Cheer Up: Games Don't Cost You As Much As They Used To

[Treblaine]

Games, like most technology, have gotten cheaper, better and more plentiful. Of course, I'm talking about the entire range of them, so there are some expensive and bad games out there, no question about it. But there have always been bad and expensive games, and your selection used to be so very limited. Now there's a huge variety to choose from. I find the complaints about yearly titles to be especially confusing, since if it's a game you like, I'd think you'd buy it. If it's a game you don't like, I'd think you wouldn't. I can't tell you the number of games made over the last 20 years that I'd wish they'd made sequels or expansions to, and never saw the light of day again. Of course, if you don't want an expansion, there's always DLC. But, wait, that's evil too, right?

It's difficult for a big chunk of the audience here to really grasp 20 year price differences, I'm sure, because not everyone was here for it, or even if they were, they weren't saving up their allowance or working a summer job to try and pay for a $40-$60 game, or trying to buy a console, PC or piece of PC hardware during that time period. If you think PC gaming is expensive -now-, it was prohibitive then.

PC gaming has always been cheap if you had the hardware on hand and no scruples (which I had none as a child). I remember back when Winzip didn't maintain filefolder integrity, so I'd be on the my phone with my friend and he'd be telling me exactly where to put each file so that I could play some new game he had pirated. That was certainly fun, manually putting 250 files into their proper folders and if you misplaced one, the game wouldn't work.

It's sort of like what modding oblivion without the OBMM is like. IE - Impossible.

Back then you did pay for piracy, just not to the publisher but with the sweat of your brow.

And is a man not entitled to that?

 

[The Rockerfly]

Great, I'd still rather have the ps1 era back. I'd rather games cost a bit more and they have creativity and worse graphics then dull, grey shooters everywhere

 

[Gray Monk]

I would celebrate if every new game sold $60+ at retail today. But I'm in Australia, and new games sell here for AU$100+, the equivalent of ~US$90+.

I reckon I can still complain, especially since that extra money certainly isn't going to the devs.

I gotta agree that it's complete bullshit, a game that comes out for $100 AUD at release is about 60-70 USD in a American store in America.
It's not postage. It's the store wanting more money which is sooo corrupt.

 

[Weaver]

So he adjusted for a 4% inflation every year since 1990...
have we undergone a 4% inflation every year since 1990? What happened to that whole recession business?

 

[RowdyRodimus]

I usually never pay full price for a game, not that I buy all used (I do occasionally) or pirate (I never do that, the only ones I have like that are some NES Roms for my Dreamcast), but I am so behind on playing newer games I usually end up getting the new one when the sequel is about to be released so I end up getting then for 19.99 or 29.99.

It's not price that keeps me from getting them it's just that so many are released at the same time and I pick and choose which ones I get. I picked up two new games at 59.99 Friday because they interested me (Shattered Dimensions and Castlevania Lords of Shadow) and three that were older and at bargain prices (Borderlands, Bayonetta and Henry Hatsworth, TRU had Bayontta and Henry Hatsworth for 9.98 with an extra 30% off, so they ended up at $7 each).

That's something we forget about now, that while the games have gone up in price (not worried about inflation here) they are marked down quicker than ever just because of the glut of games coming out. Nintendo (who ironically started the whole Million Seller, Platinum or Greatest Hits lines) are the last of the big devs who don't discount their games often.

So really if people don't want to pay $60 for a game, don't be a day one adopter. Wait six months to a year and get it cheap. I enjoy Borderlands as much as someone who bought it for $60 on day one getting it a year later for $10. The publishers are smart. They know most people have to have stuff day one so they mark it up to get those big numbers and then lower the price so people with more patience than money will buy them.

 

[RowdyRodimus]

So he adjusted for a 4% inflation every year since 1990...
have we undergone a 4% inflation every year since 1990? What happened to that whole recession business?

In a weird way recessions cause higher inflation. With a recession the dollar is worth less, making it so that it's buying power is reduced. The businesses have to charge more for their product or service to make their money back ergo, the infalted prices we see.

It doesn't help that most people in power think that the way out of it is to print more money and flood the streets with it. But it's like comic collecting, if there are a million mint copies of something floating around it's worthless, but if there are 100 mint copies of it then it might be worth a fortune.

 

[JEBWrench]

I always find the inflation statements silly. Yeah they are factually right but the reality is that people didn't have the same value of the currency of today in the past. It's like saying, well if you had this much money you could of bought this back in the 1980's...well chances are you didn't have the money.

Still interesting though when you think of inflation.

Ummm, that's part of what inflation is. The value of currency in relation to cost of available goods and disposable income.

So he adjusted for a 4% inflation every year since 1990...
have we undergone a 4% inflation every year since 1990? What happened to that whole recession business?

Inflation is currently 40.1% higher. The value of $60 now was approximately $35.92 in 1990.

 

[Delusibeta]

The problem is that we used to pay $70 for a game that would have up to 40+ hours of gameplay, even some fps games. Yet now we're paying around the same amount for only 10 hours of gameplay.
Yeh, the graphics are better but that's just natural progression in the industry and with so many more game devs out there the overall costs of doing this stuff would have gone down too.
I don't mind paying the higher prices if the game will last me a few weeks, but when i can play it all in one sitting, then i start fuming about being ripped off!

This is probably because either a) you were bad at the games back then, or b) games were harder back then. Not a lot to do with their "length", which is a subjective measure at the best of times.

 

[Scarecrow21]

The problem is that we used to pay $70 for a game that would have up to 40+ hours of gameplay, even some fps games. Yet now we're paying around the same amount for only 10 hours of gameplay.
Yeh, the graphics are better but that's just natural progression in the industry and with so many more game devs out there the overall costs of doing this stuff would have gone down too.
I don't mind paying the higher prices if the game will last me a few weeks, but when i can play it all in one sitting, then i start fuming about being ripped off!

This is probably because either a) you were bad at the games back then, or b) games were harder back then. Not a lot to do with their "length", which is a subjective measure at the best of times.

You don't have to be bad at a game to want to take your time playing it and enjoying it!
Half-Lifes', Dooms, Original COD's and MOH's, they all lasted much longer than a lot of the current gen games, regardless of how long you wanted to spend enjoying scenery etc...

 

[Michael O'Hair]

Money isn't so much an issue anyone. Games now are more an investment of time rather than currency. Especially since most of everything I buy is used. I've been burned too many times in recent years by haphazardly built and bug-ridden tech, hardware and software, to be a hardcore early-adopter anymore. When you buy almost everything second hand, cheap games get even cheaper.

 

[Phuctifyno]

Inflation isn't even needed to see game prices dropping. Donkey Kong Country 2 went for over $120 when it first came out (Canadian).

 

[superbatranger]

Sadly, that does not apply to me. If I want to buy a game, even one several months old, I have to hand over at least 100 dollars.

 

[Atmos Duality]

N64 games never retailed for more than 50 here. Never.
The only games that came anywhere near that level were Majora's Mask and Perfect Dark. Because those required the video card expansion to play.

 

[Don't taze me bro]

I would celebrate if every new game sold $60+ at retail today. But I'm in Australia, and new games sell here for AU$100+, the equivalent of ~US$90+.

I reckon I can still complain, especially since that extra money certainly isn't going to the devs.

I gotta agree that it's complete bullshit, a game that comes out for $100 AUD at release is about 60-70 USD in a American store in America.
It's not postage. It's the store wanting more money which is sooo corrupt.

Don't blame the stores, blame the publishers. I used to manage an EB Games, and I'd see how much we used to buy the games for. A new $100 game would wholesale for around $70. This was around 5 years ago, but I imagine it hasn't changed much. So yes they make ~$30 profit each game sold, assuming they sell at the RRP, but factor in specials and price matching and that can quickly be eroded away, and it is why they focus so much on second hand games, because the profit margin is huge.

Don't get me wrong, I hate how much games are in Australia. I wait for specials (like getting Halo reach for $70 from Gametraders) and I tend to import ALOT from places like Playasia and G2play because the Aussie dollar is so strong right now. It doubly sucks when publishers then 'bump' up the prices on places like Steam. I remember buying Borderlands for $49 on Steam, and then a week after it came out, it was increased to $79 for 'Aussie customers'. It's bull$&*^ and it's because of the publishers.

/end rant

Back on topic, I still have my box showing I paid $129 for Final Fight on the SNES, and I recall Mario Allstars being even more expensive (possibly $149).

 

[Michael O'Hair]

Adjust for inflation and true market value all you want, but video games still cost about $60.
Then and now, there are games that don't deserve that price tag.
Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball for SNES should have been given away for free.
Red Dead Redemption should have cost $150 with a $100 rebate after completing the game; after realizing there was nothing else to do and that Jack Marston was annoying.