Are game prices getting too high?

[Tenderizer]

Over the last 6 months I haven't bought many games, however most of the games I have bought were either on sale or cheap indie games. Which makes me wonder why I would want to play $80 for Doom or $90 for Titanfall 2. These prices are ludicrously high while I have 306 hours on rust which cost me $20. I do understand that hours are not a fitting measure of entertainment from a game, but no 4 hours single-player campaign is worth $90.

What do you think, are the high prices of everything the reason everyone is so critical of modern triple A games, or why the sales are almost always so far below expected?

[Tux]

引用自 Radene：

引用自 Tux：

that is not true.
There are people (people I know) who do not partake in 'entertainment' and are likely more healthy then the rest of us.

Entertainment is a very broad term, much broader than "popular culture". If I phrased it as "having fun", would you have agreed? Or as "leisure"?

yes to 'having fun'
no to 'entertainment' or 'leisure'

I know people who are fortunate enough to spend 100% of their time (outside of eating and sleeping) in a mode of production for others and they find it 'fun'.

but specifically games are pretty much only 'entertainment' which might have a side effect of inspiration or even relaxation but games as a representation of something that people need I think is not only false but its also dishonest to whatever the core point was

[Gallifrey - CSSC Gaming Founder]

But in terms of the past four years average launch prices have risen far faster than rate of inflation, and those prices have tended not to come down or at least not come down as fast as formerly.

Comparison with consoles is a little invidious because some consoles launch at a loss for the hardware to seek to recoup the capital on licenses for the software. Console games thus have tended to be significantly more expensive than non proprietary PC games.

S.x.

[Tux]

引用自 gallifrey：

But in terms of the past four years average launch prices have risen far faster than rate of inflation, and those prices have tended not to come down or at least not come down as fast as formerly.

Comparison with consoles is a little invidious because some consoles launch at a loss for the hardware to seek to recoup the capital on licenses for the software. Console games thus have tended to be significantly more expensive than non proprietary PC games.

S.x.

marketing is considered part of development cost when these big companies talk about how much a game costs.
console games are more expensive because they are more a marketing project then games, plus they know they have an extreemly gullable player base that they can lie to or at least stretch the truth to

:)

[🍋 Lemonfed 🍋]

I was pointing out the same thing you're talking about , games always been expensives.

引用自 ShadowAngel：

引用自 Lemonfed：

I remember my old Donkey kong country 2 that costed me over 80$ back in the 90's.

Pff, i can give you the ultimate example from back in the day:
Links
A Golf Simulation that was released in 1990.
Here in Germany it costed 139,95 DM which, with inflation would be the equivalent of 120,77€
Here's the kicker: It came with just ONE golf course
Over the next 7 years, Access released 23(!) single golf courses (the equivalent of DLC today i guess), each priced 49,95 DM (43,11€ in todays money), as well as two full priced sequel games (price was just a tad lower than the original, 129,95 DM usually which even in 1997 still was 90,70€)

And now tell me that gaming today is expensive.

Other examples i can list:
Companies back in the day didn't pack any editors with their games usually but they offered them for extra money.
Bundesliga Manager Hattrick was released in 1994 for 119,95 DM (88,67€) and the next year they sold a Add-on Pack that consisted of two editors, a floppy with a patch and a guide book for 49,95 DM (35,95€)

Oh and companies back in the day used to SELL Demos. That's right, you wrote them a letter, included usually 5 DM (which in 1995 would be 3,06€) and got a floppy with a single demo version of one of their upcoming games.

Also don't forget that as a PC gamer today you save a ton of money for the Hardware.
Back in the 90's your PC was basically outdated the moment you first booted it up. The Hardware race was completely insane and everything was expensive.
A top of the line PC in 1994 costed you easily around the 3,999 DM (with a monitor) range, which today would be about 2,956€. Now look what a complete PC costs today and that will last you a couple years and not just 12 months like back then.

So really, you guys have nothing to complain about. Gaming back in the day was expensive and don't forget that most games also only lasted a couple hours. Just compare the first Grand Theft Auto with GTA V. If we go by the "How long to beat" Website, GTA 1 has a completionist time of 16 hours, V has 77 hours. And the 89,95 DM (68,46€) i paid in early 1998 for GTA 1 where more than the 59,99€ i paid for V.

[MonK]

引用自 LowJack_VA1：

I've been purchasing PC games for more years than I can remember. Steam is a great place to collect them all. The prices here are the best, imho, but that is all driven by the publishers.

No offense but steam prices aren't the best. 3party keysellers are.

[rollinshultz]

When it comes down to the bottom line, consumers drive prices. No matter the product that's a fact. If someone thinks a price is too high, they should withhold from making thepurchase until proces drop. If someone pays too much it is on them, because they could have waited. The consumer creates value it isn't intrinsic in origin. That being said, products must make profits for the companies that make them or they simply won't continue to make them and eventually not exist.
Lately (2018-19) the AAA companies have been taking a lot of flak for shady monetizing schemes and other issues such as quality. They will continue to do so until the consumers refuse and reject their products and make them feel it in their bottom line. So they must ask themselves, do I have the will to refuse to buy that game I have been Jonesing for for months because of fair but poor reviews? The more weak willed consumers who continue to buy these games the longer it takes for prices to drop and for companies to learn to try to please their customers rather than themselves. Btw, today we no longer need "pre-orders" since most games are now downloads, so don't encourage them by forking over money early. Wait for your favorite reviewers to comment.

[🍋 Lemonfed 🍋]

when you consider inflation the average games are often much cheapers then before , it's no surprise that certain game are using DLC and in game transaction to compensate for the lower price of the game itself.

[Start_Running]

引用自 Lemonfed：

when you consider inflation the average games are often much cheapers then before , it's no surprise that certain game are using DLC and in game transaction to compensate for the lower price of the game itself.

Bingo. The price of a new AAA game has remained $60 for the last 2 decades.
Nothing else has maintained such a price point. Add to that that the content in games has been increasing steadily over the same period and you realize why studios can make a million sales and still be going bankrupt.

[76561198344661335]

We're going to lock this thread up so it doesn't get necro'd again in the future. Thanks for your understanding.