I've been wondering this for a while, but what all goes into the pricing of video games?  I remember when games used to be $50 when they came out, and with 360 and PS3 they're most likely $60 bucks.  I usually have to do pretty extensive research of a game before I buy it, seeing as $60 is pretty steep!

So does anyone know any specifics as to why games are priced where they are?  I wonder how many people would buy more video games if they were $50... maybe it wouldn't make to much of a difference...?

Edit:  I realized there was no specific question in this post, so i'll turn it into a discussion about video game prices :)

I'm not sure what the $60 price point means. I know what it means to me: It means I buy more games used. If the average price dropped $10 or $20, I wonder how much more the industry would earn from people picking up games that they couldn't quite afford before?

But most really awesome titles that came out last year sometime are still $55 used!   I'm gonna get Bioshock soon, i know that's only 20.  I hope they don't raise it before the second one comes out...

I wait to get most of my games on sale from Steam.

Then buy your games online from amazon used. People usually sell their games used and even new for a lower price than stores like GameStop.

I think the price went up to $60 because of the discs games are created on now.

It messes with my head too.  I would pay half a hundred but more than half a hundred is too much.  If they priced them $54.99 I would probably pay full price.  Marketing is crazy, but I am a cheap nut.

You know, games for the SNES were $50+. Adjusted to inflation, games should be around at least $70 a pop.

Well, the games for this generation are mad expensive to develop and the publishers need to earn their profits. I don't have a problems paying $60 dollars for a game that is undeveloped. More developers need to look at Uncharted 2 -- this is a masterpiece.

honestly, 50 was too steep for me. Video games are just too expensive. I purchase all of my games from amazon, ebay, or if I wait long enough, the $10 bin at gamestop. The only exception to this is if I'm going to keep that game and play it for the next 3 years of my life, a la Call of Duty 4

I think they deserve $60, I understand that the price isn't wallet friendly but alot of blood, sweat and tears go into great games and the creators deserve to make a profit so that great games continue to be made.

@Erica - You are my new gaming friend... lol

You seem to have a positive attitude about gaming.

Some N64 games were $70 so I don't complain.

The PS3, at $299.99, costs less than six new games.

I mentioned this elsewhere, but the cost of a game system is up to $10 more to make than to buy. In the case of the PS3, the system is made by hand in an assembly line, and the expense of that labor in conjunction with the newly developed parts amounts to more per system than what you, as the consumer, pay for that system. This isn't taking into account the cost of repairs and replacements of broken systems under warranty.

How system developers make up for their losses with systems is in games. Certainly games cost quite a bit to make; the team members handling the title (large or small) and the marketing are the greatest costs. Companies pay hundreds of dollars (per standee/poster) for their products to be displayed. For one Assassin's Creed standee to be placed in just one GameStop, Ubisoft paid more than each employee's paycheck combined.

However, there are 4,000 GameStops nationwide. If every GameStop sells one copy of Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft makes about $230,000 (subtracting a certain amount that goes to GameStop for selling the game, of course). Now if every Best Buy, every Target, and every Walmart sells just one copy, that's quite a considerable amount of money. At a certain point, the money that went into game development is quickly paid in full, and the profit is incredibly high. The disk itself, after all, is less than a dollar to produce.

So, in short: games cost more when companies lose money on systems. 

Don't be angry with the system, though. The extra revenue usually goes into making even better titles. (Except in the case of the Halo franchise.)

I'd also like to add that, nowadays, we have better technology, and with better technology for games means better capacity of the disk. Look a BluRay for example, it holds up to like 30-60GB of memory and you have to pay for that, plus adjusting for the rate of inflation and having to pay for the hard-earned work to the people who made you this game, and I think $60 + tax is fine with me.

November 13th-15th

Because of Blu-Rays and HD-DVDs.