🚀 go-pugleaf

>In article <38rcoq$3...@apakabar.cc.columbia.edu> th...@aloha.cc.columbia.edu 
>(Tom  Hong) writes:>In article <38pc87$m...@hermes.oc.com>,
>>James F. Taylor Jr. <tay...@wizard.etsu.edu> wrote:
>>
>>       You know, I wonder....since CD's are so cheap, do you think
>>       that we will be seeing cheaper release prices?  Probably not.
>>       The market will price itself into a slump if it keeps the prices
>>       up like it does.  I mean, $39 for a game of moderate complexity

>        Actually...  I don't know if CDs are cheap.  I just read some glossy
>computer rag (PC Computing) and it had a survey of writable CD ROM drives.
>now I was surprised when it said that a blank CD on average costs $20!  Yikes.

>        Of course, PC Computing always has a tendency to exaggerate, so I
>think we could lop $10 off per if it's in bulk...  But it's still kinda
>expensive for one disc.


 CD-R discs cost about $16 apiece wholesale, but they aren't used for mass 
production.  They have a layer of gold (yes, gold) over a layer of ink.  CD-Rs 
are used to master the version, after which it is sent to be duplicated onto 
normal CDs.  Normal CDs have a significantly lower cost per unit than a high 
number of  floppies.  

 As for cheaper release prices, the budgets on CD-based games tend to be 
higher than floppy-only/shovelware releases.  I don't believe that the minor 
savings per unit will offset the costs for video and CD based development.

 Rob Corell
 
 P.S.  I have *nothing* to do with pricing games.     

 I don't speak for Origin, I just push bits for 'em.