During the entire summer I purchased maybe three or four games tops. I was in an EB yesterday looking at all the coming soon boxes and it got me thinking. I went home and compiled a list of all the games coming out just in September that I really want to play. Take a fucking look at this:
Guilty Gear X2 - 9/7 - 19.99
Burnout 3 - 9/7 - 49.99
Fable - 9/14 - 49.99
X-Men Legends - 9/22 - 49.99
The Sims 2 - 9/14 - 49.99
Star Wars Battlefront - 9/20 - 49.99
Myst IV Revelation - 9/21 - 39.99
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne - 9/28 - 49.99
Sly 2: Band of Thieves - 9/14 - 39.99
Mega Man X Command Mission - 9/21 - 39.99
Then take into account the fact that I already purchased Star Ocean and Phantom Brave this month. That means that if I wanted to buy all the games I want this month I’d have to spend over five hundred bucks. That is totally fucking insane. What in the hell is wrong with the videogame industry? If they spread these games out over the course of a year I’d probably buy every one of them. As it stands now, I’ll end up having to rent 90% of these.
In the movie industry you have a few big summer blockbusters, but decent movies come out year round. Imagine if every single movie worth watching came out in July. Imagine if you had to spend five hundred dollars in one month just to see the movies you were interested in. People wouldn’t stand for that. Why is it that the videogame industry is able to get away with this bullshit?
I’m not even talking about October and November here. 99% of all the games worth playing in a given year come out in the space of three months. THAT IS FUCKING RIDICULOUS! I keep looking at that list I posted above and shaking my head. It’s hard to believe that they can get away with this level of banditry. I’m not going to take a loan out just to buy the games I want this month. That means I’ll only be purchasing one or two of the titles on that list. I know for a fact I’m not the only one who will be make some hard decisions in the next few weeks.
I’d love to hear an explanation for this. If you work in the industry and you have some light you could shed on this please share it with the class.
-Gabe out