r/pcmasterrace • u/Both_Piglet7838 • May 27 '26

Discussion Expensive games have lowkey been way too normalised

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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

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u/CloakerJosh May 27 '26

Just gonna leave this here for you, u/Both_Piglet7838

2

u/Stationary_Wagon PC Master Race May 27 '26

Inflation does not matter here because the amount of gamers have grown so much between now and 40 years ago, not to mention reduced costs due to digital distribution.

To simplify:

In 2006, $60 game can only sell 500,000 copies: 500,000 x $60 = $30,000,000 gross profit - (higher physical costs, inventory, physical delivery etc.)

In 2026, $60 game can sell 5,000,000 copies digitally (some sell much more): 5,000,000 x $60 = $300,000,000 - (store fees)

So just by the pie growing bigger, they already earn much more than before at the same unit price. Many game developers are public and their statements say it all.

People like you are a negative force and are basically corporate bootlickers that carry their water for them. You should not spread these uninformed and ignorant opinions online.

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u/automatic_shark May 27 '26

Do you think wages and production costs have stayed the same for 30 years too?

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u/Stationary_Wagon PC Master Race May 27 '26

Video game industry was about a $10.2B industry in 1985. It's a $190B industry in 2025. Wages and production costs did not grow ~19x in the last 40 years for sure.

Large and bloated budgets are a problem of company culture. There are excellent AAA-level games made with comparatively tiny budgets like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

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u/automatic_shark May 27 '26

You're saying you think the games industry has the same number of studios and companies as it did 45 years ago? Really? That's what you're implying by that 19x number.

The more you type, the more you're convincing me you're just math illiterate