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Some PS3 Games to Cost $75 in Japan 89

Posted by Zonk from the that's-a-lot-of-yen dept.
Gamasutra reports on pricing for PS3 games in Japan, where some titles may rise as high as (equivalently) $75. From the article: "Japanese game prices can vary considerably across even a single format, depending on the title. Higher profile games, such as the recent Nintendo DS title Final Fantasy III, are often sold at an increased price. Similarly, Xbox 360 titles Dead Rising and Lost Planet will be priced at ¥8,379 ($72) when they are released — ¥1,000 to ¥2,000 ($9 to $17) more than usual. Tecmo's Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 will be sold at an even more excessive ¥9,240 ($79)."
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Some PS3 Games to Cost $75 in Japan More

Some PS3 Games to Cost $75 in Japan

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  • Why is this singling out Sony? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Alcimedes ( 398213 ) on Monday September 25, 2006 @02:08PM (#16188125)
    I know it's fun to bash Sony and all lately, but the caption below the title is talking about XBOX 360 games being $72. Is that $3 newsworthy?
    • I paid $60 tax included for Dead Rising. Yeah, $13 is a big deal.

      • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward
        But did you buy it in Japan? He's referencing the dollar difference for the price of two games in Japan, not the price of one game in Japan and one game in some other country.

    • next-gen koan ;-) (Score:5, Funny)

      by Scrameustache ( 459504 ) on Monday September 25, 2006 @02:18PM (#16188285) Homepage Journal
      but the caption below the title is talking about XBOX 360 games being $72.

      If a game is priced 72 bucks in a country where no one will buy it, does it make a cash-register noise?
    • I know it's fun to bash Sony and all lately, but the caption below the title is talking about XBOX 360 games being $72. Is that $3 newsworthy?

      No, but if a Sony PS3 game sells for $72 US in Japan (Yen) and a Wii game sells for $40 US in Japan (Yen), that's quite a dramatic difference.

      Remember, Sony makes a lot of the profit on the game sales, and loses money on the console (almost $200 with their new Japan pricing, according to today's B1 page article in the Wall Street Journal [wsj.com]). Nintendo makes a profit on

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by antek9 ( 305362 )
        Wow, you didn't even finish reading the article summary, did you? It also mentions higher priced NDS games, depending on anticipation; do you think Wii games will be any different, in Japan?

        Not to mention this pricing policy seems to be Japan only, which makes the discussion rather irrelevant for overseas markets. Having said that, the dramatic difference might still be there if you compare average prices for each console.
        • Wow, you didn't even finish reading the article summary, did you? It also mentions higher priced NDS games, depending on anticipation; do you think Wii games will be any different, in Japan?

          I quoted exact amounts from today's Wall Street Journal B1/B6 article on pricing for Japan, as well as pricing for US (NAm) and Europe.

          My point being that there is indeed an even higher cost-of-opportunity for buying a Sony PS3. While the console price was dropped in Japan for the PS3, the games are more expensive - and

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by gutnor ( 872759 )
      Maybe US are more lucky than Europe, but it seems that the exchange rate 1 EUR = 100 Yen is a universal constant.
      For example the PS3 sold ¥49980 will be sold for 499 EUR

      ¥9,240 that could easily mean 92 EUR, or 117 USD. Much less fun.

    • Re:Why is this singling out Sony? (Score:4, Informative)

      by Frag-A-Muffin ( 5490 ) on Monday September 25, 2006 @03:33PM (#16189541)

      I know it's fun to bash Sony and all lately, but the caption below the title is talking about XBOX 360 games being $72. Is that $3 newsworthy?

      If you RTFA you'll see that they're saying "normal" PS3 pricing is in the range of $75-$84USD. Then they later compare "premium" titles to this price mentioning DOA X2 priced at $79USD.

      Do you see the difference?

      PS3's normal pricing will all be around the price range of the other consoles' "premium titles" pricing!

      That's pretty significant if you ask me (especially since there are very few titles for the other consoles in the "premium titles" pricing category). Essentially, all PS3 titles are premium titles ;)

  • because I'm not. I usually don't by current gen systems for the first year, and most of the time wait for them to drop in price and buy them used. Honestly, I cannot see how anyone can justify almost $800 to play the new DOA on their HD tv. ($600 system, $40 extra controller, $40 hd cord, $79 game). Honestly, aside from the wii, this will push people to the 360 as well. I will be purchasing the wii, an extra controller, and a couple of games, and that's still only going to be ~$400. It just doesn't add

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by KDR_11k ( 778916 )
      Last I checked DOA was XBox 360 exclusive so you're looking at a 400$ base system (let's assume you had the 60$ you needed to get the premium package over the core plus a memcard) plus a 60$ game and whatever the cord and controller cost for the system.

      Never mind that people don't pay all that money for one game (except for fanboys but I don't count those who are beyond reason in any statement about people), they hope they'll be able to pick up more titles until the cost of the console distributed over all

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by RoboJ1M ( 992925 )
      You think that's bad? Try calculating how much it will cost you in "microtransactions" to "complete" Gran Turismo HD: Classic I'm not a fanyboy, But at ~50c a car with 750 cars... ...Sony can go screw themselves. J1M.
  • i remember phantasy star for the original sega master system cost me $80 at release in the US.

  • They're getting off cheap (Score:5, Insightful)

    by KDR_11k ( 778916 ) on Monday September 25, 2006 @02:12PM (#16188179)
    We Europeans are paying the equivalent of 75$ for PS2, Gamecube and XBox games and MS (and presumably Sony) still insist on a price hike for next gen. So Japan is paying as much for next-gen as we are paying for current gen and that's suddently outrageous?

    By the way, aren't games already past the optimum price? I can't imagine that the higher price won't hurt the sales enough to decrease the profit for the whole game. Even a first semester business student knows that more expensive does not necessarily equate more profit.
    • Even second rate dealers know that once a junkey, more $$ does in fact alway almost == more profit ;-)

      Now whether junkies outnumber casual users by enough of a margin to make up for the drop in casual users is another issue.

      -nB

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Osty ( 16825 )

      We Europeans are paying the equivalent of 75$ for PS2, Gamecube and XBox games and MS (and presumably Sony) still insist on a price hike for next gen.

      By "MS" you mean "EA", right? Because Microsoft has kept their next-gen games priced the same as for the previous gen ($50, for the US market). Now I'm not completely familiar with pricing in European markets, and obviously exchange rates can make things more or less expensive, but I'd really be surprised if Microsoft increased the price of Microsoft-pub

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by KDR_11k ( 778916 )
        Perfect Dark Zero. 75€. Granted, that's the limited edition, the MS titles I see listed on Amazon vary between 60 and 65€ MSRP (the latter of which is still a price hike) while EA and Ubisoft demand 70€ per game.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Duds ( 100634 )
        Nope, there was a hike. £39.99(Xbox 1) to £44.99(xbox360) for 1st party games.

        Which before tax works out to about $64 and $70.
      • Exactly and that is one of the reasons why Nintendo has sold me around 4 games already and Sega none. I looked at the price tag for the DS super monkey ball and shied away because they hit the magical 60 euros barrier while nintendos was between 20 and 50 always. There is a magical barrier...

  • $75? ONLY $75?!! (Score:1, Flamebait)

    by Ant P. ( 974313 )
    Wow, now I feel ripped off for buying those £70 N64 games. This PS3 thing is sounding better and better with every troll^Warticle Zonk posts.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by rabbot ( 740825 )
      How did you come up with $75 for Europe...this article talks about Japan. I'm sure you'll unfortunately have to pay more than "ONLY $75!!" when the time comes.

      Europe always seems to get screwed...and yes Zonk is a troll.
    • I feel ripped off for buying those £70 N64 games.

      Region-locking is fun!

      This PS3 thing is sounding better and better

      And you assume they won't charge Europe a different price becauuuuuuse?
  • I'll just get a Sorny PS3 to play on my high def magnent box for way cheaper!.
  • Since Sony is going to sell their console at a greater loss there, it's reasonable to expect that they would want to make more profits on their games. After all, they have to recoup their losses somewhow.

  • The Digital Gaming Divide (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Eberlin ( 570874 ) on Monday September 25, 2006 @02:18PM (#16188267) Homepage
    The way Sony is acting, it really comes down to fanning some sort of "digital divide." It's not about affordable gaming, it's about status -- as the PS3 will serve as the nerd's bling the way iPods used to be before they went a bit more economical.

    Let's recap, shall we? High price point, Wii-mote ripoff added in, features I can't use without upgrading my TV, entertaining the thoughts of micropayments for Gran Turismo, press blunders, delays...oh and the Sony rootkit that made them scummier than usual.

    The way things are going, the only place you'll find a PS3 is when you're watching MTV Cribs.
    • Typical Slashdot news by Zonk, I laughed very hard when readin the post about "Gran Turismo - HD" going to come without cars and tracks! The news was actually that everything would be avaible in the game when you bought it but when you want to unlock cars (which you normaly win or buy with in-game credit won from races) you could pay for them instead of needing to win all races.
      • And even purchasing cars you haven't unlocked yet with real money is unacceptable. It's a slippery slope meant purely to test Sony's ability to extract more money from gamers. It's a slippery slope to the very real future of paying to unlock any content in the future. I won't defend Zonk for the jacked tite, but honestly...if you need to offer that people can purchase items they seem to be unable to unlock normaly you need to be fired IMMEDIATELY and the game mechanics reworked to where people don't need to
    • Most of the "nerds" I know might view an iPod as a cool and useful accessory (and better than the competitors in various ways at release-time). The PS3 on the other hand is not so cool, so chances are if you buy it looking for status you're just going to get laughed at instead.

  • UK (Score:1)

    by Threni ( 635302 )
    *shrug* That's what this-gen games cost in the UK now anyway!

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by KDR_11k ( 778916 )
      Yeah now imagine what PS3 games will cost. I've seen XBox 360 games go for 68€ and 75€ already.
  • But they're just not cranking out the new titles for the C= 64 like they use to.
  • I wonder how much of this is developers trying to recoup the costs of developing more detailed content, and how much is just Sony letting developers charge more at release because PS3 units will be in very short supply. Given that there will only be a few million units available in the entire world at launch (some of which will incur no launch game sales as they'll just be resold at high markups), it seems to me that developers might have a hard time selling enough of any one game to break even.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by DrXym ( 126579 )
      Anyone who buys any console at launch deserves to be fleeced as well as disappointed when the thing doesn't work properly. That goes for the Wii as well. A cold dose of reality might just lower the rabid fanboyism a notch.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by KDR_11k ( 778916 )
      A million? The last figures I read said 500k with 400k of them in the US, 100k in Japan.
  • XBox 360 games typically cost 75 euros in Ireland.

  • Different Country Different Costs (Score:4, Insightful)

    by neuromancer2701 ( 875843 ) on Monday September 25, 2006 @02:35PM (#16188551) Homepage

    This is just a personal example someone in the UK definite knows more than me. But my sister when to work in London for 7 months.
    My parents when over to visit her and said that all the food and stuff was expensive. Like 5 quid for a MickieDs value meal? which would be more than 7-8 dollars here. But the thing was that my sister was making about 7-8 quid/hr which is definitely more that minimum wage here. The argument this many yen = this many dollars should not hold up as a direct transfer to here in the US. Alot of things in Japan are more than here in the US and somethings that are cheap here are more expensive there. I need a little more detail than OMG there paying 9000 yen what are we going to be paying.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by KDR_11k ( 778916 )
      RTFA, it says games normally go for 6800 Yen.

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by neuromancer2701 ( 875843 )
        "Japanese news site Impress Watch has suggested that the cost of Japanese PlayStation 3 titles will range from ¥8,800 ($75) to ¥9,800 ($84), an increase attributed to rising development costs."

        "PlayStation 2 game price in Japan of ¥6,800 ($58)"

        I was speaking in general terms because it also states that "Tecmo's Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 will be sold at an even more excessive ¥9,240 ($79)." which is for the Xbox360 (I am not 100% sure)

        The 58$ would be the exact thing that I am talking about beca

  • Wii games still $50? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Maul ( 83993 ) on Monday September 25, 2006 @02:48PM (#16188757) Journal
    It is not uncommon for some games to be more expensive in Japan, especially if there is bonus stuff that comes along with the game. This also holds true for DVDs and other such items.

    If the $75 games make their way to the US market for the PS3, however, Sony could be shooting themselves in the foot. Their console is already pricey by itself.

    This could be another boon for Nintendo if thy can keep the $50 price they generally maintained for GC games. This is definitely possible since they don't need to make up the same loss on hardware Sony does.

    We'll see how this plays out. I can imagine them getting away with $75 for MGS4, FF13, GTA6, and other high profile titles, but not every title.

  • Consumer Prices in Japan (Score:4, Informative)

    by spoonboy42 ( 146048 ) on Monday September 25, 2006 @03:19PM (#16189251)
    It should be noted that most things are more expensive in Japan. The minimum wage and median salary are also higher. In general, the standard of living in Japan and the US is comparable, even though prices in Japan seem somewhat higher, it's generally balanced by higher wages. Relative scarcity makes some things (like fruit and real estate) much more expensive in Japan, but prices on a lot of consumer goods (particularly those produced domestically, like video games) generally scale with Japan's higher average wages.

    Occasionally, you can get crazy bargains in Japan as well. At a hyaku-en (100 yen store) a couple of years ago, I got an 8-pack of the longest-lasting double-A batteries I've ever used for under $1.
    • When I saw that CDs were around $30 Canadian I thought the shop we were in was just expensive. After a few days of shopping I soon realized that CDs, DVDs and games just cost more in Japan, but as you say, people also make more. Overall, I would say that buying power was about equal to what we have in North America, but there were some crazy deals like the top of the line Sony MD player I bought that was easily half the price of what it sold for in Canada (back when MD was still cool).

      $75 game is about righ

  • dear sony (Score:2, Interesting)

    by blackcoot ( 124938 )
    i was willing to cough up the $600 for your console because i really was looking forward to the new final fantasy games. i was willing to shell out for more controllers so that friends and i could play together. but between your (frankly ridiculous) up front costs and discovering that the new gran turismo is going to nickle and dime me to death (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060921-78 0 2.html [arstechnica.com]) after already having raped my wallet (see above article), i think i'm going to give this round a miss ---

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Dev59 ( 953144 )
      So, you've already made your choice based on incomplete information and FUD? These are Japanese game prices, not American prices. And the whole thing with Gran Turismo:HD? This is all based on a rather poor translation of a Famitsu article, one which also contains a lot of incomplete information.

      GT:HD Classic will be Gran Turismo 4 in hi-def. Nobody knows what actually comes with it. Heck, there's the chance that everything that's already in 4 will still be in GT:HD Classic. Then the only thing you're spend
    • For the record, one of the things I was dreading was having to shell out to Sony, or not player any more Final Fantasy. However, all the recent ads I've seen for FFXII (That's 12, not X-2) have indicated that it's being released for Playstation-2, not Playstation-3 (or at least, not only PS3). As the Japanese release is already out on that hardware, and the N. American release being slated for early November, I don't really see it being a problem.

      For future Final Fantasy games... well they have released v

  • Nothing new here (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Mr._Galt ( 608248 )
    I remember paying $80 in the mid 80's for Tecmo Bowl and Zelda on the original NES...the rest of the games were around $50...bumping the price for the bigger titles has been around for a long time now...no surprise here
  • Similarly, Xbox 360 titles Dead Rising and Lost Planet will be priced at ¥8,379 ($72) when they are released -- ¥1,000 to ¥2,000 ($9 to $17) more than usual. This really isn't news, because it was the same in the last generation. Popular games are more expensive when they come out. That's just how it is. Ninja Gaiden was 9000 yen when it came out, as is most of Team Ninja's stuff. Now you can get it for 1000 in the bargain bin.
  • At least to anybody in Australia. The standard price for any XBOX 360 game out here is $120 (in AUD), which according to the exchange rate, is something like $90 in the US. I'd *love* for them to hit the $75 equivalent.
  • And here I was thinking that the Japanese used yen, not dollars.
  • If I'm not mistaken, its a double wammy, as the yen is grossly undervalued.

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