Perhaps a privileged take but I’d be completely willing to pay way more for games with no micro transactions or other “live service” BS. Like if economics make it so that it doesn’t make sense to sell most high budget games for $70 without micro transactions then sell me one at $100. Video games were way more expensive when I was a kid and prices haven’t risen with inflation at all. Consider that Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time retailed for $59.99 in 1998 while Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom cost $69.99 in 2023. That is a 16.7% increase over 25 years, or an average increase of 0.619% each year. Meanwhile, average CPI inflation is usually ~2% per year.
The price of new games isn’t a problem for me as they are still cheaper than what they were when I was a kid. In my country Switzerland, an expensive new game is stll less than CHF100.- when some Nes games were CHF120.- thirty years ago. Back in the Playstation 1 era games were around CHF89.- and now most Playstation 5 games are around CHF79.-.
And that’s not taking inflation into account!
Gaming is one of the few things which has become cheaper in my lifetime, especially now that I get a lot of old games on my Steam Deck and only racing sims on my Playstation 5.
For me the problem is that you can pay such an amount and still be subject to many popups begging for your money (microtransactions) or DRM’s (always online or others).
Or that, thanks to digital games, you’ll soon not be able to resell an expensive game that you didn’t enjoy enough to keep.
And also the fact that games aren’t really prettier than 10 years ago but that you still need better hardware to play them.
I think game companies really need to have a look at why their games are becoming so expensive, because I don’t think it’s because they are treating their employees better.
Video games were way more expensive when I was a kid
They still are, for a kid.
Inflation this, inflation that, but the free money a person has has not increased. It has been going down for quite some time.
Also I’m pretty sure no one in the world is gonna look at a game and go „well if I buy this I’m gonna be homeless for 2 months, but if I plot an excel graph from 1990 to 2026 the price is down so I’ll buy it”
Fucking ag bondi logic if you ask me
Also, micro transaction exist because the poor CEO wants his 23 million salary.
I have kids and I have a huge library of games on Playstation and PC. What are they playing?
Fortnite and Roblox instead, which they could play for free if they didn’t want to get cool skins. So, no, games aren’t as expensive for kids as they used to be, except if they waste a lot of money in predatory schemes in games where they could play for free and just 1-2 things to support the devs.
Too bad companies seek exponential profit due to line having to go up, so pricing games higher wouldn’t lead to killing off microtransactions even if priced at $200.
Companies don’t hit a point where they go this is enough money. They became companies because their mentality is this isn’t enough, and its only the a
mount consumers are willing to pay that keeps price from inflating more like companies want.
Perhaps a privileged take but I’d be completely willing to pay way more for games with no micro transactions or other “live service” BS. Like if economics make it so that it doesn’t make sense to sell most high budget games for $70 without micro transactions then sell me one at $100. Video games were way more expensive when I was a kid and prices haven’t risen with inflation at all. Consider that Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time retailed for $59.99 in 1998 while Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom cost $69.99 in 2023. That is a 16.7% increase over 25 years, or an average increase of 0.619% each year. Meanwhile, average CPI inflation is usually ~2% per year.
The price of new games isn’t a problem for me as they are still cheaper than what they were when I was a kid. In my country Switzerland, an expensive new game is stll less than CHF100.- when some Nes games were CHF120.- thirty years ago. Back in the Playstation 1 era games were around CHF89.- and now most Playstation 5 games are around CHF79.-.
And that’s not taking inflation into account!
Gaming is one of the few things which has become cheaper in my lifetime, especially now that I get a lot of old games on my Steam Deck and only racing sims on my Playstation 5.
For me the problem is that you can pay such an amount and still be subject to many popups begging for your money (microtransactions) or DRM’s (always online or others).
Or that, thanks to digital games, you’ll soon not be able to resell an expensive game that you didn’t enjoy enough to keep.
And also the fact that games aren’t really prettier than 10 years ago but that you still need better hardware to play them.
I think game companies really need to have a look at why their games are becoming so expensive, because I don’t think it’s because they are treating their employees better.
Comrades, I think we found AG bondi.
They still are, for a kid.
Inflation this, inflation that, but the free money a person has has not increased. It has been going down for quite some time.
Also I’m pretty sure no one in the world is gonna look at a game and go „well if I buy this I’m gonna be homeless for 2 months, but if I plot an excel graph from 1990 to 2026 the price is down so I’ll buy it”
Fucking ag bondi logic if you ask me
Also, micro transaction exist because the poor CEO wants his 23 million salary.
I have kids and I have a huge library of games on Playstation and PC. What are they playing?
Fortnite and Roblox instead, which they could play for free if they didn’t want to get cool skins. So, no, games aren’t as expensive for kids as they used to be, except if they waste a lot of money in predatory schemes in games where they could play for free and just 1-2 things to support the devs.
“My kids are able to play someone else’s games, so games aren’t expensive for kids.”
…did you even read what you just typed?
You haven’t read my comment I guess.
I have a lot of games that I bought (mostly for max CHF 20.-, so max 25$), but they are only playing free live service games.
Too bad companies seek exponential profit due to line having to go up, so pricing games higher wouldn’t lead to killing off microtransactions even if priced at $200.
Companies don’t hit a point where they go this is enough money. They became companies because their mentality is this isn’t enough, and its only the a mount consumers are willing to pay that keeps price from inflating more like companies want.