Where Politics And Video Games Collide

@kurisu:

I know what poaching is. My point is that a lot of the time, when people hunted on the king's land, they didn't do so to "stick it to the Man", they did so because they were hungry, or starving even. I don't think having to pay people to enjoy the entertainment they created compares to not getting enough to eat.

@Zippy:

I'm not completely certain try-before-you-buy is covered by fair use (even if perhaps it should be). You're not, AFAIK, entitled to see trailers for a movie before you buy a ticket (yes, movie trailers are everywhere, but they don't have to be), much less walk out of the movie theatre 15 minutes into the movie and demand your money back.

And as for pricing: Yes, games are too expensive. However, in a free society, it is the right of the owner of some property or other to set the price he wants for it. In a face-to-face situation, a prospective buyer can then haggle. But in a mass market, if you want to buy, you pay the price. If you think it's too expensive, you don't buy. It's as simple as that.

This is particularly relevant for games, IMO. If you don't want to pay full price for a game, you can wait six months, and you will most likely be able to get it for around half-price. This is the principled approach to overpricing. It is also, just possibly, a more effective approach than pirating.

Products like games, where the physical production cost of the individual unit are minuscule compared to the development costs, cost what they cost because that's what people are willing to pay. It is certainly possible that the collective managements of all the major publishers are stupid enough not to realize that they'd make more money (due to increased sales) if they lowered prices, but I wouldn't bet on it. If they know nothing else, these guys know money. IOW, if people consistently waited for games to drop in price before shelling out, the publishers would more than likely get the hint. Unlike piracy, they wouldn't really have any other course of option than following the market, unless they like having their games collecting dust on store shelves.