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Capcom: Piracy Not a Factor in Higher PC Price for Bionic Commando Rearmed, $14.99 Is 'Appropriate'
by Chris Faylor, Aug 08, 2008 10:37am PDTThe $5 price hike for the PC edition of GRIN's downloadable platformer Bionic Commando "has nothing to do with Piracy concerns," Capcom business development and strategic planning VP Christian Svensson has informed Shacknews.
Though the title will sell for $9.99 when it hits consoles next week, Svensson explained that the $14.99 price for the PC version, also due next week, stems from "different business terms/expectations in that sector." He added that "the typical downloadable price for digital-only games on PC is actually $19.99."
The executive listed higher distribution costs on PC as another factor, concluding that "$14.99 represents an appropriate price for the platform" and that gamers "should probably expect our PC pricing to always be slightly higher than the console equivalent in this [digital distribution] space." Capcom's upcoming slate of downloadable PC and console games include Certain Affinity's Age of Booty and Proper Games' Flock.
Last week, Svensson made headlines when he claimed that the retail PC version of Capcom's Devil May Cry 4 was not selling well in North America and had been "pirated to hell and back." Arriving five months after the PS3 and Xbox 360 editions, DMC4 PC carried a cheaper price than the console versions--a common retail pricing scheme.
Svensson's complete response follows below:
It has nothing to do with Piracy concerns. It has to do with different business terms/expectations in that sector and more importantly, generally prevailing pricing of PC digital games versus their console counterparts.The typical downloadable price for digital-only games on PC is actually $19.99.
Click on any of the top downloadable games above and check their prices... most are $19.99... and these guys are the leaders in digital only titles (not just digitally distributed hybrid games).
With rare exceptions, titles available on Live Arcade that are also available on PC and Live Arcade are more expensive on PC (or at least
where when they launched). Check all of the Pop Cap, Mumbo Jumbo, Oberon titles for comparison.
Another consideration is that our distribution costs as a percentage are, on average, slightly higher on PC than console. In several cases we
have another party (beyond just the distribution portals) taking an extra bite, driving down our share of the revenue. For example,
affiliate sites of our portal partners take a well earned slice of revenue for every sale, then the portal gets its cut, then we get ours. Three mouths to feed.
$14.99 represents an appropriate price for the platform and you should probably expect our PC pricing to always be slightly higher than the console equivalent in this space.
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They could have priced it at $15 everywhere, nobody would have complained, nobody would have said a thing. People are happy to pay $15 for a great remake, it's still extremely cheap. I would be happy to pay $20.
But what do they do? They make this tiny gesture of bad will towards PC gamers.
Let me remind you that if they priced it at $15 on both consoles and PCs, nobody would say a word, and they would be $5 x Customers richer from their console edition.
But they chose to make elaborate excuses that come straight out of the marketing excuse machine, incite dislike and annoyance from the PC gaming community and lose an extra $5 on sales from console versions!
Capcom, whoever made this decision in your marketing department is an incompetent fool who just lost you both money and respect, fire him/her immediately.
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Despite what the suit said, it still sounds like a money grab. Great idea too, make up for "expected" piracy losses off the backs of the people who purchase legit copies. Of course they don't want people to think that! Acting like they HAVE to sell it at a higher price because they need to meet "terms and expectations" sure smells like BS. Whether they want to say it in english or coroporate-speak, it's all the same. [/conspiracy]
lol
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Pretty foolish to try and squeak out an extra 5 bucks from the larger crowd - though any word on what the requirements are to run the game? I can't imagine it would be particularly...
Damn shame if you ask me...
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Maybe they should've thought about making the game actually playable on a PC without the use of a console controller, Console to PC ports will never sell with PC Gamers, Capcom you are idiots.
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if it had online multiplayer & coop, i could see paying $40+ for it.
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