Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference which was recently held in New York, THQ CEO Brian Farrell offered his insights on the future of gaming price models. The picture he painted was of bare-bones console games sold at retail for US$30 – US$40 (±R210 – ±R280). This is significantly cheaper than the current envelope of R450-R650 for a new title.<\/p>\n
Of course, buying into a stripped down title means that many features are not available to the gamer, but these can be purchased through DLC schemes. It’s an interesting idea, as it may somewhat allow gamers to customize the content they wish to play with.<\/p>\n
Using THQ’s MX Vs ATV racing game series as an example, Farrell said: “In the past, we’ve seen that we bring the game out at US$59.99 and it does reasonably well – around one million, or one million-and-a-half units.<\/p>\n
“When we lower the price to a mass market price the thing really jumps… So what we’re doing this time is we’re coming out initially with a smaller game at a lower price point – the US$29 to US$39 range,” Farrell said in reference to the new MX Vs ATV title which is due out next year.<\/p>\n
“We’re then doing a download model for different modes, different tracks, different vehicles. It’s what we call a hybrid – it’s a bit of the microtransaction and DLC model. It does a couple of things: I’m a big believer in monetising under the curve, so we capture that US$29 to US$39 user no matter what, and a person that wants to spend US$100 on the product can do so as well,” said Farrell.<\/p>\n
Farrell also predicted that this system might even lean towards a free-to-play model for big titles. Publishers might release the stripped down versions of games for free, which doubles as a demo. It’s then a simple measure to flesh out the game through DLC content – an intriguing possibility.<\/p>\n
“I think that’s the future of gaming – whether it’s this model or a take on the free-to-play model. It’s where our industry is going and this is a very, very interesting experiment with one of our key brands,” concluded Farrell.<\/p>\n
Discuss potential game price model changes <\/a>on the MyGaming forums.<\/p>\n