Pay Up & Play The Game - Modern Warfare 2

21/09/2009 by Dave G.

Modern Warfare 2 is the latest Call of Duty game set to be this years blockbuster.  Eager gamers are waiting until the release date in November and the game is expected to be a Christmas sellout similar to the massively hyped wii fit last year.

Already online communities are debating which platform to play Modern Warfare on - with die hard Xbox gamers pointing the finger at the recent scandle of the PS3 and its yellow light of death.

But even more vocal are those who are outraged at the price.  Modern Warfare 2 will be considerably more expensive than other games it is claimed.

We took a sample of top games retailers and checked there prices with various price comparison sites to see the extent of the discouts being offered online.

In defense it is noted that this isn’t an attempt by Activision to rip off consumers, it’s an attempt to rip off retailers, who’ll be so desperate to get market share on the title that it’s highly likely the price point on the high street / internet will be the same as if it had been a standard RRP.

It’s not unusual in DVD - blockbusters released with a RRP of £22.99 instead of the standard £19.99 as studios know they’ll end up on shelf at £12.99 anyway. It just means the studio get an extra couple of quid for every unit they ship, it makes little or no difference to the customer.

Our never far from wrong price checking found the ps3 games were on the whole priced exactly the same as the xbox 360 games - the only difference being the recent addition of collectors versions of the game.  Collectors editions of modern warfare 2 - which is still only availsble to pre-order

You would have thought that selling a million copies at £39.99 is infinitely preferable to selling 500,00 at £55, no? Especially when the country is in the middle of a recession?

A good point -  Can charge will charge.

Modern Warfare is one of the few titles this generation that held its price regardless of whether it was new or preowned.

It’s easy for us to say at the moment that ‘this is ridiculous’, ‘I’m not paying that’ etc. but the reality is at least a quarter of posters here will cave and buy it close to release. As commnetators have saidthere are so few sure things these days but Modern Warfare 2 is just that and, given the way MW1 held its price point, if you’re desperate for a new MW experience logic dictates you’ll have to wait a long time to get a bargain. Besides, given the amount of money we as a community spend on games, forgoing a couple of mediocre titles as the MW2 release approaches probably wouldn’t be too difficult. Unless you’re planning on getting the night vision set.

So… I guess the only people who are really hard done by in this situation are parents who’re pestered by their kids for the game. You can obviously say that Activision are money grabbing so and sos but they’re a big company with a product people want to buy: this is capitalism in full effect.

Maybe someone should start an on-line petition? I hear they really make a difference.

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