Why are games so expensive now?

[76561198095142420]

I was looking at the price of starfield $70 and DLC for Total War warhmmaer 3 which is $25. There was a time when bug-free games were $25-30. There wasn't anything as internet updates and games did not feel broken or crash that much. This may have to do with the cost of running a studio now and people spending exorbitantly on high-end GPUs. Personally, I am still running a gtx 1080 and refuse to buy expensive games. I just wanted to know what does the community think about this.

[Leonardo Da Pinchi]

Games have actually been behind the curve when it comes to price increases caused by inflation.

That's why we still had $40-$50 games back in the 90's, which is 30 years ago now.

[Chompman]

Inflation hits everything and making games have never been more expensive to produce then ever so games will increase their costs to cover these and to make a profit as it's a business.

[nullable]

Originally posted by Daedrik:

I was looking at the price of starfield $70 and DLC for Total War warhmmaer 3 which is $25. There was a time when bug-free games were $25-30. There wasn't anything as internet updates and games did not feel broken or crash that much. This may have to do with the cost of running a studio now and people spending exorbitantly on high-end GPUs. Personally, I am still running a gtx 1080 and refuse to buy expensive games. I just wanted to know what does the community think about this.

So over 30 years ago? Well, https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1993?amount=30 maybe you forget how inflation works. In reality given how expensive some games are to make $70 is a discounted price offset from how large gaming has brown compared to 30+ years ago.

There were lots of $50-$60 games 30 years ago too, and some examples were even more expensive. Neo Geo games anyone? But if your line in the sand is $30 and feels bug free, games like that still exist https://store.steampowered.com/app/1817230/HiFi_RUSH/ Lots of other examples too. And there's really no reason to expect a big budget AAA game that's like a month old to be discounted to $30.

Like sorry man, candy bars aren't a quarter anymore either. Thirty years was thirty years ago and it's long gone.

But even if you've got a case of rose tinted glasses being glued to your face, there's still some upsides. You can easily find old games that wouldn't have lived on a store shelf for more than a year. And sales are frequent and plentiful and there's always an ample supply of games on discount, way more than I ever saw as a kid 30 years ago.

[AmsterdamHeavy]

Atari Defender was $55 in 1982. Thats $175 in todays money.

I paid $70 list price for Strider for the Sega Genesis in the early 90s.

Games have barely increased in price in 40 years. Youre very incorrect.

[Leonardo Da Pinchi]

Originally posted by AmsterdamHeavy:

Atari Defender was $55 in 1982. Thats $175 in todays money.

I paid $70 list price for Strider for the Sega Genesis in the early 90s.

Games have barely increased in price in 40 years. Youre very incorrect.

Wages have stagnated, while costs have gone up, in reality. Which is why $40 for a game NOW feels so much more steep than 20 years ago.

[nullable]

Originally posted by Leonardo Da Pinchi:

Originally posted by AmsterdamHeavy:

Atari Defender was $55 in 1982. Thats $175 in todays money.

I paid $70 list price for Strider for the Sega Genesis in the early 90s.

Games have barely increased in price in 40 years. Youre very incorrect.

Wages have stagnated, while costs have gone up, in reality. Which is why $40 for a game NOW feels so much more steep than 20 years ago.

I don't quite follow that logic. The cost of something has remained consistent or even fallen, especially when adjust for inflation and somehow it feels more expensive than when it was actually more expensive?

If Big Mac's still cost $2.39 today that would feel like a lot for a burger because the cost of other things has gone up?

[Eagle_of_Fire]

Originally posted by Daedrik:

I was looking at the price of starfield $70 and DLC for Total War warhmmaer 3 which is $25. There was a time when bug-free games were $25-30. There wasn't anything as internet updates and games did not feel broken or crash that much. This may have to do with the cost of running a studio now and people spending exorbitantly on high-end GPUs. Personally, I am still running a gtx 1080 and refuse to buy expensive games. I just wanted to know what does the community think about this.

Anybody who's not a white knight or a fanboy is going to agree with you. I sure do.

[Leonardo Da Pinchi]

Originally posted by nullable:

Originally posted by Leonardo Da Pinchi:

Wages have stagnated, while costs have gone up, in reality. Which is why $40 for a game NOW feels so much more steep than 20 years ago.

I don't quite follow that logic. The cost of something has remained consistent or even fallen, especially when adjust for inflation and somehow it feels more expensive than when it was actually more expensive?

If Big Mac's still cost $2.39 today that would feel like a lot for a burger because the cost of other things has gone up?

Games have fallen behind the curve when it comes to inflation, but the spending value of a dollar, is less than it used to be alongside wages aren't keeping up with costs of living. Which is why $60 for a game seems steep.

[D. Flame]

Corporate Greed-flation

[Leonardo Da Pinchi]

Originally posted by D. Flame:

Corporate Greed-flation

Yes, that's the drive behind the rise of most products currently. Gaming is behind the trend on that, thankfully.

[76561198095142420]

what about price-to-content ratio? E.g warhammer was delivering more units in $12 dlc until last year. What happened in one year? Company of heroes 2 was $40 and had more maps, unit diversity. In contrast, coh3 is more expensive, with less maps worse graphics and sound.

[nullable]

It's varies from game to game of course. A few examples where you don't feel like there's enough content doesn't project evenly out onto all other games.

[Crazy Tiger]

It didn't happen in one year, it has gradually happened. And what happened? Game devs/publishers have steadily been charging more and your fellow gamers have been purchasing it.

That said, there have been loads of games with bad bugs back in the days. Put away the nostalgia goggles.

[Leonardo Da Pinchi]

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

It didn't happen in one year, it has gradually happened. And what happened? Game devs/publishers have steadily been charging more and your fellow gamers have been purchasing it.

That said, there have been loads of games with bad bugs back in the days. Put away the nostalgia goggles.

Superman 64 comes to mind. Hell, even "top tier" games had their share of exploits/bugs. Red/Blue had Missingno which if done incorrectly, could corrupt a lot of your save data.

[76561198095142420]

Welp. Assassin's creed mirage is $50 which seems fair, if not on steam. I heard steam takes 30% cut.