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Reasons I will not be buying Modern Warfare 2 on the 12th November

I have bought every Call of Duty game available for the PC. I think that Call of Duty Modern Warfare was a stunning achievement which raised the bar for both single and multiplayer gaming. I am very much looking forward to playing Call of Duty, Modern Warfare 2 but I will not be buying it on the release date of 12th November. These are my reasons why.

Partly it is because the dedicated server issue has upset me. It not just because I think it is a bad decision although the case against it is strong. What really really upsets me is the response from Infinity Ward representatives. This sounds like a company that has no respect for PC gamers. I am a PC gamer.

Even more important that the dedicated server issue though is the price of the game. Quite simply €60 is more than I am prepared to pay to download this game. In a recent comment to an RPS article a poster called Bhazor summed up my feelings about game pricing almost perfectly:
"But I wouldn’t say this was budget priced but more rid range. To me budget is £0-£9.99, mid range is £10-£25, full price is £26-£34 and £35 is taking the piss Infinity Ward. Anything over £10 requires at least one reviewer I trust saying I need this."

Of course companies are allowed to charge whatever they like for their products. I have no doubt that Activision has a room full of MBA graduates who can justify this price tag. I also fully expect that the game will make a truckload of money even without Bhazor's custom and mine. I do wonder though if they might not make more money by lowering the price. Steam's experiments with weekend deals and Turbine's experience with DDO unlimited seem to indicate that there is plenty of room to increase revenue by lowering game prices. For digitally distributed games the marginal cost per unit is very low so any increase in revenue has a big impact on bottom line profit.

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