Microsoft Defends Games on Demand Pricing and Staggered Releases

162
Lee Bradley

Microsoft has moved to defend its current Games on Demand strategy, which sees titles released for download at full retail price, six months after they hit stores.

After that period of time games are often heavily reduced at retail, yet Games on Demand offers no such reduction. As a result, many gamers dislike the model, as they feel it does not provide value.

The staggered approach to digital releases also means that Xbox is out of step with PlayStation, which is now offering simultaneous digital releases on launch day. 

Microsoft, however, point to the popularity of the Games on Demand service as evidence that it works. It’s a profitable model, so they see no need to change it.

Xbox Live UK product manager Pav Bhardwaj said, "It comes down to choice. The customer has the choice of going to retail on day one if they really want to buy a particular title, or to wait a couple of months and buy it full price from the Xbox Live marketplace.

"It's a successful part of our business, we're very pleased with the growth and it continues to do really well. Clearly there's an audience out there who are happy to purchase a product at full ERP six or so months after [its retail release].

"We don't do Games on Demand on day one, we focus on boxed retail for day one. That's where our focus has always been and will remain that way for the foreseeable future," he said.

"It's a successful model, so why change something you don't need to?"

[via MCV]

Comments
162
  • People are stupid enough to think they are not being ripped off? Either this or MS are lying.
  • Rip-off cunts
  • It's bullshit. They're greedy fucking assholes. Not to mention when you buy a game that needs an Online Pass, you STILL have to pay an additional $10 to get the pass...yet buying a new REAL copy gives you one. Pretty fucked.
  • No reason for them to lie really - if mugs keep buying overpriced 6-months old games, MS will be more than happy to sell them to them.
  • Yeah why change your overpriced games on demand policy when u be able to milk some poor gamers that actualy fall for that trick ;) Fact is and stays that the same game you can buy on games on demand, you can by in your favorite gamestore used and its most likely 10 bucks cheaper then the on demand version, plus no need to mention that now you own a full retail version with box and dvd and manual, instead of just having the game on your HDD. Example? Battlefield Bad Company: games on demand in europe: 20 euro,s rougly, same game in used condition in gamestore: 10 euro,s Now tell me Microsoft why would i buy your overpriced games on demand when i can get them cheaper used!? ;)
  • They dont want to change it because they're eventually going to switch all releases to digital download anyway, so why set a precedent for cheaper games Think its good for exclusives,like RE4 and can kinda see how its not so bad for relatively new releases, kinda, but they need to do something about charging £20 for 5/6 year old games
  • MS has never been in touch with the community, their mentality is too busy milking cows. Go sit around the table with Steam, then talk again.
  • Some games are $120 in Australia when most retailers release new games at $80 or even $70 (such as Gears 3) on launch day. Add to the fact that half the people with a console don't even go online (those are most likely the people who are willing to pay the full price anyway). It is the same reason why GFWL barely gets any new games when developers are going to steam because people are not satisfied with the service and prices.
  • They wont change their games on demand, because it too much of a cash generator, a bit like the government wont get rid of speed cameras
  • I hope in the next generation there will be the ability for other stores to other download codes for full retail games, then it will show Microsoft that at the end of the day money talks. I can easily buy a game in a shop for £20 on impulse, but due to the terrible Microsoft points system impulse I personally never make impulse purchases online.
  • "It's a successful model, so why change something you don't need to?" Yeah ripping off your customer is always successful WHAT A DICK !
  • I probly not have to mention to my fellow gamers that this will actualy be the future of gaming when you listen to the rumours Microsoft and Sony spreading that on next-gen consoles they might consider the digital download for each new game, that means in short you are forced to buy your new games directly from their overpriced service, well if thats the case alot of gamers will reconsider PC gaming and return to just that because STEAM uses a different tactic and has def a better price tag on their games not to mention they actualy care about their community and costumers.
  • So basically they use "convenience" as a cover story for taking advantage of consumers. I imagine Microsoft sleeps well at night. The money they make off uninformed consumers must buy really comfortable beds.
  • Weird lack of figures here, whilst i have no doubt they must make a considerable profit from the current pricing scheme surely the sales figures can't be great as i didn't think the service was particularly popular. I'm also unsure exactly how releasing the games digitally on release would have any negative impact?
  • The digital copies should be cheaper just like most ebooks are cheaper than physical books.
  • I'm not sure but I believe it is successful and profitable for them? I don't think it was said enough by Microsoft.
  • The prices for Games on Demand are unrealistic, so I don't buy them. Not sure what all the hostility is for.
  • If you lower the prices more people will buy meaning a bigger profit for you. TBH though arcade games do follow a certain trend, with rarely going down in price, for stuff on there for 800MSP that has been on for years, and nobody complains about that, so maybe M$ are right. Is it people just moaning cos they want to spend less money?
  • #4 is right. If people keep buying them, they will keep selling them as is... Pretty simple concept.
  • Like #15 just pointed it. Your pay more for less. Seen as its digital it should be cheaper as there are zero production costs involved as you dont need to make cases and instruction manuals for the games.
  • People before profits. I wish.
  • @ 19 the prices are slowly creeping up on xbl arcade as well, games used to be released and they were 800MS at most now they are 1200MS with some even costing 1600MS its just greed.
  • #4 has nailed it. Don't like it? Vote with your feet. You can find these games in the bargain bin by the time they are on GOD, so go to the store and get them there. Simple solution. You may not like MS's attitude towards it, but it's not like GOD is your only option.
  • Eh I don't know. I found it's good to get games that are hard to find here, like Blazblu and Earth Defence Force, and also their cheapest ones are generally the same price as their disc versions. Also, seeing CoD up there for $70 NZD is actually rather shocking.
  • Have never bought and will never buy from GOD. They are usually triple the price of a brand new game from Amazon. How this is successful god only knows. Perhaps it's because there is very little cost in the download hosting so each sale generates a large profit.
  • Steam have way better deals, daily deals, mid-week and weekend deals. Microsoft are happy with "Lets put modern warfare 3 on deal of the week and nothing else, thats variety"
  • It wouldnt be half bad if the games were released everywhere but as usual we get fucked over ie Jurassic Park is US only and cant get it here in the UK (not even through my US acc which works with the US only xbla titles)
  • "We don't do Games on Demand on day one, we focus on boxed retail for day one. That's where our focus has always been and will remain that way for the foreseeable future," he said. could this mean that the new xbox will have a drive on it :P
  • It works, until we find it for 1/5th of the price, pre-owned. But then again, it's more reason for them to want to block pre-owned games next gen. Sorry, but a game that was released when the Xbox was released (like King Kong) still should not have a 20 dollar price tag. http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/Product/King-Kong/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802555307d3 (Yes, it really is 20 dollars.)
  • They don't even come with the online passes and shit. So you have to pay extra for stuff that comes as standard in the box. For less
  • Simple - Dont get a game from the demand service
  • starting to get really annoyed with Money ppl in games ,other day with the crytek comments and now this ,it like they think we are a unlimited cash cow money or something,all they understand is how to rip ppl off ,kill the games industry so they can maximise there profits,not happy with all there attitude at all.
  • So pay the same amount as new even though it ain't new... Then you also don't have the case disc that cost money weather it's 1 or 2 dollars. Then you have to waste hard drive space to get the game... People should go to retail store and microsoft needs to stop being greedy dickheads. .
  • Keep in mind many of the prices are set by the publishers, but I have seen some cases where older, more hard to find games are cheaper on demand than in stores, so its a give and take.
  • Why change it? Well, you would get more digital downloads if u brought out the digital copy the same day as retail, and probably even more if you reduce the price at the same time as retail. That's why change it, some people can't make it to the shops on day of release due to working and don't then want to wait another day to get their hands on it. So why not make digital copies release the same time as retail? Or even better put them up at midnight so people won't have to que in the freezing cold for hrs on end for a release. Some people would prefer this method, I for one don't, I'd rather have a disk than space taken up on my hard drive but others might not be as bothered. I could carry on ranting but I think I've made my point clear. Compete with your rivals and follow suit or do one better.
  • The joke is on them you can give full games to 2 friends and split the money.
  • "The customer has the choice of going to retail on day one if they really want to buy a particular title, or to wait a couple of months and buy it full price from the Xbox Live marketplace." This could be the most retarded thing i've read, why would you wait a few months and buy it for the same price.
  • Only times I did used their games on Demand was for Tales of Vesperia and Bayonnata. I couldn't find Tales at any stores near me and Bay was because I was bored and I had the points at the time.
  • Even his arguement sounded stupid you can buy full price on day 1 at retail or wait a few months and pay full price on demand, doent take a rocketscientist to see what the better deal is. Only thing i have ever gotten off demand was resi 4 due to there being no other option, it is good they give the msp option tho. Why dont they try a few titles at good competative price when they release them i bet they would seel a tonne more.
  • Would it not be in Developers/Publishers favour to have games released on GoD on release day? Sure, it would mean a helluva lot of traffic on MS' servers if thousands of people are downloading 6Gig of game at the same time but it means they don't have to pay for the packaging and shipping to a store, and eliminates the possibility of a pre-owned sale outside someone selling their actual console or Tag. I dislike GoD, but I expect it will be the way the system is going. It is ridiculously expensive. MW3 just went up for £30 and I only paid £34.99 or something on release day. You can get it easily cheaper, surely there isn't that big a market for people who want it now and can't wait the 2 or 3 days for an online store to ship it?
  • The only games I've bought from Games on Demand were the HD Resident Evils for £15. Everything is beyond over priced that I can go into town to find a copy or just order online. The only game I've come close to getting is Prototype as it's £14.99 on there right now.
  • I will never pay £40 for games on demand game, maybe £20 but at the end of day I prefer a hard copy of my games.
  • Wow there are some really daft people out there then. If this really is the case, why should microsoft change the model. Heh
  • If you don't wanna use the service,simply don't. Why waste your time moaning here about it.I for one wouldn't change my buisness model if I was making money from it,that wouldn't make sense.why make 10 quid if you can make 20.i really don't understand why people slag off ms yet use the service they provide.perhaps you should get a ps3 or Wii or something
  • The only place I buy downloaded games are from steam ms need to look Ther for inspiration
  • "Clearly there's an audience out there who are happy to purchase a product at full ERP six or so months after [its retail release]." Basically "there are people willingly buy overpriced late releases and we're happy to take full advantage (and laugh in the process)". In a way though good on them. If people are stupid enough to fork out cash when there is CLEARLY a better option - let them. I doubt a lot of people wouldn't do the same in Microsoft's positions (it's hardly stealing or dishonest). Easy profit
  • Microsoft's stubborn stance will cost them dear indeed. Had they used their brains and strategically reduced prices of games in demand, then "word of mouth" would play a huge part in getting them MORE SALES AND REVENUE. But OH NO! Microsoft doesn't want to make it easier for itself. Instead, they've gone for the pockets of customers and this can only be a bad thing. On a side note, if the Xbox 720 does indeed block used games and the PS4 "DOESN'T" then I can honestly say that Microsoft's days are well and truly over. Greed can only get you so far ppl. R.I.P. Microsoft.
  • "It's a successful model, so why change something you don't need to?" Are you fucking kidding me? Im so sick of Microsoft, what about the old xbox 360 dashboard, that didnt need fixing... AT ALL! but they "fixed" it anyway. I dunno who the hell their stupid audience is who buys full retail priced digital games, but clearly they arent peopler who play video games the most. Shouldnt they be catering for their main audience? I hope everyone understands that they only do this to get more money out of pre order purchases. Why else would they not have discounted digital games? Clearly they need to rethink their business strategy if this bullshit is the best they can think of, why not at least cut the prices of 5+ year old games...guess how much viva pinata is to download...$30 FUCKING THIRTY BUCKS!!!! I bought that game 3 years ago for $4 Fuck you microsoft I love you're console bit this is horseshit /rant
  • you pay for the privilege of buying a game from your sofa,, and get it there and then!! it'd cost me 10 quid in fuel/train ticket to go to town anyways,, then pay for parking n food.. so that 20 quid game turns into 35+ online shopping is the way foward!! but sometimes the 5 day waits n risks of losing your game in the post is abit shit but if you dont like games on demand, dont use it!! lol
  • As much as I dislike their pricing, they have a point. If people are prepared to pay, they'll keep charging. Me? Not paying £15 for a digital copy when I can get it for a fiver on disc.
  • Why all the hating, if you dont like the prices on the marketplace then don't buy it. Ebay is awesome for getting cheap games and the 2 for £20 deals are common these days. Still prefer Ebay :D
  • Simply put, as long as they're making all the money, they don't care how shitty the service is. Typical Microsoft.
  • @22 - To be fair games have gotten to be more and more complex and larger in content than when many of the earlier Arcade games (particularly given that size restrictions have been relaxed. Granted there are still obviously games that are overpriced though (and ESPECIALLY DLC which has gotten ridiculous). It's one thing to cash in on games that are available elsewhere for a cheaper price, but for content that had it's price determined solely by Microsoft and generally not available except on Live - THAT deserves criticism.
  • That's a shame, I was hoping they were heading towards Day 1 GoD releases....
  • So wii all know that games fall in price after release day and can be bought much cheaper months later. So why are people whinging about MS's prices? YOUR NOT FORCED TO BUY.......
  • In the early days a digital model was supposed to be cheaper as it cut out the stores and the need for a physical product such as the box, manual and dvd/bluray. As many predicted though this didnt turn out to be the case with the publishers greed charging full RRP(which no retail outlet actually charges anyhow) and people buying them anyhow. Sadly the seeds have been sown now anyone who in those early days bought a Game on demand as it confirmed to MS that the model worked. Ultimatly this will mean when we do go on to a full digital distrubution platform ( possible generation after next), we will all get screwed.
  • i've bought a few older games recently on GoD, quite like having the convenience of switching games without having to get up of my arse. i'd buy more if the price dropped in line with retail tho, but the fact that some launch xbla games are still at launch price, some 7 years after launch, is pretty staggering, so not surprised they've come out and said this.
  • I say let the retards pay full price for a game you can get for less than half the price in sales with dlc codes too. I'll keep on buying at retail and then always added bonus of selling on once finished.
  • So you get rid of the physical packaging and the price stays the same ...fuck off Microsoft you money grabbing cunts
  • The problem unfortunately is not microsoft here...its the morons that keep buying the games at these prices, if you have internet to download the games then you have internet to do a quick search to see how much your being ripped off for. They're never going to reduce the prices aslong as there is some twat somewhere that keeps buying it, it's business rule #1 supply and demand...wanna do something about it, STOP BUYING THE OVERPRICED SHIT!.....Simples :)
  • I really lose faith in humanity/my fellow gamers everytime I read how much of a success GoD and Avatar Marketplace is. Can't believe and comprehend news like these. People must be really stupid and/or lazy.
  • Thing is, they didn't release Halo Reach at it's full retail. Instead of costing £40 they charged £50. Can't believe that people would pay for that.
  • I'd love to see some sales figured for the GOD service from Microsoft. Personally I don't know anyone who's ever used it, and judging from the comments on here, the few people that have have only done so when desperate for a game they can't get elsewhere. Even if you ignore pre-owned games, you can still get brand new copies of games way cheaper by shopping around in game stores and online. As has been mentioned in other comments, in other forms of digital entertainment (e.g. e-books, mp3 music) the lack of owning a physical product is offset by paying a cheaper price. That model should be applied to games too
  • This will become even worse if the used game market is removed, and digital distribution becomes the sole method of purchase, at least on the consoles anyway.
  • Considering you get nothing physical with a digital download, the prices really should be cheaper. If they sold games on release day with a slight discount, then they would really make some money.
  • sadly when the new console comes out and all those discs are supposedly console locked to one console this argument will be obsolete and digital downloads will take over. the only time i ever used the games on demand service is for games that cost way more for a physical re-release. tales of vesperia is really hard to find a boxed version for, even online and will set back about 60 quid. deathsmiles2 never had a physical release outside of japan. i really hoped the games on demand market would be used for titles we couldn't pick up cheaper in store. if people are honestly paying full price for something they could pick up new even for half the price then they deserve to be ripped off. they're clearly targeting a parent audience who don't know much about games and think it's easier to buy them off the console for their kids. or people who live in really rural parts of the world without access to a retail store and don't like buying online. the games industry is doing its best to put preowned wholesalers out of buisness anyway v.v; it's clear their gameplan here.
  • "It comes down to choice. The customer has the choice of going to retail on day one if they really want to buy a particular title, or to wait a couple of months and buy it full price from the Xbox Live marketplace." Wow, the way he puts it such a turn off haha. I agree with others if people are that damn lazy, unwilling, or stupid to not get a hard copy at a reduced price after so long they deserve to pay more. I believe him when they say it works as if it didn't you probably would see them with cheaper prices to compete with used games and marked down new copies. Can't believe people are that willing to get ripped off but whatever.
  • If i didn't buy it full price launch day then i wont 6 months later from games on demand, so far the only full title i have bought from them is the original crysis.
  • Only the people who dont care about money, or have a lot of it probably use it. I dont see the point, takes up far too much space on your harddrive, rather save that space for XBLA. Price is terrible as you can always find them sooo much cheaper, you cant trade them in, sell them etc So in years to come when you got the next gen console and you've kept the same gamertag but need room, all those games on demand u paid for, be useless.
  • "Xbox Live UK product manager Pav Bhardwaj said, "It comes down to choice. The customer has the choice of going to retail on day one if they really want to buy a particular title, or to wait a couple of months and buy it full price from the Xbox Live marketplace." the point pav is the expericance. buy it retail when it comes out theres still a online part thats active, buy it a few months later the online is dead and if its EA then you wont have an online. as for pricing, it should decrease by age. no one is going to buy king kong for example for 15-20-25-30-35-40 quid cause its too old, go to a retailer and pick it up for 1 quid (thank you gamestation). you dont get a disk, a box, a manual so the costs should be way lower than retailers to make it a so called success and im guessing most of the success is from PC games.
  • Are you all quite finished?
  • The only time I've resorted to GoD is for very old games that are very difficult to find new for reasonable prices. For example, if you wanted to buy a new copy of C&C3 Kane's Wrath now, the cheapest new copy on amazon is £32, double the price of GoD. Fortunately I bought it over a year ago, when a new copy cost me only £10. But that's just an example of what can happen with prices. They drop, but then a point comes where they start to increase in value again because of obscurity.
  • i bought gta4 on GOD i also have a few other titles that i found hard to get like tales of vesperia and eternal sonata i found them to be decent value but as fot the new release titles lol no chance youd want to be stupid to pay those prices some of the games are even more expensive then there retail versions iys a joke
  • I paid £40 for mw3 on release with 2400 points... How can they call this a deal when I paid so little for the disk on release if you include value of the points. How can they call this a deal?
  • 29.99 on demand, plus have to wait for it to download..... Or 9.99 new/or used if i go down the street to the store. Math is fun.
  • There are times that I look at the games on demand and everytime I do I think I might as well make the trip to the store and save some money. Then I can trade it in after I finish or get bored of the game (Which happens alot). So I am not too sure about their "model" and the future next gen that is reported to be only download or locks a disk to an Xbox.
  • "It's a successful model, why change if you don't need to?" Well by that same statement then, new games still sell, so why moan about preowned? Bit contradictory...? Greed. End of.
  • And that's why i buy most games used because of this practice...
  • This is why I don't think all digital releases will be cheaper than boxed games. Even though they don't have to spend the money to box them, they're going to charge the full price anyway.
  • The more people that buy games on demand, the longer they'll keep up this practice. Its why I won't be buying Minecraft for arcade. The prices keep going up, people keep buying, they keep raising prices. Publishers are also to blame for this practice. Case in point: The game Catherine, which came out last year, stayed at full retail price until about January. The price, at RETAIL, is still around $40. The price in Games on Demand is $40. Yet, a game like Portal2 dropped in price just a mere 2 weeks after release. As long as people keep paying the price, they keep charging the price.
  • @18 and others saying drop prices so more buy, increasing revenue. Microsoft is a multi billion dollar company with one of the most successful business models of the past 30 years, I'm pretty sure they know how to better maximize their profit. I.E. Each game has a cost (let's assume $20 for ease) that microsoft has to pay (hosting,royalties,etc..) If that game sells for $60 that's a $40 profit. If they were to drop the price in half to $30, they only have a $10 profit and would have to sell 4x more copies to make the SAME profit. To me it seems pretty reasonable that they are not going to sell that significantly more copies of a game to make up the difference.
  • Games on Demand are so expensive compared to the pre-owned versions, not so much a new version though. Yet you can't trade them in. I think Arcade games are well priced though, Trials Evo for £10, Fez for £6.50 .. yes please. Someone said Minecraft is cheaper on 360 than PC and you get split-screen, not that the game interests me much. Hopefully it won't sell very well though and they'll stay at 1200msp for a little while longer.
  • I hate GonD.. if I buy I game then I want to have something in my hands, a disc and a box. Maybe I am just oldschool.. oh well.
  • Keyword ''It's a profitable model'' which means, as long as they're making money, they're not going to change anything.
  • @ 63 - GoD can be very handy for games that are hard to come by. Where I'm from, I've never even seen a copy of Tales of Vesperia yet it is on GoD. Amazon quotes start at £46.99 and ebay is roughly the same. So the £20 or £30 it is on GoD isn't actually wholly unreasonable. Hell, it's actually going to allow me to buy it as I refuse to pay £45+ for it. That said, that is pretty much an anomoly within the whole thing. Most games would certainly not fall into that category.
  • Games on Demand is actually a pretty cool feature and so far the prices have been decent. The only games that are overcharged at Halo and COD.
  • All you have to do is be smart with your purchases. I have bought quite a few On Demand releases and the most I ever spent was $30 on Red Dead and NFS: Hot Pursuit. I got all 3 Dead Rising for no more than $20 a pop (and OTR is about $17 locally, so the saving is minimal). Mini Ninjas is the same story as is GTA IV. NFS: Most Wanted is also surprisingly expensive to buy in a store, so you save little. I could've saved $5 on Bulletstorm over what it was On Demand. I would never spend full price on a game on Demand, but I will hit that monthly reduced listing with a passion.
  • games on demand isn't that bad as it is so easy to buy a game through your console, although the only 2 i have i bought when they were on offer and were actually cheaper at the time however one was battlefield: bad company 2, which dropped even cheaper in the shops about a week later.
  • The big issue a lot of people here seem to be missing is that the next xbox may well be download only, and it appears M$ has no intention of changing its pricing model ...so no, if it is download only you won't have any option at all then
  • Yet another reason why i'll never go digital for full games, Once everything goes down that route i'll put down my joypad for good.
  • Didn't Halo Reach take about a year to come on GoD? I got that delivered the day before release for £28.... Maybe I should have waited that year and paid £50 and just downloaded it
  • There are some good profitable games as such Rock Band 3 (£15) and Halo Reach when it was £10 other than that prices of cod 4 etc? Al stick to going to my shop and buying it for a 5er or order online for less :/ Idiots ms
  • I've never spend $60 on a game on demand game. I bought a couple of games for $20 and Alan Wake for $40, but that was it.
  • you would be an absolute tard to pay full price for a game you could never sell back for any money!
  • I love reading all the comments how Microsoft are money hungry and out of touch with the community. I have had a very differnt experience with them I guess. If I have ever had a problem it has never cost me a dime and it was always fixed promptly. One example is with Live and especially when the price went up to $60 a year. I called Microsoft and come to find out if people will take 5 mins out of their day they would never pay that much. For the last 2.5 years I have only paied $83 for live. I think that's great customer service/deals.
  • MS are lying cunts
  • Ok, that's great and all Microsoft...now think about how much MORE sales you could have if the releases were cheaper. Fine, 6 months out you release the title...at least lower the price. It's the age old tactic - when something sells for less, more people buy...PROFIT!
  • GAMES ON DEMAND = RIP OFF, unless you live in antartica or the deep jungle (with internet of course), no printing cost's, no disc production cost's, no plastic casing cost's, yet still full retail release pricing 6 to 12 months after the games where released, be smart people think before you buy...or these money hungry turds will never stop, that goes for you to EA SPORTS WITH YOUR DLC. THEY PREY ON THE WEAK! ARE YOU WEAK? THAT IS ALL.
  • G.O.D is a good idea but way overpriced! i can goto the store/online & get the games cheaper. G.O.D.,xbla & all the other media MS throws at us. is all overpriced! i can buy ps3 stuff cheaper too. MS says its points are the same dollar value as psn. but its not. people need to make a statement to MS by not supporting crap like this! i noticed xbla shifted to 1200pts being standard. now looks like 1600pts will be standard too. i hope people wake up & bring down prices instead of raising them.
  • I think gauging from the feedback on here that there may be one or two untruths flying around. I certain wouldn't dream of paying full price for a 6 month old game in store let alone online. Having just traded Forza 4 and Saints Row for £40.00 which I put towards 2 new games I would say on demand is even less appealing, so thanks but no thanks Microsoft.
  • They'll change their tune when they see how successful it will be for the Wii U.
  • Let me get this straight: People HATE the idea of going digital only. Microsoft is charging WAY too much for digital copies 6 months after games come out, causing most people to buy RETAIL versions. And the same people who HATE the idea of things going digital only also HATE Microsoft for charging too much for digital content and encouraging people to buy retail. You people fucking amaze me sometimes, you know that? Full price 6 months after launch isn't a ripoff. Full price on sports games from 2010 and older? Yes. 6 months after launch most games still charge $60 retail, and those that don't are only slightly discounted. $60 for the download saves a person a trip, and - believe it or not - NOT EVERYONE likes physical copies that they have to find somewhere to store. Sure, used games cost less. But used games will always cost less and will NEVER give money to the developers. No one is forced to use GoD, but those that do obviously don't care about the price. A small portion of them probably don't know any better, but the majority who buy GoD do it for the convenience/developer's benefit/on impulse. That's what it is designed to do. tl;dr If the prices are too high, stop buying from them. Why do you care? Overpriced digital content makes retail look better, arguing against going digital only.
  • Nevermind the fact that 99.9% of the people calling them "rip-off artists" would do the same thing in their position. People make things and provide services to make a profit. Lets say you create a product for $10. Would you charge $11 for it even though 95% of the people out there would pay you $40 for it? No, you sure as fuck wouldn't -_- You'd charge $40, take the profit home and buy yourself a new fucking car and a house. Stop being hypocrites. Sure, 95% of xbox users probably buy retail. But there is literally NO OVERHEAD for providing GoD. It's not costing them anything to offer at those prices, so why would they lower them? People say that lower prices = more sales, but that's not true. Dropping a game $20 doesn't automatically mean you'll sell enough copies to make up the lost profit. And REGARDLESS of how old a game is, developers/retailers will almost never charge less than $20 for a new game. They just don't drop below that point before they are pulled off shelves (obviously a few exceptions apply, as with everything). There's no reason to think the GoD is going to be any different.
  • I can understand "why change something that works." But why is it that I can buy Alan Wake for $10 from walmart, but I have to spend $40 to get it on demand?
  • Oh well, I'm just not stupid and buy either on release or 2nd hand. Silly sods who pay full retail on demand have no one to blame but themselves.
  • As much as I like the Xbox I hate microsoft and its practices. Wouldn't mind it losing to the next Playstation to put them in their place. I'm sure their pricing and policies are what keeps wp7 from gaining more of a marketshare than it has.
  • I bought 3 games off of it after doing research. Resident Evil Code Veronica, which wasnt a Game you could buy physically. And Spyro and Crash of the titans which are hard to find and go for 34.99 to 50 at specialty stores. So 19.99 wasnt to bad. But I agree with a lot of people. But they have been dropping a lot of arcade games and GOD. Some of them need to be dropped faster then others. And what ever happened to the special every once in awhile games that were free for a limited time? Like Carcassone, Undertow, and Texas Hold'em? There were a few others in the early days of the 360
  • Everyone, one key reason they do this is to keep the retailers happy. If they sell for the same price or cheaper, then they irritate the retailers. The irate retailers might stop selling their games or putting them up front and center. Microsoft is not trying to step into the retail market - at least not directly. If they lose retailers that affects almost their entire business (OS, Office, Xbox games, etc.). So why would they want to do that. They want happy retailers and you don't make happy retailers by under cutting their profits and/or pricing. They want to offer digital downloads, but they (at least for now) don't want that to be the primary sales strategy. They want you to go to the retailer, go to midnight launches, buy the Collector's or Special or Limited Editions. The retailers by having sales and showing the product in their stores - do marketing/advertising for Microsoft and that is a good thing for them. Why would Microsoft want to kill all that? If they had competitive or cheaper pricing for digital downloads they would lose all that - and that would just be a dumb thing to do - it would not bring more money in and in fact would bring less money in. The retailers are "friends" of Microsoft, why do you want them to piss off their "friends".
  • Microsoft are just too damn greedy. i love xbox 360 and the games that come out for it, prices for games come down really quickly after launch these days,within a month u can get a game for 25-50% cheaper now. but with regards to on demand games - There is obviously a huge amount of idiots out there, rich kids who demand rich mummy and daddy to buy them cause they cant be bothered to go to the shop and buy them and just plain lazy fucks who dont want to move there fat ass from the couch. its people liek this who microsoft are making big fat profits from. u can buy most games online for less than 50% of the RRP these days. Only a complete idiot would buy from games on demand. But if people continue to buy them, microsoft is happy to make your money!!
  • Edit: i meant , microsoft is happy to take your money! lol
  • There are a few good deals on there like tales of vesperia. there are also games like resident evil HD that you can only get from GoD so if you don't pay you can't get the game.
  • They need to make it where if you buy a Game on Demand than you should get all the dlc for that game if they came out with a new disc version with all the dlc later down the road. I bought The force unleashed on the dash and the dlc is still super expensive.
  • @82 Dont say that. I want other people to play with. Just because you dont like it and/or cant afford it doesnt mean it should do bad. The price isnt going to change no matter what.
  • All this proves is how lazy we are, and that they know there will be people that use it. I've bought Mass Effect from it, but I feel ME1 was worht the $20 tag I paid
  • Just proves people need to stop buying games on demand at ridiculous prices! Use some common sense before making your purchase people!
  • Great logic!...they can either sell 1 unit for $60, or sell 3 or 4+ for $40 and make a significant profit. That nob also left out our 3rd or 4th choice of waiting and buying it cheaper than they could ever compete with or buy used. I only lose respect when someone acts so pretentious and dismissive to something they should see as a threat. But I guess mediocre success is better than grand success in their book
  • @116 Exactly!!! I have only bought one GoD, I would have bought more but since the prices are so high I decide to wait until I hit GameStop which also has high prices, Amazon FTW!!!!
  • So they are keeping GoD the same because they think 'If it ain't broke don't fix it' but the dashboard wasn't broken yet they 'fixed' it and added adverts everywhere. Thats great thinking Microsoft.
  • Nearly every game bought on GoD, can be bought cheaper in any store, but, lets look at a prime example of how much gamers are being ripped off. Gears of War3, release day, average of £40, I bought mine for £35, 6 months later, the game makes its way onto GoD, for £50, not only are you completely and absolutely ripping people off by doing things like this, but your seriously insulting your customers to actually think a model that does this is a good thing.
  • If the plan is for the next gen XBOX to exclusively offer digital content, won't this be a mute point? They can't force a 6 month wait to directly download games if direct download is the only available option.
  • that just doesnt make any sense....why would anyone want to buy a game at full retail price after 6 months?? much less wait six months just to buy the game....if ur going to get it at full retail price why wait 6months to download it and not have a hard copy of the game...something about what ms is saying just doesnt add up....
  • that just doesnt make any sense....why would anyone want to buy a game at full retail price after 6 months?? much less wait six months just to buy the game....if ur going to get it at full retail price why wait 6months to download it and not have a hard copy of the game...something about what ms is saying just doesnt add up....
  • Yeah, and Sony had Mass Effect 3 PSN download on retail release date which was fantastic eh? Especially considering the measly £59.99 price tag! And people say MS are ripping off the consumer? £59.99 FFS! Whilst both companies have questionable pricing at times I'd have to say that Sony rip off the consumer far more than Microsoft do!
  • Oh and another thing, if you're willing to pay the prices the you're either a moron or have more money than sense. Get down to the shops and buy the boxed version!
  • There's one reason that it's a good strategy and a million why it's bad. The one good thing is, with Microsoft not releasing digital purchases of games on day one, they're not stepping on toes. Playstation's business of releasing digital purchases of games on day one steps directly on the retailers' toes. With Microsoft not doing that, it's much easier for Microsoft to get into bed with these guys. Now the bad. As somebody already mentioned, if you buy a game that needs an online pass, you then have to buy a separate online pass. That's stupid. Additionally, you're exchanging a full $60 (with rare discounts) for the ability to take up anywhere from five to eight gigs on your hard drive. It should be the other way around. The hard copy disc should put you out more money, because it then offers two options; you could either save your hard disk space by letting the system read from the disc, or you could minimize the strain on your system, at the expense of some hard drive space, by installing the disc to your drive. There is no such option with digital downloads. "Five to eight fucking gigs; like it, or don't. We don't care." I agree with letting the retailer share in the profits, because it makes MS more buddy buddy with places like Gamestop. But past that, their model is bass ackwards. It's definitely not perfect, MS. And the only On-Demand game I have is Reach, which you gave me for free... so if you were to judge by me, and thousands of other just like me, Games On Demand is not so successful.
  • "The customer has the choice of going to retail on day one if they really want to buy a particular title, or to wait a couple of months and buy it full price from the Xbox Live marketplace" Alternatively, you can buy it on the internet from a retailer for the reduced price 6 months after release, Im surprised that people actually buy games from there...
  • "Microsoft Defends Games on Demand Pricing and Staggered Releases" In other news, pigs still can't fly.
  • FUCK YOU M$! And to anyone who says if you don't like it don't buy it, consider the fact that gaming is moving more and more towards digital distribution and the rumors that the next xbox will block used games. Basically if people don't make a stink about this and let M$ know what us gamers think about GOD, we may end up in a future when all games are only available through GOD for the full price whilst M$ are raking in the $$$ laughing all the way. This doesn't happen on steam. there are days I really wish I had a decent gaming PC
  • Who actually buys GoD? They are so overpriced. I would just go get a new copy in disc form or a used copy for way cheaper.
  • It's not microsofts fault stupid people are over paying for games on demand. If everyone stopped buying the over priced game the price would go down. No need for a company to lower the price on something if it's selling, that's basic buisness practice
  • Hell, when I was gonna buy Need For Speed Hot Pursuit, I did a little digging online and found out that if you buy the game on demand, you still have to purchase the $10 Online Pass...screw them.
  • EVERYONE look up "artificial scarcity"
  • 'Xbox Live UK product manager Pav Bhardwaj said, "It comes down to choice. The customer has the choice of going to retail on day one if they really want to buy a particular title, or to wait a couple of months and buy it full price from the Xbox Live marketplace.' ... I fail to see the element of 'choice' in this equation. This just illustrates how increasingly out of touch Microsoft are with their customers. *sigh*
  • Anyone mind telling me which titles PSN offers as day 1 downloads at the same time as Retail release? The only game i can think of its Battlefailed 3 and that was only for the EU.. are there any titles? I certainly consider switching to PS3 for every game i buy if they start doing it with all titles..
  • Microsoft, however, point to the popularity of the Games on Demand service as evidence that it works. It’s a profitable model, so they see no need to change it. 1. there are complete idiots out there i had a friend who bought avatar the last airbender just for the 1000g off of the on demand service and then deleted it 2.its simple idiots price for idiots to buy its a sad fact that there are alot of idiots out their.
  • Quick question, how do online pass codes work with games on demand? Say if you buy any EA game, does it come embedded or do they email you a code to play online?
  • what a bunch of morons
  • exactly why i do not do GoD
  • I don´t know a single person who ever purchased a game on demand (maybe except for older titles from the original XBox). "Clearly there's an audience out there who are happy to purchase a product at full ERP six or so months after [its retail release]." Clearly, there are people out there who are too stupid to take a dump...
  • This is what I have to say about this. If you can get this game for the same price at a smaller family owned game store (not retail stores like Gamestop or Best Buy), get it there so you can support small business. Don't give Microsoft money directly. Help others in the process.
  • Well if it's working (which makes sense because they didn't change a damn thing since it started) then all the power to them. God know there enough dumbasses on this earth to actually pay for it LOL
  • Seriously,
  • Oops Seriously, if you are stupid enough to buy from Games on Demand you deserve to be ripped off
  • I think this guy is out of touch with the real world. I have bought seveal games form games on demand. but when they are $20 or $30..never full retail price and anyone who does is crazy. They are paying lip service just to try and shut people up. We are not as stupid as you think we are MS. Pull your heads out of your dairy air and see what the real world is saying.
  • the price of a game at retail should cover business costs such as production , cost of disc,cost of case and manual and shipping. so if we can buy it digitally without any physical items it should be cheaper by 10 or maybe 20 bucks right away, not the same price
  • I didnt think people were stupid enough to buy games on demand from microsoft you can get the same games in any shop for less money
  • Just continuing with their out of touch logic with consumers? Typical MS. I went from being a huge fan of this system, to absolutely despising it. Dec 6th 2011's Metro Update marked the start of the downfall of this brand. They fucked up our video settings, tried to slip the bug under the rug during the 2011 preview dashboard beta. Then they add all these bullshit apps which have slowed our consoles down to a crawl (I think I speak for the majority of 360 owners), added more adds not only in the dash but even at the begining of inside xbox videos, and now there is this rumor that adds may appear in our subscription apps like Netflix when they wouldn't on any other gaming platform, tv, bluray player or set top box? It seems like every week we are bombarded with smart ass and "out of touch" remarks from these corporate big wigs from MS, publishers, and developers. Combine all this with Microsoft's countless mistakes in design and lack of customization, removing of features, etc, I'll be leaving this brand for good. Just the words this guy used to describe the GOD service tells me just how out of touch MS is. First they have a fucking woman design the metro update, fuck up our console, and now they are defending more adverts and passing off digital games as new release prices nearly 6 months after retail release? I better get a digital manual embedded in the game, a coke and a smile and the best blowjob of my life to accept this shit!
  • Games on Demand is totally worth it... its why I love microsoft Now they wanna get rid of it.... F!@# MICROSOFT!!!!!
  • @ 148: I think you completely misunderstood the article.
  • Myself I am not a user of it, but in some remote areas were it would be hard to find titles or people who can't get around easily I think it is a great idea, however I think it is cheeky to put a game up that has well documented glitched achievements and charge for it
  • I'd rather quit playing games than to pay the prices they charge 4 games on demand!!
  • Ppl are calling them liars and dicks and what not... but come on ppl.. it IS successful... and if we want change, we have to stop buying them at full price, 6 months later... If we stop, it won't be successful and things might change.. Until then, they are ripping off dumb consumers... It's not them.. its us...
  • Whatever works for them all the more power to them, how I see it is this; *Goes on Marketplace* "Hmm. . . Games on Demand lets check this out." *click* "Ohhh shit I remember trading that game in! How much does it cost?" *checks price* "Daumn . . . *sigh*" *looks at time* "Sweet malls still open!" *goes to mall* "Hey do you have any copies of _____?" "Yes we do for ____" "Daumn!!! Now thats a deal!"
  • I agree with u #152. I honestly thought when that shit came out it was gonna flop and be gone in 6 months. Boy did i judge the gaming community WRONG. Dont get me im all for buying games new to support Dev. but go buy the disc-based version. Its ppl supporting stupid shit like this that is pushing the disc-based market outta business, and letting M$ rip us all off by charging us these ridiculous prices.
  • No reasonable, rational, well informed person would ever choose to buy an ephemeral digital copy of something when they could get a physically boxed copy of it in their hands for half as much money. Not to mention limitations such as, hard drive space vs shelf space, download times vs simply walking to a shop - how quickly would you fill your hard drive, downloading a ton of games like that? And how long would it take? How annoying would it be when you had no more storage space left? Surely then, this means the only people Microsoft are referring to are either stupid, crazy or just ill-informed about how much they're being ripped off. And Microsoft is proud of that?
  • Too bad the service is only decent to everywhere but Australia. Not only do I have to buy the game. But I also have to pay the internet company for Download usage.
  • Microsoft is the Mitt Romney of video games
  • Why not help gamers, make great deals. It would then convince people to buy more. BUT... No, they would rather rip everyone off because they're at the top of the food chain with dollar notes rolling in. I love gaming but I still believe you have to pay quite a lot to be fair.. Anyone agree?
  • i thought the whole purpose of games on demand was going to be savings, no inventory to keep, no disks or cases to buy, no manuals. sounds like their just sticking to us. wasn't one of the reasons for the price hike from 49.99 to 59.99 the added costs of materials and shipping. digital eliminates that so logically digital should be 49.99
  • Cocksuckers. "We can rob you blind so why stop?" Is all I heard. They should take a page from playstation on this front with timing release and pricing. Same goes for xbox originals. Theres no excuse they should cost fucking $15 still when PSN sells awesome oldschool throwbacks like Soul Reaver and FFVII for $5 a pop. Ill never buy demand shit on principle alone.
  • They are saying it's profitable for them which obviously means people are buying them. I've never bought any except the original Crysis and Resident Evil 4 which were fairly priced. I'll never pay $60 for a game that's six months old and doesn't even come with the online pass. Vote with your wallets, if people stop buying them altogether then they will lower the prices. I guarantee it.
  • OH yeah, you success on the business that you are right, but did u just make less copy and rise the GOD as well? I was looking for Alice Madness in the market after release a year. That game isn't rare and the company rise it up to 29GBP on GOD, wth? I am don't mind buying some 15GBP from GOD because they sure worth, but price high is always push us.
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