18 replies to this topic

[Commodore256]

This question came to me looking at smartphone games and I noticed how most of them is $1-$6, none of them are $60. (ports of former $60 games that now cost $5 like GTA3 don't count because they already made returns on the original investment, so everything is profit) I've notice how the cheap games are the most fun you can have for $1, but the production values is nowhere near that of say Skyrim or Mass Effect.

This got me thinking... What if there was a game with production values so high, in order to make a profit, they would have to sell a million copies at $1,000? (Or whatever ridiculously high number you want)

We have had games with higher production values than the standard, but still sold for the standard price of Video Games, like Shinmue, LA Noire, Earthbound had a freakin' Strategy Guide and so does World of Warcrack, but they're subscription based, so the Guide is just Icing on the Cake. But, we have had a $200 Game once before, Steel Battalion, but it was only expensive because of the controller. In the 90's, we had these Battletech Pods (google it) that were Arcade Machines with full immersion, but the closest thing to we have of that now is a room with 6 Nvidia 3D Vision Projectors and a Warplizer.

I think the most expensive game should have new technology. (or maybe old technology that's not used in consumer land)

For Starters, no Polygons! It would have Voxels! (Basically, 3D Pixels! imagine this, but enough Voxels to make a Character Model mold like Clay) Second, no Voice-Overs, realistic Human Voice Synthesis that sound a lot better than Hatsune Miku. (Actually, Miku is a real Human Voice, just autotuned with software) Third, Actual AI, I don't want to just interact with the Characters, I want the Characters to interact with Me. Fourth, I would like there to be interiors to every building with items that you would find in a house and have all of them look different.

Of course, there would be good hardware needed and I would want it to be good, but what do you guys think? What would you like to see in Video Games, but they're not feasible to implement in a $60 game that sells a million copies and with a $300 Console? (or even a $800 PC, we would need custom RISC Processors with custom extensions and Co-Processors)

[Acotoz]

I just want to see the return of the classic joystick/button controllers.

This new trend of motion detecting controllers it's just annoying, and no, I'm not lazy, I exercise several times a week. A videogame is to sit down and relax.

But what I would like to see in videogames, is the return of the screen on the controller, like the Sega Dreamcast, that right there would enhance the playing experience by a lot!

That's a sad story right there, the Dreamcast was a promising and revolutionary console, too bad Sega went bankrupt.

[TMKCodes]

The one which has the most content would be the most expensive, because creating content for game is expensive.

[Stormynature]

imho the most expensive game would be buggy as hell, overmarketed, overhyped and short on the content that matters but containing many many cut scenes as well a stringently linear storyline thought up by writers with two advertisements as their portfolio, requiring limited brainspace to navigate. For which too many of us would pay money to play then trash publicly on a scale of rage equivalent to that expressed towards the Twilight series (not counting teen girls in that sample mind you).

[SimonForsman]

The thing with software is that there is no marginal cost, Making 2 copies cost just as much as making 1 copy so to maximize profits(or avoid losing money really since that first copy is insanely expensive to make) you need to keep prices flexible.
You don't make a huge game and sell for $200 per copy since only the most hardcore fans will pay that much, you make a normal sized game, sell for the standard $50-$60 and add DLC for the hardcore audience, then you slice prices fairly quickly to try to catch those who weren't willing to pay full price to get the game early.

Mobile games aren't cheap because of the low production values, production values are low because the games have to be cheap. mobile users don't plan on having 48 hour mobile gaming marathons on launchday (as some console and PC gamers do with anticipated titles) and thus aren't willing to spend alot of money on the games.

The most expensive game would most likely be a standard $50-$60 game with a high price "Ultimate Edition" that contains all the launch day DLC(and maybe download codes for future DLC that will be released post-launch), soundtracks, wallpapers, making of videos, interviews, and other goodies.

[TMKCodes]

You don't make a huge game and sell for $200 per copy since only the most hardcore fans will pay that much, you make a normal sized game, sell for the standard $50-$60 and add DLC for the hardcore audience, then you slice prices fairly quickly to try to catch those who weren't willing to pay full price to get the game early.

Thing is if you use 5 billion dollars to make a game you surely will not sell it for the $50-$60, because $60 * million sales is only $600 million which means your market needs to be like 100 million users to keep the price down at $60. With 100 million sales you would get the 20% profit.

Halo 2 has sold only ~7 million copies, Kinect Adventures has sold only 18 million copies, Wii Sports has sold ~80 million copies. So it would be kinda hard to sell 5 billion niche game at $60 per copy. Don't even start saying that Angry birds has had 1 billion downloads, but Angry birds uses freemium model, so their profit is much harder to calculate.

Edited by TMKCodes, 18 July 2012 - 12:44 PM.

[Waterlimon]

A game where a costly part of the game runs on the game companys servers, on a per user basis.


Like every user gets their own planet which requires its own server to run and is also linked to all other planets.




Without a monthly fee. muahaha.

[SimonForsman]

Halo 2 has sold only ~7 million copies, Kinect Adventures has sold only 18 million copies, Wii Sports has sold ~80 million copies. So it would be kinda hard to sell 5 billion niche game at $60 per copy. Don't even start saying that Angry birds has had 1 billion downloads, but Angry birds uses freemium model, so their profit is much harder to calculate.

That doesn't matter, games are sold at the price customers can and are willing to pay, not the other way around. the big publisher don't hold secret meetings where they decide what games should cost, the customers are setting the prices and game studios have to set their production budgets based on the number of copies they think they can sell at the currently available pricepoints. (This is why pretty much all AAA studios use the exact same price structure, it has been shown to be the most profitable one)

Since games are non essential entertainment products the amount you can charge is very restricted by reality and the only way to be able to make ends meet with a big production budget is to spread the cost for consumers over time, thus any game with an extreme production budget would have to be broken down and sold in pieces or sold in a subscription form (Where production value can build up over time)

[TMKCodes]

Halo 2 has sold only ~7 million copies, Kinect Adventures has sold only 18 million copies, Wii Sports has sold ~80 million copies. So it would be kinda hard to sell 5 billion niche game at $60 per copy. Don't even start saying that Angry birds has had 1 billion downloads, but Angry birds uses freemium model, so their profit is much harder to calculate.

That doesn't matter, games are sold at the price customers can and are willing to pay, not the other way around. the big publisher don't hold secret meetings where they decide what games should cost, the customers are setting the prices and game studios have to set their production budgets based on the number of copies they think they can sell at the currently available pricepoints. (This is why pretty much all AAA studios use the exact same price structure, it has been shown to be the most profitable one)

Since games are non essential entertainment products the amount you can charge is very restricted by reality and the only way to be able to make ends meet with a big production budget is to spread the cost for consumers over time, thus any game with an extreme production budget would have to be broken down and sold in pieces or sold in a subscription form (Where production value can build up over time)

I know that budgets are set by how many copies the company thinks they can sell, but we are talking about possibly new technology and new market like the first Surface games which were not at the range of one to sixty dollars. I was looking at Surface 2 games for the surface desk when our student home bought one of those samsung surface desks which cost ton and the games were quite pricey. I tried to look up the website, but could not find it as all the buzz about Microsoft surface tablet filled my google results.

[kseh]

Thinking about it a bit, whether a game costs $1000, $60, $1, or is free it still has to flip that "impulse buy" switch in my brain that is at the heart of my game purchasing and playing decisions. That impulse switch has gotten me closer to the 1k mark than I'd like to admit in that when I bought my XBox 360 it was for the sole purpose of playing Fable 2. Had nothing to do with any hype and more to do with wanting to continue after playing for 8 hours on my brother-in-law's machine. I know that isn't actually even halfway to 1k but I had no intention on buying a current gen console until I played that one game for awhile. I didn't buy it so that I could potentially play other games (which I have of course), just the one. Such is what was in my head at the time of purchase.

I know the discussion is about a one theoretical game title rather than a console system but what I'm suggesting is that it could be just about any game if the hook is sufficient and the impulse to buy is triggered.

[Stormynature]

I tried to look up the website, but could not find it as all the buzz about Microsoft surface tablet filled my google results.

exclude the search term microsoft

[TMKCodes]

I agree on the impulse of buying a game that would result in need to buy the game even if it costs thousand dollars. I've been looking for PS3 Battlefield 3, but it was always sold out at my favorite technology shop and I basically do not want to use other shops so I waited and waited that i could get a copy, but the price had dropped so much that I got one for 25 euros even though I would have been ready to pay few hundred euros for it.

[TMKCodes]

I tried to look up the website, but could not find it as all the buzz about Microsoft surface tablet filled my google results.

exclude the search term microsoft

I tried googling "Surface 2 Games" like I did when we got the Surface desk.

[shurcool]

What if there was a game with production values so high, in order to make a profit, they would have to sell a million copies at $1,000? (Or whatever ridiculously high number you want)

A game like Grand Theft Auto or Carmageddon, except where you remotely control a car in the real world equipped with a camera. So when you steal and crash a Ferrari in the game, the game company would have to compensate for the damages you've done.

It'd probably cost a few million dollars per copy. ;)

Edited by shurcool, 22 July 2012 - 05:49 PM.

[Nypyren]

Are we excluding games that require hardware peripherals? If not, the most expensive game would likely require some insanely expensive peripheral (such as a very advanced brain-computer interface or something similarly futuristic).

[Bacterius]

A game like Grand Theft Auto or Carmageddon, except where you remotely control a car in the real world equipped with a camera. So when you steal and crash a Ferrari in the game, the game company would have to compensate for the damages you've done.

It'd probably cost a few million dollars per copy. ;)

Haha like in Half Life 2 where civilians would play "control this manhack and kill people for points" at the arcade and didn't know the manhack was for real. Would the players be aware that they were controlling a real car? I can foresee some major legal/ethical issues especially if players end up running people over. And you'd have people wondering why their lawn is being trashed by fifteen driverless derby cars... And imagine split-screen gameplay, oh, yeah, I want this game NOW.

[shurcool]

Would the players be aware that they were controlling a real car?

Well, unless you could justify the high price of admission with just saying "the most realistic graphics and driving physics you've ever seen", players would probably have to know.

I can foresee some major legal/ethical issues especially if players end up running people over. And you'd have people wondering why their lawn is being trashed by fifteen driverless derby cars...

You could host the "game environment" on a closed circuit to avoid the legal/ethical issues.

Another approach is to target the game towards super rich people who want to go for a race of a lifetime, without the consequences. Pitch it that way.

[papalazaru]

What would the most expensive game be like?

Duke Nukem Forever.

Edited by papalazaru, 23 July 2012 - 03:10 PM.

[MrDaaark]

Kingdoms of Amalur: The Reckoning ;)