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Topic: Are Video Games Too Expensive?

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Ralizah

@MrMario02 I didn't say the pricing was simple. I said that a reasonable price for video games is ultimately determined by different market forces. There's nothing simple about that.

MSRP is enforced by almost all distributors because publishers won't provide them with stock otherwise. That keeps video game pricing structures fairly stable.

The reason the price of video games has tended to go down over time likely has a lot to do with the fact that gaming has transformed from an expensive niche hobby to a mainstream pillar of the entertainment industry. Still expensive, but more affordable, which hopefully means more sales. This is also likely the reason microtransactions and season passes have become so universal in the industry: instead of raising the base cost of the product, you recuperate expenses with add-on content that doesn't cost much to produce or distribute.

You talk about video games needing to be priced "reasonably," but as multiple people have already pointed out, there is no universal standard for what a "reasonable" price is. The invisible hand of the market is what determines a "reasonable" price over time, as the needs of the producer and consumer gradually reach a state of equilibrium that both can live with.

Edited on by Ralizah

Currently Playing: Advance Wars 1 + 2: Re- Boot Camp (NS)

Peek-a-boo

Some games don't offer value for money; $60/£50 for Mirror's Edge Catalyst is almost daylight robbery given that the story missions only takes six hours to do, and I took my time too.

Others, mostly indie games, are great value for money.

ABZÛ, Alienation, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, Firewatch, Guacamelee!, Journey, Life is Strange, Rocket League, SOMA, Transistor and Unravel are all less than $20/£15, and are all excellent games.

I remember Super Mario 64 being £70 when my parents very kindly gifted my brother and I an N64 for Christmas many, many years ago. That's a shy over £125 if you adjust (UK) inflation!

I think video games are far more reasonably priced these days.

Peek-a-boo

Whydoievenbother

@Ralizah I didn't mean to say what you said was simple. I meant to say that there was more information being left out of the equation. I need to learn to phrase better! Sorry for the inconvinience.

EDIT: I forgot to do the most important part: You're right.

Edited on by Whydoievenbother

"I'll take a potato chip... AND EAT IT!"
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"Ah, the Breakfast Club soundtrack! I can't wait 'til I'm old enough to feel ways about stuff!"
Phillip J. Fry, Futurama

Ralizah

@MrMario02 No need to apologize. We're just having a friendly online chat.

I am a bit confused about what your position on this issue is now, though. Would you mind clarifying that for me?

Currently Playing: Advance Wars 1 + 2: Re- Boot Camp (NS)

Whydoievenbother

@Ralizah My current position (thanks to some of this threads comments):
1. Compared to the MSRP of games from the past and the cost to make them, most AAA games are reasonably priced.
2. Asking whether all games are "reasonably priced" is a weird question. Whether a game is "reasonably priced" is more of a case-by-case thing. Just because say Smash Bros. 3DS is worth the $40 I spent on it, that doesn't mean that every other game is worth their price.

Edited on by Whydoievenbother

"I'll take a potato chip... AND EAT IT!"
Light Yagami, Death Note
"Ah, the Breakfast Club soundtrack! I can't wait 'til I'm old enough to feel ways about stuff!"
Phillip J. Fry, Futurama

Ralizah

@MrMario02 Those sound reasonable. It really is amazing how much more games from generations ago used to cost. And, frankly, looking at the huge stack of NES games I still own from when I was a kid, I have to wonder how much money my mother sunk into feeding my hobby when I was younger.

Currently Playing: Advance Wars 1 + 2: Re- Boot Camp (NS)

faint

Well of course some games are not worth the money. That's always been the case. I remember begging for gremlins 2 on the nes when I was a kid. If my parents hadn't passed away I would apologize for making them waste their hard earned money on it.

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Whydoievenbother

Ralizah wrote:

@MrMario02 Those sound reasonable.

WHAT DOES REASONABLE EVEN MEAN ANYMOAR?? jk.

"I'll take a potato chip... AND EAT IT!"
Light Yagami, Death Note
"Ah, the Breakfast Club soundtrack! I can't wait 'til I'm old enough to feel ways about stuff!"
Phillip J. Fry, Futurama

spizzamarozzi

I remember the average price for a NES cart in the late 80s was £35 on release.
The average price for a Dreamcast game in the last 90s was around £40 on release. Nowadays the average price for a PS4 game is £45 on release.

I would say prices haven't gone up as significantly as to say "prices have gone up".
But there's a catch.
The way the industry is structured now...forces you to spend more on games. I'm talking about downloadable content and microtransactions. Annualization of certain popular franchises. Limited editions. Re-masterizations and re-editions. Subscription services. Promotions, sales and discounts.

So while an average user would end up buying 5 to 15 games per generation back in the day, I would say the average user nowadays ends up buying 30+ games per generation.

In conclusion, while prices haven't gone up "that much", the whole money-go-round has increased enormously and people are ending up spending way more on games than ever.

Add to that that we've been through inflations, recessions and economic meltdowns. At least in Europe and in the US. Cost of life has gone up and families are generally less wealthy than they were back in the 80s - this is especially true for Europe. Nowadays there's a lot more expenses that you didn't have back then: families are supposed to have fast internet connections, at least one mobile phone per family member, and most of the time a laptop and a car for most family members above a certain age. Back in the 80s this was unheard of.

Top-10 games I played in 2017: The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild (WiiU) - Rogue Legacy (PS3) - Fallout 3 (PS3) - Red Dead Redemption (PS3) - Guns of Boom (MP) - Sky Force Reloaded (MP) - ...

3DS Friend Code: 0104-0649-7464 | Nintendo Network ID: spizzamarozzi

DefHalan

spizzamarozzi wrote:

The way the industry is structured now...forces you to spend more on games.

You are never forced to pay more. There are plenty of people out there that just buy $5 bargain bin games and don't worry about any of those extra costs. Sales, especially of the Steam type, give gamers plenty of ways to actually pay less and pay more. The industry wants you to spend more and encourages you but it can't force you to do anything.

People keep saying the Xbox One doesn't have Backwards Compatibility.
I don't think they know what Backwards Compatibility means...

3DS Friend Code: 2621-2786-9784 | Nintendo Network ID: DefHalan

spizzamarozzi

DefHalan wrote:

spizzamarozzi wrote:

The way the industry is structured now...forces you to spend more on games.

You are never forced to pay more. There are plenty of people out there that just buy $5 bargain bin games and don't worry about any of those extra costs. Sales, especially of the Steam type, give gamers plenty of ways to actually pay less and pay more. The industry wants you to spend more and encourages you but it can't force you to do anything.

yeah - I don't want to get into semantics now but when I say "force" I really mean "if you want to you have no other choice than do this". Obviously I know we don't have business people from Sony or Nintendo who point a gun to our heads "forcing" us to buy their games. Although I'm sure many people probably wouldn't mind - some would actually be happy because that way they'll support the industry more!!
As far as I understand Xbox offers the online functionality of videogames for a fee - so if you WANT to get the whole experience, you are "FORCED" to pay more. Sony offers a subscription service that is active as long as you keep paying - so if you WANT to keep what you got from the service the previous month, you are FORCED to keep paying in the following. Some games get released with huge chuncks missing and content deliberately left out - so if you WANT to get the game as it's supposed to be, you are FORCED to pay more. Some games are released only in overpriced limited editions - so if you WANT to get a perfectly normal physical copy of a game, you are FORCED to pay more.

Of course all of this assuming you WANT to play regular console games that get released currently like we did just 10 years ago.
And yes there are many ways to pay less: Steam, piracy, shoplifting, begging for promo codes, pretending you are a respectable journalist and getting advance copies, borrowing from friends, go in shops and play at the kiosks etcetera. But it would be foolish to ignore all the stuff that goes wrong...

Top-10 games I played in 2017: The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild (WiiU) - Rogue Legacy (PS3) - Fallout 3 (PS3) - Red Dead Redemption (PS3) - Guns of Boom (MP) - Sky Force Reloaded (MP) - ...

3DS Friend Code: 0104-0649-7464 | Nintendo Network ID: spizzamarozzi

DefHalan

@spizzamarozzi If people want content/products, they pay for it, that is how the world works. If a player wants something, then they have the option to buy it. If it is too expensive, wait for a sale. If it is still too expensive then wait for a better sale. You don't have to buy anything. If you want it and want to buy it then go right ahead. Just because a game has DLC doesn't mean you have to buy it. If you want the content in the DLC then you will want to buy it, for what price is up to you. I have games that I don't buy DLC for because I don't think the DLC is worth the price, the game is still the game I purchased.

You don't have to resort to illegal things to get games cheaper, you just need to wait out the companies. As for subscription fees, there is a reason why I don't play on Xbox One or Playstation 4. I don't want to pay those subscription fees, so I am not going to. I have a PC and I am happy with it.

People should pay for what they feel is reasonable, and stop playing the victim. If you want that brand new game, right when it comes out, then you will need to pay full price for it. If you think it is too expensive, then wait for the price to go down. It isn't that hard to wait.

People keep saying the Xbox One doesn't have Backwards Compatibility.
I don't think they know what Backwards Compatibility means...

3DS Friend Code: 2621-2786-9784 | Nintendo Network ID: DefHalan

moomoo

Video games are cheaper now than ever before, considering inflation. It's kind of boggling, considering the amount of time that it takes to make top-tier stuff is much longer, and games generally cost a lot more money to make nowadays. If anything, I would argue that the most a standard retail game can cost should actually go up. Stuff like COD and GTA would easily sell at higher prices, and there's enough content there to justify it. Instead, what they do is charge money for things in addition, like DLC and multiplayer microtransactions.

Even then, how much content pumped into a game shouldn't be the only qualifier for price. Quality is also a factor. And I personally think there are way more quality games out now than in the past, and if you disagree, then you can buy games from just a generation prior for basically pocket change in most cases, and that's not including digital sales.

I'm siding with @Ralizah on this one. The market is definitely a better way to determine if a game costs too much or too little. If games truly cost too much money, then games wouldn't be selling as well as they do. And for a person with a job, $60 isn't that bad, especially compared to other entertainment mediums that cost money. Going to a movie costs, like $10, and lasts you 3 hours max. The standard $60 game lasts longer than that these days.

If someone thinks games cost so much these days, they can just buy cheaper games. There's so many good things one can play these days for dirt cheap that there isn't really an argument for it, in my mind. Heck, there's plenty of legally free things that are of a pretty high quality, like Cave Story. And that's not looking at free to play multiplayer games.

I think you could make a case for systems and controllers costing too much, though.

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francisbaud

It depends a lot on the quality and replayability. If I play a game for 300 hours, then I guess that the $80 I've spent on it was worth it. If we compare it to a meal from the restaurant, or let's say pizza, then it's equivalent to about 4 pizzas. One pizza takes about 15 minutes to eat, 4 = 1 hour. So basically I could spend $80 for 1 hour of eating pizza or $80 for 300 hours of gaming. ^_^

francisbaud

CaviarMeths

In Canada, they are. $80 for a AAA game, or $120 for the deluxe edition that includes the Day 1 DLC. Scrolling through the Playstation Store after the conference today, I felt like the price listings needed to be accompanied by a laugh track. I ain't paying those garbage prices.

And I don't have to. Prices are what they are because publishers can get away with it. They can sell games for $80 and millions of people will still rush to Gamestop to buy it day one, and pre-order something else while they're there. Suits me just fine, because most AAA games get the bulk of their sales in the first month and then get heavily discounted. I can wait.

And I have options too. Most AAA games aren't even interesting these days. There's plenty of $10-50 options available that are more fun anyway.

So Anakin kneels before Monster Mash and pledges his loyalty to the graveyard smash.

Octane

@CaviarMeths That's the standard price for a AAA game though, don't see how it's just a Canadian issue then. Compared to the €10-12 I pay for a 2-2.5 hour film, I say €60 is absolutely fine for a game that often offers many more hours of entertainment.

Octane

CaviarMeths

Octane wrote:

CaviarMeths That's the standard price for a AAA game though, don't see how it's just a Canadian issue then. Compared to the €10-12 I pay for a 2-2.5 hour film, I say €60 is absolutely fine for a game that often offers many more hours of entertainment.

Like I said, I have options and I can wait. People can pay whatever price they want. Pokemon was $50 and I've already gotten more out of it than any $80 title this generation.

So Anakin kneels before Monster Mash and pledges his loyalty to the graveyard smash.

ogo79

the_shpydar wrote:
As @ogo79 said, the SNS-RZ-USA is a prime giveaway that it's not a legit retail cart.
And yes, he is (usually) always right, and he is (almost) the sexiest gamer out there (not counting me) ;)

SomeBitTripFan

Most games for the GBA, PS2, and DS were either $30 or $35 if I remember correctly. I remember being shocked by having to pay $50 for Wii games. Considering that games are about twice the price they were when I first started buying them, I generally see them as pretty expensive (especially with DLC and such thrown in). It's probably why I got into buying Gamecube games at low prices off Ebay during the Wii's software drought and limit almost all of my purchases to Steam games at 75% or greater discounts. I'm unquestionably cheap, though. It's more about me than the prices of those games themselves.

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Octane

@SomeBitTripFan I don't recall handheld prices, but gaming in general has been cheaper than ever, yet the development costs are higher than ever. GameCube games were $50 too, $50 in 2001 is about $70 today. N64 games were $50 too, and that's just a few bucks short of $80 today! Even NES games range from $65 to $110 ($30-50) if you adjust them for inflation.

Octane

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