cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
Dunnkare
Founder
Founder

Why are games on Stadia more expensive than on other platforms?

Stadia is charging full price for old games which - on other platforms - already had permanent price drops or are always on sale somewhere and even new games are more expensive. I just got Shadow of the Tomb Raider Definitive Edition in a sale for about 20€ on Steam. And Darksiders Genesis just released, which costs 30€ on Steam and 40€ on Stadia. Why is that? Is there a valid reason other than "Google likes money"?
3 Kudos
11 Replies

They're not though. Darksiders Genesis is $40 to pre-order on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

The question you should be asking is why certain games are cheaper on PC than on console. 

2 Kudos
Dunnkare
Founder
Founder

Stadia is not a console though. On a console - and on a PC -, I can download the game, play it offline and even continue playing it if the shop system and online services shut down some day. Can't do all that on Stadia. So how is that worth the same or even more?
1 Kudo
Raymond87
Community Member

@DunnkareYes it’s worth the same, remember Google have the hardware, you dont need to upgrade your equippment, install or delete to make space.

Buy and play instantly. About servers shutting down i would not be worried, we that play online have to play on servers anyway, and i highly doubt that a big company like Google would struggle with this.

It would take time to get used to the future of gaming, but within 5-10 years i think it would take over. like it took away blu ray players and so with the movie rental shops around.
Now all gamestop in my country closing for good in january sadly enough but that is how it must be.


Im happy with stadia as u can hear and now i have another device that give me opertunity to play everywhere i want, get refund within 2 hours on games that was not up to expectations.
We will get better and better deals.

1 Kudo
Dunnkare
Founder
Founder

"... remember Google have the hardware, you dont need to upgrade your equippment, ..."

@Raymond87I would be more willing to accept this reasoning, if the hardware they provide would actually be as superior as they advertised. So far, the games look no better, in some cases even worse, than on current gen consoles. Destiny 2 for example looks worse on my 4K TV with Stadia (200Mbit ethernet connection) than on my old PC (i5, 1060). I really don't see why I should pay more for getting less.

1 Kudo
brunocalmon
Stadia Player
Stadia Player

Actually you are not paying more but the same of any console. why to buy it? At this point it's a bet but as more as the technology advance, your games will do it too and probably 30 years in the future you can play all new games but also your old games, without to need tons of different gen of the some console. But I don't think you have to do it now, maybe if you are not happy you can wait to see if it will go get better or not.
0 Kudos
ToasterTate
Community Member

I would separate the service and it is pricing from the game price.  The Stadia as part of the purchase price and monthly service fee is providing the infrastructure including hardware and network connectivity.  This includes game lifecycle and space management.  Seem to some extent the equivalent to buying the console and then the monthly 'live' service price with other vendors with better space management.  But you pay for these features as a separate ongoing cost already.  

What the game costs after that may be a combination of many factors including what the game creators have to do to port the game to Stadia.  But asking consumers to pay the same and in many case significantly more for the same content in this model will cost them market share.  I know for me the novelty of being able to play on a phone has passed.  

Being able to buy and play instantly is a decent feature.  However, if your client has 100+ Mbps download speeds you are not saving the consumers that much time and hassle.   Space has been a big deal in the past for consoles if you play many games but even older consoles manage to handle several games.  Most players only rotate between 2-3 games at a time.  You may be saving full on gaming addicts significant portions of their time but at least for me the feature is saving me very little, and really costs me a ton in streaming costs.  I do not know about others but I can tell you I am pretty done with the streaming costs vs the benefit.

As for shutting down the service.  It sure seems like a legitimate concern.  If you play any match made games on Stadia it has been my experience and I would expect it to be similar for others that there are very small groups of people playing the games and you see a representation of it in this feature.  In cross-console save enabled games, it has been my experience that the Stadia player base is not even a small fraction of the player base of these games on other consoles.   Google has in the past walked away from services and hardware that is not meeting their overall goals.  I would not put it past them to walk away from this if it does not meet expectations sooner than later.  

No doubt playing on multiple screen types is a feature must for all consoles going forward, and based on what I see they are all working on this 'future of gaming'.  However, Stadia and Google do not and will not have the corner on this market long and unless they create a larger player base, create more compelling features including exclusive or at least current content they are likely to struggle maintaining their existing player base, let alone grow it.

I for one am done with the experiment and paying them for old content. 

0 Kudos
Cookie84monster
Community Member

I think my friend you will find that most games that on stadia are on sale on PS4 and Xbox one final fantasy is far to much on stadia compared to consoles the tomb raider games far to much pc games football manger is more on stadia than pc so i think this guy has hit the nail on the head. there just money grabber’s by the looks of things. not enough games ghost recon not out on stadia being sold on sale on PS4 and I bet when it comes out on stadia it will be through the roof on stadia.
0 Kudos
Pasta
Community Member

Truth be told the number 1 complaint about digital is your slave to the publisher you will never again get the deals you can find online or through KIJIJI/Craiglist or whatever else..used game NOPE , trap and confined into a ecosystem that is competing with consoles that are ultra high with their prices, YUP.

 

thing that is so great about PC gaming is you can find dirt cheap prices if you look around, publishers hate that.

1 Kudo
Mad_Dog_Bravo
Community Member

@Dunnkare :

iThat is the price advantage of not actually owning the game! LOL

 

Kudos appreciated if deserved.
0 Kudos
Chufu
Platinum Stadia Guide
Platinum Stadia Guide

I don't even know if Google makes the price on Stadia games or if the developers have their hands on that. Of course it sound's a bit weird to buy Darksiders Genesis on Stadia for 10 quid more than on Steam for example. Don't know how Steam manage to always get their deals on games, but of course it works for them, because people love to buy Steam games because of the prices.

The good thing on Stadia is though that you can play it everywhere and you own the right to play this game if you purchase it on Stadia, see here:

What happens to a game I bought if the publisher stops supporting Stadia in the future? Can I still play the game?

Yes. Once you purchase the game, you own the right to play it. In the future, it is possible that some games may no longer be available for new purchases, but existing players will still be able to play the game. Outside of unforeseen circumstances, Stadia will aim to keep any previously purchased title available for gameplay. Source: This article

Anyway I would wait and buy it when it comes up as a Stadia Pro Deal. If you can't wait you would pay the whole amount, but just a bit more patience could be worth it I believe.

0 Kudos
Snipees
Community Member

These expensive standard prices would only make sense if Pro subscription gives a permanent discount of 20% or so.

But for now Pro subscription does not have any discount, it's annoying... :crying_face:

0 Kudos