Dear Future Gamer,

I have to say I agree with the 'Price Point' letter in FG18. Games are pirated because they are so expensive. However I feel the letter was generally a bit naive.

I remember reading an article in PC Gamer that examined where all the money goes from one game worth roughly £30 - £35. The article decided that no-one was ripping people off and that £35 was a proper price to pay (do not believe everything you read).

But the person that made the most from the game was the retailer (surprisingly) - the author pointed out that if you look at your local shop you will find that they don’t look very rich. Most of the money is lost running the shop to sell the games in!

I think that this is where Internet should step in. I know you can buy games online, but to the best of my knowledge they aren't that much cheaper than in the shops. These retailers will be making a lot of money.

This seems like an opportunity lost to me. I am not ignorant enough to think that £20 games would wipe out piracy all together but the casual piraters may well find the demand dropping.

P.S. Like the magazine, how do you get a job like yours?

Andrew Burchill

FG: A good point Andrew. Retailers do indeed whack about a 50% mark-up on games to cover their overheads (this happens in just about every retail outlet, from food to clothes, so don’t think gamers are being singled out on this one) and yes, as the Internet becomes a more powerful medium, the logical argument is that it should drive the cost of games down. You’re wrong on the second point though, those Internet sites that do sell games (and Future Gamer are still considering a number of retail partners, so we may well do it in the near future) do tend to be cheaper than the High Street retailers. This is an example of Good Science.

As for getting a job like mine, the straight answer is to pester games magazine editors. Submit short articles/news stories and if you’ve got the ability to write you’ll eventually get noticed. The next step is to then usually do some freelance writing for a while before applying for every staff writer/editorial assistant position you see vacant. Even training on a completely unrelated magazine/newspaper is good grounding, so if a job on ‘Your Reptile’ comes up, go for it. Learn your trade and then you’ll be in a much better position when it comes to applying for a job you’d really like to do. It may sound a bit dry and too much like hard work, but that’s the way things go I’m afraid.