I like how everyone expects apps to be in the $.99 - $4.99 range. A game like this is a port from the original... originally sold around $30. You're complaining that you're getting it for half the price and on your mobile device? I don't get it.
I imagine a lot of users are young kids with no income. I'm not bashing. I'm just trying to make sense of 14 dollars being a lot of money for a full video game that was previously released for twice that much and took physical man hours a company had to pay for in order for it to come to our devices. $14 is less than an after work bar tab to me. That being said. I'm buying it as soon as it comes to the US App store. The first FF I ever played was 7 so I'm looking forward to some of the old school game play this has to offer.
Saying that this game is 25 cents an hour is a good point. It really is a good deal. But is it a better deal than buying 14 99 cent games? Or is it a better deal than buying a used console game for $40 and selling it a month later for $35? I am pretty sure Square has a good idea of how to make the most money, so this probably isn't overpriced. I would also bet that if there wasn't so much pressure from low price competition in the app store that Square would be charging much more for this.
Surely you can work up a better apples to oranges comparison. How about, the game is a really good deal when you consider how long it is, but is it a better deal than buying 14 one way Bolt Bus tickets from NYC to Boston and taking the bus back and forth 7 times?
Don't thank them for thinking of the iOS, thank "money." It's not like Square Enix is in the noble business of giving gamers what they want. It's never too expensive for a "FAN" of the series to purchase something related to it, no matter what the price. "I would honestly pay $30 for all the COD: Zombies maps, and since the beginning, I have supported them with IAP throughout the year. I have no regrets paying $25 for something that people are paying $5 for now." -my view- However when observing the $14 price point, you must realize that it isn't bad in terms a singularity (single purchase), but for many, $14 for a game that has other -if not better- rivals for 1/3 of the price seems more reasonable. Most early-biters will pay this price, but many who are curious wont, losing out on the "potential buyer" market. How do you think Angry Birds stayed on top, not its stellar gameplay, but ease of accessibility ($$$chaep). Most top-grossing apps are in the $0.99 to $4.99 range. "CHEAP" - If I buy a brand-new porsche from a dealer, but could get the same car from a wholesaler for much cheaper, I would. I definitely wouldn't knock people for wanting to pay less, which keeps the market reasonable. If you are willing to pay $10 for every app because you appreciate the artwork, by all means do it. However, when everyone adopts this attitude, you will be paying $10 for doodle jump and $50 for Final Fantasy. "RELATION" -Imagine going to Disneyland and paying $1.00 for a canned soda. Nope, can't imagine it, because stupid people who were willing to pay $6.00 for a 12oz can of soda kept the flow of profit manageable. Now every complacent, knuckle-head just accepts this robbery as the norm. Wireless companies did this with texting/data plans. People actually argued that their service was worth the $40/month and to stop being "CHEAP". Now we all have tiered data, soon to be twice the price. Let the extra price be justified by quality, not how well an old, old, old game translates to iOS. CONCLUSION: It has always been in man's interest to screw himself over by means of stupidity, ignorance and most importantly, arrogance. Justifying high prices by attacking the integrity and principles of one's belief and calling them "cheap" goes to show how incredibly immature some of the community is here. Just because FF3 floats your boat, doesn't mean that you need to belittle the opposition that doesn't see the justification of price-gouging. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and if you want to help ruin and increase the pricing of the app-store, please do it soft-spoken. For those who want to preserve the original beauty and concept of the app-store (cheap, useful, game-changing experiences) shout among roof-tops. I can't believe people are asking for higher-prices, without insisting on new ideas or massive improvement in quality to justify it. Believe me, you will see prices rise faster for the same mediocre experiences if you "cheap" haters don't pull your head out of your ignorant arses.
Look up "diminishing marginal utility". This is the same incorrect analogy that everyone tries to use. Not to mention that people all have different utility functions. Yup, because everything's a buyer's market, amirite?
I could buy 3 Hot-n-Ready pizzas! Comparing video games with other video games is hardly apples to oranges. If it really is too much of a stretch, how about comparing 2 Final Fantasy games? Final Fantasy 13 for PS3 used on Amazon is $13.47 + $3.99 shipping right now. Buy it, sell it in a couple months, and it will cost about $5 total after shipping and Amazon takes it's cut. I don't think that video games (except for shovelware) are overpriced on any system. Also, if I had the choice between a game on any console, or the exact same game on my iPad, I would choose the game on my iPad. But the idea that iOS games are far less expensive than console games just isn't true.
Wow, he said "arses". Well, with all the analytical stuff he said before, I guess this makes him a troll of notable cultural and artistic expertise whose knowledge grants him intellectual authority in public discourse.
The analogy is not incorrect. Diminishing marginal utility does not apply here. It simply suggests that the more you consume something, the less utility you will get out of it. In other words, someone does not enjoy a video game the fifth time through as much as they enjoyed it the first time through (which may not actually be true for some video games). It has nothing to do with choosing between two ways of spending your hard-earned pictures of George Washington. The economic cost of buying something is the cost of the best foregone alternative. Your point about different utility functions is exactly the point I was trying to make. If FF3 is the best thing you can do with 14 of your dollars, then by all means buy it. For a lot of people it is a better value than buying 14 games for a dollar each. I bought World of Goo when it was 10 bucks and it was awesome.
I don't see why it doesn't. Say I like TD games. Individually, each $1 TD game might give me > 1/14 the utility of FF3, but as a whole they might be less. Or the first 14 may be worth more to me, but not the next 14. Of course, if you disagree that many $1 apps are partial substitutes for each other, then my point is moot. Also, I would argue that once someone decides something is a good deal, it implies that (in his/her mind) there are not enough better alternatives to spend the money on. I misunderstood that you were using the analogy applied separately to each individual person. Many posters here would use it as an argument that FF3 < 14x $1 games, period, without any regard to people's preferences.
14 bucks is o.k. for me. If you want it, buy; if not, don't buy. But Hodapp was right about one thing: If you put a sticker with "Original Chocobo sh!t" on a bag with ostrich poo, people would buy. Gladly. That means that the typical AppStore rules don't apply for Square / Enix.
Did someone say real Chocobo poo? I'll only buy if it's golden...gosh I can't even count all the hours of my life I've poured into SE games. Especially trying to get that darn golden Chocobo!
Dazarath, you're right about diminishing utility if you buy a bunch of games all within the same genre. I would not enjoy the 14th TD nearly as much as I enjoyed the 1st TD, even if they are of comparable quality. On the other hand, many people would not enjoy the 20th hour of final fantasy as much as they enjoyed the 1st hour. Some people would enjoy the 20th hour more than the 1st. Personally, I usually prefer one premium game over several cheap ones. I value my time more than the price difference of a few bucks. That said, I loved old school FF growing up, but for me there are better options out there than this. When FF Tactics comes out for roughly the same price I won't even have to think twice.
Whoa where oh where can I get $35 for a traded in game? I have about 30 Xbox 360 games to unload. They usually offer me less than $20, even on brand new games that are barely a few weeks old.
They're watching us! the more we complain the higher the price! SQUARE ENIX.... I LOVE YOU =D *watches for price decrease*
Yeah, I found out that the prices 15.99$, 12.99€ and 9.49£ are named at the end of the new release trailer. Old chap ImNoSuperMan might have screwed up his price assumption.
