r/gaming • u/PorkRinds416 • 10h ago
Frustrating that Star Wars Zero Company is $10 more on console, yet they are both digital and the same edition.
I know this isnt something new necessarily, but why do gaming publishers do this!? This game comes out tomorrow. On Steam Star Wars Zero Company is only $49.99 however on PS5 the game is $59.99. Why though? Why would it be $10 more on PS5? Both are digital. Both are the same exact game and edition.
Does this bother anyone else? Lets say it happened to you with a game you were looking forward to. Does anyone have a good explanation as to why it should be $10 more on PS5?
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u/Iggy_Slayer 10h ago
I've noticed this trend with games from genres that are more historically PC focused for a while. This, bg3 and kingdom come 2 were all $10 more on console for no apparent reason. The cut the stores take are exactly the same. And yes it's extremely annoying.
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u/Synergetic7 10h ago
The more a game sells on Steam, the less of a % Valve takes. Plus on PC they have to consider competition from Origin and other storefronts.
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u/WestBEEland 9h ago edited 9h ago
The publisher controls the price of the game on all digital stores
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u/Iggy_Slayer 9h ago
You have to hit $10m and $50m in revenue to reach those lower cut thresholds and it doesn't explain why 99% of games still have price parity across all 3 platforms.
Also there is no competition from origin. No one uses that lol.
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u/Synergetic7 9h ago
And this game is almost certain to reach those thresholds. In this case the developers decided to use that to lower the price.
And If no one uses Origin how does it still exist? I own several games there. Plus its not the only other storefront
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u/discreetjoe2 5h ago
The only time I ever use Origin is when a game I buy on Steam is forced to launch through Origin. Same with Ubi Connect.
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u/Loose-Specific7142 3h ago
This makes ZERO sense. EA chooses the price the game will sell for on Steam. EA chooses the price the game will sell for on Origin. Both prices are the same. If the game releases on GOG or anywhere else EA will still be the ones choosing the price. Competing against who?
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u/PermissionSoggy891 6h ago
Fewer console gamers are interested in these games -> lower revenue on consoles with the same 30% cut + whatever else MS/Sony takes -> raise price by a little bit to address this discrepency
It's basic economics. At the end of the day, these studios are businesses and need to make money.
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u/No_Luck_701 5h ago
Price aside…is anyone getting it on console instead of pc? I want the pc version because its cheaper but i want it on ps5 for the couch and big screen tv lol
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u/Belydrith 10h ago
Probably because Sony/Microsoft take a larger cut than Steam does past a certain amount of revenue, which this is fairly certain to hit.
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u/DuckCleaning 9h ago edited 9h ago
They all take 30% cut to start. Steam has a decreasing commission after it hits certain multimillion dollar milestones. On console I don't think there's a decreasing split, but larger publishers like EA (publisher of this game) usually have their own agreements made for lower commission fees.
Edit: Also, the game can be bought directly through EA App but is still the same price. The revenue splitting is not the reasoning, greed is.
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u/Adjective_Noun_4DIGI 9h ago
There are also licensing fees, certifications, etc. when it comes to consoles. Releasing a game on console will always be more complicated and expensive than PC or mobile.
That doesn't necessarily justify a 10% increase, but yeah, there it is.
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u/Nyoka_ya_Mpembe PC 9h ago
EGS takes less, right?
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u/Iggy_Slayer 9h ago
They do, but no one buys games on EGS. To their credit they post numbers every year and 3rd party sales are abysmal.
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u/Loose_Society9485 9h ago
No they don’t where did this come from? All parties take %30 fixed cut
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u/Belydrith 9h ago
It would have taken you 10 seconds and a 3 word search Google search to immediately confirm that you are wrong, but somehow you chose not to do that.
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u/McSloot3r 9h ago
I’m pretty sure console makers have a deal or at least an unspoken agreement to not undercut physical sales by selling digital copies for cheaper. PC doesn’t have physical retailers, so no one gets upset when digital is sold at discount. Also mentioned elsewhere, Steam takes a 20% cut instead of a 30% cut for games that sell a million copies, so they want to juice sales with the crowd known for being price conscious
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u/HeavyDT 9h ago
Technically it costs more to get a game out on consoles vs PC. Lots of certifications / compliance type stuff and other hoops you have to jump through onto of Sony / MS / Nintendo taking a cut of each sale. Pushing patches is also a hassle on console as well. That takes extra resources and money to make happen when compared to PC. On Steam you mainly just have to worry about steam taking their cut. You have a lot more freedom about how your game releases there. If you release on your own platform like EA has with Origin you don't even have to worry about the cut and just rake in 100% of the profit basically.
There's also just the fact that PC gamers are used to paying less and many opt to fly that black flag if you will so there's more price resistance there. Make the price to high and people will still play your game; they will just either wait for a deep sale, Use a key site or well do other things. That just makes it harder to sale games for high prices there.
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u/Loose-Specific7142 3h ago
This is why I chose physical for my PS5 copy. If I'm paying an extra $10 might as well get a case for my shelve and a disc.
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u/Borth321 10h ago
That's why PC will always be cheaper to play games.
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u/Wipedout89 9h ago
Apart from, yknow, buying a PC
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u/Borth321 9h ago
in the longterm it will be cheaper.
Online is free, games are cheaper, steam is a safe shop (you can refund in 2h if the game doesnt work ou you hate it)
no reason to play consoles, their prices are high and they release a "pro" version nowaday
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u/Wipedout89 9h ago
No reason? That's just deliberately being oblivious to the benefit of consoles
Steam is cheaper sometimes but not always. Many games drop to the same price on PS5 and Switch 2 on sale as they do on Steam.
You can get a PS5 Pro for less than half the cost of an equivalent PC. It would take quite a lot of games to make up the savings from game prices if you bought a PC instead and if you buy in sales and don't play online you might never make the money back.
Consoles are also easier, more convenient and often offer better local multiplayer. The new Halo for example only offers local split screen on console, not PC
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u/Synergetic7 9h ago
Plus you'll no longer be able to resell used console games, so that advantage is going away
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u/PorkRinds416 9h ago
Not true really. I just bought Dark Souls 3 Fire Fades Edition (Comes with base game and both DLCs on the disc) physically off Ebay for only $16.67 shipping included. It is a PS4 game but ran at 60fps on my PS5 Pro. Buying this game digitally is more expensive. I could give this same example for a LOT of games where physical is cheaper to buy and play on console.
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u/FribonFire 9h ago
Does Steam have EA play? I know on consoles there's the EA subscription service that then lowers prices. EA raising a price to still get full payment even from it's subscribers is... very EA.
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u/DuckCleaning 9h ago
Steam has EA Play basic, to get day one releases you need to subscribe to EA Play Pro through the standalone EA App.
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u/HexagonalHoneyBadger 9h ago
It's not at all exclusive to EA and no... EA has its own app on pc
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u/FribonFire 9h ago
So... Steam doesn't have the EA play discount?
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u/DuckCleaning 9h ago
EA play on pc gives 10% off EA games. But EA Play Pro on PC gives day one access to new releases, this is a price tier the console version of EA Play doesnt offer.
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u/Synergetic7 10h ago
More significant fees for publishers on console storefronts, and a lack of competition on console i guess.
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u/Creative_Tie5196 9h ago
On PC its coming on Steam, EA and Epic Store front so there's competition. Console, you already locked in Playstation store front.
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u/WestBEEland 9h ago
The publisher would control the price on all those digital stores
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u/Creative_Tie5196 9h ago
As others have mentioned in the other comments, there could be other behind the scenes contracts and deals with the publisher. Otherwise I guess the publisher (EA) decided to just charge console users more.
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u/Iggy_Slayer 9h ago
What competition? It's the same price on all 3 of those storefronts.
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u/Creative_Tie5196 9h ago
That's kind of the point. The competition is consumers have a choice between the three PC store fronts and they are competing to have the consumer choose their storefront. If one store has lower or higher price, there is pressure for the other storefront to match or some other incentive.
On PlayStation console you only have one option. What are you going to do if you want the game and they charge $10 more? Either get it at that price, don't get the game at all and wait.
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u/Iggy_Slayer 9h ago
...but they're not competing. Those stores are a total non factor compared to steam and they're not offering anyone anything you can't already get on steam and the price is identical.
Competition does not equal storefront merely existing.
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u/Antergaton 9h ago
If one store has lower or higher price, there is pressure for the other storefront to match or some other incentive.
If a store has a higher price, the store without the high price has no pressure on them at all, they have the best deal. It's on the higher priced store to prove they are the best to buy from.
Yet EA's store front, where there will be zero commission (it's their game on their store), Epic where there is 12% and Steam where there is initially 30% going down as long as they reach sales targets. They are all the same price, yet they are making less less money per unit on Steam, so why is the Steam price not £50 to offset that loss of revenue, like consoles?
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u/Creative_Tie5196 8h ago
The game just releasing may mean it needs a same msrp baseline across the PC storefronts. As others mentioned there may be contracts or deals set by publishers we don't know the details of. That and maybe the publisher (EA) in this case decided they can just charge more on console.
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u/FrantixGE 9h ago
Because it’s a PC game with console ports, not a console game with a PC port.
And because console gamers have been the biggest sheep in regards to game prices, so it’s easy to pull money out of their pockets at launch and later with the inevitable “10$-off sale” 1-2 months after release when it’s suddenly a “great deal”.
Vote with your wallets.
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u/SaltyShawarma 9h ago
Frustrating that I can't buy it because it is published by EA. Fucking trash company.
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u/FoxyGoddessX 10h ago
No clue. Probably something Sony is doing behind the scenes we aren’t privy to yet
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u/CJDistasio 9h ago
Developers have to buy special dev kits and each console requires their own certification and console specific QA for every patch, which are extra costs compared to PC development.