Game prices for the past 30 years haven’t kept pace with inflation.
I recognise the argument that publishers are shifting larger volumes of units now, which has been a factor that has allowed the industry to keep price increases below inflation for the last 30 years.
Wages not being even close to keeping up with inflation (especially housing inflation) is the real issue here, not the $70/$80 video game.
You should be angry at your reduced purchasing power in all of society, not just with the price of Nintendo games.
(Secondary less unpopular opinion, the best games out these days are multiplatform and released at least 5 years ago, buy them for << $80 and wait for sale the new releases, when they too are 5 years old)
You must log in or register to comment.
Are the game developers and artists wages now being increased by the same percentage though? You are correct overall, especially in places like the UK where wages have been stagnant since like 2008 it feels like. But letting a company off the hook for raises “due to inflation” if they themselves are not raising their workers salaries to meet that inflation is bullshit.
Welcome to being an adult and finally realizing capitalism mainly involves screwing the workers and increasing product prices to make investors happy. We were never meant to be happy, just milked to death.
There are so many problems with the industry today, but the amount of venom in the discourse around $80 Mario Kart has felt bizarre to me. I do feel that there are much worse problems.
Like it’s worth mentioning how a lot of games already are well above $80 after DLC anyway, but I guess those games get a pass? Or just how fucked up most F2P business models are, exploiting whales to subsidize everybody else. I’d rather play a game where everyone pays a fair price than one where addicts are taken advantage of and encouraged to financially ruin themselves.
I don’t often buy games at full price myself. Only for a handful of IPs I really love, or multiplayer games I want to get in on the ground floor of, anything else I’ll wait for a sale. But the way I see it, if Kirby Air Ride 2 costs $80, I’m willing to spend $80 on that game because I know I will get that much enjoyment out of it. I’ve waited 22 years for this sequel, it’s worth it to me!
And I think ultimately, you gotta just buy the things that are worth it to you, skip the things that aren’t, and then chill the fuck out.
Like it’s worth mentioning how a lot of games already are well above $80 after DLC anyway, but I guess those games get a pass?
They do not, at all. Though, what do you think games will cost if the base is $80 and DLC is still a thing? Cuz the answer is more than it does now
Or just how fucked up most F2P business models are, exploiting whales to subsidize everybody else.
Also discussed all the time and is, in fact, one of the reasons this new price becoming a standard is worrying as it’s not just F2P games that do this shit
I’d rather play a game where everyone pays a fair price than one where addicts are taken advantage of and encouraged to financially ruin themselves
We all would, but that’s not what we’re going to get out of the price hike and you know it
But the way I see it, if Kirby Air Ride 2 costs $80, I’m willing to spend $80 on that game
And you’re the problem. That becomes the standard for all games now that Nintendo has broken the seal with their nostalgia spell and you helped them. How about you just pirate it if it’s so important that you play it, rather than directly support the death of the industry?
And I think ultimately, you gotta just buy the things that are worth it to you, skip the things that aren’t, and then chill the fuck out.
You seem to live in a world where Nintendo aren’t making decisions that impact the industry. If Nintendo makes more expensive games OK to do then every game gets more expensive. We don’t get to be selective, that’s the whole point
If you’re gonna accuse me of “supporting the death of the industry” for playing something I enjoy, you are exactly who I am talking to when I say chill the fuck out.
for playing something I enjoy
No, for mindlessly buying something at a higher price and then writing paragraphs defending yourself
When games cost $100+ it’s people like you that will be partly responsible, and that will cost me more money, so I will not “chill the fuck Out” and let you consume without pointing out what you’re doing
especially if you’re aware enough to be multi-paragraph defensive from the get-go
I would also like to add that 30 years ago devs had to write the engine and devtools from scratch. Player hardware and optimizations were also massive pain points that needed attention.
I would argue that cost of development has gotten CHEAPER than it was 30 years ago, even when taking the scope of today’s games into account. Not to mention the market is also orders of magnitude bigger.
Any schmuk today can take Unity/UE5/Godot and make something playable in a matter of days. Barrier to entry is practically non existent. Look at Palworld, Vampire Survivors, Among Us, Balatro, Terraria. For studios with AAA-level scope look at Larian studios, Warhorse studios, Eleventh hour games, Hello games.
Large studio execs with 0 substance who don’t know what they’re doing are spouting this inflation drivel as justification to raise prices of their already failing games as AA and indie teams run CIRCLES around them.
Maybe development in the sense that it is easier for programmers to put together the logic of the game, but game budgets are in the hundreds of millions now they have not gotten cheaper. You’re forgetting that artists are needed to create all the high quality textures and objects needed to populate the gameworld. As gamers have called for more and more unrealistic standards of graphical fidelity, more and more budgets have gone to the legions of graphical artists necessary.
They’re still underpaying them, but indies can get away with having maybe one guy as their whole art team. Check the credits for how many studios helped the art for the next AAA game you play.
As gamers have called for more and more unrealistic standards of graphical fidelity
Been around long enough to remember it wasn’t the gamers doing that, it was the game makers. Specifically the c-suites
There’s 0 justification for games going up in cost other than the c-suites, end of story
