The loot box criticism surrounding the online shooter Star Wars Battlefront 2 has sparked another discussion: Do video games cost too little money?
KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Evan Wingren analyzes the controversy over loot boxes in Star Wars Battlefront 2. According to him, the negative reactions to the loot boxes and EA’s concession have resulted in a “somewhat higher chance that” Battlefront 2 will remain below the expected 13 million sales.
Dthe current sales figures for the online shooter seem to confirm this.
Star Wars Battlefront 2 was an ideal breeding ground for overreaction
In a statement, Wingren writes: The case here was an ideal breeding ground for overreaction because EA, Star Wars, Reddit, and certain “purist gaming journalists who dislike microtransactions” came together.
While Wingren believes that Electronic Arts did not handle the launch of Star Wars Battlefront 2 particularly elegantly, he cannot understand all the hate directed at loot boxes and microtransactions. According to him, games today do not cost too much, but conversely, too little money. Publishers should raise prices. He says this as someone who is a gamer himself.
Video games are a cheap form of entertainment
Wingren supports this thesis with some numbers. He describes the scenario as follows:
- The acquisition costs of the online shooter Battlefront 2 amount to around 60 dollars
- A player spends an additional 20 dollars per month on in-game purchases in Wingren’s example
- Playing 2.5 hours per day for a whole year
- This results in a entertainment value of 40 cents per hour for Star Wars Battlefront 2
In comparison:
- it costs 60 to 65 cents an hour to watch pay TV
- Renting a movie brings an entertainment value of 80 cents per hour
- Seeing a movie in the cinema costs more than 3 dollars per hour
Better to skip the movie and play Battlefront 2!
According to Evan Wingren, this shows that playing video games is a cheap form of entertainment. He believes that game developers and publishers provide a low-cost form of entertainment and should generally raise prices.
The perspective of the press and the media shows a false perspective here. If someone enjoys playing and likes Star Wars, they would be much better off skipping the new Star Wars movie and instead buying the game. There would be more entertainment per dollar.
The English-speaking site PC Gamer notes: Looking back 30 years, one can see that the prices for a video game have changed little over this time. Back then, the game King’s Quest 4 from Sierra cost 45 dollars. Today, Star Wars Battlefront 2 costs 60 dollars. In comparison: 30 years ago, a movie ticket cost about 4 dollars. Today it costs almost 9.
What do you think? Do video games generally cost too little? Should base prices be raised or are microtransactions okay?
