Bismarck
Rookie
As a short on the supply and demand component-
While I do think there are probably supply and demand curves to derived, I feel like that probably would have to be on a case by case basis. That is, the elasticity of demand would fairly inelastic for games perceived as phenomenal, or at least marketed as such. Where as the market for relatively unknown games would be more elastic, meaning that price would be a major factor between buying it and not buying it. I think this is reflected in the price of games normally; titles that are highly desired generally sell for more (and in the case of collectors editions, a lot more because the supply is restricted and luxury goods tend to be inelastic). What this boils down to as far as pricing is a sort conundrum for quality. I don't have any conclusions, but I would be interested to see how many people buy based on reviews they read, versus advertisements they saw, versus fandom for an already developed franchise - why some games that are clearly well made sell horribly (Beyond Good and Evil, Viva Pinata), and some games that are made horribly sell pretty well.
In regards to piracy, here's my personal opinion-
It's very easy to pirate PC games and I believe it legitimately hurts companies. The games that tend to do well on PC are ones that require some sort of subscription that would make piracy out of the question. However, I do not believe it really hurts consoles, and in fact I think it would probably help hardware sales. For one, its not as simple as clicking download and applying a crack, so much fewer people do it. Secondly, it eliminates your ability to play online on the console, and there aren't really any work-arounds like on PC. It definitely hurts games that don't have strong online content, which is I'm sure part of the reason there has been such a surge in online game content. Ultimately, I feel game developers and console manufacturers should view piracy as inevitable and should use online exclusion to mitigate it. In regards to whether they should view it as a negative for their revenue, I would say, it depends. You can't say with certainty whether someone would or would not have bought the game had they not been able to pirate it. It should be, and I think has been, addressed by providing disincentives for people to pirate without making the price too high.
It's a big question, but I feel like games are appropriately priced - that said, I can't remember the last time I bought a new game. I always buy used because I have the patience to wait a year or two haha.
While I do think there are probably supply and demand curves to derived, I feel like that probably would have to be on a case by case basis. That is, the elasticity of demand would fairly inelastic for games perceived as phenomenal, or at least marketed as such. Where as the market for relatively unknown games would be more elastic, meaning that price would be a major factor between buying it and not buying it. I think this is reflected in the price of games normally; titles that are highly desired generally sell for more (and in the case of collectors editions, a lot more because the supply is restricted and luxury goods tend to be inelastic). What this boils down to as far as pricing is a sort conundrum for quality. I don't have any conclusions, but I would be interested to see how many people buy based on reviews they read, versus advertisements they saw, versus fandom for an already developed franchise - why some games that are clearly well made sell horribly (Beyond Good and Evil, Viva Pinata), and some games that are made horribly sell pretty well.
In regards to piracy, here's my personal opinion-
It's very easy to pirate PC games and I believe it legitimately hurts companies. The games that tend to do well on PC are ones that require some sort of subscription that would make piracy out of the question. However, I do not believe it really hurts consoles, and in fact I think it would probably help hardware sales. For one, its not as simple as clicking download and applying a crack, so much fewer people do it. Secondly, it eliminates your ability to play online on the console, and there aren't really any work-arounds like on PC. It definitely hurts games that don't have strong online content, which is I'm sure part of the reason there has been such a surge in online game content. Ultimately, I feel game developers and console manufacturers should view piracy as inevitable and should use online exclusion to mitigate it. In regards to whether they should view it as a negative for their revenue, I would say, it depends. You can't say with certainty whether someone would or would not have bought the game had they not been able to pirate it. It should be, and I think has been, addressed by providing disincentives for people to pirate without making the price too high.
It's a big question, but I feel like games are appropriately priced - that said, I can't remember the last time I bought a new game. I always buy used because I have the patience to wait a year or two haha.
