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Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube
I'm just baffled that no one remembers games costing more. They did. It's a fact. I don't know how old many of you are but every big new release on consoles pre-2006 was $70. The Gamecube was $199 in the US and $299 in Canada. PS2 was $299 in US and over $400 here. You can't tell me that has nothing to do with the dollar -- when our dollar was at par, game prices were at par. Now that it is falling, game prices are going up.
Even if it's just an excuse to raise the prices and doesn't actually correlate, it's always been the excuse, so it's still the reason.
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I am sorry but you're mistaken. You claim that PS2/Xbox launch titles were $59.99 USD but you're wrong. Halo: Combat Evolved was a launch title for the Xbox (November 15, 2001) and it cost $49.99 USD. Source:
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/hal.../1100-6084021/
I paid $60 for that title in Canada on launch day.
$60 USD games are only a relatively recent thing. Here's an article from 2006 discussing a possible price increase in PS3 games (before the system launched).
Quote:
People were understandably upset when companies decided next-generation meant charging everyone $10 more for their games -- especially when the price was applied to last-generation ports like GUN and Tony Hawk's American Wasteland. Nonetheless, most have sucked it up at this point, but no one anticipated Sony would actually up the ante when PlayStation 3 dropped in November.
Yet SCEA president Kaz Hirai isn't promising a $59.99 price tag for PS3 games this fall. In an interview with PSM, the Sony leader explained. So, what I can say now is, I think it would be a bit of a stretch to think that we could suddenly turn around and say "PS3 games now $99.99" I don't think the consumers expect the software pricing to suddenly be double," he told the magazine. "So, if it becomes a bit higher than fifty-nine bucks don't ding me, but, again, as I said, I don't expect it to be a hundred bucks."
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Over the past two console generations the price of games has remained the same here in Canada. They did however, increase the price of games in America by $10 last generation. We didn't get any "breaks" because of the strength of our dollar. Perhaps I am wrong, but I'd like to see some proof.