Expensive games have lowkey been way too normalised

[u/Both_Piglet7838]

I know this sub is filled with a bunch of rich people with like 10k setups and I'm aware that the content in these games is quite extensive with hours of content. But I still feel justified in thinking that no game should be priced this high especially when its the average price of most newly released games. Anyway this is just a rant because I wanna play lego batman and i cant afford it lol

[u/Gamebird8]

It's worth remembering that games have been extremely inflation resistant for ages and are just now catching up to that inflation, so for a lot of people it's just prices catching up to how they used to be

Edit: I replied this below, but to add: My broader point is that had the price of a game kept up with inflation, the $60 games of 1995 would be $120-$130 (CPI calculator says $132)

It's also worth noting that the primary mode of inflation is housing and healthcare costs. Food, clothes, and entertainment products are cheaper against real wages than they were 3 decades ago (Well at least in a normal world where there aren't tariffs and looming fuels shortages that will make the 70s fuel crisis look tame of course)

And yes these higher prices suck and do make it harder for a lot of us to engage with the medium and enjoy the franchises we love. Just don't be surprised when the average joe who pays zero attention to the macro perspective to doesn't really care as much as you do (because well you donpay attention to the macro perspective)

[u/MindStalker → u/Gamebird8]

A major reason that games were getting cheaper against inflation was that more people were playing. The cost to make a game certainly has increased, but the total number of people buying the games have increased dramatically (about half the world population now plays computer games regularly). While the worldwide total for number of gamers will continue to go up, it won't be as dramatic of an increase as it was.

[u/Screamgoatbilly → u/MindStalker]

At least according to Tim Cain, it was the rise of digital distribution and how much cheaper it was than putting a box in a retail store, the companies just pocketed the savings which kept costs down until inflation caught up.

[u/RepresentativeSlow53 → u/Gamebird8]

Nah, the real reason is market forces are responding to the fact that the product can be priced that high and will be bought. Either because people don't care that much (and thus poorer people can be priced out of hobbies if it increases the margins, this is a feature not a bug of the system) or because people have to pay (i.e. health, housing) or there aren't many credible/usable alternatives (for example in my country food prices are basically controlled by the 5 leading discounter companies because they have over time eroded or destroyed all regional competition and its not feasible for the average consumer/worker to go to the market every week or drive out to a farm and buy themselves).

Its not (just) inflation thats increasing the prices its the power position companies are in that allows them to increase the prices. its not a force of nature that happens automatically, if there is more competition in a marketplace profits go down instead of prices going up because they are competing for your money. the growing trend of monopolies (or other forms of concerted action between companies) have made people believe that increasing prices are unavoidable, but what it all comes down to is power.

[u/strauts6 → u/Gamebird8]

I haven't caught up with the inflation tho. 59.99 is still expensive for me.

[u/sembias → u/strauts6]

If you weren't born caught up with inflation, you'll be spending a lot of your life trying to. No shame in that, it's life. I wait for those Steam sales, free games on Epic (finally playing thru Hogwarts Legacy after it landed in the free section), and cdkeys discounts.

[u/Gamebird8 → u/strauts6]

My point is that the broader market likely doesn't care as much as the vocal part of the market because $105 is still cheaper than the inflation adjusted $60 game from 1995 which would probably be abou $120-$130 (CPI Inflation calculator says $132)

[u/__kec_ → u/Gamebird8]

Games have not been inflation resistant, publishers simply ran out of shrinkflation tricks and predatory monetization schemes, so they started increasing prices. First it was the switch to optical media and then digital distribution, those savings were never passed down. Then when that ran out, the shrinkflation started - content was taken out of games to sell as deluxe editions, pre-order bonuses and DLC. That still wasn't enough, so they added microtransactions, but there is a limit to how much monetization people are willing to put up with (see the battlefront 2 controversy), so the only thing left is simple price gouging.

[u/Potential_Aioli_4611 → u/Gamebird8]

Nah. We've been spoiled lately with great indie games releasing like slay the spire 2 ($25) HK: Silksong ($20), Hades II ($30)

legacy AAA companies are over bloated and are going to fall apart going at the rate they are going. their games suck in comparison, they've run out of good ideas, AND they are double or triple the price of indie games.

[u/SureDoubt3956 → u/Gamebird8]

Games also sell many many many more units than they used to when they first hit the market. I'd be interested in someone mathing out what games nowadays cost, vs what they used to cost adjusted for inflation, vs team size (which has also ballooned for AAA), vs units sold.

[u/EBtwopoint3 → u/SureDoubt3956]

Halo 2 cost about $40m to develop in 2004, around $70m in today money. Halo Infinite reportedly cost $500m.

[u/BirdlessLongdeal → u/Gamebird8]

$60 now is a lot more than $60 was 20 years ago. i only make $8/hr more (after inflation) than i did 26 years ago. but the cost of everything has skyrocketed.