# What Do I Want for Christmas (XBox1 or PS4)? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [June 13, 2013, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-want-for-christmas-xbox1-or-ps4/660904 "2013-06-13T15:28:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-want-for-christmas-xbox1-or-ps4/660904/41 "2013-06-19T00:26:30Z")
Ah… [here we are](http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/games/gamesondemand). Ok, their base pricing for games is much more in line with that from PC DD outfits. Sort of amusing then that Microsoft’s PC DD store is so insanely out of line. ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-want-for-christmas-xbox1-or-ps4/660904/42 "2013-06-19T14:56:28Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > I forgot about those, but I was aware. I have an xbox 360, you know. But this hurts your case rather than helps it. The fact that the 360 has AAA titles for digital distribution and yet doesn’t ever have sales anything remotely like PC DD is evidence that supports my point. Their base price is $40+ and so even a meager 50% off sale only brings them in line with the base price of similar games on PC DD. Almost every game that would be on that Xbox service has been $5 or less on PC DD. Dunno man. I checked 5 titles from the page Jophiel linked - only one of them was $40 or above, and one of them (Tomb Raider) was actually $20 cheaper than it was on Steam. And, as you have so deftly pointed out elsewhere, it’s not really what the “list price” is for these games anyway, but what they go on sale for. And while PC does have an advantage in that space, it’s a “75% off sale vs 50% off sale” kind of advantage, not some sort of huge runaway thing. In any event, I think it’s apparent that you haven’t really paid any attention to Games of Demand and should probably stop making generalizations about it. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-want-for-christmas-xbox1-or-ps4/660904/43 "2013-06-19T21:48:36Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > If a game-producer wants to sell a discounted game via the Microsoft store, is Microsoft going to tell them no? It’s hard to see why they’d want to prevent their users from getting cheaper games over the objections of the people selling the game, and it’d be the game-studios and not Microsoft taking the hit (presumably hoping to make it back in higher sales). > > I don’t really see what the upside would be for Microsoft in inflating the cost of games. While there’s no direct competition, there are other platforms people will choose between (perhaps including the Steambox in a few years). And beyond games, other places where they can spend their entertainment budgets. Its in Microsofts interest to have studios sell games for as low a price as they can be convinced to accept. The fear was that there wouldn’t be competition, because the PS4 would also do this. Fortunately, they are not. Without choice, the market can charge as much as they want. The only salvation would be if Steamboxes take off, but that’s a gamble and a while away, anyways. Maybe, at some point, the Xbox One would be the better choice, but I don’t see why. The PS4 can still do digital when that comes in, but Microsoft has pigeonholed themselves outside the old market. Sony is being smart in keeping both, just like Valve did back when you could sell on Steam or in boxed stores without Steam. The only reason I can come up with is that, if the Xbox One is doing poorly, Microsoft might try to subsidize games to get people to choose their system. Or, if, for some reason, you think voice controls are a must-have feature, despite the myriads of potential problems inherent without a button to tell the system to start checking for voice commands. (In other words, I hope you never say something like “See my Xbox ON the shelf?” Or that your little sister doesn’t come in and say Xbox TV while you are in the middle of a game.) ---
**Author:** ![DeptfordX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DeptfordX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeptfordX)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-want-for-christmas-xbox1-or-ps4/660904/44 "2013-06-19T22:12:29Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > That’s my big thought. There’s actual competition in the PC DD marketplace. You have at least four “big” retailers (Steam, Amazon, GreenmanGaming, GamersGate), some publisher retailers (Origin, Uplay), various smaller/regional outfits (GetGamesGo, GOG, Nuuvem, etc) and then a bunch of indie/bundle outfits. I don’t see how a single source (Microsoft) is going to have the same market incentives. Everyone uses Steam as the go-to example for cheap gaming but in reality I probably get maybe 25-30% of my games from Steam and the rest elsewhere based on price. > > Even with Steamworks, Valve doesn’t charge for 3rd party or retail activation. So Valve doesn’t get anything when I buy a copy of Skyrim from GMG and activate it on Steam. They’re forced to compete on pricing, selection and service. Bingo, competition drives prices down and keeps them so. A monopolistic Microsoft have no incentive to follow suit. No let me rephrase that. There’s no _pressure_ to do so. Microsoft could operate like Steam could, they might even make more money that way, but as long as they have a unchallenged monopoly it just won’t happen. The managers will convince themselves that things are working out fine with the current model, bold descisions being risky ones etc etc. Human nature. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-want-for-christmas-xbox1-or-ps4/660904/45 "2013-06-19T22:28:07Z")
> [@Airk](#): > > Dunno man. I checked 5 titles from the page Jophiel linked - only one of them was $40 or above, and one of them (Tomb Raider) was actually $20 cheaper than it was on Steam. > > And, as you have so deftly pointed out elsewhere, it’s not really what the “list price” is for these games anyway, but what they go on sale for. And while PC does have an advantage in that space, it’s a “75% off sale vs 50% off sale” kind of advantage, not some sort of huge runaway thing. > > In any event, I think it’s apparent that you haven’t really paid any attention to Games of Demand and should probably stop making generalizations about it. Oh please. You’re right, list price isn’t that important, but unless they dramatically changed the frequency of sales of games on demand in the last few months (when I haven’t paid attention at all), it absolutely is a huge runaway thing. Whenever I looked at it, games on demand would have maybe 1 or 2 sales a month. Check out steam in about a week. Every single game in their library, thousands of games, will be as cheap as the deepest discount on the 1-2 games a month you’ll see on xbox. Additionally. dozens more games will be on a much steeper discount. I went back and added up my steam receipts compared to my game library, and the average amount of money I spend on a game is something like $3.75. And they aren’t all low budget indie games, although nothing wrong with those. I have almost all of the AAA tier games that have interested me over the years. Do you think there’s an xbox gamer on the planet that has hundreds of games who spent an average of under $4 to get them, or even triple that? PC DD makes gaming amazingly cheap. The real price of games - the price people pay - is probably like a 5x or 6x difference. Offering up a token 50% off sale or two a month on Microsoft’s part does not constitute putting them on equal tiers. That assertion is really quite ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-want-for-christmas-xbox1-or-ps4/660904/46 "2013-06-20T02:32:44Z")
Microsoft has backtracked on the internet checkups and the used game policy: [Microsoft pulls a 180, reverses Xbox One always-on DRM and used games policy - CNET](http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57590134-75/microsoft-pulls-a-180-reverses-xbox-one-always-on-drm-and-used-games-policy/) Too bad it’s too late for anyone to change their vote in the scientifically rigorous and legally-binding SDMB “What’s **HeyHomie** getting for Christmas” poll. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-want-for-christmas-xbox1-or-ps4/660904/47 "2013-06-20T07:46:30Z")
> [@GreasyJack](#): > > Microsoft has backtracked on the internet checkups and the used game policy: [CNET: Product reviews, advice, how-tos and the latest news](http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57590134-75/microsoft-pulls-a-180-reverses-xbox-one-always-on-drm-and-used-games-policy/) > > Too bad it’s too late for anyone to change their vote in the scientifically rigorous and legally-binding SDMB “What’s **HeyHomie** getting for Christmas” poll. Meh. It still costs $100 more. And you’ll have to do one big download as soon as you get it to turn off all the unwanted features. And you still have a device made by people who think voice control without manual activation is a good idea. And it runs Windows 8, which I seem to hear that people don’t like. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-want-for-christmas-xbox1-or-ps4/660904.md?page=2)