Xboxist

Is 1200 MS Points a Fair Price for XBLA Games?

Everywhere you look these days, the price of games seems to be falling. From aggressive early slashes in the price of Fable 2, to additional reductions in the price of recently released titles from Electronic Arts, the economic recession has helped to push video game prices downwards. Everywhere, that is, except on Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade service. Here, prices have been slowly creeping upwards, with the majority of new releases now selling for $15 or 1200 Microsoft Points. A few months ago, the standard price was a more reasonable $10 or 800 points, a price that many fans have told us put XBLA titles in the "spontaneous purchase" sweet spot.

Those days are behind us, and it is nearly impossible to find a newly released game for under 1200 points. Recent offenders include The Watchmen, which by all accounts turned out to be a mediocre game riding on hype from the motion picture release. Quirky puzzle game Flock! Also pushed its luck at 1200 Microsoft Points. Then Lode Runner and Sega's Virtual On both jumped on the 1200 point bandwagon. This was particularly painful in the case of Lode Runner, where the publisher accidentally leaked a price of 800 points before changing it at the time of the game's launch.

What is the cause for this price increase? In short, it appears to a price that the market will bear (for now). The sad truth is that as long as us gamers are willing to swallow the additional cost of these games, Microsoft and third party publishers will keep charging high prices. The other factor has to do with familiarity. Having proven the viability of digital downloads as a business model, The Redmond company has opened the door for first- and third- party publishers to demand a little more for their downloadable offerings. Now that consumers are comfortable with the idea of opening up their wallets for these digital transactions, the original barrier to entry has been overcome.

We wouldn't expect a return to the more comfortable 800 point ($10) price point unless consumers stage a major revolt against this new pricing scheme by refusing to pay up. This could certainly happen - not because of an organized protest by Xbox users, but because some games might not be worth their high price tags.

Recently, we learned that EA will be offering their upcoming multiplayer game Battlefield: 1943 at the same 1200 Point price that many smaller, less complete games now fetch. Of course they will probably charge us down the road for additional DLC and maps, but for an entry-level price, it is hard to deny that this is going to be great value. Having a full-featured multiplayer shooter available for 1200 points kind of makes those retro/indie games like Flock! and Lode Runner seem a little bit overpriced now, doesn't it.

If there is one thing consumers want during an economic crisis, it is value for money. The $15 price point might be here to stay, but developers are going to have to start offering better experiences and more content for that price, or the games simply won't sell.

Is 1200 points a fair price to pay for Battlefield: 1943? Yes, probably.