Remember when a Limited/Collector's/Special Edition of a game meant something? Remember when it was truly "
Limited"? It seems now that the industry is torn between rewarding the fans and making a quick buck. It also appears like the beginnings of a gamer "caste system" is in development, where you have "coach", "mid-class" and "luxury", all depending on what your willing to shell out for it.
Oh sure I have my fair share of these "upgraded" editions. In fact I have a dozen or more, mostly from the last couple of years. Some are totally worth it from a fan's perspective. Others I find are just thinly veiled attempts at price gouging. Some have a little of both but at a reasonable price that a game collector can justify indulging themselves. The difference being that the ones I have didn't cost any more than $79.99. Now they've upped the bar and have begun shooting well past the $100 mark, many hitting $150 or more. Are they justified? Well that's in the eye of the beholder.
First off, let me give you a rundown of what prompted this post.
Fallout 3 which will be released in a month or so, comes in three flavours. They range from game only, to Collector's Edition to Survival Edition which comes with all kinds of crap for a cool $120. Then you have
Dead Space Ultra Limited Edition. This sucker costs $150 and comes with all kinds of literature, bonus media etc. Then you have
Mirror's Edge, which clocks in at $130 and comes with an oh-so-stylish messenger bag. Oh and don't forget
Far Cry 2, it's coming in a wooden box and/or special packaging with a t-shirt, bonus material etc etc.
Let's also not forget
GTA IV with it's $90 duffel bag and safety deposit box or
Halo 3 with it's $150 cat sized helmet. On top of all that, there are literally dozens of new Limited Edition games every year now that cost from $10-30 more than regular releases. In fact, I'll go out on a limb and say over half of all high profile games seems to have these now like it's expected of them.
In 2007, there were 15-20 or so of these for the Xbox 360 just in North America alone!As a website full of collector's, you can all understand the temptation to spend $80-$150 on each and every one of these both for bragging rights, collectability (sic) and completeness. Really though, who really wants to or can afford to on each title? Or how about you clan gamers and online enthusiasts who don't wish to feel left out that the next Call of Duty title will have a double XP bonus and access to a high powered weapon in it's Collector's Edition that those "Joe Average" editions will be missing out on? I'm sure $10 of that is the useless canteen they are selling with the game, a cost you have to swallow for that online advantage.
Now $150 for a game that comes with a flight stick, a high quality arcade stick plus game for $99 or a bonus DVD/Artbook for an extra $10? Sure why not. Otherwise I'll wait for these "limited editions" to hit the bargain bins like Halo 3. Stacked on the floor and used for stands for store displays, the price has dropped to $60-$80 on average, as low as $40 in some places. I'm sure that's a sore spot for anyone who thought that $120-$150 was a tough pill to swallow and thought it was a one-time opportunity they shouldn't pass up.
Limited Edition hardware? Don't get me started.
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I love the idea behind limited editions, providing that they bring something to the collection. Like you I see lots and lots of variations for the same game, which to me is just gouging customers. I don't think I've ever gone out of my way to buy a limited edition, but if I've stumbled across them at a good price I've picked them up. It's even worse here in the UK, games companies seem to think we operate on a $1 = £1 conversion rate, and there's just no way I'm dropping over a hundred quid on a single game, no matter how limited!
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@ga5ket: Well, the game companies are idiots if they actually think that. Nice write up Tan!
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I love limited editions, which will likely be my downfall someday. :/ I can't help it! Tack "special", "limited", or "collector's" onto any game and I'll be like "urgghhh MUST GET", even if it's a game I just thought "whatever" about before. Especially when it comes with cool stuff, like my MOTHER3 Game Boy micro, or Tales of Vesperia's 22-track soundtrack.
That's all cool stuff, and cost a reasonable amount: the MOTHER3 micro cost an extra... $90 I think, and given that there weren't enough to meet demand, I'd say I got that for a pretty good price (considering it's hitting $300 on eBay now). The ToV Special Edition cost an extra $10, but came with that soundtrack, a special manual with 20-something pages of artwork, a code for some as-yet unknown online unlockable, and all in a Steelbook case. Not bad for $10.
I think that the, what, $70? for the Mirror's Edge bag is, well, a little* overpriced. Some games have some ridiculously expensive limited editions, so I guess it's just a matter of weighing your options.
*actually a lot
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Brothers in Arms, a game series I never really cared about, had a limited edition. Didn't really think it deserved one. Bunch of games have a LE I don't think deserve one, but alas alack. Someone out there will buy it, I mean, someone bought up the Marc Ecko's "Getting Up" limited edition that got sent to us like 3 years after the game came out brand new. No. Joke.
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These limited editions are a joke, they're not even limited in the true sense of the word. I remember seeing the Tabula Rasa limited edition 1 month after it got released at €29.99 in a store.
The fact is that this whole "limited edition"-craze spawns out of the fact that games aren't as profitable anymore as they used to. Developing costs are shockingly high, even for non-AAA titles. That's why publishers are searching for the extra buck here and there by releasing these "limited" editions in large numbers. (If they'd be truly limited, they wouldn't make so much money from them)
It's that simple really... 
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