Does anyone remember. ..

EM650

Does anyone remember the days when you could buy an entire video game like Starcraft for $30-$50 and finish the entire game? Then an expansion pack would be available for another $30-$50?

Rolf

Of course! (Says the guy with the Tassadar avatar.)

CronozNL

Good old days untill the illegal download and piracy came...

Nerfherder17

So games more expensive because they are being pirated, or being pirated because they arent worth the price because of bugs and overall lack of quality?

CronozNL

Both I guess. Pirated games (non multiplayer mostly) for the single player experience where people still buy good multiplayer games (anti piracy stuff) like WoW.
It's a new construction of marketing. If let's say 1 million people don't buy full games for 60 euro's no more (60 million total), they will get the money through micro transactions.
Take a game like Dota or LoL for example. It's not p2p or f2p for that matter, game is available for everyone. The cashcow there are cosmetics and maybe a release of a new hero that isn't available for everyone (yet) for the first week. Throw in an awesome cosmetic set and people go nuts buying it.

Dota competition prizes are something crazy like 15 million prize pool.
IAP or micro transactions in PC games work.