Game prices increase sharply on US PLAYSTATION Store

by Andrew Yoon { Jun 12th 2008 at 2:15PM }

For some reason, the prices of games on the US PLAYSTATION Store have fluctuated. Many games have actually increased in price, while The Con has been slashed in half. We're not exactly sure what's behind this seemingly-random adjustment in price, but we can't say we support it. Digital copies of games shouldn't be more expensive than buying it in retail. Let's hope this is a bad glitch.

The Con was $19.99 now $9.99
LocoRoco was $21.99 now $22.99
Kingdom of Paradise was $10.99 now $16.99
Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee was $10.99 now $15.99
Ape Escape: On the Loose was $9.99 now $15.99
Twisted Metal: Head-On was $14.99 now $15.99
SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo was $14.99 now $15.99
Gangs of London was $11.99 now $22.99
Wipeout Pure $10.99 now $15.99

[Thanks, Matt! Image Credit]

Tags: store

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

xaos @ Jun 12th 2008 2:22PM

I wonder if this is due to the weak dollar

Imhotep @ Jun 12th 2008 2:24PM

This is why digital distribution does suck, and always will suck!

Don @ Jun 12th 2008 8:45PM

True.. but that is only PART of why it does/always suck.

The main problem is crappy DRM which does more harm than good, especially in Sony's case. "80048516 error", anyone? PS Network Downloader probs? Credit card inexplicably not being accepted? NO HELP PAGE on the actual site???

Combine that with their programming ineptitude = total suck.

Hashbrown Hunter @ Jun 14th 2008 11:57AM

The sad part about all this (and I agree with everything you said, Don) is that it has major potential to not suck. Remember when Beats was released? Everyone was praising the PSN already and after when Combat Ops came out a lot more people were happy. Plus when they were putting up some solid demos and decent PS1 games, everyone was happy.

But recently its like Sony just stopped caring. But then again they usually do get this way before E3 because during and after E3 there's a shitload of stuff coming out.

Either way, Sony is really disappointing me with how little they care for the system. I'm sure they do take pride in the PSP, but it doesn't show in their actions. I hope this year's E3 press conference is a bit more balanced towards the PSP and they show off a couple of upcoming games and announcements for it. At LEAST some PSN games....

ANYTHING!

nomad @ Jun 12th 2008 2:32PM

thats it i'm not buying crap from the store no more or egg suckin sony. bunch ofmoney hungry pie-hole eaters.,lol.

Nate @ Jun 12th 2008 2:44PM

Hopefully this is just a glitch, but I'm glad I already bought Open Tee.

required @ Jun 12th 2008 3:24PM

Probably the result of some shady revenue management system that they are trying out. Soon everyone will pay a different prices with fluctuations throughout the day. They'll exhort "supply and demand" or some such, eventhough it has no bearing in digital distribution.

Barry32171 @ Jun 12th 2008 3:34PM

Most of those games, people already have... (Or, don't care about.) The price increase makes no sense.

Kspraydad @ Jun 12th 2008 3:45PM

Can't be 'just' a weak US dollar...the prices in Canada have gone up too.

Strange.

acefondu @ Jun 12th 2008 4:48PM

Interesting point. This is quite odd indeed. A mystery worth of Sherlock himself.

strike @ Jun 12th 2008 3:59PM

I'm not a regular visitor of the store, but i'm pretty certain that the european shop is still the same.

Brittany @ Jun 12th 2008 4:12PM

Lame :(

blindelf @ Jun 12th 2008 4:21PM

Why is Sony completely screwing up their digital distribution plan?

By now we should have digital versions of a vast library of PS1 games and echochrome-style stuff, and nothing should cost more than $10-15.

Its like the UMD movies/video nightmare all over again...

You could grab half a dozen PSP fanboys at random and they could solve half of Sony Corporate's problems and screw-ups in a couple of days...

Eggy @ Jun 12th 2008 6:32PM

If you'd bother to read any of the 5000 comments in interviews or on blogs by Sony reps you'd know that rereleasing a game is not as easy as ripping it from the CD/DVD and putting it online. There are all sorts of legal issues involved.

required @ Jun 12th 2008 7:36PM

"You could grab half a dozen PSP fanboys at random and they could solve half of Sony Corporate's problems and screw-ups in a couple of days..."

I agree.

Askia @ Jun 12th 2008 6:41PM

Wow. I just bought the Hot Shots at 10.99 last weekend. Looks like I got in just under the wire.

Christopher @ Jun 13th 2008 8:52AM

I bought a sealed copy on eBay a few weeks ago for $8 plus shipping. :)

Ed @ Jun 12th 2008 5:16PM

And what do we get new? 2 f'ing Hot Shots themes. Thanks for nothing, Sony.

bryansurvive @ Jun 12th 2008 5:16PM

an even better reason to just buy my games used. sorry guys.

Jacksons @ Jun 12th 2008 5:58PM

What the hell? Most of these games are in stores brand new for $14.99. If this isn't a mix-up, whoever is in charge of the pricing needs to get their head out of the sand.

Maninatrunk77 @ Jun 12th 2008 10:05PM

The guy don said this

"6-12-2008 @ 8:45PM

Don said...
True.. but that is only PART of why it does/always suck.

The main problem is crappy DRM which does more harm than good, especially in Sony's case. "80048516 error", anyone? PS Network Downloader probs? Credit card inexplicably not being accepted? NO HELP PAGE on the actual site???

Combine that with their programming ineptitude = total suck."

I'm having so many online problems with the store. I went and bought a new 4 gig mem stick and everything and i still get that error your talking about. Sony has no true fire help system for the store and when trying to contact the sony help through the main sony site, all you get are generic messages!!!

And as for this crap about increasing prices? wow, how STUPID can you be?!?!? I mean really, who in the hell is going to pay double for a game that next to no one will buy in the first place? I mean jesus, they must have some dope-heads running sony's american devision, because they have to be on that dope to be pulling the crap they are pulling!

jdac @ Jun 13th 2008 12:05AM

This is why I only get my games either used or from GameFly.

Sony are determined to keep shooting that damn foot of theirs, maybe I should stick the thing on eBay before it loses any more value.

andwhyisit @ Jun 13th 2008 1:13AM

Used game sales mean $0 to sony and the game developers.
Kinda sucks that we do it so often.

"I mean jesus, they must have some dope-heads running sony's american devision, because they have to be on that dope to be pulling the crap they are pulling!"

Which is probably why the PSP is doing so badly outside of Japan.

jtedesco33 @ Jun 13th 2008 8:48AM

+ 10 EXP

I get all my games from gamefly too, they are cheap as hell and free shipping.

Christopher @ Jun 13th 2008 8:52AM

I'm pretty sure they're panicking because their regular sales of games have stalled. I'm wondering if in some board meeting they asked how they could spike software sales and some idiot suggested raising prices on the PC store stuff to drive sales back to retail. I'm betting that's what happened because they're stupid like that. Brilliant engineers and executives don't make brilliant sales leadership. I mean brilliant in the strictest sense of the word too. Sony execs are still idiots.

I still think they should provide official tools support and rip PS1 games and let the fans trade the old stuff instead of trying to repackage it and sell it. They're just being stupid. They know that custom hacks are never going to go away. They should forget about selling DRM'd versions of old games and concentrate on new games like they should be doing in the first place.

Christopher @ Jun 13th 2008 10:03AM

I should clarify that what I mean is that Sony should give support by providing official software to RIP your OWN PS1 games and inject hardware specific DRM so you can't trade the old games, but the reason they don't is because of copyright and liability issues. Still, that doesn't mean they shouldn't support their users playing their own PS1 games by providing official software and firmware support. This would do several things for them.

1. They no longer would have to support the ripping of old PS1 games which I am unconvinced they should be reselling them in the first place. That's just greedy.

2. It would give less incentive for people to hack their firmware or trade old PS1 game images illegally.

3. They could go back to concentrating support on NEW games like they should be doing.

Hacking and piracy would still happen, but the less incentive there is, the less it will happen.