Protest the increment in price by Milestone interactive for video games

spot on @quixand.... Over the recent past, EA games have partnered with elite developers such as bioware, and have been making good games thru their in house development, due to which they saw a boom in the sales... Had there been no Mass effect or DA:Origin Dead space or FIFA, they would have still been licking crumbs off the floor. But, fortunately for them, and unfortunately for us, Bioware chose to be with them, and we, consumers are seeing the results now.... But, am not worried too much.... I'll give it a few months for digging their own grave and then a few more months for them to realize this.... Till then, I have BFBC2, BF3, DA:O, Mass effect series (2nd playthrough) to hold me over... DA: origin, awakening, and DA2 should last me a few months by themselves..... Good thing I havent completed DA and Dead space (1 and 2)....
 
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Most of the EA franchises have been going on a downward spiral after EA bought the studios. Dragon Age 2, Mass Effect 3, Crysis 2, NFS Run, Medal Of Honour all were inferior to their predecessors. The only saving grace is the Battlefield franchise, but even here they are getting greedy with BF4 launching so soon after BF3. This is a pretty bold move for a company whose CEO is not sure if he will be keeping the job the next day and whose shares are going southwards steadily.
 
It has been an interesting read, this past few pages.
I have always played only pirated games, whether i got them off the Internet or locally.
So this price increment won't have any effect on me.
Now i am all in for paying the developers and stuff like that,but there should be a better way for that to get more appeal to people like me.

For example, when i was younger,i used to go to these shacks to play the PS2 for like 10 bucks an hour.
I have a lot of friends who pay for their games because they love playing online. Hell, my brother who is sitting next to me playing BF3 online right now has been buying games for some time now. But since i don't play online games, i really don't feel the need to shell out 999 bucks for a few hours play.

In an ideal scenario, i get a copy of FIFA 12 off the internet, invite a couple of friends over and we play to our hearts content.
However as we grow up and move to different places for either work or studies, then it will become very difficult to get the feel of the games like i used to unless the internet services become 10 times better. I know i wouldn't mind paying 3k for getting to play with my friends again like we are in the same room, but that is not possible right now.Also for that to happen all of us would need to buy an original copy, so that means for getting the same experience we will be spending 4 times the amount plus heavy internet charges as well,just to get a decent experience out of it. That doesn't make sense at all to me.

What we really need are that games be launched in 2 ways. Cheaply priced physical disks that only have SP campaigns and then well priced daily/monthly/yearly plans for people who want to play the same game online. Why should i have to pay 3k for a SP campaign that i am at max going to play twice. I finished NFS Run in like half a day. Would it have made sense if i had bought it for whatever it sold, played for 6 hrs and then just kept it in my cupboard as a trophy for my impulsiveness.
For example release the SP campaign disks for something like 99 or 199 bucks for people like me and then offer the chance to buy code for online play.
Yes, that doesn't justify piracy. But neither is it justified that the companies charge me for something i don't want.
 
@rdst_1, what you have said reflects (unfortunately) the mindset of most people in India. The discussion that we were having for the past 5 pages was not for "high prices", but for the "increase in prices". For you, sir, I have only one thing to say, and I will quote it "IF YOU CANNOT BUY SOMETHING, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO COMPLAIN ABOUT IT, AND ESPECIALLY, YOU ARE NOT ENTITLED TO USE IT".

Just think about this with an open mind. Going by your theory, lets do this from now on.. When a new graphics card is released for say 15K, I should not buy it. Instead I should COMPLAIN to nvidia/ati that they should make it available for me for say 500 rupees a month. When intel/amd releases a new processor for say 15K, i should get online and complain to them that they should make it available to me for say 500 rupees a month.. Then, if I want to overclock it, they can charge me 750 rupees a month....

But, this does not happen in the real world, right? When you cant afford a hardware component that expensive, you buy a cheaper one that is affordable to you, right? WHY? Because, there is no piracy there. There are no pirated i7s in the world. There is no pirated ATI 7850s in the world. Instead you buy an intel G series and an ati 7770, right?

So, my friend, I have a suggestion for you. If you cannot afford an expensive game at 999, and can only afford games at 199, please buy the games that are available at that price point. Here is the link for your convenience: All these games are below Rs.200
http://www.flipkart.com/browse/all-pc-format-games?filter=priceBandGames%3ABelow+Rs.200&ref=20b9f3eb-50f0-4280-9065-0949ef474403

But, unless I am very wrong, you have not even bought these games. Your reason would be "OMG, these games are not as entertaining as FIFA or BF3 is", RIGHT?

Get a grip dude.....If you have to pirate, you do it, but please for the love of god, dont spread the disease.....

Quote from your post #103....................................................................................
It has been an interesting read, this past few pages.
I have always played only pirated games, whether i got them off the Internet or locally.
So this price increment won't have any effect on me.
Now i am all in for paying the developers and stuff like that,but there should be a better way for that to get more appeal to people like me.

For example, when i was younger,i used to go to these shacks to play the PS2 for like 10 bucks an hour.
I have a lot of friends who pay for their games because they love playing online. Hell, my brother who is sitting next to me playing BF3 online right now has been buying games for some time now. But since i don't play online games, i really don't feel the need to shell out 999 bucks for a few hours play.

In an ideal scenario, i get a copy of FIFA 12 off the internet, invite a couple of friends over and we play to our hearts content.
However as we grow up and move to different places for either work or studies, then it will become very difficult to get the feel of the games like i used to unless the internet services become 10 times better. I know i wouldn't mind paying 3k for getting to play with my friends again like we are in the same room, but that is not possible right now.Also for that to happen all of us would need to buy an original copy, so that means for getting the same experience we will be spending 4 times the amount plus heavy internet charges as well,just to get a decent experience out of it. That doesn't make sense at all to me.

What we really need are that games be launched in 2 ways. Cheaply priced physical disks that only have SP campaigns and then well priced daily/monthly/yearly plans for people who want to play the same game online. Why should i have to pay 3k for a SP campaign that i am at max going to play twice. I finished NFS Run in like half a day. Would it have made sense if i had bought it for whatever it sold, played for 6 hrs and then just kept it in my cupboard as a trophy for my impulsiveness.
For example release the SP campaign disks for something like 99 or 199 bucks for people like me and then offer the chance to buy code for online play.
Yes, that doesn't justify piracy. But neither is it justified that the companies charge me for something i don't want
 
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What rdst_1 needs to understand is, the game developers now-a-days focus heavily on multiplayer and SP has now merely become a traditional addition to the game. So they cant sell copies with SP only, it will ruin their effort in creating a MP game. and secondly for the games which have no MP and only SP, actually deserve atleast 1000 bucks. So such games cant be made availalble at 99 or 199. Now consider that you are an employee in some gaming industry and your team puts a lot of effort for developing a world class game. But your sales dept decide to sell it at 99 or 199 (I am talking about SP here) , does it justify your teams effort in bringing out a world class game by months/years of hardwork? If you take into account the salary of each member in the industry, you will come to know how difficult it is to price a product perfectly by considering a profit margin. Think over it.

And what about the server maintenance costs? If they sell SP only for 99 or 199, and in turn only few people buy a code for MP to play online, how do you think they will be able to setup new servers/ maintain servers/provide after sales support? Dont you think theres always money required to maintain all this? I say, its a lot of money.

Thinking from a business point of view, I say, its not possible for any game industry to have separate SP/MP copies/optional thingy. Then it wont be called business anymore, its called Social service and people working for an industry cant be fed by doing social service :) I hope you understand my point

atiamd said:
When a new graphics card is released for say 15K, I should not buy it. Instead I should COMPLAIN to nvidia/ati that they should make it available for me for say 500 rupees a month. When intel/amd releases a new processor for say 15K, i should get online and complain to them that they should make it available to me for say 500 rupees a month.. Then, if I want to overclock it, they can charge me 750 rupees a month....
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I disagree with this comparison of yours between games and hardware. As you have said hardware cant be pirated, so whatever the price maybe people are going to buy it no matter what, depending on ones use. And do you really think anyone would have thought of GPU/CPU for a 500/- a month? :p As for softwares/games, they can be pirated and so should sell at an affordable cost, but not 99 or 199 though ;)
 
Anyways purchasing either Crysis 3 or Dead Space 3 will mean not getting a bunch of other games. Dead Space definitely looks like its deviated from the First by a mile so might skip that one altogether. Moreover launch dates are in 2013 so quite some time to see how things pan out.

For you, sir, I have only one thing to say, and I will quote it "IF YOU CANNOT BUY SOMETHING, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO COMPLAIN ABOUT IT, AND ESPECIALLY, YOU ARE NOT ENTITLED TO USE IT".
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@atiamd Everybody has a right to protest the increment. What I meant was that it does not entitle you to get it in other ways.

Used (Not Fake or Knockoffs) game cartridges, Cassette players from other countries used to be flooded in "Chor" bazaars. Is it not possible for Landmarks etc. to turn it into a legitimate business? Technically they won't be doing anything wrong. Used game business sells to another Used game business IYKWIM. Landmark has a severe dearth of good games.

Any tried and tested game rental companies? Maybe this is their time to shine in the wake of new prices.
 
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atiamd said:
Just think about this with an open mind. Going by your theory, lets do this from now on.. When a new graphics card is released for say 15K, I should not buy it. Instead I should COMPLAIN to nvidia/ati that they should make it available for me for say 500 rupees a month. When intel/amd releases a new processor for say 15K, i should get online and complain to them that they should make it available to me for say 500 rupees a month.. Then, if I want to overclock it, they can charge me 750 rupees a month....

But, this does not happen in the real world, right? When you cant afford a hardware component that expensive, you buy a cheaper one that is affordable to you, right? WHY? Because, there is no piracy there. There are no pirated i7s in the world. There is no pirated ATI 7850s in the world. Instead you buy an intel G series and an ati 7770, right?
Click to expand...

So, here is one interesting question for you/everyone. I am not disagreeing with your point, just asking a hypothetical question. Suppose, you had a device which could make an exact functional copy of the graphics card for no cost whatsoever, would you do it? You cannot afford to buy the original card, but the original buyer is fine with you making a copy. He even encourages you to do it and puts it in a public place for anyone to make a copy. He still has his own copy, but now you also get one. Would you do it? :) Would this be stealing?

EDIT: This is completely irrelevant though. Sorry! :)
 
Original buyer does not have say, person who holds the right to an IP has the say. Come on, you've read the Copyright statements haven't you?

You build a s/w and want Rs. 100 for it, you make 100 legit copies. It cost you Rs. 1000 + dev effort. You expect to get back Rs. 10000. Instead, 10 buyers bought your s/w the rest got it through other channels. If the product is useless or the pricing is not right or there are better options and ppl don't buy it that's fine. But if there is a huge demand, then the dev or the publisher is at a loss. (and by loss I mean potential of it selling x copies was hampered by piracy). They may or may not end up making "exact" profit which they have a right to earn.

People also retort by saying why do they want to make so much money yada yada, well it's their product, why would somebody have the right to sabotage it sales?

Licences that were once sold but are not being used currently can be resold by the 1st BUYER, which was done recently in Netherlands I think, I'll post a link as soon as I can find it. But as long as one person has working copy, it cannot be replicated, distributed or sold off.

There are exceptions as always, typically devs want more traction and are willing to price their products more reasonably as they have just started out.
Estabilished publishers have greater reach and development teams flock to them because of bigger budgets which allow them to work better.

PS: Piracy is a global phenomenon but you do see quite a few Indian movies nowadays in top 100 in TPB. Must be getting popular all around the world :)
 
pretttt said:
So, here is one interesting question for you/everyone. I am not disagreeing with your point, just asking a hypothetical question. Suppose, you had a device which could make an exact functional copy of the graphics card for no cost whatsoever, would you do it? You cannot afford to buy the original card, but the original buyer is fine with you making a copy. He even encourages you to do it and puts it in a public place for anyone to make a copy. He still has his own copy, but now you also get one. Would you do it? :) Would this be stealing?

EDIT: This is completely irrelevant though. Sorry! :)
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Answer is NO....... I wont do something that my conscience does not allow. Its like asking "would you steal from the shop if the shopkeeper is willing to sit straight and not say a word?" NO, I wont steal because the shopkeeper is giving me permission. Other people might, but I won't.

And, this is the exact point I am trying to make here. Just because something is available for free all over the web, does not entitle YOU/US to think that we can take it. I can understand piracy for something that is not available in India. Then, that won't be counted as lost sale to the owners/publishers/developers. Even then its a grey area and I might do it. But I would never pirate stuff when its available here, but its too expensive for me to afford it. I would simply not play it, no matter how good the game is.

Please try to understand the difference between pirating stuff when a) its not available/released in India, and b) when its too expensive for some people to get. In case "a", I might understand piracy, but definitely not in case "b".

We are nobody to decide what prices should be set for a certain product from a manufacturer. We can only choose to buy or not.....

---------- Post added at 09:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:33 PM ----------
quixand said:
Anyways purchasing either Crysis 3 or Dead Space 3 will mean not getting a bunch of other games. Dead Space definitely looks like its deviated from the First by a mile so might skip that one altogether. Moreover launch dates are in 2013 so quite some time to see how things pan out.

atiamd Everybody has a right to protest the increment. What I meant was that it does not entitle you to get it in other ways.
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This is not a reply to you @quixand. I dont think you support piracy at all, judging by your comments so far.. I was just replying to the @rdst_1... And, for what its worth, your statement is exactly what I am trying to explain with my last 2 posts.....
 
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They were till yesterday noght..... Good..... Maybe they are in the process of reducing the prices............ wishful thinking....
 
If they claim that some kind of fcuk up happened on Origin with the price points then we know
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Check out EA India's facebook page.
 
"Greetings EA fans. We’ve temporarily removed pre-orders from the Origin India store as we address a technical issue with pricing. You can still buy all your favorite games from the Origin store, all these new games will be available to purchase on the day they launch, and all previously placed pre-orders will be honoured. We’ll update you here as soon as we have a resolution to the pre-order issue in India. Thank you!"

Does it mean they wont be available for pre order now?
 
na na.... it just probably means that they will make all these games available again in a while...... Now, I am thinking that maybe after the last update to origin, it mucked up the prices and wrongly and unintentionally reflected after direct conversion from the US prices....MAYBE....
 
Actually, yesterday, when I checked Flipkart, NFSMW was available for pre order for 1700, while on Origin it was 3350....same went for FIFA.... I just hope this was a muck up, 6 pages of discussion or not.... :)
 
Well, you guys didnt get the crux of my post. I dont need to protest because this price increase doesnt affect me. All i was trying to say was that regular buyers like you and my brother will bear the brunt of this rise in prices.
The other part of my post in which i kinda suggested a 2 way selling strategy was something that would bring even people like me to stores to buy the games. Chirag said that every game deserves at least 999 bucks but i beg to differ. For me the value of the game is directly proportional to the playing time it offers.
Like the example i gave above, why would i spend 999 bucks on NFS Run that lasts only 6 hrs and which i can go and finish for 150 odd bucks in my local gaming parlour.
For me the gametime criteria is very important when it comes to pricing and it is second only to the story and gameplay.
 
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