Rip-off industry faces cheap games campaign
FairPlay aims to make them sit up and listen
A good proportion of games that cross our desks during any given week are absolute rubbish. The very thought of putting our hands in our pockets to pay for them is enough to send us into fits and hysterics. And when we do have to pay our dues, it's a tough task to bear - £40 is a lot of money, by anyone's measure, and just about everybody paying their way through a games obsession feels like a victim of unscrupulous licensing fees and extortionate retail margins.
That's certainly how the chaps behind the FairPlay campaign feel. Quoting industry luminaries like Peter Molyneux of Lionhead ("I absolutely agree that games are overpriced at the moment"), Charles Cecil of Revolution, Jon Hare of Sensible Software and many others in support, and reflecting on substantial publisher losses and recent developer layoffs, the campaign aims to drive the price of videogames down to below the £20 mark - a price the campaign deems reasonable. Those behind the campaign believe that greater numbers of people will be willing to pay for games at £20, more than making back any initial sales deficit.
Far from a mere fountain of complaints and whinging though, the chaps behind FairPlay have a plan. Between December 1st and 8th, right at the height of the Christmas shopping season, they are encouraging punters to keep their money to themselves. "If you want to buy a game, don't do it between the 1st and the 8th of December. Get it on November 30 or December 9 instead. It's not much of a sacrifice, but it will serve as a warning shot to the videogames industry at the time they care about it most," the website enthuses.
It's all about consumer power, they say. The question is, based on their argument, will you keep your hands in your pockets during the first week of December?