It looks like GameStop is preparing for the eventuality that Diablo III will be priced higher than normal.
According to GameStop, Diablo III could be the second game of recent note to hike the average price of PC games from $49.99 to $59.99. The first was Modern Warfare 2, and it looks like either GameStop or another entity wants to keep PC game prices this way.
To be fair, Diablo III‘s price could end up at $49.99 when all is said and done. Diablo III is on the radar, but still a faint blip, with the game’s fifth character class not even revealed yet. Blizzard takes its time, and with good reason, but with absolutely nothing to base it on other than instinct I think we’ll be lucky to see it by the end of 2010.
Sadly, this isn’t anything new. Warcraft III was priced at $59.99 when it was released in 2002, almost unheard of at the time. I happily payed it anyway.
With the average console price already up to $60, it appears that publishers are going to succeed in also raising PC game prices, at least on these high profile titles.
The issue I have here is that a price hike on videogames that are going to sell millions strikes me as an incredible amount of greed. Do these companies really need to eke another $10 out of each loyal customer for titles that will continue to sell for potentially the next decade? As a videogame enthusiast myself, I want Blizzard to be financially stable until the end of time, and realistically $10 is not a whole lot for a game of superior quality. Still, when a game that will sell in the mega-millions is also given a higher price tag than normal, it does give me a slight feeling of being taken advantage of in a way.
Luckily, the new wave of cheaper, yet high quality digitally distributed games such as Torchlight is only growing stronger and stronger. Plus, Diablo III‘s price tag is not yet set in stone, but I’m not holding my breath on that one.
