THQ: Games need to be cheaper
Plans to lower prices then sell DLC later.
Publisher THQ believes the current retail model for games is all wrong and reckons it has the answer: keep prices low at the outset then sell in additional content later.
Gamasutra reports that CEO Brian Farrell told the BMO Capital Markets conference in New York, "What we're thinking about the business is we're turning it on its head a little bit. It's not, 'how high a price can we get', but 'how many users'."
Farrell believes current launch prices in the vicinity of $60 are "keeping people out".
"When we launched [MX vs. ATV] at $59.99, we'd do some units, and then when we brought the price down to the mass market-friendly price of $39.99, it would just pop," he explained.
"So the thinking this time is, let's initially launch at $39.99 - it's a very robust game, very high quality, so this is not about trying to get a secondary title out. It's a 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."
Look for the new strategy to kick in with MX vs ATV Alive, due for release in Spring 2011 on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
