"How do you sell someone a $60 game that's really worth it?"

How about you sell a game that is worth $60, that is finished, that hasn't had half of the game removed, that doesn't rely on constant patches, that doesn't have a finite lifespan, because you'd rather have people pay $60 for the next update packaged as a $60 retail game?

How about you give people $60 worth of game, instead of trying to "quick buck" them at every opportunity?

If these people keep obsessing over how to rape the gamer's pocket, then they will deservedly go right down the drain.

The fact is, games worth $60, will sell for $60... and people will feel happy having paid that much. If you can't make games worth the asking price, then don't come crying across the internet when you feel hard done to.

What an ass.

Hey Capps: how about considering the suffocating impact that huge budget, super-mega-project games has had on the industry over the past decade?

$0.99 apps is bringing us back to the golden era of shareware and the like. Remember, that era that gave birth to Epic via Jill of the Jungle and Jazz the Jackrabbit?

Both Capps and the first two replies are somewhat clueless.

"'How do you sell someone a $60 game that's really worth it? People are used to paying 99 cents,' he added."

You're comparing apples to oranges here Mike. : You're not going to sell a $60 mobile game and there are very few, if any, AAA console or PC games for $.99.

As for the reply arguments - IMO you should only be qualified to critique something about which you have knowledge. Only trolls talk about something that they have no knowledge of. Work in the industry for at least a year so you have some kind of clue as to how much effort goes into AAA games then see how your outlook changes. :

I am an industry vet, with games ranging from Facebook flash apps through to AAA FPS shooters. I've had a hand in a wide array of aspects of this industry.

I know how much effort goes into AAA games, and I also recognize how terrified everyone seems to be that the profit margins for these cheap little games are so damned high.

Besides, I recognize that he's not just referring to the $0.99 price point; Capps is discussing the impact of all cheap games, including the $10 and $15 indie games that are piling onto Steam.

IE, everyone not willing to pay through the nose for Epic's tech.

Key factors here:
- potential market size of a AAA game title targeting a subsection of the gaming industry (call this {A})
- potential market size of a casual / social game with wider market size (call this {B})

There's more to the equation than just, "make a game worth buying". Every game is worth buying, but the worry is that the $0.99 games are lowering consumers price expectations of a game (which tends to happen during the ending phases of a product life cycle).

Based on the projected sales at $60 for {A}, a game might not break even, however consumers might be reluctant to spend $70, so there are three obvious solutions:
- Keep development cost within profit margin for $60 title (at the risk of consumers losing interest in lack of updates)
- Introduce more new features/content with the higher price of $70
- Release the title with features for a title that could be sold for $60, provide DLC for the players who value the DLC enough to do so.

At the end of the day, customers will only pay for what they want to pay for. And on the flipside, developers will only create what they can afford to create.

It would be lovely if it was as simple as, "just create a better game", gee whiz, if only I had a nickel for every time I've heard that.

Every game is worth buying (to at least someone).

And to add, the financial model for {B} type games is completely different. That market is about high volumes of purchases for a single title, and also a higher spread of purchases per consumer.

The {A} type development team would rather produce fewer fully featured games (costing more), whilst the {B} type development team might want to produce more mild featured games (costing less), or make money from in-app purchases.

The market rules. If you don't change, then you will be left behind. Make sure the $60 games are worthed, or you need to change your business model.

deal with it.

screw you mike capps, i'm sorry if these dollar devs are making your games look like the overpriced garbage that they are but you all deserve it.

"blockbuster games" are all a huge waste of time these days anyway. video games have all become an imitation of a michael bay movie these days. remember morrowind on pc just 5 years ago? EVERY BOOK HAD PAGES OF TEXT IN THEM! there was literally thousands of novels worth of UNIQUE writing in that game. now we have *ahem* "better" graphics, but shorter games, longer development cycles, and shallow gameplay.

Morrowind > Oblivion
Halo 1 > Halo 2, 3, reach
Final Fantasy 7 > Final Fantasy 13
Starcraft 1 > Starcraft 2
Everquest > World of Warcraft
Super Mario Bros 3 > Super Mario Galaxy
Mario Kart 64 > Mario Kart Wii
etc etc etc etc etc etc etc...

Even if there where thousands of pages of "unique writing" in that game, who wants to spend time reading through all that? It's most likely not good writing. This is not something that really improved the game and that very few people even care about.
Of all the games you mentioned, probably only FF13 is actually more shallow than its counterpart. The reason you like them better is because you experienced them at a time when you where more subsceptible to liking them.
Now it's true that Epic produces pretty dumb games with good graphics, but that's just where their market's at.

Amazing how Greed can try to twist the scheme of reality.

Moral of the story, arcade gameplay never dies.

Is there any requirement that a game should be sold for 60 dollars? Why not sell a game for 30 dollars, you may cut the storytelling but enhance multiplayer modes and gameplay variety instead.

Make some unique IP's, stop nickel-n-diming people with DLC, stop making multi-platform and concentrate on each platform separately, and deliver what is promised, not broken and faulty games that need patches. Support modding and dedicated servers to prolong the lifetime and appeal of titles.
Otherwise, the only one "killing" the industry is you.

I disagree that the iPhone and Android market is ruining the game industry. I still buy $60 games if they're good enough but I also buy 99 cent apps or $10 apps. Again it all comes down to the quality of the game. Too many large studios got super bloated, too many heads involved in development and too much money. Too much crap was released. Not every 99 cent app is a block buster just as not every $60 game is. It's time to raise the bar and produce better games. The sales will follow!

The fact is that if a $60 dollar game isn't selling, then it's not worth $60. Just because you put a $60 price tag on an item doesn't make it worth it. It's called the law of supply and demand.

I agree that $0.99 apps generally suck, but unfortunately, a lot of people would rather have 60 $0.99 apps than one $60 app. The fact is that many of us have jobs, and as hard as we try, we can't always prioritize games in our lives the way we should. Thus, $60 is just too much.

The bottom line is that "The value of an item is determined by the purchaser." My putting a $2M price tag on a bag of crap doesn't make it worth $2M EVEN if the time I put into it was worth $2M to me an my team.

$60 for a game is way too much. It is pure profit. That is why more companies are entering the field. It is called Supply and Demand Mr. Capps. This post is shamefully embarrassing to Epic.

EPIC you have been over charging your poor customers for years. Terrible!

The guy is crying about market not doing what he wants and "the uncertainty"... you see the consumer preference in devices change 360' with smartphones, tablets, net-books and you expect things to be "business as usual" using the model that pretty much hasn't changed for last 15 years (only got scaled/tuned) ...
Release often, experiment, small games and small budgets, predicting trends and fads and leveraging risk by small investments, no barriers to entry to protect you this time (eg. esoteric dev environments and SDK prices) - it's the internet/indie business model !

Epic fail.