Poll: How do you feel about VC pricing?
by David Hinkle 
{ Mar 8th 2007 at 11:35AM }
At the conclusion of yesterday's Virtual Console poll, we saw one comment that claimed VC pricing was ridiculously overpriced. So, we thought we'd gauge everyone else's opinion on the manner and, really, what better way to do that than run another poll? We suppose we could go door to door and ask folks, but we doubt our cruel overlords would allow us out of our cages for that long.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
TraV @ Mar 8th 2007 1:27PM
I'd prefer them cheaper of course, but that hasn't stopped me from downloading a dozen of them.
Immortaly007 @ Mar 8th 2007 12:04PM
Isn't there an option: It's a bit too expensive, but not much?
Loban @ Mar 8th 2007 12:20PM
I agree with Immortaly007, I think they're too expensive, but not by much. Instead of going $5, $8, $10, (or in points: 500, 800, 1000) for NES, SNES, N64, it should go $2, $4, $6 or something like that.
Ben @ Mar 8th 2007 12:11PM
When you type in these titles on ebay, you can see that you are definetly saving money on these purchases.as soon as i get a Wii (don't laugh at me), I will be buying PLENTY of VC games
sracer @ Mar 8th 2007 12:30PM
The current pricing is way too expensive for electronic downloads. There's no shrinkwrap packaging, shipping, inventory, etc. on these things. "Development costs" are limited to porting and testing (far less than from the ground-up development). When I can walk in into an OfficeMax, Best Buy, or Staples, and buy CDs of older PC games for $5-$10, spending that much for a VC title is way too expensive.
I can go into a thrift store and by the used original cartridges for these systems for $1 each.
A sliding scale of $1-$3 is more appropriate. And Nintendo would be surprised by how many of these games people are willing to buy when the price is right.
Dougal @ Mar 8th 2007 12:53PM
Definitely too expensive here in the UK. The problem is I still can't resist! :-o
Charles @ Mar 8th 2007 1:03PM
I think the only titles that feel overpriced are the NES ones. But even still, I'd pay 500 points if the right game came along ::cough:: Tetris ::cough::
theLoneYoshi @ Mar 8th 2007 1:16PM
So I guess no option for "I think it's a *little* expensive so I'll get some, but only the very important ones." I'm pretty sure there are a few who would be in my category, such as #1, Immortaly007, and #3, Loban.
This poll seems so black and white... or black, grey, white, and... transparent, I guess?
dukemeiser @ Mar 8th 2007 1:19PM
I wouldn't say they are too expensive (I have yet to buy any). But if they were cheaper I would definitely buy some. These old games that I played into the ground when they originally came out are going to seem boring the second time.
Miranda @ Mar 8th 2007 4:49PM
I voted "way too expensive," but I agree, my real opinion is that they are *a little* too expensive.
Brad @ Mar 8th 2007 1:30PM
I would be WAY more inclined to buy more games i'm on the fence about if they were cheaper. That being said, games i really want i would pay even MORE for. So reducing prices across the board would IMO make them more money.
Although i'm sure they paid some people a crap load of money to figure out how to price the games to make the most money.
Jackson Pritt @ Mar 8th 2007 2:14PM
I agree with everyone else who says that they're *slightly* overpriced.
I'd gladly pay $4/$6/$8, but the $5/$8/$10 seems like a bit much to me. At that price I doubt I'll ever buy any N64 titles, since I can get used GameCube games for around the same price.
It all depends on the game in question, though. While I might not want to pay $8 for F-Zero, I'd GLADLY pay it for Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, or any of the better SNES RPGs.
Nintendo just needs to be easier with their sliding scale. Common/crappy games should cost less, and rare/classic games should cost more.
idioteraser @ Mar 8th 2007 2:51PM
Yes they did research on the pricing. Also they have to pay license fees, the fee also pays for the price of testing the game, any recoding necessary since they do have a digital manual with them, they have an interupt save space, bandwidth cost. Also they are using the money generated for vc game development as well any wiiconnect24 content.
Would you rather have an ad or fee based service and 1 dollar games that only has a trickle every five months or 12 games a month from licenses you never thought they would have gotten?
Reason why the xbox live arcade gets so few games is because the developers don't get much money from it and the cost of adding stuff to a game such as achievments leaderboards hampers the profitability. So the license holder isn't that inclined to put the game on the xbox live arcade.
The wii vc on the other hand is incredibly attractive to license holders. So figure out what is more important to you having the games available for download or not having them available?
Krishan Patel @ Mar 8th 2007 2:46PM
Well, as a UK gamer they are rediculously overpriced. I think that if they lowered it too maybe £3 a n64 game and a pound for the Snes and NES games they would get a LOT more business, i would buy a new VC title every week at that price. I bought a SNES recently as it probably works out cheaper and I am thoroughly enjoying the retro gaming. If the Wii Vc titles were cheaper I would enjoy them on my new console :) Bottom line is I could easily download emulators and ROMZ (which i originally own ahem) for free than pay £7.50 for a n64 game which, when I go into my gaming store, sell for a few quid.
WII FTW!
Hunter @ Mar 8th 2007 1:58PM
I think that it should not be a platform based pricing model. Is A Link to the Past worth $8.00, as is Super Mario World. Most of the NES stuff is not worth a fiver and Street Fighter the World Warior is not worth $8.00. I think they need to take a closer look at the game and price it accordingly IMO.
JC Fletcher @ Mar 8th 2007 2:12PM
I wish they were cheaper, because I want to buy all of them. Even Urban Champion.
Joshua @ Mar 8th 2007 2:16PM
It's odd because sometimes there are titles on NES that I think are really worth $5. Zelda being one of those. But Legend of Kage at $5...I don't think so, perhaps $2.
But reliving my childhood got the better of me and I dropped the money for Kage anyways. Minutes later I realized certain parts of my childhood sucked.
But if you have a sliding scale of pricing due to popularity we'll only see the biggest titles and miss out on a lot of obscure games.
I'm waiting for The Goonies...to me that's worth $5.
Joshua @ Mar 8th 2007 2:19PM
It's odd because sometimes there are titles on NES that I think are really worth $5. Zelda being one of those. But Legend of Kage at $5...I don't think so, perhaps $2.
But reliving my childhood got the better of me and I dropped the money for Kage anyways. Minutes later I realized certain parts of my childhood sucked.
I'll pay $5 for The Goonies...I know that much!
Badaro @ Mar 8th 2007 2:59PM
My opinion is pretty similar to Immortaly007: "Expensive, but not too much".
Due to the lack of better choices in the poll, I voted for "These games are way too expensive".
Grey Acumen @ Mar 8th 2007 3:54PM
I could do with them being knocked back about 100 - 200 points, depending on the title.
The BIGGEST issue however is the lack of a 100 point increment. The choices for buying Wiipoints should go as follows:
100point, 1000points, 2000points, 5000points
Fix that, and my complaint with the VC will be over
Abscissa @ Mar 8th 2007 5:11PM
I'm 100% with #19 Grey Acumen on this. If there was a 100pt increment, I would be buying up tons of stuff. But unless they do that I'm not going to buy any more than the few I have now, even if they bring out something really good like Mario RPG or Chrono Trigger.
Jayenkai @ Mar 8th 2007 5:37PM
I don't think they're that bad, really.
(Old-bloke mode)
In my days, games were £3.99, came in small plastic cases, and slotted into a cassette player.
If I were a kid, now, and I could spend £15 to get a few decent console games, I'd be happy as... Well, I'd be happy as I am!
I mean, I guess it really depends on the game.
I spent £3.50 on Super Mario Bros. Why? I don't know, I'm stupid or something... I've paid for it on the NES, I've paid for it on the GBColor, and I even have it on Animal Crossing on the Cube (which can be played on the Wii anyway!) I'm a sucker for SMB!
But on the other hand, I also paid £3.50 for Kirby. I've never owned a kirby game before, except for the silly DS on-a-line thing, and that wasn't really any good at all.
I love Kirby, I'm about 3/4 way through it, and I feel it's £3.50 well spent.
I also spent about £4 on Bomberman, and that's seen at least 3 sets of batteries die on it.
Pick the good games, then the prices are right.
dlynch @ Mar 8th 2007 8:13PM
wii don't like it. maybe 8 for n64 games, but that's about it. 3 for nes games, etc
________________
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Steve 3.2 @ Mar 8th 2007 7:47PM
There should have been a 'slightly too expensive' choice. And it also depends on which game you're talking about. 800 Points for Super Mario World isn't too bad. $8 for Altered Beast is a crime.
Hopefully Nintendo will offer some deals in the future by packaging games together or discounting 'older' VC titles.
zm634 @ Mar 9th 2007 12:18PM
I don't think they're *way* too expensive, but just a little bit too much to really prevent someone from playing the roms with an emulator. Considering the production cost for these games is essentially ZERO, the price could stand to come down a bit. I've bought three VC games already, and I'll be buying Link to the Past soon, but... $8 for a 512k file?
Jamie @ Mar 9th 2007 12:42PM
I still don't think I should have to pay so much for VC titles when I can buy a game that has a collection of many class Arcade/Sega games. For instance, I can download Sonic The Hedgehog from Virtual Console for 800 Wii points (8$) OR I can buy Sonic Mega Collection for the GC for $18.99 and play it on my Wii. Note that the Mega Collection includes Sonic 1,2,& 3, Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic Spinball, Dr.Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, and Sonic 3D.
benjamin @ Mar 9th 2007 1:16PM
Slightly too expensive.
If a VC game comes out that I'm interested in playing, I'll hit up half.com and see what price it goes for there. Often I can get Genesis games for less than the equivalent amount of points, even with shipping.
What makes matters worse is that VC games tend to be more popular. Since they're more popular than a lesser known game, prices for them tend to be much lower than more obscure titles on sites like half.
For example, think about the difference in price between Earthbound and, say, FF7.
Jason @ Mar 9th 2007 6:28PM
I agree with the notion that they are slightly too expensive. I'd also like to see some packaged deals. Here's the issue. Animal Crossing costs $20 Retail. It has 15 NES games. Thus it is technically valued at 7500 Wii Points. Or Let's take the Mega Collection (Another $20 compilation). That has 9600 Wii Points worth of games on it. Finally, take a look at the Sega Genesis collection for the PS2. It retails at $30 and has plenty of Genesis games on it (forgot how many, but clearly more than 10000 Wii Points worth). So I would like to see packaged deals in the Wii Shop. Give me all Sonic Games for say 2000 Wii Points. Or give me all Mega Man games for 2000 Wii Points. Heck, when I buy a game (like Twilight Princess), give me the rest of the Zeldas for free as an incentive.
Hellmark @ Mar 16th 2007 10:57PM
I personally think the prices are just a bit too high. The SNES and Genesis prices are probably what I have the most problems with. As displayed by the Turbo Grafx16 version of Rtype, the base price is only a starting point, so when something is already fairly expensive, they must really plan on raping you. And why is the TG16, a 16 bit competitors, games for less than the others, when the games are good too?