Today, Polygon’s Opinions editor Ben Kuchera validated the “late
gamer”, the consumer who picks up games long after their initial release, despite
those that stress the felt need to buy games day-one to help developers keep
their jobs. He speaks of “Game of the Year Editions”, “Enhanced Editions” and
other ‘editions’ that add more value to older titles, with packed in DLC that
would have put an additional $30 or more to the original release of the game.
This isn’t always ideal of course, as stepping into
multiplayer communities 6-12 months + after launch often leads to repeated
failure by the hands of hardened online veterans, and the longer you wait not
playing The Last of Us, the more evasive you have to be to avoid spoilers.
Though unreasonable an impossible to predict, publishers
have us covered with a growing handful of remakes and remasters from Tomb
Raider, to Sleeping Dogs, to a slew of PSN classics. We sometimes get package
deals as well, with Metro Redux coming next week that includes both 2033 and
Last Light, and Bayonetta 2 on Wii U that packs the original Bayonetta on the
box. I’ve never played a Bayonetta or a Metro game, so I get four games for the price of two.
This notion doesn’t exclude diminished pricings of games,
online store sales and game trade ins. There are many gamers who monitor this economy
in search for games for cheap.
Repackaged editions that come from games earlier in the
console’s life cycle and a previous one can come at anytime from anywhere,
making them more unpredictable; but waiting for games to come out for free is a
satisfying gamble.
Between May when I bought Watch Dogs and the time of this
writing, I’ve spent a total of $60 on games. Yes, that includes game trade-ins
for Mario Kart 8 and Wolfenstein: The New Order (both in which I reviewed), but
those are just 3 of the 12+ games I’ve played over the past few months. The
remainder is thanks to the Playstation Plus and Games with Gold subscription
programs, providing a small handful of free games each month. The phrase used
to be, “I’ll wait for the Steam Sale”; now it’s also “I’ll wait ‘till it’s free
on Plus”. These two console service programs have been a bastion for low budget
gamers such as myself, offering well received titles such as Fez, Dragon’s
Crown, Dark Souls, and Dishonored for free. And with third party publishers
stepping into the game, it seems like it’ll be even more worthwhile to be
patient.
EA Access, EA’s new digital subscription service program,
mirrors PS Plus and GwG in that they offer free titles with discounts on all
other digital purchases. I spoke about how EA’s Vault setup allows us to relax
as we can enter their collection at any time and have access to all games that historically
have been included. Though with a measly 4 titles included in the Vault at this
time on a less-than-a-year old system, EA Access isn’t quite worth the $30
annual/$5 monthly subscription, but it will over time… and other publishers
will recognize that. Seeing other third
party publishers enter the subscription mix will make for an interesting time,
converting some day-one goers to digital late adopters. They may lock you
within their publishing umbrella for another asking price of thirty or-so
dollars a year, but the numbers tip in the consumer’s favor once they’re
surpassed that annual fee within a month’s worth of games.
New editions, bonus inclusions, digital sales, and online
subscription programs, all of these pricing models and practices make our hobby
much cheaper. We’ll just have to be patient.
No comments
Post a Comment