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I've made a small experiment and calculated how much money I've spent on games through last year

TheGejsza

Member
A quick background - this is probably my last year of hardcore gaming, in late january I am expecting my firstborn so the time to play games will be limited. I decided to do a 1 year datasheet to see how much money I spend on games. Here are results and some conclusions:

  • First of all - fuck PS5 game prices, they are too high, the psychic barrier is still there. I just can't justify spending 70Euro on single title. I've sold all PS5 titles beside RE8: Village. I kept Village because the price was still "last-gen" and I want to play it on PSVR2. I am planning to keep selling games it if those prices will stay. I also want to add that through whole PS4 generation (and I had PS4 since Infamous release) I sold maybe 2 or 3 titles. PS5 prices really opened my eyes on reselling and now I just don't see a reason to keep boxes on a shelf. Also I can see A LOT MORE used copies being sold in Poland.

  • I also bought quite a lot of PS4 games that had upgrades on PS5 (especially 60 FPS ones). If I am buying games cheaper I don't care about reselling and it can clearly be seen that Sony got more money form my by selling me more cheaper games.

  • Despite having brand new gen console since launch day I still played a lot on ma old PC - I think Sony really fucked up the post R&C Rift Apart line-up.

  • CP2077 was such an awful experience, both in terms of gameplay and getting refund from Sony.

  • Returnal was a great experience (although I played a lot way better rogulikes), but I could not allow myself to play for few hours without a break. I've put PS5 in rest mode but nobody else could touch console until I finished the game. The lack of mid-run saves killed this game for me, I often had to rush my death because my wife needed my attention or just wanted to do something else.

  • After 1 year of owning PS5 I wanted to buy XBOX Series X this fall - gamepass seems like a really good option right now, also console seems to be a bit more powerful than PS5. On top of it I am super mad about Sony disingenuous marketing campaign for the first year of PS5. I don't have a problem that GoW:Ragnarok and GT7 being crossgen if Sony would said it right away. Instead they had this really mischevious marketing campaign showing all those next-gen titles just to later drop info about titles being cross-gen. They were fully aware what they were doing. Also their paid upgrades is total bullshit. As of now - I really hate PS5-era Sony. Their dishonesty makes me sick, I hade when companies treates me like an idiot with sack of money.

  • I did not bought XSX because of scalpers. Instead I decided I'll try VR experience and I am glad I did it. It's like discovering world of games again. I had disposable income and wanted to do my last jump into gaming before having kids and I am glad I could experience VR.

  • I don't buy a lot of Switch games, console gets a bit dusty.

  • I am extremely sad that Elden Ring release date has been pushed. I was hoping it will be my farewell game.


image-2021-11-01-230155.png
 
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TheGejsza

Member
I spend in the thousands of dollars every year on gaming. More on years with new hardware.
Well I did not count hardware. I spend quite a lot of money on hardware this year too. I expected that PS5 dropping will suck my wallet dry (especially considering my PC is getting old) but somehow there was not a lot o games for me.
 
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Edgelord79

Gold Member
Congratulations on your first!! I empathize. I had to literally give up games for the first couple of years due to time. By the time 7 pm rolls around just too tired. Plus the money is definitely better used elsewhere. In fact, you'll want to spend it elsewhere anyhow. Probably on Advil xD.

You'll get time for games as they get older though.
 
I could give you an exact number were I home (I keep a running spreadsheet). But the last time I checked, since mid-2012, the total was somewhere near $15k, which includes hardware purchases (systems, displays, peripherals, etc.) and 800+ games.

There are worse ways to spend one’s money. Granted, I only manage to play around 10-15 hours per week, with the exception of this last year after being laid off.
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
I'm sorry but videogames are a cheap hobby. $491 is not shit compared to what you spend if you're into cars or outdoor excursions or firearms. I know not everyone's financial position is the same, but $491 for a year of doing something you love I mean come on.

Congrats on the kid by the way. That obviously takes priority.
 

reksveks

Member
I should do this but I am bad at tagging up my money dashboard transactions so I wouldn't be any good at this.

Just went through the ms order history, and up to 551 gbp on like 29 transactions. I can't remember when I built my PC, think that was late last year
 
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Kenneth Haight

Gold Member
Congratulations on the new arrival. Best thing to ever happen to me, definitely don’t get as much time for games but it creates a nice backlog and is then cheaper. I’ll have time in the future, treasure the time with your kid. Special times.
 

M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
I'm sorry but videogames are a cheap hobby. $491 is not shit compared to what you spend if you're into cars or outdoor excursions or firearms. I know not everyone's financial position is the same, but $491 for a year of doing something you love I mean come on.

Congrats on the kid by the way. That obviously takes priority.
Yeah, with my flying hobby I can blow 10k USD in one weekend.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
My Gold and GPU $1 was topped up for 3 years in 2019 ending in 2022, so nothing on that. Since beginning of the year.

- Bought off Steam and GOG maybe about $60-70 of games (10+ games at dirt cheap deals)

- Diablo 2 day one. $70 ($60+ tax)

- About $30 of Xbox indie games

- Xbox wireless headset (about $150 all in)

- So add it up and I got $320 CDN. Maybe round up to $350 if I missed something small

- I can live off Game Pass
 
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elliot5

Member
Not including the cost of the XSX or my PC hardware, I think I've spent around... $160 maybe. 3 Years Brazil Gold -> convert, Death's Door, Valheim, and probably some other dumb shit I'm forgetting about.
 
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Plantoid

Member
I buy 5 or 6 games a year, but I never pay full price, in my country a launch title is insane, other than that I pay full price for gamepass...

In US dollars that's $283
 

M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
What hobby is that? I am so poor
Having a license (PPL) for flying, but not enough money to own my own plane. So borrowing fees, airport fees, fuel, sometimes destination airport fees, etc. But I am do it sporadically, this year it was like 3 times this big, most of the time I am dicking around small grass field and flying friend's Cessna 152. Or recently playing flight sim on Xbox.
 

Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
All i spent this year is gamepass, ps+ and Spiderman miles morales, ive barely played Spiderman, i play mainly gamepass and ps5+ collection, ps+ games and my switch backlog.
 
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Rickyiez

Member
I'm sorry but videogames are a cheap hobby. $491 is not shit compared to what you spend if you're into cars or outdoor excursions or firearms. I know not everyone's financial position is the same, but $491 for a year of doing something you love I mean come on.

Congrats on the kid by the way. That obviously takes priority.
This , there are others who gamble into stock options as hobby so it's really not a big deal as long as you're buying the games you actually play and enjoyed it instead of hoarding unnecessary backlog
 

Fredrik

Member
This is an interesting thread!

I haven’t tried to add up software but I’ll do it now and I did this for hardware too awhile back, added up everything since 2014.


PC hardware 2014-2021

Complete PC 2014 22000kr
ASUS Gsync screen 4600kr
980 Ti 7300kr
Benq screen 2600kr
1080ti 9600kr
CPU, RAM, MB, SSD upgrade 2020 8000kr
3070ti 10900kr

Total ~65000kr
~ 7600 USD


Console hardware 2014-2021

PS4 4000kr
XB1 5000kr
Switch 4000kr
XB1X 5500kr
XSX 5500kr
Xbox Exp Card 2500kr
PS5 6500kr

Total ~ 33000kr
~3800 USD


Games 2021


Luckily game costs has gone down for me after I started leeching from Gamepass. I haven’t bought a single game on Xbox this year.

But I have a PS5 too as you see above, my total game cost this year for 3 games (DS, Ratchet, FF7RI) is 2334kr, or 274 USD.

On Switch I’ve only bought Metroid Dread this year, 599kr, or 70 USD

On PC this year I’ve bought a few games on sale, plus Biomutant, Skyrim VR, Alyx, total 1199kr, or 140 USD

I just realized I haven’t added up the cost for Oculus Quest 2 in the hardware list above, it’s roughly 600 USD with the add-ons and for games this year it’s 879kr, or 103 USD

Total game cost for 2021
617 USD

Total hardware cost for 2021
1960 USD

Total hardware cost 2014-2021
12000 USD


It would be interesting to add up the total game cost from 2014-2021 just to see if games are as expensive as hardware if you add it up over generations. But it’s too much work. I did it for movies many years ago. It’s scary… but interesting!

And congrats on the kid OP! Things will be awesome going forward, you can still play but maybe not right away. Choose games that aren’t too scary, Nintendo games, Minecraft. And play at the night by yourself.
I play a lot of games with my kids beside me in the couch, played through Ratchet this summer, doing a Metroid Dread playthrough right now. It’s great! They get so excited so the games get even better that way. The Ratchet playthrough was amazing! Kids are awesome 🙂
 
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reksveks

Member
This year on the MS store only, I am upto 551 gbp over about 24 orders so that's giving you insight into the type of games that I am currently playing.
 

mxbison

Member
Haven't spent much this year because there haven't been many games I'm interested in. Probably like 200€.

I don't mind spending money on things I enjoy. And gaming is still a pretty cheap hobby compared to a lot of other things. My sports equipment is like the price of a PS5 and XSX combined, and that stuff is worn out and broken after just a couple of years.
 
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Banjo64

cumsessed
I'm sorry but videogames are a cheap hobby. $491 is not shit compared to what you spend if you're into cars or outdoor excursions or firearms. I know not everyone's financial position is the same, but $491 for a year of doing something you love I mean come on.

Congrats on the kid by the way. That obviously takes priority.
Fuck a hobby, we spend £20-£25 every Friday night on a takeaway. That’s between £1040 and £1300 a year. That’s how I can justify buying a game whenever I want to.
 
I'm sorry but videogames are a cheap hobby. $491 is not shit compared to what you spend if you're into cars or outdoor excursions or firearms. I know not everyone's financial position is the same, but $491 for a year of doing something you love I mean come on.

Congrats on the kid by the way. That obviously takes priority.
I wish car audio was as cheap as gaming. 1200 for 2 subs, 2k for the amp, 600 for alternator, plus custom bracket and tooling, and 1200 for batteries... Gaming is hella cheap, even with a chip shortage.

Some hobbies are much cheaper, yet I'll pay for the hardware, but be cheap on game sales. *Empathy reaction*
 

Fredrik

Member
Fuck a hobby, we spend £20-£25 every Friday night on a takeaway. That’s between £1040 and £1300 a year. That’s how I can justify buying a game whenever I want to.
I count in pizza! 😁 Gamepass is half a pizza per month for me. It’s nothing. A full price game is 6 pizzas, 8 for a Sony game. It’s something but still not much compared to what I go nom-nom on every year.
 

Bartski

Gold Member
I'm thinking about doing my own in December, just to see how cheap this hobby is having spent probably a double of that.

I used to spend over 100 usd a month on cigarettes alone for 23 years, imagine that. Quitting is what pays for all my gaming now and more.
 

Fredrik

Member
I wish car audio was as cheap as gaming. 1200 for 2 subs, 2k for the amp, 600 for alternator, plus custom bracket and tooling, and 1200 for batteries... Gaming is hella cheap, even with a chip shortage.

Some hobbies are much cheaper, yet I'll pay for the hardware, but be cheap on game sales. *Empathy reaction*
I don’t have any insight in car audio but I dabble with hifi and guitars and stuff like that. The thing with audio is that it’ll last longer, I don’t feel like you get pushed into upgrades the same way as you do in gaming. I have speakers that are 20 years old that still sounds great and I bought my Peavy amp over 20 years ago, still deliver what I want.

Meanwhile the Xbox One X I bought just 4 years ago is just sitting in a box now beside the PS4, WiiU, XB1, 360 etc etc. The TV I bought 4 years ago to get 4K for XB1X lacks VRR and ”needs” to be upgraded soon. Games I bought 4 years ago is just a line in the games library and some sweet memories.

Gaming may not be as expensive initially as audio gear can be but the total cost will add up over time from how fast the hobby moves.
 
I don’t have any insight in car audio but I dabble with hifi and guitars and stuff like that. The thing with audio is that it’ll last longer, I don’t feel like you get pushed into upgrades the same way as you do in gaming. I have speakers that are 20 years old that still sounds great and I bought my Peavy amp over 20 years ago, still deliver what I want.

Meanwhile the Xbox One X I bought just 4 years ago is just sitting in a box now beside the PS4, WiiU, XB1, 360 etc etc. The TV I bought 4 years ago to get 4K for XB1X lacks VRR and ”needs” to be upgraded soon. Games I bought 4 years ago is just a line in the games library and some sweet memories.

Gaming may not be as expensive initially as audio gear can be but the total cost will add up over time from how fast the hobby moves.
Same goes for hifi gear. You don't need an upgrade at all. There's no "better technology" introduced over the years, besides amplification topology, for instance class D amplification, or xbl^2 motors on subs. I'll only have to replace stuff if I clip my subs, or give them 3-4x over their RMS capabilities. And that's only a recone at worst.

Gaming will definitely cost more in the long run, unless you are into the constant upgrades, like bigger amp, more subs, etc. Home audio is pennies compared to car audio, if you're really into it (excluding super hifi setups)
 
Spend about 80-100 bucks on Indies/AAs and about 100 for 3 years of Game Pass Ultimate. But i also scalped some PS5, so i actually made money with gaming :messenger_beaming:
 

Alan Wake

Member
I don't want to know. 2019 was my worst year as far as spending goes with 7 consoles, over 60 physical games and expensive glass shelves to put my old and new consoles in. I never regret purchases but some of that money I could've used last year when a pipe broke and we had to dig outside of our house.

Luckily I made 2021 into a backlog year and it has been great for my wallet. Still bought a Series X, but not much more.
 
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TheGejsza

Member
Warhammer 2 DLC's ?

Lebron James Hug GIF by NBA
This is something I feel shame about. I am collecting WH dlcs like Pokémons. As for now I have every dlc beside Wood Elves (will get it whenever next discount hits the steam).

I am ready for TWW3 and Immortal Empires grand campaign map!

Also I started collecting minis.
 

The_Mike

I cry about SonyGaf from my chair in Redmond, WA
I wanted to share my life time spending on steam. Don't know if I should be proud or not.

aTHNl0P.jpg


And this is without origin/console games.
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
I suppose the good news is that as we progress to a subscription/streaming future, the cost of the hobby will go down. Rather than dropping money on a single game like it's 1999, you can just pay money every month to rent and stream whatever game you want.
 

Haggard

Banned
Meanwhile just the hardened wood plate for my new hobby shop cost north of 1 grand. Gaming already is a very very cheap hobby.
 

Chastten

Banned
APAVuYj.jpg


I have been keeping track of my games spending for well over a decade, but never made a fancy Excel sheet for it. Also not tracking digital games and DLC cause, yeah, not much point to doing that, so this doesn't include a couple of hundred euros a year on Steam and eShop games. Bolded games are games I finished. It's a great way of keeping track of my backlog. Won't buy new games until I finish at least Dragonball Z and Mario Golf. :p
 

CuNi

Member
My Steam Profile (from SteamDB)

  • Value: 7671€ (1778€ with sales)
  • Games owned: 832
  • Games played: 537 (64%)
  • Hours on record: 7,277.5h

So todays value is 7671€, lowest with sales would be 1778€ but that doesn't tell you how much I spend when I got games close to full price obviously..
Also not included are Hardware costs (PC's over the years, Reverb G2, Index, consoles) or purchases I made on Xbox OG, 360 and One, GameCube, GameBoy, DS, 3DS and PS4.
I plan on getting a Switch this Black Friday sooooo yeah...

help I might have a problem....
 

Fredrik

Member
I wanted to share my life time spending on steam. Don't know if I should be proud or not.

aTHNl0P.jpg


And this is without origin/console games.
Phew! 😅

I added up my Steam account to 2272 USD. Not too bad for 210 games tbh, roughly $11 per game if I split it up.
But… The real shame comes when I look at playtime… 132 games with 0 hours played 😬
 

Soosa

Banned
Patience can save you a ton of money.

Here physical PS4/5 games launch often with 49-59€ "launch week discount price" and then after 1-2 weeks they go up to about 69€. So, buying on launch can save some money.

I only buy games that I know I will keep & play for long time on launch with full price.

Rest I will just buy used 1-4 weeks (or more) after launch, so they cost maybe 20-45€, and I complete and sell after few weeks, usually with the same price as I paid.
So it is like a rental service where one game costs 0-10€ and some of my time.

So, roughly if I get 3 games on launch 50€ each, then 5-10 games as used copy soon after the launch and sell them for mostly for what I paid, it costs about 5-10x 5€ to get to play 5-10 new games, and then I usually buy 5-10 games from sales for 5-20€ each. Then all the ps+ games that I already have and new ones act as 300-500 games of library of random games for 30€/year.

ROUGHLY 150€ (3x launch games) + 50€(buy,play,sell 5-10 games) + 100€(5-10 discounted games) + 30€(ps+) -> 330~€/year to get up to ~15 new games and ~10 older games + have catalogue of ~300-400 games between playstation systems. And there are usually 5-10 good games per year on ps+.

IMO it is not a good deal to own ps+ and gamepass in the same time as the only gamer of the household, because people rarely have time to play even 20 games/year.

So, owning ps5 and getting series x later will not actually make my gaming much more expensive, if I get those few interesting xbox games as used copy. Getting gamepass would add about 50% to yearly costs of my gaming budget, but it doesnt add 50% more to time for playing those games, so it is not worth it. Buying 2-3 games/year that I realistically will play on series x will cost only 20-50€.

To be honest, I rarely complete games I buy and still have like 50 ps4 games that I would like to complete. This is why I started to sell ps5 games I know I really dont want to keep. So when I notice that I havent touched a new game for a week, I just sell it. And I wont do the same mistake of hoarding games with xbox :messenger_beaming:

Better to sell game for 0-10€ loss, than keep it untill it is worthless and "lose" 35-50€. And if I want it back, it is much cheaper later anyway.

I once calculated my PS4 gen costs, (ps4 on launch, pro on launch + ~250 games) and it were around 4000€, I sold some stuff for maybe 1000€ so about 3000€ after that. Not too much for a hobby between 2013 -> 2020. But still enough to make me stop buying too many games and started to sell those that I wont really need to keep.
 

Aurelius

Member
This year I only bought a couple of games on sale and DLC. The only new games I bought on release were Persona 5 Strikers and Metroid Dread for myself, and Pokemon Snap for the kids. I used the Nintendo Online voucher deal for Metroid, and was planning to use the other voucher for Advance Wars until it got delayed. I sold my old Switch and upgraded to a Switch OLED. I also already sold my PS4 Pro for credit at a local game store since they had a really good promotion for a limited time. Finally, I sold a bunch of old PS5 games since I'm planning to go all digital next-gen.

Total cost for this year was around € 400. And I still have 1 Nintendo voucher and €200 in credit which will go towards a PS5 Digital when I can get one.

This is actually pretty cheap for a hobby which gives me so many hours of entertainment.
 
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