Do gamers really want collector's editions?

Written by Erik Kubik, kube00 Thursday, 02 February 2012 06:00

Collector's editions have become the norm in the video game industry. Almost every game has to have a special edition, a limited edition and/or a collector’s edition. It doesn’t matter if its a new IP, or an established franchise, collector’s editions are a given these days.

Its tough to say if gamers really want collector’s editions. We buy them right? Sometimes we wait until they hit clearance prices before we buy them. The question is what do gamers want in a collector’s edition? Is it the physical items or the DLC? Are gamers drawn to CE's because we want to have something we can show off? What makes us spend $80-$100 over the usual $60? Two good examples of collector’s editions from this year include Uncharted 3, which came with a statue, a buckle and ring, and a nice case for the game and it was $100. I think if the CE’s were priced at $80 or less more gamers would have bitten. Skyrim came with a cool dragon statue, an art book, and a making of DVD. Probably the best part was the cloth map. All of this was $100 and to some gamers it was worth it.

But what about games like Modern Warfare? The last few collector's editions have come with physical items and DLC. Honestly, the physical items were entertaining, there were night vision goggles and an RC car. This year Modern Warfare 3 came with a statue, a year membership of CoD Elite service, and a steel case. Outside of the appeal of Elite service to the hardcore gaming audience, the rest of the CE stuff is the same old same old.

DLC is nice but I think its the physical items, the art books, and the other things that we can add to our gaming shelves that makes it appealing to spend the extra money. Honestly, these days gamers don't need a collector’s edition for everything. In fact, before the last generation of consoles, collector’s editions were only really common in Japan.

Somehow within the the last two gaming generations, someone figured out that the publisher can make some extra money with CEs no matter the game. I guess if you are a fan of the series or the collector’s editions contents are unique, then as a gamer go ahead and buy it. As for myself I’ll wait for the price to come down. Collector’s editions for everything is going to be a trend that gamers will continue to deal with.