🚀 go-pugleaf

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
: 	is fine.  But I wonder if the new generation of Origin games are
: 	going to be chock full of FMV and hasbeen actors, and on top of
: 	that $60-70 a piece.  I certainly think that some might be worth
: 	it, but I don't forsee EVERY game to be of that pricerange....some
: 	aren't that big...but then again...if someone buys it, the pricing
: 	doesn't change.  Consumers drive the market.  I will probably 
			 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You got it right on. The marginal cost of producing software is so
cheap (CD costs about $1 a piece to manufacture. That's why you
see free CD stuff with magazines) such that the market is mostly
demand (customer) driven.

Not to mention most software products are unique and thus
selling WC3 is like a monopoly. The producers reap the benefits.

The software market is a very interesting economics phenomenon
with its cost structure and product characteristics (high
R&D, low marginal cost, difficult to control piracy ...)

Kay-Yut Chen