Buy NFL2K5...

[dave is ok]

I bought one on Xbox for myself and a PS2 copy for my dad, so I have definitely cast my vote.

Great, now buy one half of another copy and VC and Sega will have made the same as if you bought one copy of last years game.

I love that this game is 20 dollars, it's a game that I buy almost every year anyway. But I dont believe that they'll be able to sell 150% more than they would have sold at 50 dollars and enough to make this a smart business model.

[Diff-chan]

These aren't the signs of a healthy industry, or at least one that's living up to potential.

No, the sign of a healthy industry is the 14% increase in console game sales overall. Which is what happened last year. Oh, and the eleven billion dollars that people spent on videogames in 2003.

Companies won't release games that cost $8-$12 million to make at a $19.99 pricepoint. I'll believe it when I see it but I don't think it will ever happen. They just do not make as much money. $40 maybe, but dont Sony first-party games come out at that price anyway? Someone's learning. People are still going to buy Gran Turismo 4 or whatever, even if ObscureGame #1820 is $19.99.

The game market is very healthy. No analyst has said anything different in the past 3-4 years (unless its with regards to the PC game market, which is sinking). Its just a highly competitive and vicious one.

edit: oh, and the reason why EA has such a force with Madden is because they have cultivated a loyal fan base for 15 years. Go to any game store on Madden release day and you'll see a lot of people who have been playing it since 1992, 1993, 1995, whatever. While companies like Nintendo and Sega have shit away their fans and blew their customer loyalty EA has been very careful to maintain it, even to the point of canceling a product that didnt live up (and Madden '96, no matter how shitty it was, would've made EA tons of cash). It's something that is necessary to success in any industry. Blizzard has done the same thing.

So maybe if Sega actually worked on good football games on Saturn, didnt release shit like NFL '95, and kept their Joe Montana Sports Talk Football fan base throughout the late 1990s, the story would be different.

[Bacon McShig]

Great, now buy one half of another copy and VC and Sega will have made the same as if you bought one copy of last years game.

Well, my dad was gonna buy it anyway, but early sales are a good indicator of a game's market, so I wanted to make sure the sale counted as much as possible.

I love that this game is 20 dollars, it's a game that I buy almost every year anyway. But I dont believe that they'll be able to sell 150% more than they would have sold at 50 dollars and enough to make this a smart business model.

Based on how well it's selling already vs. how well it sold last year (which was 'not well at all'), 3x as much is a conservative estimate. Once again, the public has made it very clear that $50 is more than they're willing to pay for basically anything other than the highest-profile releases. The lower price point is the most surefire way for low-to-mid-profile titles to put up respectable numbers, and unless companies realize that soon, we'll see a repeat of last Xmas' lackluster performance.

No, the sign of a healthy industry is the 14% increase in console game sales overall. Which is what happened last year. Oh, and the eleven billion dollars that people spent on videogames in 2003.

That's fact, sure. But another fact is that a small handful of games supported that number while a huge majority of smaller releases tanked hard.

Companies won't release games that cost $8-$12 million to make at a $19.99 pricepoint. I'll believe it when I see it but I don't think it will ever happen. They just do not make as much money. And people are still going to buy Gran Turismo 4 or whatever.

And yet movies usually cost much much more than that and almost always make it up, through $7 tickets and $20 DVDs. I'm not suggesting that games will ever rival movies' audience, but at $50 they'll certainly never come close. People are willing to take a risk on something affordable. Until games fit that description, they'll keep on catering to a fraction of their potential audience, and therefore be earning a fraction of their potential.

[dave is ok]

Based on how well it's selling already vs. how well it sold last year (which was 'not well at all'), 3x as much is a conservative estimate. Once again, the public has made it very clear that $50 is more than they're willing to pay for basically anything other than the highest-profile releases. The lower price point is the most surefire way for low-to-mid-profile titles to put up respectable numbers, and unless companies realize that soon, we'll see a repeat of last Xmas' lackluster performance.

Well I hope it works out for them. I have no doubt in my mind that they will outsell Madden, but they'll have to more than double Maddens number to turn a bigger profit than Madden, and that worries me.

[PKBMax]

I thought I had read that SEGA signed a multi-year deal deal with Global Star Software to distribute all 2K series sports titles.

Since Global Star is a budget label of Take Two that should be an indication of what SEGA's thinking in the future.

[MechDeus]

Well I hope it works out for them. I have no doubt in my mind that they will outsell Madden, but they'll have to more than double Maddens number to turn a bigger profit than Madden, and that worries me.

Their goal right now isn't to turn a bigger profit then Madden (although that is of course their eventual goal), it's to get their game out and into at least as many houses as Madden. Since they believe that their game can easily stand up to Madden if people would just give it a chance this is them trying to get people to give it a chance, and in the long run they hope to convert people over to them when they can really start making money.

[dave is ok]

Their goal right now isn't to turn a bigger profit then Madden (although that is of course their eventual goal), it's to get their game out and into at least as many houses as Madden. Since they believe that their game can easily stand up to Madden if people would just give it a chance this is them trying to get people to give it a chance, and in the long run they hope to convert people over to them when they can really start making money.

In that case, I think they'll accomplish their immediate goals. Expect a 10-25 dollar price increase on ESPN NFL 2K6, followed by Madden kicking the shit out of them yet again

[Bacon McShig]

Yeah, I agree that they can't really jack up the price in following years without a negative reaction from the fans, feeling betrayed by the bait & switch. In that sense, they've painted themselves into a corner...

[TobalRox]

here's another problem... I love Sega's game so much more than Madden, but I am not a big enough fan of football to keep buying a game every year. This will be the only football game I will own this generation (with the exception of Street). I have never paid full price for a sports game, and I never will.

[Astral]

I thought I had read that SEGA signed a multi-year deal deal with Global Star Software to distribute all 2K series sports titles.

Since Global Star is a budget label of Take Two that should be an indication of what SEGA's thinking in the future.

Yea they did sign a multi-year deal and apperantly two years in to the deal Take-two has the option to buy Visual Concepts. If thier smart next year the 2K's will all be $20 again so they can build a fan base for the sports games on the next gen of consoles, then they can charge full price again on those.