Console Games Need to Have Varied Prices, THQ Believes

THQ’s new president, Jason Rubin, has talked about the console gaming business and predicted that, in the future, it’s slowly going to transition into the current state of the PC one, where games are being sold for all sorts of prices, not just a universal $60/€60 one.

THQ has gone through some major financial issues in recent months but now, under the guidance of new president Jason Rubin, the large publisher is making a comeback by focusing on fewer titles.

According to Rubin, the company’s financial issues stem from the current state of the console gaming business. The executive believes that marketing often pushes customers to certain games, largely because of the universal pricing scheme.

"The way the industry has been set up with all titles selling for roughly the same price at retail next to each other is that there's been a race to make the biggest game," he told GameInformer.

"If you walk into a store as a gamer and see a massive $120 million dollar game next to a $30 million dollar game, and a $80 million marketing budget backed that $120 million game up, it's likely you're going to pull that one off the shelf."

In terms of the future, Rubin believes that the console industry will start adopting the varied price scheme found on the PC nowadays, where different games are being sold for different prices.

"As time progresses, the entire industry will move closer to what we see in the PC model emerging now, which is a lot of different-sized games and different types of games that all get a place in the sun because you can buy things that aren't $60 boxed goods," Rubin added.

"What excites me is I think the business is going to broaden out. I think it's good for the industry and it's good for gamers, too. I don't think gamers realize how good opening up the rules so that game developers can distribute and price as they want and do whatever they want is. At the end of the day, the gamer will determine what succeeds and fails because they're the ones with the dollars in the pocket."

THQ had previously experimented with lower priced games, selling MX vs ATV Alive at a loss and distributing paid DLC in order to recoup profits. Sadly, it wasn’t the most successful move, leading to the closure of the game's developer.