Sony Ramps Up the Price of PSP Games on PlayStation Store
By Chris on Friday, June 13th, 2008 at 6:45 PM PST In Game Companies, Game Platforms, Gamer Life, Games, Portable, Sony, Sony
Maybe they thought no one would notice, or perhaps it’s a simple error, but as things stand the price of eight downloadable PSP games on the PlayStation Store have been jacked up anywhere from $1 to $11. Meanwhile, The Con randomly had its price slashed in half. Huh?
The full list of changes, courtesy of PSP Fanboy:
- The Con was $19.99 now $9.99
- LocoRoco was $21.99 now $22.99
- Kingdom of Paradise was $10.99 now $16.99
- Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee was $10.99 now $15.99
- Ape Escape: On the Loose was $9.99 now $15.99
- Twisted Metal: Head-On was $14.99 now $15.99
- SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo was $14.99 now $15.99
- Gangs of London was $11.99 now $22.99
- Wipeout Pure $10.99 now $15.99
No one is more displeased with this news than me, being the major proponent of digital distribution that I am. Assuming this was deliberate — and there’s really no reason to believe otherwise — I can think of a few reasons as to why this might have occurred, and that doesn’t include pure greed.
A reaction to the falling value of the US dollar – The problem with this logic is the arbitrary shift in prices and the price drop for The Con.
Pressure from retail – A quick look at GameStop.com shows that a number of games were priced the same as, if not lower than, used copies of these games. Ape Escape is $10; Hot Shots Golf is $13; Gangs of London is $17. Digital distribution is far from retailers’ favorite thing in the world, as it completely cuts them out of the loop. Could GameStop or another retailer have threatened Sony and forced them to increase prices?
Supply and demand – It’s digital distribution. Anyone who suggests that prices should increase with demand should be slapped or punched in the eyeball. The only change in price on any digital game should be a price drop.
What do you think it could be?
Most likely an error.
I’d have to vote for pure greed coupled with consumer stupidity/laziness.
A company will charge what the market will bear. If you don’t like it, don’t buy it. As long as people are too fat and lazy to get off their couch and walk to the local video game store, the price of digital distribution will increase.