News

THQ: Industry moving away from $60 boxed retail games
Posted: 28.07.2012 20:42 by JonahFalcon Comments: 5
Troubled publisher THQ's president Jason Rubin is stating that the console videogame industry is moving way from $60 retail games, and will join the PC platform in favoring digital distribution.


According to Rubin, "As time progresses, the entire industry will move closer to what we see in the PC model emerging now, which is a lot of different-sized games and different types of games that all get a place in the sun because you can buy things that aren't $60 boxed goods."

He stated that only AAA-titles could truly compete in the retail space.

"In general, how do you succeed with games that aren't Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, and Assassin's Creed," he asked. "The way the industry has been set up with all titles selling for roughly the same price at retail next to each other is that there's been a race to make the biggest, baddest-ass game. If you walk into a store as a gamer and see a massive $120 million dollar game next to a $30 million dollar game, and a $80 million marketing budget backed that $120 million game up, it's likely you’re going to pull that one off the shelf."

Rubin did state that THQ could compete with a "Naughty Dog-sized" game, that is a game just less than AAA, which is what Saints Row would be for THQ.
Source: GameSpot

Comments

By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Jul 28, 2012
herodotus
I'm not so certain Rubin's cynicism about the gamer's purchasing criteria is as general as he might think. Today, with many a country's retail industry suffering under the global financial recession, job-cuts and tightening disposable cash limits, gamers are more discerning than ever. They just might NOT pick up that $120m game if they've done their research and not bought it on pre-order or launch.
Besides, what happens if this all does go digital and yet we still face the same prices for a digital product as retail as we do here? I can walk into JB HI-FI and buy a retail boxed game for $60 now that on the DD sites is selling for $80-90. Carzy!
By danfreeman (SI Core) on Jul 28, 2012
danfreeman
i know hero,even here in Romania we have this problem,i bought skyrim at 60 dollars on steam only to see later that the boxed version was cheaper,this really pissed me off.

One of the big selling points of buying digital is that it`s cheaper than retail,well i`d like to see in what country this apllies so i can move there.
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Jul 29, 2012
SirRoderick
Carzy indeed hero, carzy indeed.
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Jul 29, 2012
nocutius
Steam is not really cheap, outside of promotions and occasional impulsive purchases I rarely buy anything directly from them.

This could be even a bigger problem for consoles since their market is even more rigidly controlled.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Jul 29, 2012
herodotus
Don't get me started on Steam, those back room dealing bumf#@k's. They're only good for Sales, though it still behoves the gamer to shop around even then.
It's a shame many games I'm interested in have exclusive deals with Steam, but then with GMG and GetGaming Steam prices can usually avoided.