Average selling price of a game since 1996

[Shifty Geezer]

From this Eurogamer article:

Since 1996, a collective £18.6 billion has been spent on video games in the UK, and 796 million games have been sold.

That makes an average selling price of only £23.37. This strikes me as very low, and I wonder if the revelation has relevance to future game development. If the average selling price of your game is only £23 rather than the £40 RRP you are asking for, does it make sense to aim lower with production values?

Of course, as the ensuing discussion showed, there are some conflicting opinions about the price over time, and the current ASP is more important than the historical average. But still, over PS1, PS2 and PS3 (and the other consoles), where the RRP started no lower than £30 in PS1's days, that the typical amount paid is significantly less than that shows gamers are wanting to buy on a budget. That suggests also that a lot is sold at discount.

 

[Cyan]

The price of games in the UK is quite low compared to other countries in Europe for some reason I can't grasp. The same could be said about the price of the games in the USA, but only because of the exchange ratio alone, not the price itself, which seems "fine" -this is an expensive hobby-.

However, in continental Europe where I live, SNES and Nintendo 64 games used to cost 60€, 72€ in the 90s, and some games cost 90€.... Crazy stuff.

 

[Squilliam]

Why is this post in the console technology section? Could one of the mods such as Shifty move it to the appropriate section?

 

[Rangers]

The price of games in the UK is quite low compared to other countries in Europe for some reason I can't grasp. The same could be said about the price of the games in the USA, but only because of the exchange ratio alone, not the price itself, which seems "fine" -this is an expensive hobby-.

However, in continental Europe where I live, SNES and Nintendo 64 games used to cost 60€, 72€ in the 90s, and some games cost 90€.... Crazy stuff.

Yup, I find it funny the constant griping about $60 games when I remember walking out of a Wal Mart as a kid paying $72 for Final Fantasy 3 SNES cart in the mid 90's.

 

[Sonic]

Carts with more memory were more expensive. And a game like FF3 could demand a premium back in the day.

1996 is an interesting time to pick the average price for games. I'm actually impressed Sonic is sixth in sales in the UK. I don't even think he would place in the top 10. Interesting indeed.

What I would like to know is the average price of games per generation to see how much they've gone up.

 

[Arwin]

Well, there's always a lot of bargain bin stuff, and also remember that inflation from 1996 to 2012 is nothing to sniff at. I remember that back in the 16 bit days, prices for new games could vary quite a lot from publisher to publisher. Also, the pound has been worth twice what it is now at times vs other currency.

Is there any digital distribution in this? Because that's been driving the price down quite a bit as well I'd imagine.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

The price of games in the UK is quite low compared to other countries in Europe for some reason I can't grasp...
However, in continental Europe where I live, SNES and Nintendo 64 games used to cost 60€, 72€ in the 90s, and some games cost 90€.... Crazy stuff.

But they were the same price in the UK. It's not like the UK has games listed at £20-25 at launch. They release at £30, £40 , £50. These stats suggests that most of those games then sit on the shelves until they drop to under £25.

Well, there's always a lot of bargain bin stuff, and also remember that inflation from 1996 to 2012 is nothing to sniff at. I remember that back in the 16 bit days, prices for new games could vary quite a lot from publisher to publisher. Also, the pound has been worth twice what it is now at times vs other currency.

Pricing was never at £25 though. The RRP of a game in 1996 was maybe something like £30 PS1, £40-50 N64. That RRP has remained either the same or more become expensive over time. I don't see how inflation or exchange rates could affect this average to drop the ASP below what we really paid.

I don't think download titles are included as this is GfK supplying the figures. But even if they did, that's only been one generation of download titles accompanied with the highest RRP. Across 16 years, it shouldn't be enough to drive a £35+ average price down to £23.37!

I do see that the PC is included which is typically £10 cheaper per title RRP, but sells in far less quantities than console games in the UK to affect the average to any large degree.

 

[joker454]

Yup, I find it funny the constant griping about $60 games when I remember walking out of a Wal Mart as a kid paying $72 for Final Fantasy 3 SNES cart in the mid 90's.

How about $88.88 for Indy 500 on the Atari 2600? Or $58.88 for Pac Man on the 2600? I used to collect video game ads back in the day and I still have a binder full of them, this thread made me pull it out to check what prices used to be back in 1982

 

[Rotmm]

That makes an average selling price of only £23.37. This strikes me as very low, and I wonder if the revelation has relevance to future game development. If the average selling price of your game is only £23 rather than the £40 RRP you are asking for, does it make sense to aim lower with production values?

I suspect that the £18.6b number is without VAT, so that takes £6 off a £40 sale.

Also, looking at the article they were obviously including PC games... historically about £10 cheaper than equivalent console titles, as well as handheld games generally being significantly cheaper (though latterly that is less the case) And of course many of those sold (such as Sims) were expansions and not full games, again a cheaper proposition.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

How about $88.88 for Indy 500 on the Atari 2600? Or $58.88 for Pac Man on the 2600? I used to collect video game ads back in the day and I still have a binder full of them, this thread made me pull it out to check what prices used to be back in 1982

Imagine how much that would be adjusted for inflation but keeping the price the same.

Actually hell with it. If it was 88.88 USD in 1982 it would be anywhere from 182 to 412 USD in todays dollars. With the most common price being 207.00 USD based on the price of commodities (goods and services a typical household would need to purchase - food, shelter, clothing, etc.).

So, basically if you were to buy that same game today, and the price of games rose similarly to basic goods required to "live" we would have to pay over 200 USD for that game.

But as a matter of fact, games are far cheaper now, compared to basic necessities you have to buy to actually live, than they ever have been in the history of electronic gaming, yet people still complain about how expensive they are.

Amazing...

BTW - This is based on the value in USD or products and GDP in America. For example, if that was 88.88 British Pounds (I'm to lazy to look up the ASCII for the British Pound), then using the same cost adjustment it would be 186.00 British Pounds based on comparable products and GDP of the UK.

Regards,
SB

 

[wco81]

Now predict the pricing trend for the next generation. Will they be able to hold up the average or even increase it?

 

[Arwin]

Now predict the pricing trend for the next generation. Will they be able to hold up the average or even increase it?

No, and it won't be necessary. Digital distribution, service based gaming, and free to pay models have thrown that model wide open.

 

[sir doris]

Games are definately cheaper now than they used to be, especially when inflation is taken into account.

I seem to remember most new PS1 games selling for £39.99 or £49.99 around 1996 in places like Virgin Megastore and Game, while you could get things a bit cheaper from Special Reserve. Although the standout exception at trhe time was Porsche Challenge which Sony released at £29.99 or £34.99, although in hindsight wasn't a massive game and maybe not worthy of being full price.

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

I'm always amused at "the games are too expensive" discussions that keep popping up now and then. They're usually tied to the "developers should include all DLC in the main price of the game" and all other bits of typical consumer nonsense.

After all, who doesn't want something for less (nothing)?

Yet, then I look at the sales figures and the Modern Warfares and the COD's all selling like hotcakes (oh, and so are all their DLC packs), indy and XBLA games like Trials HD, Minecraft, Bastion, etc are also having no problems selling massive amounts of units.

So where is the problem? Where is the price of games putting downward pressure on sales? Is it that people are less willing to risk $60 on a new IP that may crash and burn although it sounds neat? Is there evidence of that? Of people not risking full price purchases on new IPs and waiting for sales or discounts?

I just don't see it. Games (as has been discussed) are actually less expensive than ever before, not more expensive. And games of all price points (as I mentioned above), be it AAA games that are still selling at full retail prices a year or more after release or Indy downloadable games that only cost the equivalent of a sandwich, coke and a bag of chips, are all doing well.

Provided that the games themselves are actually good.

I don't see a "Summer Hollywood Blockbuster" phenomenon happening in the video game industry. Where there's so many high quality movies to see that good, high quality, big budget movies simply get "missed" and swept aside because supply outstrips demand.

Good games get sales. Even at $60.00.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

So where is the problem? Where is the price of games putting downward pressure on sales? Is it that people are less willing to risk $60 on a new IP that may crash and burn although it sounds neat? Is there evidence of that?

An ASAP of <$40 probably counts somewhat as evidence for that.

 

[sir doris]

An ASAP of <$40 probably counts somewhat as evidence for that.

Where did that figure come from? does it include all the iPhone/ Android/ XBL Arcade/ casual PS3/ casual steam games too?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Where did that figure come from?

The OP. The mean average game price for the UK over the past 16 years was £23.37, which converts at current exchange rates to about $36. At that average, for each unit sold at $60 RRP, a game has to be sold for $20, or several need to be sold for <$40. That may not be exactly what RancidLunchmeat is getting at, and a game may yet be successful at a $60 launch price with continuous growth after the fact (eg. sales of Uncharted may be persistent at well under £20 as well as plenty of successful sales at £50 launch price), but the ASP is definitely something to consider. When you plough umpteen million into your game hoping for a million units sold, most copies may only sell at discount prices reducing the returns per unit that you may have anticipated for that million copies.

That said, I'm sure the publishers know the market very well and price accordingly. Once sold to retail, they don't care about ASP to consumers. That's a worry for the games retailers.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

That said, I'm sure the publishers know the market very well and price accordingly. Once sold to retail, they don't care about ASP to consumers. That's a worry for the games retailers.

Somewhat. The larger retailers will have buyback/reimbursement policies with the larger publishing houses. That way if a title tanks, the retailer isn't stuck with a choice of unmoveable inventory or taking a large loss.

That's also one of the reasons that makes it harder for smaller publishers and definitely independant developers to get their product onto store shelves in larger retailers. They can't afford to do something like that.

Regards,
SB

 

[ERP]

It's also why sometime esoteric titles don't sell well, even when from a large publisher.
Sales people at a publisher will not push product on a retailer that they don't think will sell, partly because of returns, but largely because the sales person has to sell the next title to the retailer and trust is a key part of the relationship.
The somewhat classic example of this is the original Dune2 PC, Virgin produced only 150K units lifetime (I might be misremembering that figure), as much because their sales staff didn't understand how to position the game and therefore didn't sell in very many units. After it released and had good word of mouth, about the only way to get the game was to pirate it.

 

[Billy Idol]

I paid 60 Euros for BF3 and 50 Euros for Premium DLC, that makes 110 Euros total for BF3....don't know what you gyus think, but for me that is not cheap!

PS3/XBox360 new games cost 70 Euros, without DLC...which is again not cheap!

This gen, games are expensive!