ea cutting prices
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=14204
hmm. maybe this is an experiment... an excuse to test how well a dvd style price point works out. i hope consumers eat it up and convince the publishers that it is a smart move. maybe this is even a trick to drive out competition. who cares. once consumers associate the $20 price in there head with.. 'how much a game' cost. it can stick.
i never ended up getting a x360. i'll probably get one in the future, but one of my justifications for not getting one so far(assuming i could find one) was the $60 price point for non-microsoft games. i told myself that if i did buy one, i would not support that bullshit pricing and only rent $60 games.
as i have said before.. all cost is in employees. there is not a valid reason to have more than 20 employees working full-time on a project. ESPECIALLY considering that most studios license their tech.
20employees*100k_salary*2years=$4,000,000
if games were $20 and a developer ended up with $10 of that, you need to sell 400k titles to pay for your employees for 2 years. which is a completely reasonable number these days.
if games are $60 and a publisher-developer (note, not developer) ended up with $50 of that, you need to sell 80k titles to pay your employees for 2 years.
let's ramble with more numbers..
40employees*50k_salary*1.5years=$3,000,000
ok, let's double that.
80employees*50k_salary*1.5years=$6,000,000
which is 120k copies to cover employee cost. uhm.. where is all this "next-generation risk" publishers keep talking about?