As this game is worldwide and this problem is worldwide

[Kemia]

This.

Every customer has a price point.

The PC game industry has been smart about this. They release their games at ~50$ and then phase out the price over time so that 2-3 years down the road, you can get the game for < 10$.

Contrast this with some music albums or foreign movies that are 25$-30$ and stay at that price forever.

Those copies are just gathering dust on the shelves of the stores that are selling them, because those that were prepared to pay 30$ for their copy already got it and the rest are just happy to either get a pirated copy or skip it entirely.

I strongly believe that if the pricing is reasonable, only a small fraction of the customer base will resort to piracy, but the pricing needs to be reasonable (and depending on their means and interests, what constitutes reasonable pricing varies from person to person, but the distributiors should be smart enough to understand and adjust their tactics to this reality... phase out your freaking prices over time or accept that there will be a significant portion of the market that will forever be closed to you, piracy or not).

Nice opinion!!! that is a good outlook on this overall situation!

[flutterby]

The PC game industry has been smart about this. They release their games at ~50$ and then phase out the price over time so that 2-3 years down the road, you can get the game for < 10$.

Diablo 2 has been out for how long and they just dropped the price from $50.

[Twyla]

Diablo II is a game that has maintained its playability for well over a decade - it's EARNED that $50 price tag!

On the other hand, you've got software like WinBlows. Coming out with a 'new version' of the same program about every other year now, and they're charging almost as much for an OS as the computer it runs on!! Between the copies I've bought outright (from Win95 thru WinXP) and the ones that came with various computers I've bought (including 2 lappies and a notebook, most recently), I've accumulated more than FIFTY licenses - all legitimate! I feel I've more than sufficiently paid to have the latest version on my main desktop computer.

Though, to be honest, I primarily run Ubuntu (Win7 is installed as a boot option AND a VM under Linux) - and the guys at Ubuntu have put a hell of a lot more effort into their OS than MicroSpooge does.

So where's the point in spending $150/year or more to keep current on an OS when there are far superior ones available completely free?

[Palem]

Netflix is a good example of reasonable pricing leading to success.

[TommyB]

Diablo 2 has been out for how long and they just dropped the price from $50.

Diablo 2 has been included in a magazine (PC GAMES 01/2005) for €4,99 in europe. Over 7 years ago.

Of course if people still buy it for $50 there is no reason to drop the price. It's their job to make the most money out of the product after all.

[hllwrld]

//////

[VT2]

No one has the RIGHT to make money.
Everybody has the FREEDOM to share.

Yet, everybody also has the FREEDOM to try and make money.

Imagine if there'd been some kind of pretend copyright/IP laws back in the ancient days, so only one guy could make urns, or you'd not have been allowed to share Mozart's music outside the places he actually played at.

[Twyla]

Is it too late for me to file a patent on the wheel? :p

[VT2]

It's a freedom to pretend you own ideas and concepts, and can somehow prevent others from mimicking, improving, and copying them, but no one's ever gonna take you seriously.

So when the church said 'you can't copy these books. You can't read these books. You can't share or even look at them outside these sanctioned buildings,' no one cared, and once technology had advanced a bit, everybody dropped the illusion.

I will never pay for music, games, books, or movies. I will never for culture, period. I'll grant THE PEOPLE I SUPPORT A TOKEN FEE IN GOOD FAITH WHEN REASONABLE, but I won't pay for the culture itself.

[hllwrld]

/////

[Bishop]

Diablo II is a game that has maintained its playability for well over a decade - it's EARNED that $50 price tag!

On the other hand, you've got software like WinBlows. Coming out with a 'new version' of the same program about every other year now, and they're charging almost as much for an OS as the computer it runs on!! Between the copies I've bought outright (from Win95 thru WinXP) and the ones that came with various computers I've bought (including 2 lappies and a notebook, most recently), I've accumulated more than FIFTY licenses - all legitimate! I feel I've more than sufficiently paid to have the latest version on my main desktop computer.

Though, to be honest, I primarily run Ubuntu (Win7 is installed as a boot option AND a VM under Linux) - and the guys at Ubuntu have put a hell of a lot more effort into their OS than MicroSpooge does.

So where's the point in spending $150/year or more to keep current on an OS when there are far superior ones available completely free?

Only apple force you to pay for upgrades, the windows updates are always free - unless you change the OS itself. XP came out in 01, vista came out in 07 and win7 came out in 2009 - 8 is only just at a beta release. Ubuntu is on a 6 month schedule i believe.

Windows ****s all over linux when it comes to compatibility though. Just bought a new gfx card? Don't expect to be able to handle it for 6 months. Want to game? Be prepared to run it under an emulator or wait 4 years for a port :(

[VT2]

But, but, like, windows totally crashes, and you need these drivers, and like, man - memoryleaks!

I can't even list five games that run on linux without 200% computer mastery.

[freemehul]

I can sum it up as follows.

SOPA/PIPA and the European equivalent ACTA should never be made law! It will indeed seriously harm the economy. Furthermore the U.S. senators and congressmen and european commissioners, judges and parliamentarians and European ministers who vote and decide in favor of said proposals should be subject to a criminal investigation for taxfraud, misrepresentation, moneylaundering, and bribery. That includes such individuals as republican senator John McCain (former U.S. presidential candidate), democratic senator Joe Lieberman, European commissioner De Gucht, and European judge Van De Woude. Oh and of course we shouldn't forget such organisations as RIAA and BREIN.

Enough said!

[Magn]

Nice opinion!!! that is a good outlook on this overall situation!

Thanks.

Diablo 2 has been out for how long and they just dropped the price from $50.

Actually, I got Diablo 2 + the expan + the strategy guide for like 20$ several years back. I guess it depends where you live.

A better example would be the original Kotor which stayed at 30$ for like forever while Kotor 2 dropped well below that price point.

And sure enough, I own Kotor 2, but I never got the original Kotor. I would strongly have considered getting it at 15$, but they never lowered it to that price point while I was interested in the game (which was like 4-5 years past the original release of the game) so that's 15$ they never made. It's gone.

Diablo II is a game that has maintained its playability for well over a decade - it's EARNED that $50 price tag!

Again, it depends who you ask.

For a Diablo fan with a lot of disposable income, maybe.

For someone who finds that Diablo is so so (that includes me, I much preferred Sacred), 50$ is way overpriced.

And for someone making minimum wage who has to support 2 kids, 50$ for a game is out of the question no matter how good the game is.

However, they could still make SOME money out of those people if they phased out the price of Diablo 2.

[Bishop]

i picked up d2 for a fiver