Battlefield 4 at any price?

Take a good hard look at the screen capture above from EA's Origin service.  I want you to look closely at the price of Battlefield 3 Premium edition and the companion DLC subscription.  $35 gets you everything Battlefield 3 has to offer, DLC and all.  Oh yeah, and all the hacks, cheats, draconian DRM and surprise maintenance cycles that knock you offline. 

Now look at the Pre-order price of Battlefield 4.  The cheapest option sets you back $60, if you want a few extra goodies it'll cost you 10 bucks more.  Finally there's the Premium subscription that just like it's BF3 predecessor will set you back an extra $50.

Considering Battlefield 4 will be useless to you within weeks unless you have the extra DLC, you're dropping a C-note if you want in.  Admittedly, nobody's forcing you buy anything but considering EA's history with BF3 you know there's going to be a bias toward the "premium"  players and fewer servers available for everyone else.  So it comes down to this...

110 bucks for a game.

I'm not saying it's not going to be great with cutting edge visuals thanks to an updated game engine and new play modes.  For those of you addicted to social media, EA's even gone to great pains to give you your fix with Battlelog 2.0.  A feature they couldn't seem to stop going on about most of the summer.

But...

110 bucks for a game...

Let's put this in perspective... If one of the new consoles is in your future then Battlefield 4 is going to set you back 1/4 to 1/3 of the cost of the thing you need to play the game on!  But at least you can win a nifty pair of gloves (MSRP $9.99) for sharing your fan mania with EA.

$60 is bad enough, $110 is delusional. 

Oh I know, I'm old and cheap.  Except that most people have to work for a living and the minimum wage in this country still puts you at poverty level.  That means 110 bucks is excessive no matter if it's you or someone else buying it for you.

 Does anyone honestly think that it's reasonable to pay more for a game than a full copy of Windows? 

I don't and if you understand the concept of value you don't either.  Well, unless you're 12 but if simulated human carnage is that important to you maybe mommy and daddy need to explain the concept of NO.

There's no game in the world that's worth more than $60 no matter how great the PhysX rendering of  tattered drapes fluttering through a broken window may look.  

EA and Activision charge a premium for so-called triple-A titles because they can but mostly because there's always some frothing fool  willing to  go along with it.  When you overpay for a game you may as well be back in 4th grade handing over your lunch money to the school bully.

A year from now when the el supremo, primo BF4 bundle is worth a third of what you paid for it and you can't resell it, I seriously doubt you're going to think you got good value for the  money.

Let's not forget that the game is being released across multiple gaming platforms including the XBox 360, PS3 and their successors.  That means you're paying a premium price for a console port designed to work on the most basic of graphics hardware.  Your new laptop with integrated graphics should be able to run it just fine albeit without all the eye candy.   Upgraded graphics and a few more maps can't change the fact that in spite of the hype, the game is designed for the lowest common denominator of the mass market.

Think about it,  110 bucks for a game that may as well be DLC for BF3, has an annoying user interface (Battlelog 2.0) and a story right out of a bad Call of Duty sequel.  EA is trying to make a case for charging more for less and in that scenario I can't see an endgame that doesn't induce buyer's remorse. 

Here's a bit of advice.  EA is bound to have dozens of sales in the year following the launch of BF4 if they follow the template of BF3 promotions.  If you want to play the game without getting fleeced, take advantage of them.  Send the message that overpriced pre-orders and triple-figure prices are not acceptable.