When there is news about another rise in the price of games from independent developers and third-party publishers in digital console stores, especially in the Russian region, users often rush to blame platform holders for the situation, believing what exactly Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft responsible for all pricing. However, it is not. In an interview with GameMAG.ru, this issue was commented on by a representative of one of the studios, which releases games on all platforms.
According to the interlocutor of GameMAG.ru, platform holders have no influence at all on prices for releases from independent studios and publishers.. They do not put forward any demands on partners. But there are some differences in their work.
For example, Nintendo asks its partners to immediately indicate the final cost of the game for users in the eShop.. For example, $ 60 in the United States. The creators of the console will keep 30% of the proceeds from each sale (this is what all platform holders do).
Sony, in turn, asks publishers to send it prices for games, excluding 30% of the collection from sales., and then, before opening a page in the PlayStation Store, it automatically adds its own commission of 30% to the publisher’s price.
Due to this division, game manufacturers sometimes get confused when setting prices.. They may forget (or not know at all, when it comes to new insufficiently informed employees) that the documents for Sony should indicate the cost of the product without taking into account 30% of the fee and instead prescribe the total (which buyers should see on the page), and then Sony automatically adds another 30% to it. The result – an atypically high wrong price tag appears in the store.
Sony has special instructions on pricing, but some just don’t read it and copy the same game price to all three console stores, which is wrong. And this happens not only with indie studios, but also with major publishers like Activision.
If we are talking about a game from a well-known manufacturer, users tend to make noise, and over time, the price tag returns to its previous level. Sometimes this happens only after a few days, since the publisher must contact Sony technical support and go through a long bureaucratic procedure to fix the error..
From time to time, of course, prices for games generally rise and no longer change – there are many reasons for this, and here it is no longer a matter of mistakes, but of the deliberate policy of third-party publishers.
A recent example of an error is in the PS Store for Crash Bandicoot 4 asked for almost 5 thousand rublesthen they reduced the price to 3,999 rubles.
An example of error-free boost – Electronic Arts asks for all its new games for 4,899 rubles.
The expert who spoke with GameMAG.ru also said that some companies charge too high the Switch ports of their old games, pursuing not only the desire to make more money on a very active and rich audience of the platform, but also to quickly get additional PR in eShop. The fact is that new items do not stay on the main page of the Nintendo store for a long time – there are a lot of games released, they quickly drown under the onslaught of other new releases, as a result of which it becomes more difficult for developers to reach potential buyers.
But within a month, the creators of the content have the right to make a discount on their game, which is guaranteed to allow it to light up on such a popular store tab, as “Current offers“If it continues to sell well, it’s also in.”Hit parades“. Some publishers and developers are very abusing this, especially greatly inflating the price tag at the start, in order to later make a discount and surprise users who are running to buy the game for stocks, regardless of quality and interest in it (the Steam sale effect works).
Curiously, just exactly a month after the release of the racing game Burnout paradise remastered received the first discount on Switch – from 3,499 rubles it fell to 2,799 rubles. It can already be seen in the “Current offers”.
On the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live, publishers have their own tricks too. For example, many of them specifically make easy achievements and platinum trophies, actively motivating achievement lovers to buy a product.
Read also: Game crash: The Last of Us: Part II for PlayStation 4 left the top 10 best-selling games in Japan.
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