And so the Apple-related price gouging hilarity begins: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, originally released in 2008, and available for $32 on Amazon, is now available from the Mac App Store for $50.CoD4 is perhaps the first example of a 'killer app' for the Mac App Store, and exactly the injection of big-name awesomeness that it will need to attract other games publishers, and software giants like Adobe and Microsoft. CoD4 might be a little old, but given the awful Cold War-era graphics cards available in most Macs, it's probably a good idea that Modern Warfare 2 wasn't released first.
It should also be noted that this isn't the first time that a digitally-distributed game is more expensive than a boxed version from Amazon. Steam is regularly more expensive than Amazon (though not usually by such a margin), and World of Warcraft bought directly from Blizzard as a digital download is more expensive than buying a box from Amazon, or your local games shop.
What remains to be seen, though, is whether software on the Mac App Store will be aggressively discounted like on Steam. The whole point of digital distribution is that you can sell something for almost-free, and still turn a profit. Let's just hope that the Mac App Store doesn't become another place for Apple to gouge its users for more money -- digital downloads are convenient, but they really should be cheaper than their real world counterparts.
Call of Duty 4 hits Mac App Store at overpriced $50, a sign of things to come? originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 14 Jan 2011 05:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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