Lets say you get the 1 month pass, play any games you want and are part of that “service” for the duration, once it runs out you lose access to the games (unless you crack the downloaded files for them which would be like not returning the “rented” game I guess)
Personally just feels like the same scam cable tv was and now transforming into streaming services with ads.
The $60/$70 price tag on video games from major makers is an entry fee, it doesn’t get you the full game anymore. You have to pay for luxury editions, expansions, microtransactions of some sort, battle pass. It’s cheaper to start a tabletop miniature army than play video games now.
Paying for an expansion to a game you like doesn’t seem like it belongs that list. DLC from the Souls games (Bloodborne included) adds a ton to its respective base games.
Is it? What game requires any of that? Even the most microtransation heavy games lile NBA 2k and Fifa are perfectly playable without micro transactions. You’ll still get a top team you’ll still get 100s of hours out of it.
That’s what indie games are for, instead of these absurd-budget blockbusters that often aren’t even fun, but also, the world just needs to be cheaper to live in. Games are first on the chopping block because disposable income for entertainment is always the first to collapse.
Unfortunately, some genres struggle going indie because they’re too expensive to develop and aren’t guaranteed to sell well. There is a reason PlatinumGames can’t afford to make Bayonetta if Nintendo doesn’t put up the money, for example, and almost every indie studio that attempts a similar feat has to spend years and years in early access.
The Genokids developer has been working on the game for +5 years and has only 2 chapters to show for it. Mahou Arms released on Steam in April 2020, and is still in early access today.
The world has become too expensive for some things to comfortably exist, or exist at all, unfortunately.
But video games were limited by physical copies back then. Supply was limited, and it cost the publisher multiple dollars, sometimes in the double digits, to manufacture the physical goods to sell. But with that you got a usually complete mostly bug-free game (as in, if there were bugs they usually were not commonly found in normal gameplay), as patches werent really a thing and making physical revisions was expensive. You also got the entire game that you paid for, all the content in the game was available to you from your one purchase. You can lend it to a friend if you want, too.
Nowadays we get sold half of a game that barely works for $70, so you can get the other half by buying the next 14 $20 battlepasses and playing only that one game for the next 5 years to finally get all the content of the game. You also cant let your friend borrow the game.
I don’t need to pay for a dev team that is overbloated with too many people, a marketing team that thinks every ad needs to have a Beatles song, and an executive that just demands more profit. Dev teams need to get smaller, marketing budgets need to shrink, and executives need to be less greedy. They already make record profits, they do not need more.
Just to really put it into perspective: if a Nintendo64 sold for $55, the developer would usually see a profit of about $6 or $7. Compare that to the immense profit that happens now. Its not even close.
haha, that’s certainly true for your Call of Duties and whatnot. But I will always gladly pay $60-$70 for a mainline Zelda game, especially for the physical copy. I agree that digital copies should be discounted.
Rimworld plus all DLCs is over $100 too, but could last you a literal lifetime in replayability. It’s not the price, but the price per quality content delivered.
Last game I paid over €20 was Remnant from the ashes 2, and it was €50 with a whole year of DLC content included. Most of the games announced this week like the sequel to Kena, will buy when they are €20 too. You get the game at a fair price AND actually finished.
If you’re doing sync, you can tell it to remove items from your waitlist when they are added to collection. It won’t work retroactively, but it will do it going forward.
Bloomberg’s all broken for me, so going by the snippet:
I get the impression the absolute majority of games aren’t even past the 40 USD threshold, including the majority of successful games I see in the wild. If the snippet considers the AAA games as a good sample for the gaming market, I’d argue otherwise, that they’re a loud minority of games, and a decaying one at that for multiple reasons, including the bloated prices.
These price hikes could not have come at a worse time, not just in the sense of the general cash people have but in the sense that video games right now are straight up not interesting.
Good games are not being made anymore. Bloated “experiences” designed to keep you hooked and spending money are being made. I can’t even accuse them of being casino games because that would more fun and interesting.
The rise in price comes at a time when we have virtually limitless backlogs of digital and physical games that are superb and high quality and indie games that get better and better. The price alone isn’t the issue, it’s the price and stagnation of game design
My rule of thumb is $1 per hour of gameplay. So if I don’t expect to get at least 70 hours out of a game, I’m not paying $70 for it. I don’t consider it a bargain until I get down to significantly less than a dollar per hour.
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Bring back rentals
Don’t microslop and friends peddle some game pass and similar subscriptions? Game rental with extra steps.
Subscriptions =/= Rental
Is it really that different though?
Lets say you get the 1 month pass, play any games you want and are part of that “service” for the duration, once it runs out you lose access to the games (unless you crack the downloaded files for them which would be like not returning the “rented” game I guess)
Personally just feels like the same scam cable tv was and now transforming into streaming services with ads.
The difference is I got to choose the game I rented and the duration, not some preselected list of which 95% of it I am never going to touch.
Remember Gamefly?
Gamepass wasn’t a bad idea, and it was actually pretty cool when it first came out. It was basically Microsoft’s Gamefly.
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AAA games are significantly cheaper in real terms than they were in the 90s.
30 CAD in 1993 is about 58 CAD today, and those weren’t even the most expensive games in the flyer you saw then.
Especially console titles were expensive by modern standards, the main titles like Mario games retailed for something like 150 USD in 2026 dollars.
Do you know how inflation works? Cause good God this statement…
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The $60/$70 price tag on video games from major makers is an entry fee, it doesn’t get you the full game anymore. You have to pay for luxury editions, expansions, microtransactions of some sort, battle pass. It’s cheaper to start a tabletop miniature army than play video games now.
Paying for an expansion to a game you like doesn’t seem like it belongs that list. DLC from the Souls games (Bloodborne included) adds a ton to its respective base games.
There are examples that I can excuse. I’m more of looking at the likes of Destiny 2 or World of Warcraft.
Is it? What game requires any of that? Even the most microtransation heavy games lile NBA 2k and Fifa are perfectly playable without micro transactions. You’ll still get a top team you’ll still get 100s of hours out of it.
That’s what indie games are for, instead of these absurd-budget blockbusters that often aren’t even fun, but also, the world just needs to be cheaper to live in. Games are first on the chopping block because disposable income for entertainment is always the first to collapse.
Unfortunately, some genres struggle going indie because they’re too expensive to develop and aren’t guaranteed to sell well. There is a reason PlatinumGames can’t afford to make Bayonetta if Nintendo doesn’t put up the money, for example, and almost every indie studio that attempts a similar feat has to spend years and years in early access.
The Genokids developer has been working on the game for +5 years and has only 2 chapters to show for it. Mahou Arms released on Steam in April 2020, and is still in early access today.
The world has become too expensive for some things to comfortably exist, or exist at all, unfortunately.
Games have been $60 since the 90’s and people need to quit bitching about this.
Have they? I’ve seen many games costing up to $100 or more if you want the complete game.
Many standard editions of triple-A games have been chopped to the point where even the proper ending is part of DLC that requires a season pass.
Some design their games in such away that they can sell quality of life features or some kind convenience for players. (Basically subtle form of P2W)
Some have turned their games to billboards for DLC, micro transactions, season passes and even other games.
Games were more than $60 in the 90s.
But video games were limited by physical copies back then. Supply was limited, and it cost the publisher multiple dollars, sometimes in the double digits, to manufacture the physical goods to sell. But with that you got a usually complete mostly bug-free game (as in, if there were bugs they usually were not commonly found in normal gameplay), as patches werent really a thing and making physical revisions was expensive. You also got the entire game that you paid for, all the content in the game was available to you from your one purchase. You can lend it to a friend if you want, too.
Nowadays we get sold half of a game that barely works for $70, so you can get the other half by buying the next 14 $20 battlepasses and playing only that one game for the next 5 years to finally get all the content of the game. You also cant let your friend borrow the game.
I don’t need to pay for a dev team that is overbloated with too many people, a marketing team that thinks every ad needs to have a Beatles song, and an executive that just demands more profit. Dev teams need to get smaller, marketing budgets need to shrink, and executives need to be less greedy. They already make record profits, they do not need more.
Just to really put it into perspective: if a Nintendo64 sold for $55, the developer would usually see a profit of about $6 or $7. Compare that to the immense profit that happens now. Its not even close.
haha, that’s certainly true for your Call of Duties and whatnot. But I will always gladly pay $60-$70 for a mainline Zelda game, especially for the physical copy. I agree that digital copies should be discounted.
60? Maybe. 70? Never until now. 80? Definitely never until now.
true that.
D’oh. I could make a counterargument, but I don’t think it is needed.
And the DLC and “Deluxe” editions… The price of a AAA game is well over $100 now.
Rimworld plus all DLCs is over $100 too, but could last you a literal lifetime in replayability. It’s not the price, but the price per quality content delivered.
Let’s go, another chapter of letting a small amount of AAA games dictate our perception of video game prices.
Last game I paid over €20 was Remnant from the ashes 2, and it was €50 with a whole year of DLC content included. Most of the games announced this week like the sequel to Kena, will buy when they are €20 too. You get the game at a fair price AND actually finished.
The only wise approach in these times of unfinished and half-assed games. Just wait a year or so. Added bonus is the discount 😊
Just don’t buy Triple A titles.
The last “AAA” title I bought was elden ring for 30$ (unless you count Silk Song)
There are plenty of indie style, A or AA studios that are in the 5-30$ range.
The more people who move over to that type of mindset and buy from small titles, the more apt that large companies are going to lower their prices.
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They already are. It’s called - sales.
The problem are people going out in droves, willingly spending $70 or more on special editions. They’ve caved to FOMO and it is a them problem.
We’re still in the best age of gaming where there are sales in all directions.
Check out ITAD then… lots of ways to make sure you get stuff super cheap.
https://isthereanydeal.com/
Though it’s really confusing to set up.
Btw, do i have to manually unsubscribe games i unsubscribed/bought on Steam and GoG? Synch is set up.
If you’re doing sync, you can tell it to remove items from your waitlist when they are added to collection. It won’t work retroactively, but it will do it going forward.
Bloomberg’s all broken for me, so going by the snippet:
I get the impression the absolute majority of games aren’t even past the 40 USD threshold, including the majority of successful games I see in the wild. If the snippet considers the AAA games as a good sample for the gaming market, I’d argue otherwise, that they’re a loud minority of games, and a decaying one at that for multiple reasons, including the bloated prices.
https://gg.deals/ is pretty nice for PC games at least
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Or live with AA and indie games like many of us do, at tell AAA publishers to get fucked by not spending money on their live-service crap.
These price hikes could not have come at a worse time, not just in the sense of the general cash people have but in the sense that video games right now are straight up not interesting.
Good games are not being made anymore. Bloated “experiences” designed to keep you hooked and spending money are being made. I can’t even accuse them of being casino games because that would more fun and interesting.
The rise in price comes at a time when we have virtually limitless backlogs of digital and physical games that are superb and high quality and indie games that get better and better. The price alone isn’t the issue, it’s the price and stagnation of game design
Im tired of early access hell, most games never reaching roadmap goals, never leaving early access
Games have been $60 forever, $70 is a relative bargain
My rule of thumb is $1 per hour of gameplay. So if I don’t expect to get at least 70 hours out of a game, I’m not paying $70 for it. I don’t consider it a bargain until I get down to significantly less than a dollar per hour.
The games have never been easier to make and the market bigger, fuck their margins
The margins haven’t changed that much, I’m making a point that $60 in 2005 is the equivalent of like $100 today