Price gouging alive and well

Did anyone tell Microsoft that there is a recession?

Now I know that the gaming market is supposed to be mostly recession proof but it is hard to accept this when you see stories every day about game companies going under, being sold, games cancelled, staff layoffs, etc.

But browsing through the Best Buy and Future Shop flyers this morning I discovered that Microsoft's knee jerk reaction to the recession has been to increase game prices. What the? Hello? Microsoft? Now I am not a economist by any means but when I see the global market collapsing around me and I see my consumers, my target market, losing access to disposable income (not to mention salaries) the reaction of raising prices seems counter intuitive.

Now I am not claiming they should lower prices across the board. Although I do believe that Halo Wars at a $49.99 launch price would have sold more copies and made Microsoft more revenue than the initial $69.99. I am claiming that they should have kept launch prices at the expected $59.99. This is what consumers are used to and this is what Microsoft has broken us to except.

Game buyers want to buy more games! It is an instinctive and undeniable urge. We keep walking into video games stores even though we know there is nothing available. We talk ourselves into games that we originally had no interest in. Sometimes this works out and sometimes it doesn't

I won't touch a $69.99 price unless I know the developer, the game, and have read reviews. Even then I am more likely to wait for the first price cut. I refused to buy Call of Duty: World at War (launch price of $64.99) until I found it somewhere at $59.99. I too have been broken to the $59.99 price and will pay it for the games that I want.

Taking Halo Wars as an example. This is a top notch developer, a fully funded product, a known property, an A list title but it is a Real Time Strategy game. Not a First Person Shooter as people expect from a Halo product. It is in many ways an experiment by Microsoft. Can a RTS sell to the Xbox 360 market? Historically they don't sell well. So why shoot your own foot off with a $69.99 price point? This is stopping a lot (A LOT) of on the fence purchasers. Me for example. With an experimental game in a recessed market this is cutting out a large portion of your potential buyers. At $49.99 I probably would have jumped on the experiment just to see what they have done. Out of curiosity if nothing else. $69.99? Sorry, I'm not that curious.

They cut off a huge portion of the borderline market and the accidental market. Those fan boys that grab any Halo product they see. At $69.99, they are more likely to look at the back of the box. One look shows them its a RTS not an FPS and back it goes on the shelf.

So... I don't really have a conclusion here as I didn't really think that far ahead. What are your thoughts? Add your feedback in the comments. Let us know what you think. Don't hold back now (Ha! As if).

$69.99 is too much should we be looking at a price cut ($49.99) or status quo ($59.99).

Partial price list:

In the flyers:

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