The controversial boss of Embracer Group has discussed the topic of increasing the price of video games beyond $70 amid rising development costs and an increasingly competitive market.
One half of my mind wishes developers did make more money because these games are so much more effort than the games that were the same price decades ago, but the other half knows that devs don’t see a dime of that hiked price.
The more something costs the more I expect from it. Baldur’s Gate 3, was $60 on release. If you want that or more from me, my personal expectation is your game is if the same quality or better.
I’m not even going to wait for a sale. Because by the time a decent sale comes around an indie developer has made a better game for cheaper, and I’ve already bought it, and I’m playing it. Your old, overpriced game means nothing to me. There is no shortage of entertainment and the hype for these games often dies so fast you’re really not missing out.
Basically buy any game that Tim Cain and/or Brian Fargo were involved with, and you’re set.
They are older so they don’t rely on expensive hardware, they are usually replayable, they’ve usually won a lot of awards, and they are usually very cheap.
Did you know that Coffee Stain Studios, the publisher behind the beloved pro-consumer Deep Rock Galactic, belongs to Embracer Group? I’m sure this mentality will lead to nothing bad happening to the monetization of this game in the long run.
I mean, let them try? I, for one, basically stopped buying new games (with the occasional exception for an indie dev). By the time the worst bugs are fixed, it’ll be on sale for 50% off anyway.
Yeah, I don’t see any reason to buy (or pre buy!) any game at all. At launch you’re paying double for a beta version basically. Like you said, wait for the actual game to be released a few months later at a good price.
Good call mentioning pre-orders as well. I never did it back in the age of physical media, but there was at least a reason for it then. Now the only reason to do it is to get some bonus skins or other garbage with your buggy game.
I’ve loved every Besthesda game and preordered Fallout 76…learned from that mistake and never again. I’ll put games on my steam list and wait for a sale.
I just picked up Fallout 2 at GOG for $2.49. There are so many games you can get for less than the price of a coffee. The best way to fight against these prices is to simply not buy.
I think I bought Shadow of the Beast for almost that much in 1988 or 89. Of course, it came with a t-shirt and cool Roger Dean poster, which added some to the cost.
Point being, games certainly were this expensive for a long time, and I’d agree with them being that expensive again, but for the money going to vulture capitalists who’ll soak me via DLC on top of that. And I won’t get a Roger Dean poster, even.
You realize that sales come in varying magnitudes, right? Each individual decides what a game is worth to them, and if that means a 50% sale might have been sufficient for a $60 game, but that it’ll take a 65% sale to make an $80 game worth it, then so be it.
There’s a fundamental disconnect here and I’m not sure where it is, so let me just explain my position and maybe you can tell me where you’re confused.
Let’s take, for instance, a game which at full price is $40, a game that’s $60, and a game that’s $80.
In all of these cases, let’s assume I have decided that I am willing to pay $20.
In the first case, I will wait for a 50% sale, and buy the game.
In the second case, I will wait for a 66% sale, and buy the game.
In the third case, I will wait for a 75% sale, and buy the game.
If that sale magnitude doesn’t happen, I won’t buy the game. Similarly, if I’ve lost interest in the game by the time that sale magnitude happens, I won’t buy the game.
It’s very simple. Nobody is forcing you to pay $80 for a game, and nobody is forcing you to buy it just because it’s 50% off, if the 50% off price is not low enough that you feel it’s worth your money to buy it. It’s OK to just not ever buy a game.
And now increase the price a little more, until you never ever reach your 20 bucks target price point. Please just stop playing obtuse. You should know how percentages work.
At this point I see anything above $40 as a red flag. Free games or $60 games and I’m almost guaranteed to be treated as the product instead of the other way around.
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: [email protected]
No game suggestions, friend requests, surveys, or begging.
No Let’s Plays, streams, highlight reels/montages, random videos or shorts.
No off-topic posts/comments, within reason.
Use the original source, no clickbait titles, no duplicates.
(Submissions should be from the original source if possible, unless from paywalled or non-english sources.
If the title is clickbait or lacks context you may lightly edit the title.)
One half of my mind wishes developers did make more money because these games are so much more effort than the games that were the same price decades ago, but the other half knows that devs don’t see a dime of that hiked price.
The more something costs the more I expect from it. Baldur’s Gate 3, was $60 on release. If you want that or more from me, my personal expectation is your game is if the same quality or better.
I’m not even going to wait for a sale. Because by the time a decent sale comes around an indie developer has made a better game for cheaper, and I’ve already bought it, and I’m playing it. Your old, overpriced game means nothing to me. There is no shortage of entertainment and the hype for these games often dies so fast you’re really not missing out.
I always stick to the $1 per hour rule
I don’t want to invest 30+ hours into a game
Basically buy any game that Tim Cain and/or Brian Fargo were involved with, and you’re set.
They are older so they don’t rely on expensive hardware, they are usually replayable, they’ve usually won a lot of awards, and they are usually very cheap.
Did you know that Coffee Stain Studios, the publisher behind the beloved pro-consumer Deep Rock Galactic, belongs to Embracer Group? I’m sure this mentality will lead to nothing bad happening to the monetization of this game in the long run.
deleted by creator
This headline doubles as a punchline. Neat.
I mean, let them try? I, for one, basically stopped buying new games (with the occasional exception for an indie dev). By the time the worst bugs are fixed, it’ll be on sale for 50% off anyway.
Yeah, I don’t see any reason to buy (or pre buy!) any game at all. At launch you’re paying double for a beta version basically. Like you said, wait for the actual game to be released a few months later at a good price.
Yup. If it says $60 or more that’s just beta pricing.
Hey, Pokemon never goes down in price and is that much!
…Wait that just supports your argument
Did Game Freak ever bother fixing the performance issues of Scarlet/Violet?
No. No they did not
Sounds about right…
Good call mentioning pre-orders as well. I never did it back in the age of physical media, but there was at least a reason for it then. Now the only reason to do it is to get some bonus skins or other garbage with your buggy game.
I’ve loved every Besthesda game and preordered Fallout 76…learned from that mistake and never again. I’ll put games on my steam list and wait for a sale.
I just picked up Fallout 2 at GOG for $2.49. There are so many games you can get for less than the price of a coffee. The best way to fight against these prices is to simply not buy.
My backlog contains way too many games, and most of the games I really want day 1 are produced by indie devs.
Embracer won’t see me buying a game at full price, $70 or more.
Yes
Yarr?
“Hey dude, did you try this new game?” Nope. I don’t have a six figure salary.
And I’m mulling over never buying any of their games.
I think I bought Shadow of the Beast for almost that much in 1988 or 89. Of course, it came with a t-shirt and cool Roger Dean poster, which added some to the cost.
Point being, games certainly were this expensive for a long time, and I’d agree with them being that expensive again, but for the money going to vulture capitalists who’ll soak me via DLC on top of that. And I won’t get a Roger Dean poster, even.
Many ganes are 80€ in Europe, some even in digital format, they can fuck right off
Who do they think they are? An AAAA publisher? Only Ubisoft has that dubious claim.
Bitch please. I ain’t buyin nothin till it’s on sale 60% off on steam.
Do it. If people want to pay high prices for brand new video games, let them pay it. I’ll just do what I’ve always done; wait for a sale.
You realize this consequentially also increases the reduced price of a sale, right?
You realize that sales come in varying magnitudes, right? Each individual decides what a game is worth to them, and if that means a 50% sale might have been sufficient for a $60 game, but that it’ll take a 65% sale to make an $80 game worth it, then so be it.
You understand that games don’t just get cheaper until the are on 100% sales, right?
There’s a fundamental disconnect here and I’m not sure where it is, so let me just explain my position and maybe you can tell me where you’re confused.
Let’s take, for instance, a game which at full price is $40, a game that’s $60, and a game that’s $80.
In all of these cases, let’s assume I have decided that I am willing to pay $20.
In the first case, I will wait for a 50% sale, and buy the game.
In the second case, I will wait for a 66% sale, and buy the game.
In the third case, I will wait for a 75% sale, and buy the game.
If that sale magnitude doesn’t happen, I won’t buy the game. Similarly, if I’ve lost interest in the game by the time that sale magnitude happens, I won’t buy the game.
It’s very simple. Nobody is forcing you to pay $80 for a game, and nobody is forcing you to buy it just because it’s 50% off, if the 50% off price is not low enough that you feel it’s worth your money to buy it. It’s OK to just not ever buy a game.
And now increase the price a little more, until you never ever reach your 20 bucks target price point. Please just stop playing obtuse. You should know how percentages work.
It’s really not difficult. You don’t have to buy the game. You can just choose not to play it.
So when everyone adapts those new prices, you’ll quit buying games / quit gaming / pirate everything. That’s your glorious solution.
Not if you wait enough
Please understand how percentages work, because that’s quite literally not true.
If you wait enough the sale % will drop ex: from a 50% sale to 70% a sale
At this point I see anything above $40 as a red flag. Free games or $60 games and I’m almost guaranteed to be treated as the product instead of the other way around.