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- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
Capcom president Harushiro Tsujimoto claims that the prices of video games need to increase to meet ballooning development costs.
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When the creator of Stardew Valley can charge $14 for his awesome game, and put it on multiple platforms and release updates for jo extra cost, and not charge subscription fees, and everyone can mod it and be happy, and the creator has made multimillions by now … Other companies need to take note.
From someone who worked at a company who wasted tons of money and had too many parties, excess staff and ceos who made excessive salaries, if these gaming companies are charging too much they need to look internally to fix issues instead of asking their customers to fuel their greed.
He said “because of ballooning development costs”. Stardew valley is famously a one man labor of love, the opposite of ballooning development costs.
$14 pr sold copy is ridiculously high in this context, because development costs is only for one dude.
You’re comparing this guys runaway success with a company with several development teams, office spaces, marketing teams, accountants, probably janitors, security, etc, etc.
I’m not saying he is in the right, just pointing out that it is apples to oranges.
You’re comparing this guys runaway success with a company with several development teams, office spaces, marketing teams, accountants, probably janitors, security, etc, etc.
That’s sorta the point tho, isn’t it. Not saying Capcom should be one guy in a bedroom, but maybe there’s alot of bloat not related to actual game development that could be streamlined/cut. Esp. When it comes to executives.
I agree with this. I find myself regularly missing the middle of the road games with lower development costs because those are the games that often dares to try new things.
Last one I remember like that was Ubisoft’s “Grow Home” which was utterly charming and had me hooked from beginning to end. Didn’t need to be big. Didn’t need amazing graphics. Just needed a little idea that (pardon the pun) grew to become a really engaging game.
More games like that please! Maybe the development costs didn’t have to balloon that much.
there is a slight difference between an indie-studio and a AAA-studio I’d wager
i also prefer to play Indie games, but to say that their financial situations are comparable is misinformed at best.
Game prices are already pushing $100+ when you factor in season passes, special editions, and microtransactions. Basically every AAA game has some combo of all of these.
Capcom games with their gazillion overpriced DLCs that never go on reasonable sales? Funny.
Or maybe don’t make expensive games.
The AAA market seems to be chasing a business model that isn’t there any more. I don’t know why game developers still chase photo realism, it isn’t what makes money.
Not to mention until it’s actually photo-realistic, it looks uncanny. It’s better to find a style and use that than to chase realism imo. But then again, these AAA games just add a bunch of foliage, some god rays, maybe a sprinkle of rain and people are oooh, aaah-ing and coughing up their cash.
There are still good AAA releases, it’s just that 95% of AAA games are not worth the price.
I would argue the old business model still works, it’s just that most AAA games studios don’t follow that model anymore. Back in the day, a full priced game didn’t have DLC or MTX, was an actual complete game, and focused more on the fun than the profit making. Games tried new ideas, they innovated instead of chasing whatever fad is popular at the time. It’s the modern AAA game business model that is the problem and doesn’t work anymore.
If 95% of the games aren’t worth the price, then there is something wrong with that business model.
Yeah, a full priced game might not have had DLC or MTX, but it was more expensive adjusting for inflation and didn’t have nearly the quantity or quality of in game assets as current games do.
And old games definitely chased fads, they were just different fads at the time fed in part by the differences in game economics.
Yeah they always ask “Why won’t people pay $100 for our video game?” and not “How about we DON’T spend $100,000,000 making ONE video game?”
Remember when Microsoft burned $500,000,000 and still couldn’t make a decent Halo game
This is all software, companies keep finding excuses to tack on “features” that increase development cost which eventually lead to necessary price increases.
In the professional world you will rarely ever hear project managers and leaders ask the question “would our customers rather pay extra for feature X or save money by sticking to their simpler feature set?” This is because development is nearly always started with the long term goal of incorporating a feature into the product to increase the overall “value” of the product. This increased “value” of the product then means that the company should charge more for it.
I am ranting now.
Cries in Guyana dollars
Some prices are crazy in my opinion.
I generally buy 2 year old games except in some cases.
And in the consoles they are even more expensive. Game price could be higher than on PC and then you also need to pay an expensive subscription (because they charge you for a lot more things than just the multiplayer costs) to be allowed to play in multiplayer.
The player base is also bigger than before. While that needs more post sales support and more infrastructure it is nothing compared to the game.
I think in short the problem here is just the wrong forecasting when planning the game.
I’ve never understood why people defend this mentality. Ballooning development costs? Last I checked half of the triple A games that get released spent just as much on marketing as fucking development. Not to mention Video Game revenue has been increasing year on year.
Also fuck these people because how often does this shit release with extra “monetisation” like on top of trying to make games more expensive they also throw in tons of microtransactions, loot boxes and battle passes, platform exclusive content, pre-order exclusive content etc.
Capcom President salary is ‘Too High’
Ahhahah
Yet they keep having record profits.
Clearly, they could charge more if they’re selling more than ever. Also, you know it’s not free to make a digital copy, right?! It’s VERY expensive.
They can raise the prices all they want.
I’m still only going to buy them long after all the patches and on discount.Yeah, let them try and see what happens lol
Funny how completed games are cheaper than games that are still in development/public beta.
This needs to repeated a lot.
To be honest, game prices have stayed the same for a very long time, but you can’t release garbage and expect people to hundreds for it
To also be fair, producers have been trying to raise prices on game for over 15 years now to little traditional success and instead relying on battle pass and micro transactions
I don’t think it is surprising that with recent events they are attempting to raise prices again
The BASE cost remains the same. They then started finding ways market a spreadsheets with of ‘versions’. Then they added ‘micro’ transactions, battle passes, etc. Or they just shut down the old game so you have to buy the new version to keep playing.
And the cost of games has risen faster the minimum wage in the US.
So will all the multi millionaires and billionaires video games were making… I think $60 was more than fine for a large studio produced game.
Cut back on graphics, and I mean this unironically
Or, hear me out, we cut out the most expensive part of game development.
Upper management. They cost the most, contribute the least (if anything), and can be replaced by someone who not only take 25% of what some of these CEOs make, but do a better job.
Cutting out middle management is always the right answer
I know that Diablo isn’t a Capcom game, but if industry leaders are looking at $90 games with battle passes and in game purchases for $20 horse armor is “too low”, then we are truly fucked.
Games in the 90’s were almost the equivalent of $100 today. They seemed better, though, and people seem to play them longer, but that’s all probably just rose-tinted glasses
but maybe 100k people bought the big ones then, now a AAA title can sell millions or tens of millions of copies
oh I agree, but I still feel like games are a bargain in dollar for dollar entertainment these days.
Or… maybe development costs have just gotten stupidly high? There are a lot of great indie games for a few bucks that pack a heck of a lot more fun and experimentation than a lot of the cookie cutters garbage coming out of a lot of big studios lately. I’m honestly sick of every facet of my life trying to bleed me dry of any spare cent I get.
I just recently played Hrot, and it has been one of my favorite shooters to come out as of late. A game made by a Czech dude in a custom engine that he wrote for $16.00. I’ll play four separate games like that before I spend $70.00 for many competing AAA games out there. Not that high budget games shouldn’t have a place, but sometimes less can be more.
