The Truth Behind the $60 Video Game

Have you ever wondered how the $60 price point for video games came to be? Crispy Gamer recently wrote a very engaging article where the author explained that there really is no consensus on why the pricing became what it is today, that $60 is more or less an arbitrary number, and that there may be some price manipulation happening behind the scenes.

One mistake many of us gamers make is to look at the actual material costs of a product, such as the printing, packaging, distribution, retailing, and other tangible numbers. Some of us even go a bit further and try to factor in the development costs of the game.

We look at the percentage of the 60 bucks that goes toward these expenses, and based on what remains we say “hey, this could be cheaper!” Some few of us may even be aware of the darker side to game distribution, such as paying fees (bribes, as one hard-working development studio head called them) to retailers for shelf space, and more fees (bribes) for valuable placement (end caps, eye-level shelves, box face showing rather than side showing, etc.).

Even accounting (pun intended!) for all of that, we’re missing the point: Cost doesn’t matter.

Check out the rest of my thoughts on this at Geektyrant.com here!

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