Will Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars For iPhone Break The $9.99 Price Barrier?

11 Comments Posted August 31, 2009 - By Patrick Klepek

Will Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars For iPhone Break The $9.99 Price Barrier?

Rockstar Games announced Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is coming to the iPhone (and, by extension, the iPod Touch) later this year, but left out a crucial detail: price. The iTunes marketplace is very sensitive, with developers constantly moving the price of games for the iPhone up and down to stimulate interest as new games appear. But games have hit a wall with price -- $9.99.

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is $34.99 on the DS. It'll debut in early October on PSP for $39.99. Even a used DS copy will run you $29.99. None of those prices have been attempted by an iPhone game. Everything about Rockstar Games' press release this morning suggests the version coming to iPhone is the real deal. If that's the case, will Rocksta price the game accordingly?

Evidence from Rockstar's own parent company, Take-Two, suggests otherwise.

Civilization Revolutions, advertised as having "all the same civilizations, gameplay and scenarios from the award winning console game" (which is what we're expecting from Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars) launched on iTunes at $9.99 but quickly moved to $4.99. It's not a limited time offer, either -- $4.99 appears to be the new permanent price point.

It'd be shocking to see Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars launch at anything less than $9.99, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them test the waters at something higher. If consumers react poorly, they can drop the lower at the flick of a switch.

What would you be willing to pay for an iPhone-enhanced Grand Theft Auto?

Tags: iPhone, Videogames

Comments

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Shockwave562

geez I didn't even know DS games cost that much still.. that's a lot for a 2d game. I would have thought 15 20 bucks max.

I thought Shadow Complex was more than fair for 15 but I don't know if I would have spent 35 or 39.99 on it.

Posted: August 31, 2009 2:10 PM | Reply | Report

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3 Replies
TheSiwentKiwwah

I don't think it'd be a good idea to raise the prices. The main appeal for people to choose mobile games opposed to handheld, is price (exept of course, pocket space)

Posted: August 31, 2009 2:19 PM | Reply | Report

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Teejay_1994

I think 20 dollars is probably the max I'd ever pay, although this is not a fair comparison to the other versions of this game. With the iPhone version it's digital download, reducing packaging, shipping and any other cost that would normally apply to a boxed game. I think if that's the case then they can afford to sell the game at a lower price.

Posted: August 31, 2009 2:20 PM | Reply | Report

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dgray1978

Of course Chinatown Wars will cost more than $9.99 on iPhone. Its probably be somewhere between $19.99 and $39.99, the former being more likely IMO.

Posted: August 31, 2009 2:21 PM | Reply | Report

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nowhere2hide139

im guessing 15-20 bucks max. it is the iphone, and for 30 bucks you could buy many more high quality games

Posted: August 31, 2009 2:30 PM | Reply | Report

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ROYALHYSTERIA55

wow if people pay more than 10 they will charge more than 10 for everything

Posted: August 31, 2009 2:52 PM | Reply | Report

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EKG

This is really going to be a tough call on their part. Rockstar probably already has their plan all mapped out, and I am excited to see how they are going to handle this. Chinatown Wars was absolutely fantastic for the DS, and if anything, it was under priced on the DS at launch. It packed so much stuff into that little Card I am still shocked when I think about it.

I am sure they have done their research, and they know that the $9.99 price point it the end of the line on the App Store. Still, even if they decide to go with the $9.99 price point, they may be in for a bit of trouble. Critically Loved games like Firemints Real Racing, and Rolando 2, both $9.99 on the App Store, both failed pretty hard. Not because they didn't pack all of the punch you would get with a Full PSP or DS title, but because Customers on the App Store see the $9.99 price as defeating the whole purpose.

But this is where us App Store customers need to come to a compromise. We want full featured and Polished games, but we don't want to pay $9.99 or more for them??? Something going to have to give, and hopefully Apple's rumored "Premium Store" is what eventually comes of this. Something needs to happen now, because we might find developers turning away from giving us those awesome and fully featured games if they don't think they can make a return and profit on them. And judging by the way App Store customers only want to pay 99cents, we may be in for a shock.

Posted: August 31, 2009 3:10 PM | Reply | Report

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mcp3

Who will be dumb enough to pay more than $10 for a iPhone game?

Posted: August 31, 2009 3:12 PM | Reply | Report

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Smartguy81

I haven't played this game for DS...but I'm going to imagine that it contains the normal explicit material that is in all GTA games now. Will this be the first Iphone or Itouch app (game) to be that explicit?

Posted: August 31, 2009 3:28 PM | Reply | Report

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bluejadog

I'm going to wait till it's like $5 or less. I don't want to spend more than that for something I would rarely play.

Posted: August 31, 2009 3:49 PM | Reply | Report

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sniper009

Yeah, i wouldn't pay more than 4.99 for an iphone game. But DANG! i'm pretty stoked about china town wars fo my iphone :D

Posted: September 2, 2009 12:25 PM | Reply | Report

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