Topic: How do you feel about WRC World Rally being 4.99 on Android and 34.99 in Eshop

This really makes me mad. I was browsing the Android market for a rally racing game last night and came across WRC world Rally by BigBen games for 4.99. Smoke started to pour out from my ears! What makes the Eshop so special that an Android game gets a 600% mark up. I watched the trailer for the Android version and the graphics actually looked a bit superior. I love racing games but now that I see this game in the appstore for 4.99 I'm really not forking out 34.99 in the Eshop. This has been an issue of frustration for me since the old DSi days. How do you feel about it?

A recent problem with Big Ben Interactive is that they seem to believe their downloads are premium-price worthy.

The usual explanation for cheap-in-mobile-expensive-in-eshop is that since less people are likely to buy on the eshop they have to sell their products for more. Of course one would say that would scare off even more people

Another possible explanation is that it might be a retail download.

It makes me feel Outrun 3D is a much better deal

I don't care about the game, but the price kick is pretty aggravating, to say the least. I could understand an increase to 9.99 to cover porting costs and stuff, but 34.99 is insane. But I guess that simply follows the conumer mentaility of app marketplaces being incredibly cheap, while console games are generally considered more expensive. That this comes from the bigger development load seems to get lost, though.

Yeah Less people sure bought Gunman Clive in the Eshop didn't they? Oh wait Gunman Clive sold more in the Eshop than it did in the appstore and Android Market. I'm not saying that WRC racing should be 1.99 but I would say 9.99 is a fair deal. Heck I would even say an opening price of 14.99 might be fair. I just think this is a case of not having a Rally game on 3DS and BigBen thinking hey we have the only Rally game JACK it UP!

BigBen is not known for running any sales on its games so we will probably see this one sit at 34.99 and get low sales until the Eshop closes down a few years or whenever from now.

Well, Angry Birds titles, which are free on mobile devices, command $30-40 on consoles, so I'd say it's nothing new. Still super shady, though, which is why games like this will never see my money.

Agreed! I waited until the first Angry Birds Price dropped at Amazon down to 10.00 dollars then picked it up. But the original retail price was rediculous.

I may look at it this way since I'm a history teacher, but you need to keep in mind the concept of an economy of scale. The more customers you have buying a product, the cheaper you can offer that product and still be profitable. The same relates to video games, especially with digital downloads. There is a WAY bigger install base for Android devices, so they can afford to charge a lower asking price on Android and still be profitable. The Wii U eShop, however, as much as I love the console, has a much smaller install base, giving them far fewer potential customers.

Now that doesn't justify a 600% price increase, but it does explain at least part of why eShop prices are higher than Android prices.

It is the problem with the Smart Phone market, you basically have to give your game away to get people to look at it. They priced the game for the market, not for the work put into the game. Games can sell at $35 on 3DS but not on Smart Phones, so they lower the price only on the Smart Phones. I to find it annoying, companies should price things for the amount the product is worth, and not by the market but that is just my opinion.

All of BigBen Interactive games are way overpriced. They have Battleship for $10. $10!!! Some lame Flappy Bird clone on there for like $8, and another throwaway game that would be free on phones called Jet Dog for $8.

Well it doesn't seem anyone is buying WRC at 34.99 at this time. Maybe 20 buyers so far. Well that's looking at the 10 feedbacks. So let's say 50 people so far maybe

I feel like they would be getting zero of my dollars at that price point, and thus ends our publisher-consumer relationship.

Its sales fodder. They probably arnt expecting to sell many outside of a sale (as with most of their stock) whilst I have sympathy for anyone who does shell out the full £35, a short trip to youtube or afew minutes reading reviews vs blind passion for rally driving buybuybuy, should only have one winner.

edit: Asterix: The Mansions of the Gods by Bigben was released in Nov last year and STILL hasnt been reviewed by NinLife... and they review almost everything. Im not surprised though, the demo was utter utter tripe, again... licensed sales fodder.

Just ran across another over priced Eshop game. Farming Simulator 2014 is 2.99 on the Android Market and 19.99 I think in the Eshop. I bought the First Farm Simulator and liked it quite a bit. I think the First one is 8.99. It has cool open world play. But this price difference alone will keep me from buying the 2014 version. Seriously They can't sell me on any reason at these price differences. I can see a couple bucks. But 400% to 600% mark up! No excuse!

I would pick up WRC rally on 3DS if it went as low as 9.99 but over that I would pass. Hopefully it will happen but I doubt it drops that low. I will never understand these gaps in prices from the Android Market to the 3DS. I was kinda mad for a couple years about Zenonia being .99 cents on android and 7.99 on DSi shop. I ended up buying it on DSi and enjoying it quite a bit. That price difference should still not have been that much. But it all comes down to enjoyment of the game itself. I hope this issue will fix itself in the future. I don't mind say a few dollars.

Yeah I know. I actually hope it drops pretty low cause after playing the demo its not that great. I hope nobody is getting me wrong I've downloaded a ton of stuff in the Eshop. My machine is loaded with games. There are only 2 games I regret downloading because they were just aweful. The rest I really like. This price difference between Android/iOS to the Eshop just annoys me to no end.

Farther proof that the mobile market is toxic to nominal pricing for games these days. Services like Steam are also to blame.