Do you think games are worth their current retail price?

[AmenoKaji]

This is a conversation I have with a lot of friends. The price of games are too damned high! *insert that picture* Before you used to receive a physical box copy, that had anywhere from a 30 page to a 250 page manual back in the old days. now you're paying 60-80 bucks for a digital copy, or a physical box with nothing in it except a disc or cdkey that still requires you to go online and to finish getting the game - and to top that off, most of these games are so poorly coded and released in stages that are no better than a beta test. It has literally come to the point where it feels like you're paying full price to beta test someones game, which is ridiculous in my opinion, so maybe the price should come down?

 

[Ridge]

Games are cheaper now than they have ever been. Many SNES games were $60 or more, and that is in 90s money. After inflation that is over $100...

 

[Wormeata]

I can see the point that we are getting more content with games coming out at the current price of $60. Many of these games are well funded and usually well constructed, even many of the indie titles with less funding live up to their price with content. However I cannot ignore the times when, quite blatantly, games are released with huge chunks of content arriving at the same time as DLC. At least when I paid for a game back in the 90's for pc, i got the entirety of their released work, and if I so chose, I usually had no issue buying the occasional expansion pack because it was also a complete release of sorts.

 

[AFKATafcar]

Consumers goods and commodities are worth whatever people are willing to pay for them. Since millions of gamers buy full-priced retail games and then $20 to $50 worth of DLC, then it's safe to say that video games are absolutely priced correctly and worth their current price. Otherwise, gamers wouldn't be buying games en masse, like they almost always have.

 

[dillinger10]

I think the value of video games fairs favorably when compared to the cost of a movie ticket or a ticket to a sporting event. A ticket to those events ranges from $10-$250 and lasts between 90 minutes and 3 hours. When you take into consideration the replay factor, I think video games offer really good value for money. Video games also seem to be discounted pretty early in their life cycle these days also.

 

[Cutter710]

I'm a bit of a cheapskate whenever it comes to everything but I respect the price of games now. Games are definitely worth their current retail price: they're a refined good that has taken years to produce. You enjoy them like you enjoy a lengthy read or a stupidly long-but-good movie. Game developers deserve every cent they earn; games are totally worth their current retail price.

 

[Catalyst64]

If you're going to play a game that costs one hundred bucks for two hundred hours, I'd say it's worth it. People give much more money for worthless things all the time. If you're having fun - why not?
Also, I wouldn't say the price of games has gone up too much, and even if it has, nowadays we have a much bigger variety of games than we have had before. So I'd say do your research and if you think you'll enjoy the game - save up and buy it.

 

[Corten]

Depends, Ubisoft and EA games? I don't think so. They sell the fraction of a whole game, with full of bugs, for full price then charge you for DLCs so you can actually enjoy the game as it was intended to be. Now, the Witcher 3 on the other hand, I'm pretty sure it'll worth the full price.

 

[Squigly]

I almost never preorder or buy at full price unless its a game I really want. With the advent of digital copies and platforms like Steam, there is literally no extra cost to producing another copy of a game, hence publishers can afford to give heavy discounts on digital game copies. I always wait a couple months, by then the digital price should have fallen by 50% or more!

 

[cyberpinoy]

Absolutely NO, I think gaming companies make to much money from their games. with the ability to sell them online no matter if its a digital copy of a game they have for PC or selling the Playstation games online thru a merchant site, the internet eliminated a lot of business costs to a gaming company they never EVER passed onto us. This is why so many people pirate and hack games, because the gaming companies were to greedy.

 

[Ridge]

I have enough time now to properly answer this question. So here goes. Where the hell do people get the idea that gaming now is expensive? It is cheaper than it ever has been. Where did this rumor start?

Look at this:

That is a page from a Toys R Us flyer from holiday season 1996. Some of those SNES games are $70! This is before inflation and after the N64 came out.

After inflation many of these games cost over $100, and they don't have any of the modern conveniences we consider standard. Like online play, or realistic textures, or hell, even polygons. If you ever bought a game with a polygon for less than $100 you got a hell of a deal! Quit whining.

 

[Arma45]

Personally, I do not want to nor wish to spend $60+ for a game. I feel it is to high. However, I guess that depends on who you ask. This is one of the main reasons I chose to build a custom PC and go with Steam. After I saw some of the sales, I realized not only will I save a ton of money on this hobby of mine but I can also enjoy it a ton more.

I don't have to worry about physical copies getting scratched, lost or destroyed. At $60+, That hurts more than just the wallet.

 

[Cereus]

It really depends. The JRPGs in the 90's/early 00's were worth their full retail price because of the quality and content, which was really justifiable. Pricing for games hasn't changed too much for the bigger studios, but looking back on the older games versus today's market...Most of them have a lot of replayability which lowers the cost per hour and were for the most part complete. There was no DLC to fix issues that should never have shipped out or put in content that wasn't completed when it should have been. Today we have companies charging $60-80 for buggy games and incomplete products. The burgeoning market for indie games is an interesting one and with the advent of Steam, I find high quality games for a fraction of the cost of established studios.

These days I don't bother purchasing games at release with full retail price because of the bugs and missing content. There's a couple of extremely rare instances that I will, and that's typically with handheld games because they typically have to be released as a complete product. Console and PC, I generally wait for the hype to blow over and gauge early adopters' reactions before plunging in.

 

[Azrile]

I think one of the reasons games seem more expensive now is that because of early access and pre-orders we are much more likely to buy a bomb in advance. Back in the day, you couldn´t always even buy a game on release day, so you basically could see which games were duds before you spent money.

The publishers got us hooked, they found our secret.. early access... now we end up buying a lot of crap games before we know they are crap, which also makes developers much more likely to release a crap game and just use marketing to make money.

TLDR.. you can save a LOT of money on games just by waiting after they are released and read real player reviews.

 

[LitoLawless]

Well, the prices of games have definitely risen. I remember when I was younger I would get at least two new games whenever I would go buy some. I always ended up spending $50-$60 for two games (sometimes there were deals or sales so I ended up with more). Nowadays, two games are $120 or more which is just madness. I usually play games on PC now, and I usually buy my games from Steam. Some may be full priced, but for the most part, you're not finding games for any cheaper.

 

[AmenoKaji]

I have enough time now to properly answer this question. So here goes. Where the hell do people get the idea that gaming now is expensive? It is cheaper than it ever has been. Where did this rumor start?

Look at this:

That is a page from a Toys R Us flyer from holiday season 1996. Some of those SNES games are $70! This is before inflation and after the N64 came out.

After inflation many of these games cost over $100, and they don't have any of the modern conveniences we consider standard. Like online play, or realistic textures, or hell, even polygons. If you ever bought a game with a polygon for less than $100 you got a hell of a deal! Quit whining.

Except content wise, those games for the most part are 90%+ complete, included a full color manual and guide, and weren't stripped of content to be resold in a DLC. The sheep assume games today aren't expensive, when in reality, most games you get, are stripped of content that you would have otherwise had, if DLC was never a thing. Sure you pay the same 60 bucks you paid in the days of the SNES, YET you get less game content, and you have to pay upwards to 60 more dollars to get the rest of the content that was made at the SAME TIME as the game you just purchased. Infact, you just paid double for a game you should have only had to buy once.

As for inflation, it has no place in this discussion, the change in time/value of money will always change. But you can easily go back and play an older game and time wise get as many if not more hours out of the game without DLC.

 

[Ridge]

Except content wise, those games for the most part are 90%+ complete, included a full color manual and guide, and weren't stripped of content to be resold in a DLC. The sheep assume games today aren't expensive, when in reality, most games you get, are stripped of content that you would have otherwise had, if DLC was never a thing. Sure you pay the same 60 bucks you paid in the days of the SNES, YET you get less game content, and you have to pay upwards to 60 more dollars to get the rest of the content that was made at the SAME TIME as the game you just purchased. Infact, you just paid double for a game you should have only had to buy once.

As for inflation, it has no place in this discussion, the change in time/value of money will always change. But you can easily go back and play an older game and time wise get as many if not more hours out of the game without DLC.

AAA games now often have just as much, or even much more content than older games did. There are open world games that you could do side missions in for almost ever. Then DLC just gives you more. A "complete" game is whatever it is meant to be decided by the people who make them. Then DLC is content on top of that. You don't have to get DLC, the game itself is a complete experience.

Plus games cost less or the same now than they used to, while production costs have skyrocketed. Modern AAA games take a goddamn army to make, and look amazing for it. How can we complain that they cost the same as sprite art even before taking inflation into account.

 

[dillinger10]

I have enough time now to properly answer this question. So here goes. Where the hell do people get the idea that gaming now is expensive? It is cheaper than it ever has been. Where did this rumor start?

Look at this:

That is a page from a Toys R Us flyer from holiday season 1996. Some of those SNES games are $70! This is before inflation and after the N64 came out.

After inflation many of these games cost over $100, and they don't have any of the modern conveniences we consider standard. Like online play, or realistic textures, or hell, even polygons. If you ever bought a game with a polygon for less than $100 you got a hell of a deal! Quit whining.

Thank you so much for sharing this old ad. This brings back a lot of nostalgia and fun memories. $70 for NBA Hang Time? Yikes!

You raise a excellent point, the price point for games really hasn't changed that much over the last 15/20 years, which when you take inflation into account as you point out, games today are actually cheaper and provide greater value. Madden 97 was priced at $59.99, the same release price for Madden 15.

 

[Ridge]

You raise a excellent point, the price point for games really hasn't changed that much over the last 15/20 years, which when you take inflation into account as you point out, games today are actually cheaper and provide greater value. Madden 97 was priced at $59.99, the same release price for Madden 15.

Madden 97

Madden 15

These two games cost the same upon on their respective release dates! Again, this is before taking inflation into account.

Why are people complaining?

Edit: This tiny post doesn't do it real justice. Open the images themselves to see what I'm talking about.

 

[niiro17]

It's actually cheaper. I know some of the big company are releasing games that has too many bugs but they spend their time to make this game. Not only one made this but a crew or more than 50 people who worked at the project. And you think it's expensive? Making games is not easy. If making games are easy, I don't need to buy games, I'll just make myself a game. But I don't know how to make it so I'll buy.