THQ Wants to Use Lower Prices Combined with DLC to Attract More Buyers
THQ CEO Brian Farral has told a New York conference that the consumer cost of videogames is too high and that it’s keeping people from purchasing them. Farral said THQ plan on “turning [the business model] on its head a bit” and instead of going for a higher price at retail they want more people to buy their games for less, with DLC topping it up.
“When we launched [MX vs. ATV] at $59.99, we’d [sell] some units, and then when we brought the price down to the mass market-friendly price of $39.99, it would just pop,” said Farral.
“If you can capture everyone under that economic curve, that’s where you can make the most money,” he said. He iterated that launching a title at the lower price doesn’t mean it’s not a AAA game, saying that DLC and other add-on purchases will add to boost revenue.
Farral said they will be trying out the new pricing with the latest MX vs. ATV game, coming out next year. “It’s an AAA title, at that price point, but then with a series of DLC so people can extend their experience. We think this is the future of gaming. We think that’s the way games are gonna go in the long term,” he said.
Other such as Namco-Bandai have spoken about the high price of videogames, with the company saying that games could be made to be shorter, with more a reliance on DLC. Namco-Bandai VP Oliver Conte said back in May that “from September to December there are three new blockbusters every week, and consumers just can’t afford to buy all that.”
Let’s not forget what THQ have been saying about pre-owned games, though. Back in August, THQ’s Cory Ledesma said that they “don’t think we really care whether used game buyers are upset” by their online pass system because “new game buyers get everything.” He even went as as saying that “if used game buyers are upset they don’t get the online feature set I don’t really have much sympathy for them.” Could a lower price at retail be a way to attract more buyers away from pre-owned? A carrot rather than a stick, perhaps?
Lower prices is of course welcome, but I’m rather suspsicious of it being “topped up” by DLC (don’t give THQ or Namco any more reason to keep offering locked, on the disc content as “DLC”), and this does seem almost hypocritical coming from THQ when you look at their previous, near-Activision levels of dickheadery when it comes to charging more for less and generally screwing the consumer over.