You don’t calculate the price of something by totalling up the cost to produce it and then adding a bit for profit - you calculate it based on what people are willing to pay. That doesn’t really change if it’s digital or physical. Some people might be willing to pay a bit more for a physical copy, but probably not many and you’d turn off more people by having the higher price.
This. And a lot of people (myself included) are willing to pay more for the convenience and immediacy of digital. Sure, there’s always going to be people that consider themselves collectors that will keep physical going, but I think a lot of those people would be surprised at how small of a minority they are among the general populace that just wants to play a game
Because manufacturing the physical copy is a very small part of the expense in creating the game. It also has no practical effect on a players enjoyment or likeliness to purchase the game.
Prices are made up and capitalism is one big shell game
$60 in 2005 is $93 in 2023
Halo 3 cost $60 million to make and market.
Halo Infinite cost >$200 million.
Games have just become so much more complex, detailed, and expensive to make that companies basically took the relatively minor cost of printing discs to keep prices down a bit longer.
Plus, why would one company make less money on their digital games if no other company is doing it and therefore pressuring them to? Companies will charge what people will pay for. If people paid $60 to drive to GameStop for a copy, why would they refuse to pay it to get the game more conveniently?
Because price is not the main factor in people’s decision to buy games, and so they can get away with it. It’s similar to the move from physical tickets to download only, the cost per unit is lower for the provider but by keeping the price the same their margin is larger and they lose next to no sales.
