Hell, I ain't never giving up playing PC games! The PC version is usually the first to drop in price. Take this for example: http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10112935&catid= vs http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10109741&catid= Now you tell me, why is the PC version so much cheaper than the PS3 or Xbox versions? They offer the same gameplay, and the same resolution. Yet months after the PC version drops in price, the console versions still try and rip people off. $60 and the new version is coming out in 3 months.
When it comes to the initial prices, the console manufacturers get royalties for every unit of software that is sold, so that is passed onto the consumers. No such costs apply for the PC as it is an open platform. That's fact, the rest of this post is speculation on my part. Price drops generally occur more quickly on PC for a variety of reasons. Lower sales of certain titles, easier piracy, and generally the pre-existing expectation on PC that titles will be cheaper. A few years into a consoles lifespan you will see titles getting cheaper more quickly as there are more games on the market already at lower prices. With there being none of the same discrete generation gaps in PC software it means that the PC is perpetually in that state where there is already a massive library of software available vying for a consumers attention.
Supply and demand too. Or at any rate, market effects. Console games are more expensive because console gamers will pay it.
Fixed. Anyway, for the real answer to your question, the answer is because God recognizes it as the superior platform, and rewards all who choose it with more games, better controls, and lower prices.
Exactly. Console gamers have not yet had experience of buying a game at 30 dollars, then play it on a weekly basis for YEARS, for FREE. They are used to paying 60 dollars for some piece of crap that will rot on their shelf after 2 weeks. PC games just have a lot more competition. Have you seen how many people still play starcraft and the original counter-strike on a DAILY BASIS? Starcraft is 11 fucking years old, and it still has a big playerbase. Even people who don't play it regularly, like myself, still install it every few months and get back into it for a week or two. Very very few console gamers are busting out their original NES to play old classics on a regular basis. On PC, the game developers have to compete for a players time against ALL the great PC games since essentially back to win95, all those games still work. And, because all those old games are internet based, you can still find people to play with easily. I really think that the lower prices on the PC are due to the excellent caliber of a subset of outstanding games (that are multiplayer, so they keep their replay value indefinitely). And, secondly, low costs/pricing from direct-download services like Steam or Impulse also serve to drive down costs.
Console manufacturers lose money producing their systems, despite their exorbitant retail prices: prime example, the PS3. That money has to be made up in game sales. Like Bailey said, the console producers get a cut on every copy of game sold.
According to Gamasutra it averages out to roughly $8 per disc, and that is paid when the game is first pressed. In addition to that there are a whole heap of other costs related to QA compliance, submissions, etc that don't apply or are vastly reduced on PC. http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21881
Also keep in mind that, while I'm not sure about the PS3 policy, on the Xbox, your license includes one title update - anything more, and you'll be paying for an entirely new round of QA testing. It's a damn good way to encourage properly coded titles and strong, worthwhile updates, but if a showstopper becomes apparent, it can become very costly, very quickly. Additionally, on the PC side, many hardware manufacturers will pay a company to 'target' performance to their hardware or to advertise the game with the hardware (for example, I just saw an ad for Intel processors featuring the new Ghostbusters game). Creative used to eat that shit up after sound cards became commodity hardware in an effort to maintain relevance.
Bullcrap. I've got my original NES still but I'm part of a tiny minority of people who even HAVE the old consoles, and I don't really ever use them. The "general" console game consumer sells his/her console at gamestop whenever the new one comes out (and gets ripped off), and does the same with their games after a few months. I don't deny that there are people who play the old games now and then but they aren't common at all. And I bet that most people would say "yeah I'd love to play those old games again", but they just don't do it, because they got rid of them a long time ago. There's a big difference between liking the idea of it and actually doing it. I don't know hardly anyone who even has the old consoles, and those that do pretty much just have them in some closet somewhere.
Hell, there are still a few thousand people playing ET.....which was released for free in 2001, IIRC. PC is just better....hands down.
Maybe I just run with a weird crowd, but I know half a dozen people with NES and/or SNES plugged in right now. (I haven't gotten set up here yet, but I usually have my NES, SNES and 64 all plugged up... then again, those are my only consoles) Duck Hunt tournaments were a weekly event at my old apartment. To this day I still run through Crono Trigger, Earthbound and FF 2&3 about once a year.
Ok, compare those 6 people to the number of people you know who play console games. Now compare that to the 100% of PC users who can play their old PC games.
Take away WF and my list of people that own current consoles drops to less than the six (and those six are all RL, not WF either). Now, I'm sure there are people that I interact with that have newer consoles. But no one that I'm friends with, or have seen their system.
So are you just being obstinate or do you REALLY think that there is a % of console gamers anywhere NEAR 100% (say within 50% even) that still play 10 year old console games on a regular basis? Anyway, back on thread topic, another reason PC games are cheaper which I don't think anyone mentioned are all the great freebies out there. Buying a game like half life gives access to dozens of free community mods.
Staying off topic... I don't have numbers, but I suspect there are a large number of people still playing some old PS2 games which are getting into the 10 year old group. Considering the PS2 is still selling strong, I don't think my suspicion is implausible. What about re-releases? Any of the Nintendo Classics that were released for the GBA- were those considered "new" games? (I think this discussion is far more interesting than one we know the answer to)
For the record, I do not know anyone who still has their SNES or other old console out. I know a lot of people with a PS2 that haven't made the switch to a PS3 though. The ones with a PS3 still play old games, only they download them from the PS Network.
My brother has a PS1 or PS2 thing downstairs with "classic"-type games. A few old Final Fantasy titles, a few others. That's it for us for consoles.
