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Why the $70 next gen title price increase is horsesh*t.

lock2k

Banned
They are businesses, they don't have personalities. They have stockholders and have to make money. If they don't they will invest elsewhere and you will have less games to play. Due to inflation and rising costs of development, we are all paying one way or another. There is no free lunch.
  • Outsourcing - moving jobs to low paying countries.
  • Loot crates - and no not all games have them and they are becoming less popular and sometimes illegal.
  • Quality - ship games incomplete and buggy. Fallout 76
  • Game length - Just put less in the game, sell more later as DLC
  • Price - come games are not full price, they are cheaper to produce. We hade $40/50 releases this last gen. We have $20 indie games.
  • Remasters/Special ed - recoup costs with extra releases
  • Kill the resell market with physical- MS thought of this, want it to come real?
  • Digital market - more profit, no resale
You cannot just ignore the real price of game production, the consumer is paying no matter what. You either pay up front and make a healthy ecosystem or you force them to make you pay later or with hidden costs.

The fact that I paid more for some games in the 1980s than now is just staggering. Those game probably took 40 people 18 months to make versus hundreds of people for three years. Since I want more games being made and want more people in games development, I want to pay for my games. $70 is completely reasonable for a 10-40+ hours of entertainment IMO. Everyone has the option to not buy on release day and let the competitive nature of the market drive prices down.

Maybe I'm just a "moron", but at least I'm not a child who doesn't understand economics.

Where did I say they're not businesses? You completely misunderstood everything I said. Sigh. I was a business owner twice and I work for a large automotive company as a matter of fact. I know how businesses work and I don't give a flying fuck if their costs are bigger - I don't even play AAA games that much.

They are businesses, I'm a consumer, just like they're entitled to increase prices I'm entitled to tell them "fuck off, I won't buy it".

What I said is that many people have a hard on for businesses and even if the business rapes their mother and kidnaps their child or some other fuckery they will still defend the companies no matter what.

I have no idea why you felt personally offended by what I wrote by putting "moron" on quotation marks. Keep in mind that I live in Brazil (aka Moronland, where people will buy anything, for any price, no matter what, no matter how, no matter when).
 

Hudo

Member
Enjoy next gen.

9FWKFvv.jpg
That's a lot of money if the base game isn't included, lol.
 

DrDamn

Member
You can get both AC Valhalla and Watch Dogs Legion for less than £50.
You can get Godfall for £63 and Demon Souls for £65.
Sure - would I like them all to be cheaper? Of course I would. But to assume that all next gen games are going to be costing you £70 across the board here is just silly. Even if £70 becomes the standard RRP for every next gen game - as with previous gens, you'll be able to find most games with at least £5 off their RRP if not more.

That's a fair point, but not as applicable as it once was in the UK. There used to be deep discounts on RRP for big titles on release at retail. I'm also all digital now - and yes that's a choice I make. I do always get credit from somewhere like CDKeys to bring that cost down.

It also may be that titles come down a little - that's not unheard of - or that not most titles will be £70. Time will tell.

I'm also not strictly opposed to higher prices. My point was more about the discrepancy between price rises in the UK/EU vs in the US.
 

ThaGuy

Member
I don't mind paying $40-$70 for a game release if I know the content and features matches the price for what I want in said game. Hence why I buy Nintendo and non yearly games at launch.

This gen just shows me I have to do more research on any game I buy so that I know it's worth it for the price of admission.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
This is actually the least BS reason. No, I won't. I'll just wait for titles to drop in price or during a Steam sale. Good luck getting that new standard to stick.
Game sales are a percentage though. If a game is $60 and it's 75% off (typical max discount for most games) then you're paying $15. If that same game is 75% off but has a base price of $70, now you're paying $17.50. The cost of the game still went up.
 

Bogey

Banned
Not gonna lie, next gen prices are currently holding me off buying a PS5.

I've been a PC gamer all my life so far.
There are definitely a few PS exclusives I'd be interested in, so for the first time ever I really considered a PS5.
But seeing games at those prices, nah - I'll pass for the moment, that's not worth it for me. I already own a switch, but I've noticed I just completely mentally refuse to sell out 50 bucks or more for old games that are sold for under 10 bucks on PC. So the thing is now mostly collecting dust; wouldn't want the same to happen to my hypothetical PS5.

Maybe I'll eventually re-consider further down the line, when the more interesting PS5 exclusives have been out for a while and came down to non-ludicrous price levels
 
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70USD who the fuck cares, but 80EUR is pretty far from that (not sure how much of VAT, you have thrre in particular states)
Europe has to pay.

Don’t buy games at launch unless you think it’s worth.
And this logic exactly will lead to more price increases. Because people still buy it. There are millions people out there - for various people, various games will be worth it
 
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I'm not refuting the poor value, but I've seen this comparison a lot and it's worthless. You need to own The Witcher 3 to get access to that extra content. MM is standalone, you could have never touched the first game and be paying $50 for access to Insomniac's New York for the first time.
So you are basically trying to justify a full price for DLC?

I find it fascinating how everything is becoming more and more expensive, with MTX, DLC aiming for a full price (aside from full price for the original game), with various ultimate / platinum editions and now games are increasing the prices....And no end in sight. People still pay huge amounts of money and nothing can affect that.

In the past it was just DLCs, they did not cost full price so I did not care.
Then it was MTX, they were not obligatory so I did not care.
Now DLC aiming for a full price, but they were worth it so I did not care.
Then everything became full price, MTX reaching F2P level and I made a surprised pikachu face.
 
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AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
So you are basically trying to justify a full price for DLC?

The text you quoted contains the words "I'm not refuting the poor value"; no, I'm not justifying the price at all, I'm just stating that it's not DLC because it's a standalone title. Regardless of the perceived value it is objectively not DLC. It's not an opinion, it's just something people are throwing around to make it sounds worse than it is, much like "$70 for a PS3 port lol".

You're right that this won't stop though, people are queueing up around the block to buy a digital-only PS5 and force themselves into the new pricing model + never being able to get rid of the game. Go figure. People don't really give a shit, it'll sell well and people will enjoy it.
 
The text you quoted contains the words "I'm not refuting the poor value"; no, I'm not justifying the price at all, I'm just stating that it's not DLC because it's a standalone title. Regardless of the perceived value it is objectively not DLC. It's not an opinion, it's just something people are throwing around to make it sounds worse than it is, much like "$70 for a PS3 port lol".
DLC does not mean that it should require the original game. In fact I believe it is one of the reason why DLC started cost more over the generation - in the past they were the additional content to the main game and required the main game, so it was hard to justify the price. Now you can sell it separately and everybody is ok!

A lot of people justify the price for Miles Morales because it is a really good game. If it were so-so, suddenly the price is not worth it. It is always like this - if you are a fan of something, you will justify anything.

You're right that this won't stop though, people are queueing up around the block to buy a digital-only PS5 and force themselves into the new pricing model + never being able to get rid of the game. Go figure. People don't really give a shit, it'll sell well and people will enjoy it.
That I agree.
 
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Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Nothing has changed for me, I still willing to pay full price for games I know I'm going to enjoy. I have been gaming for a long time, at this point I know my own taste and I know what games is worth full price for me.

It's thanks to that, I was able to avoid waste my money on games like Avengers and Anthem.
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
DLC does not mean that it should require the original game.

If that's your definition of DLC, I guess. Some would call RDR Undead Nightmare and Episodes from Liberty City DLC, I wouldn't. They're games. Rockstar themselves put "two complete games" on the box. To me the term DLC to me is synonymous with paid additional content to a base game, everything from characters and levels to skins and cosmetics.
 
I'm happy to pay for games that I'm looking forward to, and that have been recieved/reviewed well.

Edit: 100% agree on the budget argument though. Can't just spend 100 mil on a game and think thats ok

Yea I mean, if I look at a game like Bloodborne and compare it to say a feature film... I paid $15 for 2-3 hours of entertainment... I played Bloodborne for 200+hrs ... I'm too lazy to do the math but I'm pretty sure it worked out better.

But game companies also need to watch out for the movie pitfall of allowing bigger returns to justify massive budgets that blow up in their face (RE6 anyone?).
 
70USD who the fuck cares, but 80EUR is pretty far from that (not sure how much of VAT, you have thrre in particular states)

I found this, it's pretty sizable jump. In USD it's ~89USD vs ~75USD. It's not 94USD which would be 80EUR, however with 25k CZK as average pay, not great.
(Apologies for the PS4 picture, it's same price on PS5)

9oVj2U2.png

02uFusO.png
If you had taxes the US price and EU price are very similar. For example in Oregan it’s like 10 percent. New York it’s high too.

There are states with little sales tax but the population is low in those places and in general those places are poor.
 

ThisIsMyDog

Member
If you had taxes the US price and EU price are very similar. For example in Oregan it’s like 10 percent. New York it’s high too.

There are states with little sales tax but the population is low in those places and in general those places are poor.
Thats still 77USD vs 95USD in Europe
 

UnNamed

Banned
70$ dollar a game at launch, since you can find the same game at half the price 3/4 months later.

If you're not Nintendo, of course.
 

lachesis

Member
The market will decide, I guess. I will definitely double think before getting any games at launch at this point.
It's not like most of us don't have any backlog to go back to - I certainly do have dozens of games still need to play. Even so, there's something buying the game at launch with much hype - and the hype bullet is much easier with lower price.
 

ReyBrujo

Member
When RDRII has horses whose ball shrink when it's cold, you know money could be shaved off somewhere.
I bought a copy of Mortal Kombat II for SNES in 1995 for USD 105 (living in Argentina). Its launch price was USD 60 in USA. 25 years later games are still USD 60. I'd be hard pressed to find anything that has maintained price stability for a quarter of a century :goog_unsure:
 
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I bought a copy of Mortal Kombat II for SNES in 1995 for USD 105 (living in Argentina). Its launch price was USD 60 in USA. 25 years later games are still USD 60. I'd be hard pressed to find anything that has maintained price stability for a quarter of a century :goog_unsure:

This is also a really, really, good point.

IIRC Star Fox, or LOTZ, was $70 on release.

That was ~30 years ago.
 

quest

Not Banned from OT
I bought a copy of Mortal Kombat II for SNES in 1995 for USD 105 (living in Argentina). Its launch price was USD 60 in USA. 25 years later games are still USD 60. I'd be hard pressed to find anything that has maintained price stability for a quarter of a century :goog_unsure:
Those games had the sunk cost of manufacturing and shipping cartridges. The market was also much smaller than today. The genesis and SNES combined for what 75 million consoles?
 

A.Romero

Member
I'm OK with the setting the prices. After all I'm the one deciding to pay or not.

BTW at least in Mexico 4K Blu-Rays are considerably more expensive than regular.
 

ReyBrujo

Member
IIRC Star Fox, or LOTZ, was $70 on release.
Yep, that came with the SFX chip so it was more expensive.

Those games had the sunk cost of manufacturing and shipping cartridges. The market was also much smaller than today. The genesis and SNES combined for what 75 million consoles?
True, but when they got rid of cartridges they kept it at USD 60 instead of passing those savings to the end consumer. Maybe it's their way of saying that full digital distribution is the necessary step to maintain that old pricetag (by removing second hand sales and physical distribution logistics)?
 

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
Just changes the value proposition for me. But I generally buy games expecting at least a few dozen hours of entertainment out of them. I mostly buy games that are very large or re-playable.. so honestly $70 is nothing compared to what I get.

The market will react to these new prices and we'll see what happens. Obviously I'd love for them to be cheaper but if a game is worth $60 to me it's quite possibly also worth at least $70 to me.. so whatever.
 
I wouldn't mind such increase for huge games with shitload of content like RDR2 or TW3/CP2077 but tier B AA games will most likely go to 70$ also. Which will force me to wait even longer before buying them.

One thing I like about Nintendo releases is that I can get a lot of them for 45-55 euro which is pretty comfortable for long jrpg/srpg like Xenoblade, Three Houses or Tokyo Mirage
 
The fact that limp-wristed hugboxes like r/games are downvoting the video simply because it lambasts their precious Polygon and Errant Signal should tell you just how right OP's video is. Those places are shills to the highest degree because their corporate partners have the right political views. God forbid you call out shitheads like Errant Signal because then you're a certifiable "chud".
 
I'd agree with the inflation argument, if it wasn't for the fact that games have gotten shitter and the industry has become relatively more lazy over the decades, while raking in more money than ever, by doing less.

You wanna jam my games full of ads, MTX and lootboxes? Gamepass it is.

You want to make decent, well rounded games that tell a story or are mechanically excellent? I'll pay the price.

But the industry can fuck itself if it think i'll pay over the odds for a half-baked, cookie-cutter piece of shit that sells DLC, Season passes and MTX out of the door.

I was nearly physically sick in Game when i saw Borderlands 3 'ultimate edition' (IE, it has all of the content that the devs made) for Ninety fucking Queen's Heads. 90 notes for that. Go bollocks.
 

Allandor

Member
Just don't forget the 30% Sony get's from every sold digital game. So $3 from the $10 extra are for Sony for digital games, even if the game is created by another developer. As we go more and more digital this is a big win for the shop-owner.

Btw, didn't we go to all digital because it would be much cheaper? At least that was what publisher promised (no resale, packaging, ...).
 

MrFunSocks

Banned
It’s the first RRP price rise in what, 15 years? In terms of price rises the video game industry has been one of the best industries in the world. I’m paying less for games on day 1 now than I did on the N64.
 

JimmyRustler

Gold Member
I've gotten pretty patient over the past few years, so this doesn't bother me at all. Also, thanks to fact that most games receive a patch marathon it's never been easier to wait. Not only because of the initial price but because 2-3 months later most games run much more stable and have often received more content.

I'll be buying Demons Souls at launch just to have a launch game and also because I appreciate that Sony is making it. From then on I'll play the waiting game for most of the upcoming games except the ones I really want to show support (say RE8 or so).
 

RPSleon

Member
These games make alot of profit though. Millions of dollars. If it was so hard to make money doing it they wouldn't spend millions in the first place.

What about the fact that its getting harder and harder to show growth to investors? No matter how much a game makes, the company needs to keep growing in percentage terms. Cant just keep making the same amount of profit every year. How do they do that? Micro transactions, subscriptions, price hikes on initial purchace like this. Id say its an artificial price increase purely for stock market growth.
 
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LectureMaster

Gold Member
Agreeing with first post. I'd even buy multiple copies to support the games that I love. Other than that, I won't pay for full price. In fact, I have finished 270+ games this gen and only around 20 of them were bought at 60 dollars.
 

GeorgPrime

Banned
This video right here summarizes why every argument in favor of the price hike is wrong.



For the TL;DW crowd:
  • "Budgets have gotten insane, so the price increase reflects that."
When RDRII has horses whose ball shrink when it's cold, you know money could be shaved off somewhere.
This is a management problem. Manage better.
  • "Movie tickets have gone up in price due to inflation. Why not videogames?"
Movie ticket prices vary by region, by time, and even by film. But overall, the price is not standardize, unlike gaming. Also, using DVD's doesn't work since those prices haven't gone up in over 15 years.
  • "It will get rid of loot boxes and micro-transactions. So it's either that or paying -$70."
No, it's gonna be both. Why would publishers get rid of such lucrative practice. They'll sell you the game at $70 while also shoving in MTX and lootboxes.
  • "Games will be better."
This is highly subjective and depends heavily on individual developers. And considering the state of the last two generations, I'll just keep my money instead.
  • "It's inevitable. People will pay it."
This is actually the least BS reason. No, I won't. I'll just wait for titles to drop in price or during a Steam sale. Good luck getting that new standard to stick.


just dont buy them for 70 Dollar and wait for them to drop in price or seasonal sales
 

HoodWinked

Member
I'm not really heavily opinionated either way however.

Feel like costs haven't actually increased that much because there are a lot of things they've been doing to offset costs like digital distribution, cutting out retail middlemen, bandwidth hosting costs have dropped, art assets being outsourced, better dev tools and support, sufficient amount of memory on consoles, release games brok... as early access.
 

John2290

Member
I went through every game I've popped a trophy in, that I bought for full price since early 2018 and every single third party AAA, full price 70 euro game is out along with a few exclusives that I was on the fence about, I can't say going back further cause it gets fuzzier to remember my thoughts on buying the games but one thing stood out to me, I bought games I'd never have bought cause they were 10 euro CHEAPER, like RE2 which I though looked like ass coming up to releases and then I paid another 60 euro on release for RE3 remake. There are a few I'd have bought on sale anyway but then most just go straight to disinterest and become that title I ponder over clicking during a sale. Most recently, I certainly wouldn't have gambled on Watch dogs Legion.

If you are sending me, a justified early adoption hardcore gamer down to the bargain bin wtf are you doing with the casual? After a pandemic and a financial crisis on the way? What are you doing to that FIfa or Madden childs parents when they tell them they can't have Fifa '23 at launch. Idiots are already well on the way to causing a market crash with their little MTX bubble and three different releases for every game and now they pull this and nudge each other along. Fuck, it's likely a good thing for me, at 70 euro and the time investment on the day gaming was too expensive for too long anyway, let them fuck it up until they've no other choice but to beg for our money.

With every bit of news of this Gen, they sent me from an early adopter to maybe a year one buy in but most likely a mid gen console or the first sale. I was so pumped at last year to be picking up both consoles and all like i did with the 7th gen and bounce back and forth but I'm considering taking part of the console funds and buying a switch and keep the rest as savings, I know it won't be going to either MS or Sony for at least a year, maybe two and I'm not even feeling buying Miles morales on ps4 atm either cause I know there is a better version out there and it's a glorified standalone expansion for very nearly full price.
 

adamosmaki

Member
they can f*** off honestly. I would have been ok with the price increase if they actually gave us a complete game and not selling us microtransactions, mini dlc and loot boxes and stopped doing the live services BS.
This gen i only bought 3games full price because i thought they worth full price and i intent to do the same this gen
 

The_Mike

I cry about SonyGaf from my chair in Redmond, WA
People argumenting its a good thing, why? I mean, it seems like pc and Xbox game prices won't raise, so why are you guys really cool with it?

I’ll be buying a lot more in sales next-gen. Prices in Australia are over $100 and I don’t see the value.

But 50 percent off a 80 euro game is still more than 50 percent on a 60 euro game.
 

bitbydeath

Member
People argumenting its a good thing, why? I mean, it seems like pc and Xbox game prices won't raise, so why are you guys really cool with it?



But 50 percent off a 80 euro game is still more than 50 percent on a 60 euro game.

For me it’s all about it crossing over into three digits. $99 I’m cool with. Most games I bought this gen were around $70-$80 but games shooting past $100 just feels like they’re pricing themselves out of the market.

Good luck to them, I’ll wait for a sale in most cases.
 
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Not sure he fairly handled the inflation argument, go back to the '90s when movie tickets were 5 dollars on average but video games still cost 50-60 dollars and sometimes more. Movie tickets have doubled in price since the '90s on average, have video games?


drbolEd.png
 

Sethbacca

Member
Not sure he fairly handled the inflation argument, go back to the '90s when movie tickets were 5 dollars on average but video games still cost 50-60 dollars and sometimes more. Movie tickets have doubled in price since the '90s on average, have video games?


drbolEd.png
And this doesn’t even take into account that there were many cart based games that were $80+
 

shaddam

Member
I buy 1, maximum 2 game on day 1 per year. The rest of my purchase is way below half price. I dont really feel the problem in my case.
 
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