To counter your $15 point, keep in mind that the original console versions sold for the $50 price point as well, and all you got then was 2 on 2 basketball and initial save accounts.
Utterly apples and oranges. I mean, not even close. Game pricing, development costs, and distribution was all so different those almost-20-years-ago that you simply can't draw a comparison. You could get away with charging $80 for a triple-A PC game in 1993. You can't now.
Just because we live in a time of 99 cent apps and 800 point arcade games doesn't mean that everybody has to abide to that pricing strategy.
Well, you're certainly EA's target customer.
Do they have to
abide by it? No, of course not, free market. But they will certainly be JUDGED based on it. Maybe not the 99-cent apps because trying to pull mobile gaming into this discussion is another heaping helping of fail, but you can ABSOLUTELY compare it to a $10 or $15 download, or even products in its price range. I paid what amounted to $50 for
NHL 12. (Full price from Amazon, but they gave me $10 in Amazon store credit, which was money I was going to spend anyhow; it went to my preorder for my Kindle Fire.) If you put the two games side by side and ask someone which game looks more polished, which one presents itself better, it's not even remotely close. If you put it next to
NHL Arcade or
Madden NFL Arcade (both 1200-point ($15) games on release), the comparison becomes a whole lot closer.
If it were a $30 retail title, I could almost see your argument. Do you really think it's THREE TIMES a better value than an XBLA game? (Hint: EA doesn't even think so anymore.)
The only things I felt were missing were a create a player mode and roster updates.
I like a little sizzle with my steak, what can I say? Did you really think an almost entirely black screen with a little text reading "End of 1st Quarter", no extra music, sounds, nothing, just the same background music loop, was full-retail presentation?
Considering your opinion, I guess mileages greatly vary on this one.
I acknowledge your right to an opinion, but man, do I not see it. At all.