We've all said that, but we continue to post and get excited whenever there is a possibility or rumour that it is soon to come out.
It doesn't make much sense from a business standpoint to sit on a game that is pretty much completed apparently. Like others said, EA already has sunk costs from the development cycle, and it only benefits them to sell this game and at least recoup some of those costs. I have to think there is something else in play because there really isn't a good raeson I can see for them to complete to sit on this unless there is some sort of issue on the development side that we are unaware of. Regarding price, I think Chaos Rings has proven that games can perform well at a high price point if the quality is there. Chaos Rings is $12.99, yet it still continues to hover near the top of the RPG genre. If EA has had poor sucess selling at the $9.99 price point, I'd say a big reason is in part due to the quality of their titles. I don't feel like EA takes this platform all that serious and it shows with the type of games that get released. I also think the lack of lite versions hurts higher end sales as well.
Look, I thought they would still release this game. At some point the price of the ipad version of Mirror's Edge will naturally drop from 14.99 to 9.99. I don't have an ipad, but I don't believe that has happened yet. When it did happen, I figured EA would release the iphone version for 9.99, so that both the iphone and ipad versions were selling at the same price. If they've cancelled this, then EA must be taking some sort of stand on principle alone. You have to understand that as a major multi-platform console developer, EA (and companies like EA) don't need a piece of the Apple appstore pie. They profit plenty well enough without it. Gameloft needs the appstore and will conform accordingly. EA doesn't. EA can take it or leave it. EA may not bring it's heavy hitter franchises to the iphone appstore anymore, or may be more reluctant to do so. They'll still develop for the appstore, but the bigger budget productions may not come if EA isn't convinced that the profit margin is high enough to warrant the investment. As far as Chaos rings, people fail to recognize or admit that there is a very large space in-between Chaos Rings selling at 12.99 and high-end DS games selling for 39.99. And I don't think people will pay much more for an iphone game. I don't think they'll go considerably above 12.99. I'm not sure a game that sells for 19.99 on the iphone will be profitable. A bad business model would be sinking a considerable amount of overhead investment into the development of a high-end iphone game, then trying to sell that game at 19.99 in order to recoop your loses and turn a profit, only to find out that iphone owners are simply too cheap/stubborn/entitled to buy a game at that price.
For starters, I stand by my point that Chaos Rings shows that higher priced games can be successful on this platform. In addition, Activision has shown how to make money as well. For a relatively small amount of content, CoD Zombies is selling like crazy still, and you are paying about $20 for all the content released at this point. It's apparent that Activision has seen some success as they are now regularly releasing new titles. Obviously EA has a right to pull out of the iPhone market, at least with major titles if they feel it isn't worth the investment, but I'm just pointing out taht their big franchise titles have been average at best on the iPhone. Regarding the DS vs iPhone comparison, it's not that simple. There are a huge amount of overhead cost that goes into developing a releasing a title on a console, including the DS and PSP. In addition, there is the added cost of getting the game burned or copied on the proper media device, getting it packaged and shipped out to retailers. In addition, there is usually some degree of marketing involved, while most iPhone games have little to no marketing at all outside of their own websites and iPhone specific sites. All of that is in addition to the fact that the overall cost of developing an iPhone game is pretty low, even for a high end game relative to other platforms. The point is, that just because a game sells for $40 on the DS doesn't mean it's more profitable than an iPhone game selling for a fraction of the price due the pretty significant increases cost for development, marketing and packaging/shipping games to retailers. With all that said, the point is that iPhone gaming can be profitable, or people would've moved on at this point. Rather than blaming the pricing model, EA should look at the quality of the titles that have been released at this point.
Ack! Bad news! This thread just hit 666 and the devil possessed it! I guess this means we'll never get Morrors Edge! In all honesty though, I'd only pay 2.99 for this now.
I played it on my friend's iPad last night. Its awesome. I am getting it on iPhone as soon as it hits the store.
Its one of the first games I bought for my iPad. I now have about 300 HD iPad native games already, and to be honest, Mirror's edge got a little monotonous. It was pretty fun at first, but you start to do the same thing over and over after a bit. I am a fan of the console versions, and I had been waiting for the iphone version since last year, but I am happy it's out of my system. There are so many other games I play more often for my ipad.
There a lot of variables to be taken into account when dealing with consumer's reluctancy to pay higher prices on the ipod. The consumer base for the ipod is much different than the DS or PSP. While it may have the equal number of users, the vast majority of ipod/iphone gamers don't use it game primarily (unlike the DS and PSP) and the ages of ipod/iphone users also limits sales. Working adults don't usually buy video games. Teenagers do. Another variable is the precedent of 99 cent to 9.99 pricing. If Xbox games went out of the $60 range (excluding limited edition, etc.) then the consumers would be a little more reluctant right? Also, as stated above, the packaging, shipping, etc. etc. costs also factor into DS/PSP games being 39.99. Their profit margins might be exactly the same as an ipod game. Lastly, the DS and PSP were released 3 years before the iphone/ipod touch. In three years the app store could be full of games selling above $9.99. This extra 3 years also gives the DS/PSP time to establish itself in the market place, become more mainstream, and sell more copies. The more users there are, the more demand, so the higher the price can become.
Mirror's Edge to come any day now. Just read over on IGN that EA has finally said that Mirror's Edge can be expected on the iPhone/iPod Touch App Store any day now. I'm at work and IGN is blocked but if you go to wireless.ign.com there will be an article about it. Wow, I was able to access it. Source: http://wireless.ign.com/articles/109/1099800p1.html
If this does make it to the iphone, it will sell at somewhere between 4.99 and 6.99. If it debuts at 9.99, which is a possibility, it won't stay there for long. Just a little heads up on that. If you value your money (and some people do more than others, obviously) then do not buy this game at 9.99. If you do, you will be kicking yourself. It'll probably settle at 6.99 for a while, like StakeIt, but even then it will likely hit 4.99 at least for a day or two. EA was never going to release this on the iphone as long as the ipad version was selling well at a price point above 9.99. Now that the ipad version has dropped to 9.99, an iphone release, selling at the same 9.99 price tag, is now possible. EA is absolutely the worse of the price drop offenders though. And it's not a surprise when you consider how many titles EA routinely has on the appstore's top grossing list. However, virtually all of those games sell at 4.99 and below. I won't get fooled again.
Well I haven't played the iPad version myself so it is hard for me to actually judge the game and give it a dollar amount that I think would be worth paying for it however, I did love the console version. Hopefully it is released at a sale price like $6.99 but knowing me I would probably still get it at $9.99 without hesitation. BTW, I don't blame EA for doing what they did and milking the iPad version for the most sales possible. Why wouldn't they, after all they are in the business of making money. Good to hear Sammy... we have a similar taste in games I think. Anyway, can't wait to hear what you think of it when it does finally release.
how are you supposed to make money if you don't deliver what you promised. A company has to keep their customers happy if they want to make money. So far, EA has let down the iPhone users many times by saying they will release ME soon, but never do.
I have to say that I'm glad to see this finally being released for iPhone/iPod Touch. I've been waiting since December, and hope it lives up to the hype. Guaranteed insta-buy for me.
