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Are Telltale’s games overpriced?
I’m looking at non-sale prices:
Sam & Max: Season 1 - $30
Sam & Max: Season 2 - $30
Sam & Max: Season 3 - $35
Tales of Monkey Island - $35
Back to the Future - $25
The Walking Dead - $25
I’m not totally sure how the gameplay hours for these compare to typical adventure games, but there doesn’t seem to be a large disparity.
I can’t help but think the Sam & Max and ToMI prices are a bit high. They’re older games and it seems like they shouldn’t be above $20. Even then Telltale’s recent games are cheaper, but again I’m not sure about game lengths. I’m comparing to prices for recent adventures like Book of Unwritten Tales ($20) and Deponia ($20) as well.
Then again, Yesterday is $30 and The Testament of Sherlock Holmes is $40.
Sorry if I sound like a cheapskate. Just some brain farts I had.
This is the philosophy i think theyr using: they don’t want to devalue their library for the long term. So instead of pricing for the masses, they price for people who value their games that high. But then you’ll notice with the gog sale recently, they’ll slash their prices to 7 dollars per season or in some cases lower to bring in the people who were on the fence. 30 dollars to 7 is much more exciting than say… 10 down to 7.
I’m thinking that 75% off $20 would be just as enticing.
Yea, I’m not going to question their strategy per se, but since in the last half year or so those games have been 80% off on GOG, there’s almost no incentive to pay more than that.
I think that people wouldn’t mind paying $10 for a season pack, though.
Telltales games are very frequently on sale at both Steam and GOG, both season packs as well as publisher packs (containing full seasons of all the games). I got the publisher pack in the 2010 sale which contained Sam & Max Season 1,2,3 + Monkey Island + Wallace & Grommit + Bone + Strong Bad for $25. If you hold out long enough these kinds of packs will come around again. GOG had one in this year’s sale for example, and I wont be surprised if they repeat it again on the last day of their sale.
The sales are so frequent now that really, there is no reason to buy any game off-sale unless you really want to play the game right now. I’m still kicking myself for getting L.A.Noire in the Steam sale at 50% off last year (sounded like a great deal), and never getting around to playing it the whole year. And in this year’s steam sale its going for $3.75 
I tend to agree with Siddhi. Most games (and Telltale’s are no different) are in a sale at 50% within less than a year of their release, and they frequently drop to 20% a while after that (especially on GOG).
I do the same with games as I do with DVDs: I don’t buy them at full price but instead I just wait until they’re in the vicinity of 5-10$ (depending on the game, of course). Unless I really REALLY want to play the game immediately…
Are Telltale’s games overpriced? At full price, sure, they are.
But only a week ago there was a one-day sale at GOG which had most of Telltale’s entire catalogue combined in a pack for 35$ (give or take) in total. That’s a fair price, imo.
Patience is a virtue and good things come to those who wait… 
The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka
I guess Telltale in general is overrated 
)
I wouldn’t say Telltale is overrated, their games ooze of quality, and the level of voice acting they have is rare in modern adventure games. Personally, I’m not a big fan of theirs, mostly because I don’t find the visuals appealing in any of their games (I’ll spare you from my 2D vs 3D rant), but I can’t deny that they’re masters at several aspects and I have a tremendous respect for their contribution to bringing AG’s back into the spotlight.
About the overpricing: what Tim said.
Duckman: Can you believe it? Five hundred bucks for a parking ticket?
Cornfed Pig: You parked in a handicapped zone.
Duckman: Who cares? Nobody parks there anyway, except for the people who are supposed to park there and, hell, I can outrun them anytime.
You are all crazy people.
I’ve bought every Telltale game at launch and never regretted the price paid.
Telltale games have always been worth the full price they came out at. (apart from Jurassic Park)
12-15 hours of entertainment for $35 is a steal imo. The average price for video games these days is $60.
An adventure game is nothing more than a good story set with engaging puzzles that fit seamlessly in with the story and the characters, and looks and sounds beautiful.
Roberta Williams
You are all crazy people.
I’ve bought every Telltale game at launch and never regretted the price paid.
Telltale games have always been worth the full price they came out at. (apart from Jurassic Park)
12-15 hours of entertainment for $35 is a steal imo. The average price for video games these days is $60.
I agree here. I even got the first two seasons of sam and max on disk with no extra cost.
You can get everything on sale now, after some time, but that doesn’t mean the game is overpriced at first - it’s a full game for 30-35$.
You can get everything on sale now, after some time, but that doesn’t mean the game is overpriced at first - it’s a full game for 30-35$.
Yeah, but the question isn’t about launch. The original question was that the old Telltale games like S&M: Season 1 are still priced $35 today after 7 years.
Yeah, but the question isn’t about launch. The original question was that the old Telltale games like S&M: Season 1 are still priced $35 today after 7 years.
I don’t get why prices should get slashed like crazy just because a game is over a year old. I mean, I see why Call of Duty 231 would become instantly obsolete the second Call of Duty 232 is released, but that really shouldn’t apply to adventure games, whose core components don’t really age (well, some puzzle design can end up feeling very antiquated at some point, like the old Sierra mechanics, but that takes 15 years to happen).
A good game is a good game is a good game; the second season of Sam & Max, for instance, is still as brilliant today as it was 5 years ago, and well worth $30. Bethesda are still selling Morrowind for $20 (and put it on sale only very sparingly), and that game is a decade old. It shows that they’re proud of their work, rather than so embarrassed of it that they’ll sell it for a pittance. What’s more, it allows them to fund their next projects, rather than fatten some useless publisher. If Telltale want to do the same, more power to them.
I think Telltale’s pricing structure is different than most studio’s because
A: they’re pricing as an episodic series when the game first launches and
B: they’re pricing their games at a rate so that when they first come out it’s a “bargain game”.
For example they launched Walking Dead for $25 ($30 retail) in a market where most games launch for $60. Sure, with the exception of Steam and GoG sales their games rarely drop in price and certainly never drop permanently but I think that for the amount of gameplay and enjoyment I get out of each of their games their prices are definitely fair and even, dare I say, reasonable.
Recently played: Heavy Rain, Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers.
Currently playing: Professor Layton and the Last Spector, Last Window: The Secret of Cape West, Portal 2.
Limited until 12/31 get the whole first season of The Walking Dead: The Game from Telltale Games on Steam at just 12.50 EURO / 16.50 USD
http://store.steampowered.com/agecheck/app/207610/
P.S: i havent buy it so this info is not upon experience plus there are other offers that being revealed constantly every day “like Get Episodes 2-5 for 50% off and Episode One of The Walking Dead: The Game is currently FREE” !
so check it yourself.
I’ll wait with playing The Walking Dead until it probably goes free on PS Plus at some point. Several other Telltale things seems to have done that in the past. I at least think I have a season or two of Sam & Max somewhere on my download list.
I have often waited until a game’s price drops to a point where I feel the quality/value of the game matches the price point. It happens sooner or later. And when it does, I buy.
I didn’t always feel this way. When I purchased the original Phantasmagoria, I paid more for it than any other purchased game….before or since! But, as I’ve gotten older and the wallet has gotten thinner, I’m a bit more judicious.
A game is worth whatever someone will pay for it. Telltale oviously thinks its games are worth a certain price. The market will tell them whether they are right. But if they can cover development costs via sales at the higher price points everything after that goes straight to the bottom line.
I do question TimovieMan’s pricing scenario when he compares games to DVDs. At least that’s not what you normally see in the US. When a hot DVD is released, e.g. Dark Knight Rises, it will come in at a fairly low price. That builds momentum for the product, which gets it on the Billboard charts etc. Then, after about three weeks, the price goes up to its “suggested retail price” and the price stays there until sales reach a certain level. At which time the price will start to slowly drop until you find it in the bargain bin.
Games, not only Telltale’s, rarely adopt this pricing strategy. Perhaps it’s because the audience is (perceived to be) too small to waste potential sales at reduced prices.
For whom the games toll,
they toll for thee.
I’ve bought every Telltale game at launch and never regretted the price paid.
Even Bone? lol
Bone is the only Telltale game I’ve actually paid for, and it rather soured my desire to part with money for anything else, though I did find it to be one of their more enjoyable works despite its brevity.
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