Are $60 games here to stay? (2/2)

Another anomaly this generation is the diversity of game prices themselves -- gamers can buy an incredibly fun $20 budget game at release, or shell out a gargantuan $170 for the upcoming Rock Band complete with additional hardware. So even though the MSRP of most games may be $60, the average game price may hover around the $50 mark when considering all prices.

And what about those budget titles, many of which grace the Xbox 360 in increasing numbers. If publishers were granted a free "charge $60 for every game" coupon, wouldn't they always take advantage? The amount of pricing experimentation offered by publishers suggests that the sting of rising development costs may not be as painful as gamers were initially lead to believe.

In 2006, Epic Games voiced aspirations to give away additional Gears of War maps for free. Microsoft denied the motion, however, leading some to believe that the console maker was merely trying to keep prices artificially inflated. A compromise was ultimately made (pay now, free later), but it doesn't look good when a leading developer wants to gift "costly" content only to have a quarterly-focused publisher intervene.

Deviating circumstances aside, are $60 games here to stay? Yes and no. Given the success of now-pricier games like Halo 3 and others, I fully expect AAA games (excluding frugal-minded Wii titles) to prevail at a $10 premium. That said, gamers can also look forward to a greater number of budget games ranging in price from $20-$40 that may or may not neutralize the total affect on their wallets.

If that doesn't work, the price sensitive can always do it the old fashioned way -- wait till a game goes on sale.

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