Why Are Console Games So Expensive?!

Maybe someone can help me out, here in South Africa, console games go for around R500 - R700 which is around $50-70. Gamecube itself is only around $60 and the games are about $40, but PC games are only $25-30! and ones that are 2 or 3 years old are around $3

I don't understand this! I once asked someone at a Look And Listen megastore why console games are so much more expensive, the moron told me that the effects in games require movie-budgets which they need to make back, he was serious. If that's the case, then why are DVDs only $19?

PC games are so much less expensive because pc hardware needs to be update very often. The devolopers figure that we wont buy the games if we have to update our systems, which gets very expensive, and buy their title for a high amount of money.

Console games are more expensive because the hardware isnt updated as often as PC. Look at the Xbox. It cost Micro$oft more money to make the system then they were initially selling it for.

Console games are expensive, partly because they can be.

The pricing can be controlled much closer, since it's for a fixed standard by a single manufacturer who has more control over their machine.

In addition, console games are often harder to copy, requiring mods and stuff to the console, making it less widespread.

It's closer to a sort of pseudo-monopoly, really.

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Originally posted by SnnY@11 July 2004 - 12:15
Console games are expensive, partly because they can be.

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That's exactly right. When consoles switched from cartridges to discs it was predicted that game prices would drop because CD's (or now DVD's) only cost a few pennies to mass produce. But as long as people are willing to pay $50 or more for the latest and greatest games, that's how much they're going to keep charging. And like SingaBoiy said, Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo all rely on huge profits from the games because they're all taking a loss (or barely breaking even) on the price of they're respective hardware.

PC games are a little different. Anybody can make a game for the PC and charge however much they want for it because, unlike consoles, there are no licensing fees involved (unless it's based on a book or movie of course). So there's much more competition which keeps the prices a little lower. The same goes for DVD movies.

Prime example:

Final Fantasy 8 = 4 Disks = $25
Final Fantasy 10 = 1 Disk = $15