Its becoming a frequent argument now to hear a game is overpriced. This is especially the case with the PC market and steam where it the main source for Triple A launches, popular indie games, experimental mid-priced games, betas, pre-betas, Free to play, mobile ports, and obscure indie games all sharing and competing in one spot along with giant sales across any of these mentioned type of games. The prices are everywhere, and while you can grab some amazing deals you'll also spot games that just don't quite match up to some other values and feel off. This was brought up not long ago with South park and adventure time RPGs costing pretty much at the max retail price. Meanwhile how about those guys that got a strong action RPG fill with Torchlight 2, a game easily stronger than the big budget Diablo 3 for many and has over 100 hours worth of content to those it appeals to. Oh and mod support, good old mod support is there and full of life. So how much was all that.... $15 my friend, and its had time to go half off and beyond a few times and will probably be doing so again this upcoming spring sale. So by comparison a quadrupedal priced South park RPG is a hard sell, especially if people are going to look at it with the licencing aside.... even worse is adventure time RPG, which doesn't even bother to make the graphics look any better than a gameboy game nor does it use the license quality to its fullest potential like Southpark does.
For starters lets get the most obvious thing out of the way.... nobody is promising you a cheap game, or something that wins the deal by a landslide, or something that is even remotely appropriate. We just had Rambo the sloppy budget rail shooter hit steam at $40. The thing is though that it was never under our control. What's also sad is that we must consider the licensing and fees that may go behind it all, which sadly don't make it easier on the dev's end. It is also something worth of value to costumers to. South Park fans really should be excited for the stick of truth, and it looks like it goes beyond a solid RPG to deliver a great south park episode experience within it. I'd personally say that's more of a $40 value, but then again I'm not an RPG fan nor do I really care that much for the show so maybe this is just my slanted view speaking. Space Hulk was another example of a weirdly priced game at $30 and much less for a slightly watered down mobile port. However in addition to steam they had to pay a lot of money towards the company that owns the W40K license, who is admittedly pretty greedy in reputation so the bill probably wasn't very light. The indie team, retailer, and license were all keeping them from a light hearted price. However why did they decide to go much cheaper on mobile.... well I think that is the ultimate answer to this topic and raises another good question for the developer team. It was a matter of competitive pricing, however they clearly missed their mark with the steam community that was fussy about it.
The prices today have gotten pretty good in a lot of areas. With indies and digital distribution high on the scene, its pretty easy to see why so many people have started expecting these smaller prices. Its kind of hard to sell just a solid linear RPG for $60 now, because you can get good ones from anything ranging from free to $20. You can get Dota and LoL for free and their at the top of their genre, so it wouldn't make sense to see a full priced MOBA launch either. This has been the question with online games for quite some time to, with many focused online FPS games being at $15-$30, or even free, what is to really sell you on Titanfall for double? Even the publisher's other online game, plants vs zombies garden warfare launched at a lower price of $40.... because that's the competitive thing to do. This is the natural way pricing should work, and I strongly encourage developers to be within reason with their asking prices. Even with the licensing, was space hulk really worth $30 in a world and market where similar games have been passed for much less and it looks more like a mini PSN downloadable game rather than half of a triple A game? I really don't think that was a bright move. Going back to that adventure time RPG, that was just flat out stupid and the same could be said for Rambo. However going back to the other point, there was never a promise for fair and competitive prices, so we'll sadly have to wait that sort of thing out or you'll have to really test your idea of whether or not its worth it. To be fair if Torchlight 2 probably could have gotten away with a $60 release, and it would have been worth it to fans as you get ridiculous amount of content and depth out of that sort of experience. So if there was someone out there willing to pay top dollar for a digital space hulk experience, yeah go ahead there.
This is also how you answer the question of length. This was the concern for MGS's miniature prequel game that could supposedly be beaten in 2 hours for the price of a budget retail release... pretty steep to those just looking at that surface value. However some veterans of the series know the game is replayable and good enough to them to warrant that price, but its still a pretty solid topic to discuss back and forth and there is no clear right answer. In a world where we might pay $30 for the best quality of a simple movie clocking in often quite a bit under 2 hours, its kind of hard to just knock out a short game based on just being short. Heck games themselves used to be worse, reviewtechUSA's youtube channel brought in a good reference to how short a golden axe game was (less than a movie length) for well over the cost of the modern game. However its in large part again thanks to competition, because people have come to know $60 as meaning a lot of modes, quality, and stuff to achieve, they know it as a lot of content and want that content to be paced right to get their entertainment right. Hearing that something is less for the same or similar pricing is a bit unsettling... however with media like gaming being an art form, the content has a certain amount of impact to it that can give us the value we came for. The people that realize this might pay a lot for a strong short game. So it comes down to whether or not the experience itself outweighs the price rather than just total content. Personally speaking, I'm a content guy a lot of times, especially for big purchases. I think a good game will be one that has a lot to enjoy and a lot to replay, and I like being able to access and enjoy it easily... so to me an online only game is a tough buy, even at $20, as I'm worried its length is tied to its servers and my connection. Similarly if a game is linear campaign focused, I'll be hoping it has 12 hours at least, or about 10+ levels. So when I was so excited for Dishonored, and eventually heard a number count on its levels at 9 (8 counting tutorial) there was a tiny bit of a concern creeping up. Campaign only, and only 8 real levels, I also considered that one or two of them might be "bad" levels leaving me with a very limited range on how much I could love about the game. However this is also where the exception steps in and its not only about the content, but the experience shows through. I'm a fan of tricksters characters, and the romanticized thief, and this matches a bit in my taste of gaming where I love going through things and eavesdropping but in a space where I can still be the "good guy" about it. So the stealth genre as you might figure is certainly something with my interest, and Dishonored with its world, style, detail, and the mechanics to toy with it all and play the role of a super charged thief/assassin was just amazing. I loved and adored every bit of those 9 levels, even the tutorial, and it became one of my favorite PS3 games of all time. Despite its multiplayer component, the same can be said with Killzone 2 for being such a master at the corridor shooter experience.... never mind its typical 6 hour campaign and the bad mech level, it was just amazing at the end of the day and I put in over 30 hours into playing it and still return to it. Would I have liked more? Of course! Still, I got my value in what was there.
In the end I think it depends on what you want and where you place your priorities. I think that developers should always be fighting competitively for the best value and give gamers great games for a justified price, but we can't make them do it and honestly they'll have a different idea of price from you, so things wont always work out that way. However when an overpriced game comes by, well we're here to support with our wallets and maybe you should take it elsewhere when a game is reaching for too much. We can wait it out. The last purchase I made was from a game I found overpriced (Aqua Kitty), so I got a discount coupon and bought it for the ideal price. Its not that hard. That's my suggestion for those complaining about South park, for those that think the new MGS idea is theft, and to those that scoff at Gone Home's $20 tag for a game that can be speed through in less than a minute. I've got to admit this is a very strange time to talk about prices. We have incredible and outright legendary games going on sale or even lasting at the price of a simple cup of coffee, a box of gum, or a couple songs, but we also have far more expensive games with a bigger presentation and far less content within them. However that doesn't always mean that the latter is ripping you off, or that you were ever promised a good deal to begin with, and it all comes down to what you value and your patience and intelligent spending skills. In addition to these deals and coffee prices, we're also living in a world with hats that cost over $100 just for being in some fancy or special theme store, and where a game like Rambo thinks its on par with Deadpool and Gardern Warfare. You just have to learn to deal with the BS prices and keep your sense and dignity with that.
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