Home Gaming Why Call of Duty’s priced right – and you can expect other games to follow suit

Why Call of Duty’s priced right – and you can expect other games to follow suit

3 min read
146

Looking at that Battlefield and Call of Duty price again

Yesterday I looked at some of the reasons around why Battlefield 1 and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare have such glaringly large price gaps between them, begging consumers to ask just why there seems to be no consistency with pricing in the wake of the Rand tumbling over the past few months. Games are expensive, but for most of the time we’re not exactly sure why. What factors are influencing trends? Where do we get our games from? Why is it never a direct conversion?

All valid questions which we don;t really have all the answers to, but which we’d like to take an educated stab at.

The first thing you need to rid yourself of is the notion that we fall under United States pricing. That has never been true and never will be, for two reason. First and foremost, all of our games come from Europe – that shouldn’t be a secret. Thus we are subject to their pricing, and how our own currency fares compared to the Euro at any given time. Expecting games (or anything really) to reflect Dollar prices just isn’t realistic, especially when all of their published prices don’t take into account things like tax. Something which EU does.

So it’s frivolous to compare local pricing with that of the USA, but that doesn’t explain massive R400 gaps like we have between Battlefield 1 and Infinite Warfare. It does, however, clearly paint which game is actually charging the right prices for its products.

Looking at that Battlefield and Call of Duty price again 4

Over in Europe, in countries like France and Germany where price comparisons are more or less par, we get a more accurate view on things. Our prices locally are usually determined by comparing our Rand to the Euro price of games there, and it shows that Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare is actually the more correctly priced. In France (and pretty much the whole of Western Europe), for example, Battlefield 1 digitally (as well as Infinite Warfare) is listed for 69.99 – which directly converts to already over R1200.

So ignore all the points about shipping, distribution and retail costs locally, and realise that we are still, somehow, getting games cheaper than the regions we are being supplied from. The disparity then between our current Battlefield 1 price (which hovers just below R800) and what it should realistically be is simple. Some publishers simply haven’t updated their margins yet, and aren’t as frequent with checking them – unlike Activision, for example. It’s creating a disparity in pricing that’s creating a very unstable local market – and it’s something that needs remedy.

Looking at that Battlefield and Call of Duty price again 2

It explains then why Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare is, relatively, so expensive. Not because Activision is charging more to bring games into the country, but rather that they are one of the few reflecting the true price of games today. It doesn’t mean that it’ll drop, but rather that you can expect other titles to start seeing major increases in cost very soon. As soon as those databases and margins update, most games will start lying beyond the R1000 mark – and if the same care is attended to them as it is now, they’ll stay that way for some time. Right now, it’s a win for consumers as they’re able to get some games for cheaper than they’re supposed to be – just don;t expect it to last for too much longer.

So instead of looking at Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare as a hilariously expensive game, treat it instead as a warning of what is inevitable. Eventually, other publishers will take note and catch up, and we’ll soon be paying what we consider to be “ridiculous prices” for most of our games.

Economics, as they say, is never kind.

Last Updated: May 11, 2016

146 Comments

  1. If other game companies are going to follow suit, then honestly yar har har, a pirates life for meeeeee XD

    Reply

    • Dutch Matrix

      May 11, 2016 at 12:08

      I’d rather wait then for the game to go on special. Currently eyeballing Dragon Age Inquisition GOTY on the PS4 store for R369…

      Reply

      • HairyEwok

        May 11, 2016 at 12:11

        Not a bad price considering it is a GOTY and on PS4. But what made me say that is the quality of some games being released does not justify the price tag on it.

        Reply

        • Liroku

          May 11, 2016 at 22:07

          I haven’t pirated since I was a teenager(over a decade ago) and probably never will again. I think it’s bad for the industry, regardless if you would have paid for it. It makes us all look like pirates, so it drives developers away.

          That said though, I agree on quality. Less quality, more bug filled games, and higher price for the opportunity to play it. I can see why you wouldn’t want to pay for it. They are charging you to be a late stage beta tester. Once all of the major bugs are fixed the game will go on sale to celebrate.

          Reply

          • disqus_56xsei6LTg

            May 12, 2016 at 01:40

            you dont seem to understand how things actually work.

            multiple studies have show piracy is good for the industry. its free advertising of said games. piracy almost always leads to more sales. people pirate it, and if they like it they buy it. If they dont buy it, they would have not bought it in the first place. i honestly dont know of anyone who pirates a game plays it and is like “im not going to buy it, i already beat the game” lol. and if such a person actually exists, there at 1000x more people who buy games THEY DONT EVEN PLAY!

            so if a developers decide to stop making games due to piracy, then they are not developers worth buying games from in the first place. There are plenty of indie developers who release their games on torrent sites. Do you think these game developers are ruining the game industry aswell lmao?

            then look at games like just cause 3 and other games using Denuvo drm. sales of every single one of those games are shit. so they spend insane amount of money to stop piracy (lost money, which is the same thing as lost sales), and on top of it they lose more sales, because not only is the drm extremely invasive, but again piracy helps sales, period.

            but i have to agree with you that i dont condone piracy of shitty games. as even if cod is shit and overpriced and you refuse to buy it, pirating it is STILL helping them. it still shows them their games dont need to change in order to get people interested. the best way to hurt these bad publishers/developers is to completely ignore them.

          • Yondaime

            May 13, 2016 at 17:22

            Argument invalid, games will always be developed for people like you (Hardcore righteous that is). Personally I only buy games after they’ve sorted out all the K@K. I’m a software dev and the idea of someone releasing unfinished product goes against all my righteous bones. The simple fact that game companies think its okay to do this and expect us to figure out how to fix it (Perform mass UAT) makes me (vulgar word, vulgar word, vulgar word) with that being said, i will give my money for a good working product because that’s how things should be.

      • Pariah

        May 11, 2016 at 12:11

        Great game, worth that price.

        Just ignore the shards though. You have been warned.

        Reply

        • Viper_ZA

          May 11, 2016 at 12:50

          I’ve tried getting into it but couldn’t…will give it another shot very soon tho xD

          Reply

    • Strawman Jim

      May 11, 2016 at 12:33

      Yaaaarrr!!! Sailing the bittorrent seas!!

      Reply

      • HairyEwok

        May 11, 2016 at 12:48

        Aye, I be having a strong ISP ship, so I’ll be sailing strong and true through the torrents…. XD

        Reply

    • anthony

      May 11, 2016 at 21:31

      well the way denuvo is going where seeing less and less pirated games now a days. we will be forced to buy the game or just not play it

      Reply

      • HairyEwok

        May 12, 2016 at 08:15

        Don’t fret, the guys that cracked denuvo is actually holding back for a year to see what happens to the game market if they do not crack games.

        Reply

  2. PoisonedBelial

    May 11, 2016 at 12:05

    And this is why the Steam sale rules.
    I’m quite fine playing AAA type games a year or so after they come out.
    I’ll let some other suckers pay full price while I gleefully cackle with the knowledge of it being cheaper down the line.

    Besides, have you seen my backlog of games?!

    Reply

    • Yondaime

      May 13, 2016 at 17:24

      Now there’s a sensible man.

      Reply

  3. Admiral Chief in New York

    May 11, 2016 at 12:05

    I get what you are saying, but paying THAT amount of money for something like CoD is ludicrous. Paying that amount of money for something like The Witcher, maybe

    Reply

    • Deceased

      May 11, 2016 at 13:21

      how to multiple upvote?

      Reply

  4. Jac7

    May 11, 2016 at 12:07

    Well shave my legs and call me grandpa, guess it’s the end of my gaming life.

    Reply

  5. Pariah

    May 11, 2016 at 12:07

    In other news, I’m thinking of selling my PC and starting gardening instead.

    Reply

    • HairyEwok

      May 11, 2016 at 12:09

      Plants can’t respawn if you screw up…..

      Reply

      • Pariah

        May 11, 2016 at 12:10

        But plants cost less than R100 to replace, and if well looked after duplicate themselves.

        Reply

        • HairyEwok

          May 11, 2016 at 12:15

          We all joked and teased when publishers released grass, tree and plant simulator where you can look at it all growing… Now it seems the change of hobby will have you actually watch it all grow… Jokes on us now.

          Reply

          • Pariah

            May 11, 2016 at 12:17

            You joked and teased. I don’t think I read that news. O_o

      • Captain JJ bound

        May 11, 2016 at 12:13

        I had plants once.

        Reply

        • Skoobaz

          May 11, 2016 at 14:41

          Then you took an arrow to the knee

          Reply

      • Admiral Chief in New York

        May 11, 2016 at 12:21

        Lies.

        My grass is the opposite. 10 drops of water equals 10mm of growth. Crazy ass lawn.

        ADMIRAL CHIEF [lawnmower] Grass

        Final score:

        ADMIRAL CHIEF 10000000000
        GRASS 0

        BUT WAIT!

        OH NOES

        ALL OF THEM RESPAWNED!!!!

        THE HORRRRRRROR!

        Reply

        • Pariah

          May 11, 2016 at 12:21

          My grass is the same, holy shit. If I leave it for 2 weeks it’s like a jungle. Can’t even think of that…

          Reply

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            May 11, 2016 at 12:22

            I have ninja-grass. Short, short, short, short, short, short….[one day later]…SURPRISE WE ARE 20CM NOW!!!

          • Pariah

            May 11, 2016 at 12:23

            LOL!!!

            At least the good news, my cat loves the long grass. XD

          • Ottokie

            May 11, 2016 at 12:24

            Pokemon are real! I knew it!

          • Pariah

            May 11, 2016 at 12:24

            Omg wait… She’s feisty. Does that mean my cat is the new starter? WHAT?!?!

          • Ottokie

            May 11, 2016 at 12:25

            Feisty nature. That’s bonus to speed but decreases attack

          • Pariah

            May 11, 2016 at 12:27

            If you know cats at all, she’s at the top of the “Attack Power” chain. Like, brutal. Her stealth skills leave a lot to be desired though.

          • Captain JJ bound

            May 11, 2016 at 12:24

            I bet he tries this with you then.

          • Pariah

            May 11, 2016 at 12:25

            *she.

            But yes. Sort of. My lawn isn’t big enough, but if it was, she totally would.

          • Captain JJ bound

            May 11, 2016 at 12:26

            I wanted to say “it” but it sounded too cold 🙂
            She, then.

          • Ottokie

            May 11, 2016 at 12:27

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            May 11, 2016 at 12:28

            Happy dog is happy

          • Pariah

            May 11, 2016 at 12:29

            So cute!

          • Captain JJ bound

            May 11, 2016 at 12:23

            Yea man. Same here. Leave it for a month, cut the grass, find a car.

          • Pariah

            May 11, 2016 at 12:23

            LOL!!!

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            May 11, 2016 at 12:24

            And WTF is that taller-than-the-other-grass-but-with-moth-like-appendages type of grass?

            Is it the spawner?

          • Captain JJ bound

            May 11, 2016 at 12:25

            Hahaha. Yea man. Those bastards just arrive one day, you cut them, then they return with friends the next time.

          • Pariah

            May 11, 2016 at 12:26

            That’s a unique feature of plants. It’s called “Seeds”. Google it.

          • Captain JJ bound

            May 11, 2016 at 12:26

            Damn sadists.

      • Strawman Jim

        May 11, 2016 at 12:34

        Mmmm… I can already see my future: Plants vs Hobos! With DLC seed packs from Stodels.

        Reply

        • Captain JJ bound

          May 11, 2016 at 12:36

          *Plants vs AI

          Reply

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            May 11, 2016 at 12:43

            *Banana vs AI

            Oh, wait.

            Same thing

    • Dutch Matrix

      May 11, 2016 at 12:09

      I am seriously considering getting myself another hobby. Like painting our house, fixing the taps, shooting the rats etc.

      Reply

      • HairyEwok

        May 11, 2016 at 12:12

        Isn’t husband a mandatory hobby XD

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief in New York

          May 11, 2016 at 12:21

          Dutch has a husband?

          Reply

          • Pariah

            May 11, 2016 at 12:22

            I’m not even surprised.

          • Dutch Matrix

            May 11, 2016 at 12:25

            Careful now Boet. You referring to the woman I love and to whom I have pledged to defend her honor to the death. And right now, your death seems to be a good idea.
            You have been warned…

            Grrrr…

          • Pariah

            May 11, 2016 at 12:28

            I think you have it wrong. He’s not insulting her, he’s insulting you. 🙂

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            May 11, 2016 at 12:29

            xD

          • Yondaime

            May 13, 2016 at 17:32

            Hahahaha, we’re all gamers until someone gets mad and starts calling people “Boet”.

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            May 11, 2016 at 12:30

            See below comment…

            (that being said, insulting someone’s wife/husband is right up there with insulting their children on the big list of effed up things to say/do)

            Unless their kids are naughty little shits

          • Dutch Matrix

            May 11, 2016 at 13:37

            Ha ha! Do NOT get me started on kids.

          • Yondaime

            May 13, 2016 at 17:34

            Dude you can’t even insult naughty little shits…..have you met some parents?!

        • Dutch Matrix

          May 11, 2016 at 12:27

          Dude, if you have seen how these clumsy hands handles the husbandly chores around the house. Let’s just say my dad usually ends up fixing my “fixes.” Sadly though, age caught up with the man and those days of helping has gone,as he is too weak to do that type of work.
          So Dutch got to be going about this on his own.

          Reply

          • HairyEwok

            May 11, 2016 at 12:34

            Strongs, now you’ll have to start using hax to get the job done correctly the first time.

    • Captain JJ bound

      May 11, 2016 at 12:10

      Nah man. That sounds like a lot of hard labour to me.

      Reply

      • Pariah

        May 11, 2016 at 12:11

        Less labour than working 2 jobs to support your hobby. And then not having time for your hobby as a result.

        Reply

        • Captain JJ bound

          May 11, 2016 at 12:12

          I must be doing something right then. My gaming hobby, although a big part of my spending, doesn’t really compare to my other expenditures. But I haven’t upgraded anything in 3 years and don’t plan on for at least another year.

          Reply

          • Pariah

            May 11, 2016 at 12:13

            I can’t even afford to buy a game on release with current pricing. Nevermind the graphics card upgrade that will take me about 2 years to save up for. And that’s the mid-range card.

            And no, I’m not kidding.

          • Captain JJ bound

            May 11, 2016 at 12:14

            I don’t buy on release. That’s also out of my budget. But that humble monthly is giving me enough games to hold me (not needing any other games) for a fraction of the price.

          • Pariah

            May 11, 2016 at 12:16

            Yeah but my biggest issue isn’t the games, it’s the upgrades. I can’t even look at most of the games released nowadays because my card simply won’t run them. And this year has some of the best games in years. The ones I’m actually excited for.

            Humble Monthly is great, don’t get me wrong. But it’s like filler episodes for that Anime you REALLY love, and just want to continue the story. It gets old after a while.

          • Captain JJ bound

            May 11, 2016 at 12:17

            Haha. Nice analogy.
            Yea, I can respect that. I suppose it completely depends on the type of gamer and your own preferences on games.

    • Skoobaz

      May 11, 2016 at 14:40

      So Plants vs Zombies then

      Reply

      • Pariah

        May 11, 2016 at 14:41

        No. Just plants.

        Reply

  6. Captain JJ bound

    May 11, 2016 at 12:09

    Well, we’re not actually directly subject to Euro pricing. They have full schedules of each country, based on a lot of different variables from where they derive their prices.

    Reply

  7. Ottokie

    May 11, 2016 at 12:12

    I don’t mind replaying Bioshock infinite and waiting for price drops. Besides, Indie developers are still my “go too” for games.

    Reply

    • Captain JJ bound

      May 11, 2016 at 12:14

      Hear hear.
      Agreed.
      Considering how many games are out there that you haven’t played, there’s no need to jump onto the hype train each time a new shiny appears. There are some gems out there, just waiting to be discovered.

      Reply

      • Pariah

        May 11, 2016 at 12:15

        Some games are just better on release though. MP focused titles are the biggest part of this. Buying a year later when 80% of the users have moved on to the next shiney can lose you a lot of the value of that game. You actually do get what you pay for.

        Reply

        • Captain JJ bound

          May 11, 2016 at 12:16

          This is true. If you are into MP games there’s really no other way actually. Which is why devs love their MP games so much.
          But I prefer my SP games and some co-op here and there (which you never have to worry about the age of the game with). So it works well for me.

          Reply

          • Pariah

            May 11, 2016 at 12:19

            I like both. This is my issue. I want DOOM for both SP and MP. But that price means I have to ignore MP for the most part now, and that removes half the value of the game for me. I’ll wait until it’s in a Humble Monthly now. It’s annoying as hell.

            R800 is twice my monthly petrol bill. It’s more than I spend on electricity. Which includes 2 pc’s (mine and my partner’s) – which are almost always on. And this article says we can expect that to increase to R1.2k? That’s almost a monthly food bill.

            So the decision between eating and gaming is actually almost a reality.

        • Ottokie

          May 11, 2016 at 12:16

          I do agree with you on that part, MP focused games is either buy day one or bail completely. But SP games that have great story, will still give you the same pleasure of playing a year later.

          Reply

        • HairyEwok

          May 11, 2016 at 12:20

          Exactly… An MMO, Black Desert Online has IP Block on it so certain regions can’t purchase the game and play it until the block is lifted. SA is IP blocked so we can’t get the game, by the time the block is lifted and you join the EU servers, all the EU folks moved on or got bored of the game.

          Reply

          • Pariah

            May 11, 2016 at 12:21

            I know all about BDO, I was more excited than most I think. Haven’t felt that sour for a game in years.

          • HairyEwok

            May 11, 2016 at 12:28

            I was really hyped for BDO, I’m still going on the forum daily to check if there’s any progress on the IP block removal.

          • Pariah

            May 11, 2016 at 12:28

            There won’t be. There aren’t any real local publishers, so we’d have to rely on the EU one expanding access into SA. That’s not likely.

            I am still bitter about that.

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        May 11, 2016 at 13:46

        There is absolutely no scarcity of games unless you only want to play one specific game, in which case you’re forced to pay what they ask for it, and even then only if you don’t want to wait.

        Reply

  8. Sean Carbutt

    May 11, 2016 at 12:17

    LOl. So are you defending an overpriced and currently the most hated game on the net against an affordable and way, way more promising game like Battlefield 1? The next COD will be an overpriced disaster. B1 currently has more thumbs up than COD. Now COD has more thumbs down than B1 thumbs up and B1 will retail for less. Tough choice here.

    Reply

    • HairyEwok

      May 11, 2016 at 12:26

      I believe COD: IW is ranked 6th as the most thumbed down video on youtube.

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief in New York

        May 11, 2016 at 12:28

        LOL what is 1st?

        Reply

        • HairyEwok

          May 11, 2016 at 12:32

          1. Justin Bieber
          2. Rebecca Black
          3. Some mexican video
          4. COD Infinite Warfare….

          So COD actually moved up to nr4.

          Reply

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            May 11, 2016 at 12:33

            LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

            [goes to take part in the downvote mania]

          • Deceased

            May 11, 2016 at 13:26

            Curious … does @HammerSteyn go to downvote but press the upvote out of habbit?

  9. Greylingad[He Charges!]

    May 11, 2016 at 12:25

    There are many factors to account for, the shipping and distribution part doesn’t just disappear, in fact Activelystealingyourmoneyvision doesn’t compensate for the country’s distribution dispensation knock that they have to take, which as we all know is their kick in the face to the gaming community, whereas BF1 will be a game half shipped, COD IW is charged at the premium price of one weekends’ adventure with mindless MP afterwards… Every publisher needs to make back what they’ve spent on developing a game, with profit, how they choose to do their pricing model depends on their mindset, “Oh I’ll charge this standard area based price for these titles so that I don’t have to worry about exchange rates etc.” Or “Let’s expand our player base by making said game affordable and taking a slight knock, we then charge for the additional content that we claim we created afterwards”

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief in New York

      May 11, 2016 at 12:28

      tl;dr

      Reply

      • Greylingad[He Charges!]

        May 11, 2016 at 12:29

        HAHA!! In short, we’re still getting a pounding from both publishers because they won’t back down on pricing models (factor in cost of living and distribution etc.)

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief in New York

          May 11, 2016 at 12:30

          tl;dr
          Vaseline

          Reply

          • Greylingad[He Charges!]

            May 11, 2016 at 12:38

            HAHAHA!!

        • Captain JJ bound

          May 11, 2016 at 12:31

          If you go onto SteamDB you can see how differently games are priced based on where they are sold. PC games (at least) on Steam are sold at very different prices based on a whole bunch of stuff. Of course, the dev could just ignore the Steam recommended price (which many do) and charge you R800 for a spot-the-difference game.

          Reply

          • Admiral Chief in New York

            May 11, 2016 at 12:32

            “spot the difference game”

            xD

          • Greylingad[He Charges!]

            May 11, 2016 at 12:34

            Exactly! With Steam you’re talking about a tonne of different factors, how much you are willing to pay for a banner ad, how often something is advertised, do they get a cut from the asking price, that list is as close to infinite as the amount of money Lord Gaben swims in before coming to work…

          • Captain JJ bound

            May 11, 2016 at 12:35

            Hahaha.

          • HairyEwok

            May 11, 2016 at 12:37

            Looking at steamDB makes you wish you were living in Russia.

          • Captain JJ bound

            May 11, 2016 at 12:39

            Haha. Yea it does. It also reminds you where all your money went.

          • HairyEwok

            May 11, 2016 at 12:40

            And how much backlog you have.

          • Greylingad[He Charges!]

            May 11, 2016 at 12:41

            I have accidentally on purpose been raking in games on special over the last few weeks… I am ashamed of my current backlog…

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            May 11, 2016 at 13:40

            I used to be ashamed of mine, but then I realised it’s actually quite liberating. I bought tons of stuff over the years on a whim or as part of game bundles that I’ve never touched. Now I’ll always have something new to play & my toughest decision is choosing what I want to play next. New game prices don’t really affect me much since I don’t need to buy anything on release.

          • Greylingad[He Charges!]

            May 11, 2016 at 13:47

            The sad part is that it’s taken me this long to realise that exact same thing,for years I’ve been buying games day one, which amounts to literally thousands of Rands, had I waited with each of them using something like Steam and 60% discounts, I’d have been able to buy a dream machine today with at least two GTX titan X’s by saving the discounts only… And I honestly feel like an idiot for spending as much…

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            May 11, 2016 at 13:53

            I used to preorder all the time. I stopped when I felt all the DLC, preorder DLC, season pass & MT milking just got too much, not because I regretted any of the games I preordered. Before W3 the last game I preordered was Borderlands 2. Also easy for me because being #foreverSP means I don’t have to buy MP games on release.

          • Greylingad[He Charges!]

            May 11, 2016 at 14:09

            Yep, I have a much more shameful before W3 last preorder, Wart_doge…. and now, the only thing that matters is Blood and Wine…

            CDProjekt Red, deserves me buying the expansion, I have full confidence in it being excellent, like everything they’ve brought to the table so far… In fact, I don’t see myself playing much else again anytime soon…

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            May 11, 2016 at 14:20

            I even hedged my bet with W3. I didn’t preorder the DLC, even though it was available for that, because I wanted to play the game first before deciding if I would. Turned out even better for me when the expansions got CEs. I would’ve been pissed if I’d preordered & then not got my sweet Gwent cards. :D.

          • Greylingad[He Charges!]

            May 11, 2016 at 14:51

            HAHAHA!!! My wife bought me the first expansion for PS4, so I had to cart it back to the shop to get the PC version… Still, no regrets…

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            May 11, 2016 at 14:58

            Speaking of… GUESS WHAT I JUST PREORDERED?! Woohoo!

            I squee’d so loud when I saw it my colleague asked me what was wrong.

          • Greylingad[He Charges!]

            May 11, 2016 at 15:26

            HAHAHAHA!!! Yissss I’m looking forward to this adventure, Starting tomorrow, I’m doing TW3 from scratch, brand new game all the way through!

  10. Strawman Jim

    May 11, 2016 at 12:28

    My thoughts on this matter can be best described by the great western philosopher, Meghan Trainor….

    Meghan Trainor says…”NO!”

    Reply

    • Captain JJ bound

      May 11, 2016 at 12:29

      He said a lot, it seems

      Reply

    • Admiral Chief in New York

      May 11, 2016 at 12:31

      I saw this video at Wimpy once

      Reply

      • Captain JJ bound

        May 11, 2016 at 12:32

        I’m seeing as much of this video as I have of a Wimpy the last few years.
        Nothing.

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief in New York

          May 11, 2016 at 12:32

          I’m not the biggest Wimpy fan, however, the new burger range is damn nice

          Reply

          • Captain JJ bound

            May 11, 2016 at 12:34

            Honestly, there just isn’t one nearby me that isn’t next to a better restaurant. 😀
            Wimpy’s do well at Petrol Garages. Then I’m all for it.

          • HairyEwok

            May 11, 2016 at 12:39

            A wimpy at a pertrol garage is heaven… Beats the hell out of buying a garage pie.

          • Captain JJ bound

            May 11, 2016 at 12:40

            Agreed.

          • Greylingad[He Charges!]

            May 11, 2016 at 12:40

            It also kind of beats being toilet-a-fied for the next two days thanks to said pie…

          • HairyEwok

            May 11, 2016 at 12:43

            I had some wimpy chips once that made a garage pie’s poison look like a gentle breeze in summer against it.

          • Greylingad[He Charges!]

            May 11, 2016 at 12:51

            Crap… I try to order food that I can see being prepared, also that you can see haven’t been in some display cabinet for the last three weeks with different types of cultures developing on them…The reason, well quite simply, I’ve had waaaaaayyyyy too many incidents involving said discomfort, including some “pay by depositing your kidney here” restaurants…

      • Strawman Jim

        May 11, 2016 at 12:32

        It’s such a bad music video – I’m not sure what to make of it.

        Reply

    • Raptor Rants

      May 11, 2016 at 13:58

      Because you know it’s all about that price, bout that price. No discounts.

      Reply

  11. aj_nator

    May 11, 2016 at 12:42

    The real questions is: if the rand improves, will they lower the price of IW

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief in New York

      May 11, 2016 at 12:43

      You’ve got a better chance of swimming at Nkandla

      Reply

      • aj_nator

        May 11, 2016 at 12:55

        Might as break out the leopard print speedos now

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief in New York

          May 11, 2016 at 13:18

          MY EYES!

          Reply

  12. Alien Emperor Trevor

    May 11, 2016 at 13:32

    I’m sorry, but I don’t agree with this reasoning. Your basic premise is that EA fucked up by not maintaining a set profit margin per unit when converting back to their preferred currency of choice. So you don’t believe a company takes local market considerations into account when pricing their goods for different markets and accept a lower margin in order to get a sale. It’s the choice the publishers have to make – do they maintain their margin, or do they reduce it in order to get something rather than nothing. Game prices also don’t fluctuate like the petrol price every time the currency strengthens or weakens, they get changed every now & again to keep things stable.

    It’s been very easy to see on Steam with the pricing conversion from $ to R – some publishers pricing went down in R/$ conversion, others stayed basically the same as a direct conversion – I’m guessing they all looked at their margins then before coming to pricing decisions. SA consumers as a whole have less disposable income than those in the US or Europe, selling your product at the same price locally as you do internationally will mean less sales when people pick and choose their purchases far more carefully.

    Activision has a very easily seen track record of charging premiums for their games, even years after their release, and I can’t recall ever seeing any discount lower than 50% on anything, even COD 1. I’m going to presume this is the “so we don’t devalue our games” argument that we regularly hear whines about.

    EA, as much as I despise them generally, has a much more customer-friendly pricing policy when it comes to their games, reducing pricing over time to attract sales that they otherwise wouldn’t have gotten, and hoping that’ll spur further sales down the line. Never mind taking into account that Origin has been cheaper in R than $ for ages – which makes it a conscious choice by EA.

    You’ve essentially made a direct currency conversion and therefore one game is priced correctly because of that without taking into account market factors. That’s incredibly facile. If anything, I’d say Activision has, maybe not fucked up because die-hard COD fans will pay no matter how much they grumble, definitely given people on the fence a push in the wrong direction.

    Reply

    • Dutch Matrix

      May 11, 2016 at 13:35

      Well Said! And I agree. With you.

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        May 11, 2016 at 13:41

        But that’s not supposed to happen! What have I done? O_O

        Reply

        • Dutch Matrix

          May 11, 2016 at 16:09

          You and I cracked the planet in half via its butthole?

          Reply

    • Raptor Rants

      May 11, 2016 at 13:57

      This brought a tear to my eyes. You are growing up young padawan.

      Reply

    • Pariah

      May 11, 2016 at 14:41

      tl;dr

      Reply

    • Spy Master Tokashi

      May 11, 2016 at 15:25

      haha awesome, I also agree.

      Maybe our Lazygamer article writes should stay away from economics!

      Reply

    • Admiral Chief in New York

      May 12, 2016 at 07:53

      Did you channel Llew for 7 minutes before ranting?

      Reply

  13. HvR

    May 11, 2016 at 15:12

    Disagree strongly with that statement

    It shows how ridiculous their models are, you price a product according to your market not on a completely different market. I do not pay R146.20 for a Coke in Cape Town because it is GBP1.50 in London.

    The days where this antiquated model still made sense are long gone; games are distributed digitally or printed in countries where it is cheap to do so.

    This is why I have no sympathy when companies and devs claim poverty when pirating runs rampant in Africa and latin america.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief in New York

      May 12, 2016 at 07:53

      Arrrrr

      Reply

  14. Christopher Loughrey

    May 11, 2016 at 21:30

    You are completely wrong! This year there is a real pricing discrepancy between the pricing of Infinite Warfare between the US and Europe, this becomes immediately apparent when you reflect on the pricing last year. Last year the price for Digital Deluxe in the US was 99.99 dollars, while in Europe it was 99.99 euros. This year they are charging US customers the same price from last year at 99.99 dollars, while they are increasing the price from last year to European customers from 99.99 to 110.99, meaning there’s a whopping 11 euros increase from last year. That means that American customers are enjoying Modern Warfare Remastered for virtually free under the Digital Deluxe while European customers are paying 11 euros for the same game. It obviously means that there is an unfair pricing discrepancy betweene the US and Europe this year that goes beyond taxes and currency.

    Reply

  15. Dat jiggilypuff

    May 12, 2016 at 01:06

    Just buy indie games on steam. 15$ for 100+ hours? Don’t mind if I do!

    Reply

  16. Stormwatch

    May 12, 2016 at 03:52

    Only morons pay full price, savvy people buy games in bundles and sales.

    Reply

  17. Oscar

    May 12, 2016 at 04:36

    some people are gonna hate this comment , if you are gonna buy a game at release date then deal with , this is the trend publishers are going some minority of gamers are gonna hate it but the mayority are not going to give a fuck, altough gaming its an expensive hobby this days so you or have the money for release date or wait for a sale

    Reply

  18. Ryan Mann

    May 12, 2016 at 04:59

    I won’t pay more than $30 or $40 for a game. Steam Sales are awesome, got all three witcher games for $30. They can charge whatever they want, I just won’t play it until It’s at a price I’m willing to buy it at.

    I’ve got hundreds of games to play, I’m in now hurry to play the latest game out the instant they release.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief in New York

      May 12, 2016 at 07:51

      All 3 Witcher games for $30, yeah man, that’s the way to go!

      Reply

  19. Fuk this Sh1t

    May 12, 2016 at 05:10

    ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!
    TO THE PIRATES BAY!!
    #RIPCoD

    Reply

  20. chimera_85

    May 12, 2016 at 15:50

    That’s why EA Access and Origin Access is so worth the monthly R48.50, per annum it’s even less than one full priced AAA game (okay I don’t actually know how much it costs on xbox one)

    Reply

  21. Gr8_Balls_o_Fire

    September 8, 2016 at 11:56

    Or you can wait a few months after release

    Reply

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