News

Kotick would "raise the prices" of games further if it was left to him
Posted: 07.08.2009 12:07 by Simon Priest Comments: 4
Acti Blizz man Bobby Kotick would be quite happy to send those price tags soaring if he was given the reins, luckily his executive fellows laughed away his response.

Whether Kotick was poking fun or not, videogame prices are expected to start rising no thanks to increased development costs and publishers scared of more economic woe.

"And then on the second question, Tony, on the pricing, we’ve had for all of our launch titles in the back half of this year, some of which contain peripherals, as you point out, very strong retailer acceptance and support for all parts of our plan, including our merchandising plans, our marketing programs, and our price points," replied Mike Griffith to an analysts question.

Bobby Kotick chips in: "And Tony, you know if it was left to me, I would raise the prices even further." It was then that the other executives chuckled, before pausing and moving on to another question during the Q2 earnings call Q&A.

Former SCEE man Chris Deering recently commented that publishers would need games priced at £70 in order to "support an industry" as strong as ten years ago. "But people just don’t have that kind of money, there’s a psychological glass ceiling," added Deering.

Are you a staunch supporter of the glass ceiling we have now, or are you willing to shell out some extra clams?



Source: Seeking Alpha

Comments

By melzerith (SI Core) on Aug 07, 2009
melzerith
I got a kick in the balls responce for this jackhole.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Aug 07, 2009
herodotus
And thery will jack the prices. They have what every gamer wants...and they'll make us pay!
By FoolWolf (SI Elite) on Aug 08, 2009
FoolWolf
Well, not what every gamer wants - because that is what the pirates are offering. Games for free, and when the legal alternatives are getting crappier - more shine and polish then depth and playability - fewer hours of gameplay due to developing costs due to first... - then we will see even more pirate business.

Come on - what is wrong with this fakking business? All that shine and the game is still not better then they were ten years ago? The playability and the score in most games haven't changed for the better - more often we see watered out shiny replicas of older games, but few can actually compare. They have to dumb them down to make them console friendly due to the lack of keys to bind for gameplay.
They have the console market that is just that - shine and shoe polish only and they have to be the number 1-10 or bust.

Indie gaming and small gaming houses will be able to compete even more if the price gets a real issue, as long as they have something for the brain to conquer except nice imagery with "shiny halo effects".
By BoneArc (SI Elite) on Aug 08, 2009
BoneArc
yea but we have to agree that Even when Pirated Games/programs are illegal they still Give us a 'Better' Deal then The Companies who make the game , They want us to pay and pay and even more paying until we got no more ....
Even The programs liek antivirus and such They want you to pay for Whole Version and they Give false alarms to you just for u to Pay ...... how gay is that ?