunately, most of us do not have Steerpike’s expertise in the gaming world. Few of us have the contacts or the knowledge to know going in that a game will have weaknesses…serious weaknesses. I applaud Steerpike for his totally honest evaluation and one thing is certain, I will save my fifty (or sixty!) bucks for a game more worthy. I have this nasty habit of refusing to support companies, regardless what they make, that violate my expectations. The fact is, there is a lot dung out there, and I would bet that in 95% of cases, the developer – or, more realistically, the publisher, which truly holds the reins – is well aware it is dung but release it anyway. I blame Obsidian for making a broken game, but I blame SEGA for not supporting the product until it had an acceptable level of quality.
It is sad that nations around the world are so mired in financial difficulties because it is leading to a huge quality disparity in virtually every product we buy. I can’t forgive Obsidian for having good writing but bad tech. A product’s technical aspects are crucial to its acceptance in the marketplace. Would you buy a second novel by a writer whose plot lines don’t tie together, but whose writing you admire? Would you buy a second Chrysler if the one you have has flaws that make you best friends with the dealer’s service department?
The problem we face is that we have too few truly critical sites like Tap. In the IGDA article, it was claimed that as customers we “buy what appeals” to us rather than research their purchases ahead of time. One thing is certain, if you know in advance you are going to get liquid, or semi-solid feces, and still buy the product, then you have no one to blame but yourself. The important thing is that if you know it in advance, you don’t mind it as much.
Me, I need that fifty (or sixty!) bucks too much to continue to support a developer that consistently applies the mushroom theory of management to its customers.
I agree that developers think gamers are sheep…in his article, Matt gave enough examples of that to convince me. Rise up guys! Our vocabulary is much bigger than Baah, Baah, Baah.
I agree but I really do think it is the players job to do some background checks on the game they are about to spent 50/60 bucks on. I’m mean read a review, play a demo, ask a friend that played the game or a person at gamestop. I have never spent money on a game that I didnt do one of these things for. These days you just cant trust a game by the name on the box, I dont think there was a time u ever could.
This is why gamers can never get a good movie based game. I developer deepens on the good name of the movie to sell the game and not gameplay. If you dont believe me you should google ET the video game. This one was not as much the fault of the developer because they did have a lot of time to get it done.
I thought Alpha Protocol would be worth purchasing on the strength of Avellone being involved but considering the apparent train wreck that was released there are a million and one other (solid) titles I’d rather put my money toward.
I rarely buy a game on release anyway because aside from waiting for the hyperbolic media smoke to clear, I’ve plenty to be cracking on with while the price drops over time. That’s not exactly the industry preserving spirit but I’ll be damned if I’m dropping my hard earned cash on some overhyped, overrated, derivative dribble.
Regarding the industry’s standard price level for a new game: what should determine the price of a title on release? It’s tempting to say quality but that’s subjective. Longevity is perhaps a good start but then we come across games like Portal and Braid which are arguably worth more than most ‘full priced’ titles.
Me personally, I’ve never had a problem with the whole £40 pricing thing anyway mainly because of the reasons above. Hysterical and hungry fans will lap up the Modern Warfare 2s and Burning Crusades whatever the price and if they’re willing to buy – whatever the quality or length – why drop the price? If they’re willing to buy at even higher prices then why not price them higher? Go mad, leech the suckers. I think the problem is the backlash if the game turns out to be short and/or a stinker. This may affect their future buying habits from the developer/publisher.
Solium Infernum is priced at about £20. There are certain people who believe this is too much for a niche indie game and refuse to buy it until the price comes down but considering the quality and depth on offer it’s a pittance. Vic Davis the developer says that he’s unlikely to lower the price in the foreseeable future so he is effectively turning potential customers away. On the other hand, knowing that the price WON’T come down is fantastic because you know that you’ll not get bitten by an unforeseen price drop or sale. Which brings us nicely to…
Steam sales. They shift ridiculous numbers of games that wouldn’t shift nearly as many at their full price, not least new releases. I can foresee, if it isn’t happening already, people simply not buying new releases until later in the year when they’re heavily discounted during these crazy sales. I’m no expert on this whole subject so take my words with a pinch of salt.
I agree up to a point – but I’d still rather have a buggy Deus Ex, Bloodlines or Daggerfall than any number of technically polished but uninspired sequels driven by marketing rather than creativity.
I’m unlikely to buy Alpha Protocol. Not because of the bugs; bugs can be patched. Because everything I’ve read suggests it didn’t go far enough, didn’t believe in its difference. Promising an unusual breadth of development and then killing it with forced, inflexible combat sequences (and yes, it’s ironic that I mention Bloodlines here…) is less forgivable and less patchable than dropping to the desktop once in a while.
The Steam sales are a huge anomaly that isn’t yet fully understood. Valve has released statistics indicating that unit sales go up by 18,000% if a game’s price is cut by 75%. Psychonauts is now a massive hit (remember it bombed on release, selling only 12,000 units in the US) because Steam had a $2 sale on it. It was their #2 seller during that sale, and Steam doesn’t rank sales by units sold, it ranks by revenue. That means Psychonauts came in second in MONEY to Modern Warfare 2 or whatever.
Some argue that based on this, the smart monkey would release games at a lower price. There’s a lot to be said for this argument, but as Gregg points out, people are still buying new releases at full price. Would correspondingly more people buy them at cut prices? No one knows, because even the Steam sales don’t generally apply to very new releases.
Alpha Protocol is a wonderfully written, not too badly acted game with meh combat. Its problem is lack of polish. As Phlebas says, bugs can be patched. But let’s be honest: it will be $1.99 or something during the Steam Holiday Sale. Unless you need it right now, what’s the point of not waiting?
I have the sort of personality that gets excited about things and is simply unable to wait until prices go down in some cases. If it’s a game I’ve been looking forward to, I can’t help but buy it on launch day for full price. So to a certain degree I pay a penalty for that, in the form of games unworthy of $50/$60.
But then, it’s all about how people consume what they consume. Tony mentions that he wouldn’t buy a new novel from an author whose writing he admired but whose plotlines were thin. Me, I like good writing and can overlook the plotlines. Doesn’t make either of us righter than the other, it just makes us different types of consumers.
A key question that’ll never be answered is this: how much responsibility does Obsidian bear, and how much does SEGA bear? People are quick to blame developers because they don’t understand the dev/pub relationship, but the fact is, developers have very little say in when their game is released, and in what state.
Chris Avellone told me months ago that work had stopped on Alpha Protocol, that they had moved on to Fallout. I took that to mean that the delay was just a marketing move to avoid the saturated holiday period. Another friend recently told me that the game that shipped is exactly the game he played at E3 last year, right down to the typos in the subtitles. So nothing was done in terms of polish during the delay. Is this Obsidian’s fault, or is it SEGA’s? The realities of this industry suggest that the publisher chose to stop funding before the game got its final coat of polish.
Great topic. I not only agree 100%, but I have been speaking with my wallet for the last three years, or so. It is rare, VERY rare I buy any games without reading at least three reviews, and playing a demo. Red Dead Redemption was the last game I bought without doing much research. Not only the quality of games, but the value is just not there anymore to justify spending that money without researching your purchase first.
I love gaming, but I have bought FAR fewer games in the last three years, and it seems I am buying even less this year. I am sick to death of being nickel ‘n dimed at every turn. Now you have companies (EA) starting to charge for any other family members in the same house to play the game you just payed SIXTY BUCKS FOR to pay ANOTHER ten bucks to play the same game on the same console. Game companies are out of control. We are getting the shaft at the checkout, and the only thing that will wake up the idiots is a continuing software sales slump. Tell them how you feel by not buying their junk software. I used to buy roughly 25 to 35 games a year. I have bought only 6 this year. Red Dead, MotoGP 09/10, God of War 3, SBK (PS3), 2010 FIFA World Cup, and MLB 10. I still can’t believe I have bought only ONE 360 game this year! MotoGP is the only game I have bought for the 360 this year.
Thanks for your “mini rant,” Tony. It was a good read. This is a topic that is far too infrequently discussed in the gaming world/blogosphere, in my opinion.
Steam sales are indeed an anomaly for now, but I wonder as more people catch on how long it will be before publishers unite to smite Steam’s “freewheeling” good times. Personally, I support Valve’s logic and I think they’ve allowed it to become very clear that customers are happily willing to pay lower prices on games they would otherwise not consider.
I am included in this lot. Steam sales are so ridiculous that I’ve re-bought games that I already own on CD or DVD.
It’s true that there may not be as much evidence in relation to new games, but even this year we’ve seen just 2-4 months needed to pass before Steam slices a release from earlier in the year by 60 or 70 per cent. Mass Effect 2 and Bioshock 2 are examples of this.
Why does this happen? In those cases it can’t be seen as an attempt to move units after the veil is removed, revealing the game to be nowhere near it’s initial retail price: Mass Effect 2 is possibly the most critically acclaimed game of 2010, and Bioshock 2 garnered respectable reviews on the whole from mainstream press, so why then? I certainly didn’t see Bioshock 2 being worth the $69.99 it was sitting on shelves for in mid-April. The next month I saw the price cut in half to $34.99, at which price I thought I could stomach, and so I made the purchase. Weeks later it was $14.99 on Steam. That’s insane. Why? I don’t know. The $69 I saw was at EB Games, the $34 I saw was BestBuy, and the $14 was Steam. Was the BestBuy price a publisher move or a retailer sale? I don’t know, but since buying it at that half off price I’ve seen it go back to $69 at BestBuy.
Who ultimately decides this product’s value? The publisher, the retailer, the consumer? I have no idea.
I gladly paid $15 to purchase Limbo this morning, yet if I could go back in time I wouldn’t pay $15 for Modern Warfare 2. But that’s just me, that’s the type of consumer I am. I see value in Limbo where I have seen so many people on the internet complaining about it being too expensive. And I see little value in Modern Warfare 2, a game I paid $49 for at launch, that I honestly find worthless, yet others who bought it when I did are still playing it today.
Maybe things will never change because there are enough people to continue putting down $49 or $59 or $69 on new games, regardless of their quality, as long as they bring the quantity.
Thanks to all of you for your comments. Remember, though, in the final analysis, the customer determines the ultimate price of a game. If you shop with your wallet, as Marcus suggested, reading reviews, evaluating and doing research as Neil hints, you are less likely to be taken by the Marketing.
From a purely marketing perspective, the best price is the highest number people are willing to pay…with that in mind, I guarantee you, a game badly reviewed with customers unwilling to pay the price will likely see a price drop and it will usually happen quickly as Max’s comments verify. Even Steam will not “give away” games that are very popular in the marketplace. Pure economics!
Hey Tony, long time. I always love reading your articles.
I have to be pretty excited by a game and have heard extremely positive buzz before considering paying full retail price. I rarely buy a new release any more. One reason is I don’t get caught up in the forum hype that used to be so prevalent. Also, since almost all of my game research takes place here, I get accurate information on a game’s quality.
At one point Alpha Protocol was looking like a first day buy but as information trickled in I began to back off. The only game I am still considering an early buy for is Fallout Vegas and I think I will be pretty careful about it.
I’d love to pay full price for a really excellent game, if only to encourage the developers but I’m not much that fit that category. In fact, cheaper priced indie games are looking better and better all the time. I used to think of buying indie games as a risk quality-wise, but that’s changing.
Good stuff, Two Toes!
Just think about all that you could accomplish if you just had eight more of those bad boys!
I rarely buy games upon release. I almost always wait for some type of review or feedback. I may still end up buying it for full price a week or two after the release, but I usually like to get at least a feel for how good the game is.
I also don’t buy too many games (except for when Steam has its super sales and then I can’t resist, but then again I buy like 7 games for $30 total, so, it doesn’t really count). Most of the games I do buy, I already have a pretty good sense as to whether I will like them. I’ve been playing videogames for 30+ years now. I have pretty strongly developed sense of what I like and don’t like, so that, right there, eliminates probably a good 80-90% or more of what’s on the market. To borrow your analogy, I know I don’t want to buy a sports car, a SVU, pick-up truck, van, or large sedan, so that pretty much leaves me with mid-sized cars and sports wagons. Because, well, sports wagons are awesome.
After that, it’s just a matter of sifting through that last 10-20% to find the gems I want. There have been ocassions where I bought on release and have been burned (Blood Bowl) and others were I’ve been delighted (Civ IV, Freedom Force I & II).
Another reason I rarely run into this problem, because since about 1999 or so, I have been running a good 1-2 years behind on all my PC gaming. Things are turning around. In fact, I have already pre-ordered three games that have yet to be released: Civ V, Elemental: War of Magic, and Fallout: New Vegas. It’s a bit of a risky move, but these are calculated risks. I am not flying blind on any of these.
Steam has and will definitely change the way I buy games. It definitely makes me more likely to pre-buy or buy on release. There is no way I would have pre-ordered Civ IV or Fallout: New Vegas if not for Steam. Likely, I would have waited for at least a few days post-release.
That said, those are the exceptions, not the rule. For the vast majority of games I am interested in, even those that are positively reviewed, knowing that Steam is likely put that game on sale, anywhere from 25-50% off, one day within a few months of release, I am much more likely to sit back and wait until the sale comes.
For example, I saw the other night that all of the expansion packs have been made available for Fallout 3. There are 5 of them for $9.99 each. I was about to buy all five and then thought to myself, “Ajax19, you handsome devil, you, you don’t need to buy these now. You’re still elbows deep in your Football Manager 2010 career. You’re an amazing football manager and have just led Southampton to promotion into the Premiership. You just spent upwards of $29 million on new players. You aren’t letting go of this now. Wait, old friend. Wait. These expansions aren’t going anywhere and you know damn well that they will be on super sale at some point in the near future, likely around the time Fallout: New Vegas is released. Then, you can buy them for pennies on the dollar. You will pounce on them like the incredibly sleek and powerful, money-saving tiger lurking in the reeds that you are.”
Hey Ajax,
Thanks for the comments. If I had eight more of those bad boys I would at least be able to stand without falling over. Love your shopping methods though, readers could learn a lot from them.
Hey Scout,
Thanks for the comments. You are very wise not to get caught up in the forums…too easily seeded. I too would happily pay full price for quality and when I knowingly buy a “Fiesta” I really don’t expect a Corvette. Too many of us are totally taken in by the marketing and fail to do the research.
Ajax: Have you seen that the Fallout 3 GOTY edition (including the add-ons) is out and already hitting sales some places? I saw it for £15 in one shop yesterday.
Marketing, marketing marketing 🙂
There are not enough critical perhaps higher caliber sites, and in fact Tap Repeatedly hasn’t got nearly enough content to provide as a sole source of it.
It’s a shame but it’s pretty obvious word of mouth and marketing make up a lot more sales then quality.
There are a lot of reasons for this, it’s complicated, I personally stand up for better and buy quality where possible. It needs many more evaluations of the press, the reviewers, the critics above and beyond blaming developers and publishers. Although, in Alpha Protocols case, I think it didn’t really sell well enough anyway, so maybe the system sometimes does work?
I’ll reservedly say I’ll likely get the game myself at some point (patched, cheaper, if I’m really in the mood for spy stories). Of course, this isn’t at the original asking price!
You’re right, Andrew, Alpha Protocol didn’t sell wonderfully. I don’t know the precise numbers, but it’s considered a disappointment by SEGA, which has already said there’ll be no sequel.
Definitely worth buying on a Steam sale. Probably not worth buying at full price.
I admit that I’m one of those people who are content to wait until the inevitable steam/direct2drive sale brings the price down at least 50% for new games these days. With rare exceptions that is. Usually if there is some indie game that sounds cool and is getting good hype, I’ll make it a point to send money their way.