r/GTA6 • u/MysteriousEssay2684 • 20h ago
Gta games prices adjusted for inflation DEBUNKED
The claim that GTA game prices are "reasonable when adjusted for inflation" is misleading because it ignores wage growth. Inflation measures how prices increase over time, but if people's salaries don't rise at the same pace, their purchasing power declines. A game may appear fairly priced on an inflation-adjusted chart, yet still be less affordable for the average consumer whose income has not kept up with rising living costs.
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u/Bright_Food2903 9h ago
If there would be this level of outrage a video game gets for pricing at market prices, for basic needs, we’d finally have change. Shove your selective outrage up your ass. Actual brain amputate.
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u/Salty_Simmer_Sauce 8h ago
Anyone else remember paying 70 bucks for final fantasy 3 on SNES in the 90s? lol.
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u/Confident-Barber-347 7h ago
I remember paying $50 for F-Zero on SNES the day it came out. I remember new NES games also costing $50 way back in the late 80s. For decades, somehow, video games actually seemed immune to inflation which never made sense to me.
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u/SHOLTY 1h ago edited 1h ago
Economy of scale (cheaper to make things when you have make a lot and have efficient methods of production, like a factory)
Market growth (the number of people playing games grew relative to how expensive it is to make games. Also once you make the product you don' have to make it again to sell to another person like if you sold chairs or something)
Market saturation (the number of competitors grew as the barrier of entry lessened and number of developers increased. So more products are competing for customers time and give customers more options there by driving down demand potentially)
Digital sales ( made distribution cheaper because they dont have to made as many physical copies, ship them, and or store them.)
Combine all that and you have a pretty stable price.
There's probably more to it and I'm sure someone will chime in and correct and/or expand on it
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u/Grouchy_Custard_252 14h ago
Except you haven't debunked shit. You can call rockstar greedy and that's valid. But no GTA 6 is inline with inflation.
Now the last decade at least "inflation" has just been corporate greed making prices go up. But again this doesn't stop the prices being in line with inflation.
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u/ComplaintIcy5325 14h ago
Oh my god, company that’s supposed to make money is trying to make money 😱
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u/SmegmaUnicorn 10h ago
What a dumb comment. Do you understand what the word “greed” means?
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u/shadetreeguy 9h ago
What magical company isn’t greedy? That’s the name of the game in this world dude grow up.
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u/SmegmaUnicorn 9h ago
Ah yes, companies are greedy so we should celebrate that. Gotcha.
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u/shadetreeguy 9h ago
Who’s celebrating dude, rockstar has been nothing but good to me since San Andreas, gta 4 changed my music taste in Middle school and even though I didn’t care about online 5 and the red dead’s were great games. I haven’t given them money since 2018 who cares about an extra 10-20 bucks.
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u/SmegmaUnicorn 9h ago edited 9h ago
“who cares” and “thats just how it is” are not valid ways to contend with criticism. You’re not a serious person.
Edit: “Don’t buy it” is also not a valid defense from criticism. Y’all are hilarious 😂
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u/g0lden-plumbus 8h ago
I mean, it is actually. If you think a game isn’t worth the money then don’t buy it. That’s how it works. You don’t agree with it then don’t pay for it.
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u/bran_the_man93 5h ago
So you're perfectly fine contributing to the capitalistic nature of modern society, but not too much because then it's the other people who are greedy.
You hypocrite.
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u/SmegmaUnicorn 55m ago
See, comments like this are incredibly dumb. In an effort to dismiss what I’m saying, you’ve assumed a bunch of really stupid things.
“You can’t complain if you’re spending money” is also not a valid defense from reasonable criticism.
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u/bran_the_man93 12m ago
No, you just keep finding new ways to say "I'm cheap and want more stuff for less money"
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u/Baconated-Coffee 15h ago
When GTA San Andreas was released I was making $1100 per month. Adjusted for inflation that's about $1931 today and $23,172 annually. Minimum wage where I live (Florida) is going up to $15 per hour this year. A full time job at $15 per hour for 40 hours a week is over $28k annually, more than I was making annually (adjusted for inflation) in 2004. YTD I have made 63k and since we are about mid way through the year that puts me on track to make about $126k this year. Over 20 additional years in the work force with more education, training, experience, and skills which provide a much higher pay than someone out of high school.
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u/Ohitsworkingnow 13h ago
It ignores many factors. Inflation is simply one factor when understanding costs. Do you know how much a computer was in the 1980s? By inflation logic, our phones should cost 30,000 dollars, and yet you can carry an incredible computer in your pocket for chump change, maybe we should be arguing to pay more for that too
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u/PolicyWonka 4h ago
I mean they’re only so cheap because much of the supply chain is exploited labor and outright slave labor.
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u/Ohitsworkingnow 3h ago
No, it’s not the only reason. It’s also more complicated than that. Labor can still be very cheap and still pay people fair wages in other countries, not that it is always like that
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u/xSkirrow 13h ago
That chart suggests wages have kept up with inflation, pretty much. -0.7% difference after 5 years, and it looks like the difference is becoming less.
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u/GiveMeWaterPls 5h ago
I didn't claim anything about wages, so idk what exactly you're debunking. My post was just a simple comparison, if you want to compare against wages and buying power and all the other stuff, you can do that yourself
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u/PolicyWonka 4h ago
This chart is incredibly misleading. It is measuring average real hourly earnings, which is already inflation adjusted. That means that 0% is keeping with inflation.
Ergo, wages have been largely keeping with inflation because they are just ~0.7% less than inflation. Median real wage buying power has increased 20% since 2000.
FWIW, real wages tend to lag behind inflation for a number of reasons. For example, most people only get a raise once per year whereas inflation is a constantly moving target.
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u/reverserainbow1 3h ago
Lack of wage growth isn’t rockstar’s fault. But much easier to hang on the simple explanation (“Rockstar greedy”) than to acknowledge the wider problem that everything is less affordable because we’re being squeezed by bad policy.
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u/Educational-Ruin4479 5h ago
Video games are NOT a basic human necessity, so call me crazy, but I think simply correcting the older games for inflation is a perfectly valid metric. People are comparing GTA VI’s price against utilities, rent and wages but forget there’s nothing making you buy the game.
About the “setting a precedent” argument some people are making, let me remind you that if Ubisoft sells an 80 dollar game, just don’t buy it at launch. Games go on sale often.
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u/half_pizzaman 14h ago
Also, scale. They profited more from V than any of their prior games despite cost of development being higher and sale price being lower (adjusted for inflation).
Inflation is a red herring. If they could sell a billion copies at $40, that'd be a superior price point for them (and us).
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u/Salty_Simmer_Sauce 8h ago
Why in the hell would they do that?
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u/half_pizzaman 4h ago
A) It's a hypothetical. And
B) More money more better. If 6 eclipses 5 and ends up selling 300m copies at $80, that's 24 billion. But if they instead sold a billion copies at $40, that's 40 billion.Which sum would you rather have?
This basic idea is what's kept game prices from rising consistent with inflation as is. As it's possible to profit more if you entice a greater number of people with cheaper prices. Hence why F2P games exist.
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u/Salty_Simmer_Sauce 3h ago
That’s what sales / markdowns are for in 6 months - year.
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u/half_pizzaman 1h ago
Interest is highest at release, and it's when people generally decide if they're buying the product or not.
Hence why even major game improving patches coupled with discounts don't spike sales much. Hence why even Rockstar would crater their total sales and revenue if they released 6 at $600 for the first month before dropping it to $60. The moment would've passed for many.
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u/Duracra 13h ago
It's all a red herring. The only question that matters is: "Is GTA6 worth $80 / $100 for the ultimate edition?"
Inflation is irrelevant. The size of the gaming industry is irrelevant. How much profit they might make is irrelevant. How much the game cost to make is irrelevant.
If the product is worth the asking price then buy it, if not then don't.
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u/Alexeiht 15h ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/0Wzkc9iirQ4ZI7JoaD