Some Stadia games cost more than their downloadable counterparts

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Some Stadia games cost more than their downloadable counterparts

Stadia's Darksiders Genesis' is 25% less on Steam, same price as coming console versions

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Since back in June, Google has been telling us that the publisher-set prices for games on its Stadia streaming service would be "competitive... to what you would see on other platforms." While that's been true of the vast majority of games on the service, fans were surprised to find a Stadia price premium for yesterday's launch of Darksiders Genesis.

 

The new action-adventure title is currently on sale for $40 on Stadia, compared to a $30 price on other PC platforms (including Steam, GOG, and the Humble Store). Steam players could get an even better deal with a pre-order price of $25.50 for the game. Console versions, which aren't due until next February, are currently listed at the higher $40 price point on various digital and retail storefronts.

 

A spokesperson for THQ told Polygon that "THQ doesn’t comment on their price policy."

 

While most titles sell for the same price on Stadia and other platforms, there are a few others that currently see a streaming price premium. Just Dance 2020 goes for $50 on the service, compared to $40 on modern consoles (the Wii version has already been reduced to $30 at many retailers). Grid is currently available for $27 as part of a Steam "supersale," down from the $60 standard price on Stadia (the "Ultimate Edition" of the game is $5 cheaper on Steam even without discounts). And the Platinum Edition of Farming Simulator 19 sold for $40 on Stadia, compared to a $25 to $35 Steam price, before Google added the game to December's Stadia Pro freebies (and offered refunds to early purchasers).

 

But there are deals to be had on Stadia, too. Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration sells for just $30 on the streaming service compared to $60 currently on Steam. Games like Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Mortal Kombat 11, and Final Fantasy XV were briefly offered at steep discounts for Stadia Pro subscribers when the service launched (those discounts are inactive as of this writing, though. A Google spokesperson said there's no set length for how long further "frequent" Stadia Pro deals will last going forward). And a $10/month Stadia Pro subscription (which is still the only way to access the service) also provides access to up to four free titles on Stadia.

How bad is it?

Small pricing differences for the same game across different platforms and formats aren't that out of the ordinary. Physical copies of games are sometimes sold at deep liquidation discounts compared to the identical downloadable versions, for instance. And a 2018 analysis found Switch ports cost 10% more than their Steam counterparts on average.

 

Of course, those Switch versions come with the added ability to easily play the game on the go in a convenient portable form factor. And Google would argue the Stadia versions offer similar multi-screen advantages over a standard download.

 

"I don't know why [the Stadia version] would be cheaper [than competing versions]," Google Phil Harrison told European journalists back in June. "The value you get from the game on Stadia means you can play it on any screen in your life—TV, PC, laptop, tablet, phone. I think that is going to be valuable to players... In theory, the Stadia version of a game is going to be at the highest-possible quality of innovation and sophistication on the game engine side."

 

That argument is a bit harder to swallow now that technical tests have found some Stadia games struggling to meet promises of 4K visuals. And while some sim-makers claim Stadia's cloud data servers allow for faster calculations in the background, those kinds of advantages don't come to bear for most current Stadia titles.

 

Maybe future Stadia exclusives will start to make us forget that comparative pricing between Stadia and more traditional services was ever an issue. For now, though, we still think selling games at full price is an oddly retrograde business model that doesn't take full advantage of Stadia's potential.

 

 

Source: Some Stadia games cost more than their downloadable counterparts (Ars Technica)  

 

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