The lack of variance in pricing in computer gaming is interesting. New games that are introduced are virtually all priced at the same level. There are differences in pricing between stores, but generally not between games. So, for instance, if Game Mania (one of the bigger game retailers in the Netherlands) introduces either the latest iteration of Grand Theft Auto, or a movie-tie-in game such as The Green Lantern, they will invariably both be priced at 60 euro.
This makes little sense from a microeconomic perspective. Different games generally cost different amounts to produce, differ in terms of quality and demand for one game will generally be different from demand for another game. Also, games are only imperfect substitutes. Therefore, one would expect games to also vary in price, which does not happen in practice all too often however.
What is different, is the time in which different games go through the product life cycle, which means that lower quality games generally lower in price faster than higher quality games. However, even though the product life cycle might explain some of the absence of differences in price, one would still expect some of the highest quality games to cost more on introduction than lower quality games, simply because demand is higher. Perhaps there exists a price ceiling for games that consumers are very hesistant to pass? But why then is this the case for computer games, and not for other products? CDs and DVDs provide similar puzzles.
