Almost $200 for one single PS5 game.

[Wavergray]

@kingjavs There are more to those numbers than you think they are. Dead Space 2 actual costs $60 million for development with the other $60 million going towards for marketing. Also Visceral Games only had like 80 employees. Compared to last of us 2 who had an estimated $100m on just development with over 400 employees. There even more to it like crunch and such, but it's not a cut and dry thing.

[Aodir]

Just had this amazing idea, I'm going to make a thread about how games are way too expensive now, screenshot canadian pricing even though I'm not canadian at all and on top of that round up 160 to 200, love me some reddit karma... oh

[pogo_loco]

On 10/24/2020 at 11:55 AM, thefourfoldroot said:

Only an idiot would pay 160 for a game.

 

That may be true in some cases.  The more generalized form is “Only an idiot would pay for something they cannot afford."

 

Edited November 25, 2020 by pogo_loco

[kingjavs]

41 minutes ago, Wavergray said:

@kingjavs There are more to those numbers than you think they are. Dead Space 2 actual costs $60 million for development with the other $60 million going towards for marketing. Also Visceral Games only had like 80 employees. Compared to last of us 2 who had an estimated $100m on just development with over 400 employees. There even more to it like crunch and such, but it's not a cut and dry thing.

Fair, thanks for clarifying. I think still, the overall production cost of games on average are irrelevant to a general price increase of base retail value for every release, but I do understand the price of development on new gen is more than 10 years ago, excluding some games that were already budgeting more than average. But this was already touched on with the success of DLC and micro-transactions, something that will still be common place moving into next gen. Again, I think it is a naive stance to make excuses for the decision with things like "devs!" or "costs!" when sometimes the answer really is as simple as "X company wants more money." It's okay to respond to this with "It's too expensive now" or "I will pay more for the games I want."

 

It's clear to me at least that the pricing increase is a direct response to the peak in gaming the last two years, and ultimately the general consumer will decide whether this new price point stays or not.

 

Edited October 24, 2020 by kingjavs

[Zid960]

Wait a year then its 20$ on Ebay. What i do? pule the bug's are worked out

[NoiizeR-]

22 hours ago, Quink666 said:

Pretty much all digital PS5 games costs 850 SEK which is about 97 USD, and that's only for the standard edition of the games. Digital game prices in Sweden is ridiculous while physical is more reasonable because of the competition between stores. But since i live in a rural area i almost never get the game on release since the mail is often late by a day or two, because of that i tend to buy more and more games digitally but the new digital prices will force me to wait until atleast one price drop.

 

Use a second US account and pay max $59.99

[soziaLSturmi]

Imagine paying 80€ or 90-100$ for a game like Avengers which still plays and performs like a beta game at its best with tons and tons of bugs and game breakers

I would understand with really crazy releases like GTA 6 or FF16 these kinda calibers of Games where u would really get something for your money but every game at these ranges come on I don't think they gonna price them all like that, that would just be hilarious.

[Quink666]

1 hour ago, NoiizeR- said:

 

Use a second US account and pay max $59.99

 

That thought have crossed my mind. Already have a US account but i'm just to lazy to buy the PSN cards needed.

[rdhight]

Yeah, I don't know what to think. Sure inflation is a thing, but $100+ games? You're saying your game, which contains a real-money store, is literally better than every game that ever launched at $60 for the complete, finished product. I mean, that's just silly.

 

Maybe I'll pay those prices for rare, GOTY gems, but for the most part, I guess I'm going to be taking it on a case-by-case basis and waiting for sales.

[kingjavs]

26 minutes ago, rdhight said:

Yeah, I don't know what to think. Sure inflation is a thing, but $100+ games? You're saying your game, which contains a real-money store, is literally better than every game that ever launched at $60 for the complete, finished product. I mean, that's just silly.

 

Maybe I'll pay those prices for rare, GOTY gems, but for the most part, I guess I'm going to be taking it on a case-by-case basis and waiting for sales.

 

Even industry analysts have stated it is not due to inflation or development costs, and based off market demand.

 

I really don't see this price point holding value in the long term, but who knows. Maybe the extra $10 will pay for itself with the people who are willing to buy games day-one. Take-Two has already retracted that all their games will launch under this price point, so we'll see. 

[djb5f]

@kingjavs Inflation isn’t a one-year thing so your 2020-only viewpoint is nonsensical.  To keep prices in line with 2006 would be rather absurd in that $59.99 (the price of PS3 games in 2006) then is equivalent to $77.46 now.  So $69.99 is long overdue.  
 

Add in development costs are soaring, yes it follows that the market is ready to pay it.  It is all inter-related.

Edited October 25, 2020 by djb5f

[AJ_Radio]

13 hours ago, majob said:

Games are still a luxury now, nothing has changed. They were always intended to be as such in the first place

 

Bullshit. I can literally find tons of games on Steam offered at reasonable prices. Microsoft and Sony both have regular sales on games and that will include Xbox Series X/PS5 games as time goes on.

 

In the past many people had to pay a lot for Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64 games. Super Mario 64 and Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time weren't cheap. Chrono Trigger and Earthbound on the SNES both went for a lot of money, and if you include today's value of the dollar the prices were even more ludicrous. They were still far more expensive than what Sony wants for new PS5 games.

 

Gaming is far more accessible now than it was back then. A luxury is something that the average person can't afford, and is something that only the rich and wealthy can get. A Ferrari sports car is an example, it's completely unnecessary to daily life but it's an option to have for rich people. Average people can't have anything like that, nor have a private plane nor live in a mansion in Beverly Hills, California.

 

11 hours ago, Darling Baphomet said:

In many places a minimum wage job doesn't even cover a place to live - for instance, Walmart workers almost always have to go on food stamps as well because they can't afford food otherwise. At this point America may as well be a third world country with a lot of billionaires, and given how quickly the rich are draining the economy of wealth, we'll likely be a real third world country in a decade or two.

 

America has been going downhill for decades. The 1990s was probably the last great hurrah for the country before greed and corruption truly took form. The Left and Right are both paid for. You think Joe Biden isn't backed by corporations and powerful businessmen? He is. Walmart did just like Comcast did, gain a monopoly over a given territory and make things next to impossible for any possible competition to move in and take away sales.

 

That's not to mention companies have constantly shipped jobs overseas because they don't have to pay suffering Chinese and Indian workers nearly as much money. They work a lot for next to no pay. Customer Service is an absolute joke in America, no matter what company you go to there is a good chance you're going to contact a worthless Indian or Jamaican representative who has no idea what the fuck they're talking about, and read strictly off of a script.

 

You can't sustain a good life living as a Walmart worker. You get shitty pay, next to no benefits, and you'll probably be living in a shitty apartment somewhere until your boss at Walmart decides to fire you because you came in late a few minutes, or they see you get paid slightly more than the other guys doing the same job. Trust me I worked at Dollar Tree living paycheck to paycheck and it is not fun at all.

A crumbling infrastructure, corruption and greed within the nation's capital, and the gutting of education will mean the death of the country in due time.

Edited October 25, 2020 by Spaz

[Darling Baphomet]

7 minutes ago, Spaz said:

America has been going downhill for decades. The 1990s was probably the last great hurrah for the country before greed and corruption truly took form. The Left and Right are both paid for. You think Joe Biden isn't backed by corporations and powerful businessmen? He is. Walmart did just like Comcast did, gain a monopoly over a given territory and make things next to impossible for any possible competition to move in and take away sales.

 

I mean, considering Joe Biden agrees with Republicans on 99% of issues - maintaining capitalism in its current state with very few restrictions on the rich, perpetuating US imperialism (wars, occupying foreign territories, etc), maintaining a militarized police force, and so on and so forth, it's fair to say that he's not a leftist. Either that, or republicans are left wing too. Either way, Joe Biden's not really relevant, he's a long line in establishment candidates backed by both establishment parties. There's a reason liberals and conservatives only fight over issues that don't threaten the status quo.

[Ashbo]

One of the reasons why i’ve gone down the route of the PS5 disc version!

 

Digi prices have been and looking at those ones will continue to be overpriced imo. I mean its one thing paying loads for extras like SP’s, figurines, art books and steel books etc, but paying the same or more for digi with no real value for what you are paying for imo makes no sense. 

 

A good mate of mine and I have agreed to go halves on upcoming PS5 physical releases, so in theory we are paying or will be paying around £10-15 less for what you’d pay for a full price PS4 game, (as in £30-£35 each based on some UK supermarket prices for games) which is much better and we get to to trade it in or sell it on to the lads at work or in the game shops and get money back to put towards the next release.

 

Works for me.

Edited October 25, 2020 by Ashbo

[Elvick_]

Going into next gen I'll be buying fewer games, trying to keep them finished before buying another. The b/s prices and greed in general in the industry makes that pretty easy, particularly since Steam is better and cheaper for most of it.

 

I like when people bring up old game pricing, as if that's comparable. If $100+ figures sold 20 million units they wouldn't be $100+ to begin with, they'd be cheaper.

 

The more something sells the more it can decrease in price, since production becomes cheaper the larger the unit order in pretty much every factory to encourage bigger business. That's why things stablized at $50 for ages, then tossed on $10 for HD development. Which was fair. But now you have Deluxe Editions, Ultimate Editions, Gold Editions, Season Passes, general DLC, preorder DLC, microtransactions. Companies are year after year breaking record profits and you're going to compare it to the SNES and some games being $80 back then as if it's even comparable. Nonsense.

 

The extra bullshit isn't going to make them not fire tons of their peons, and give huge bonuses to their overpaid CEOs. Wake up please, it's honestly sad people even try to argue that billion dollar corporations are hurting and "need" to do this shit. "Oh boo hoo, inflation tho". How about you factor in the general industry growth and amount of money is in the industry compared to when a SNES game was $80, genius.

Edited October 25, 2020 by Elvick_

[Valyrious]

On 10/23/2020 at 7:10 PM, mvpeast said:

I don’t know what to say about next gen game prices other than I can’t afford them. I will be playing old games only.

 

But I am very curious to know what you guys think about the new prices.

 

160 bucks for AC Valhalla ultimate edition. That’s not including tax. So two games you can buy a next gen console.

 

https://imgur.com/a/hhU9gxc

Your example is a bit strange. Thread says almost $200 for a single PS5 game, however the example you listed is an "ultimate edition". An ultimate edition of a game that historically gets a significant price drop within less than a year.

Now if you were to compare actual base PS5 games, then this thread doesn't become much of a problem, does it? $70USD is not that much more of a price hike... if it helps sustain the increase in production costs for these games, I don't really see a problem with it.

I have my PS5 preordered. Though I'm gonna wait on games until I am ready to buy them. That, and Cyberpunk 2077 will be taking over my life.

Edited October 25, 2020 by Valyrious

[SaintChris777]

2 hours ago, Spaz said:

Gaming is far more accessible now than it was back then. A luxury is something that the average person can't afford, and is something that only the rich and wealthy can get. A Ferrari sports car is an example, it's completely unnecessary to daily life but it's an option to have for rich people. Average people can't have anything like that, nor have a private plane nor live in a mansion in Beverly Hills, California.

 

Definition of luxury: "something expensive that is pleasan to have but is not necessary" (Source: Cambride Dictionary - Luxury).
 

Gaming is still a hobby, nothing more. With everything in life not everyone can afford it. Gaming is, was and will never be a cheap hobby in the long run, but you have options to make it cheaper for yourself like sales etc.
a price increase was long overdue and personally I was surprised it took this long.

 

The example in the original post is still stupid, because Ultimate editions with all the goodies a game can offer will never be the go to version of a game. In the US games are 70$ now. Since PS3 times in Europe games had a original price tag of 70€ (round about 83$ right now). Sure you could find them cheaper for 60€ in different stores, but nothing changed. Consumers should look for the cheapest price.
Amazon lists the new AC Valhalla in Austria for around 72€. The store called "Mediamarkt" sells it for 65€, so that's a 5 bucks increase to last gen. If gaming is your hobby and you can't afford this little increase, than wait for a sale or accept that you can't afford everything day one.

Edited October 25, 2020 by SaintChris777

[AJ_Radio]

2 hours ago, Darling Baphomet said:

 

I mean, considering Joe Biden agrees with Republicans on 99% of issues - maintaining capitalism in its current state with very few restrictions on the rich, perpetuating US imperialism (wars, occupying foreign territories, etc), maintaining a militarized police force, and so on and so forth, it's fair to say that he's not a leftist. Either that, or republicans are left wing too. Either way, Joe Biden's not really relevant, he's a long line in establishment candidates backed by both establishment parties. There's a reason liberals and conservatives only fight over issues that don't threaten the status quo.

 

It's not rocket science. Believe me, I've seen what has gone down over the past 10 - 15 years, and what has transpired has not been good. I had a glimmer of hope during the Obama era, but once the 2016 Presidential Elections rolled around and the polls had ended, misery had reared its ugly head.

 

Yes, that is why minorities in cities like Minneapolis get abused by the police. Some of the police cruisers I see these days look like you barely recognize the fucking things. The squad cars of old were blatantly obvious, now these modern police cruisers have shit that is helping concealing them, probably because of all the backlash the police have gotten over the years.

 

Both sides are bought and paid for. For anyone that doesn't believe that, well, they are delusional. But enough of this, if you want to talk with me more on this, take it to PM.

 

1 hour ago, Elvick_ said:

The extra bullshit isn't going to make them not fire tons of their peons, and give huge bonuses to their overpaid CEOs. Wake up please, it's honestly sad people even try to argue that billion dollar corporations are hurting and "need" to do this shit. "Oh boo hoo, inflation tho". How about you factor in the general industry growth and amount of money is in the industry compared to when a SNES game was $80, genius.

 

Well people need to consider that back then, companies like Nintendo charging $80 for a game like Earthbound was a risk. They had a lot less money, a lot less resources, and a lot smaller fanbase. Video games back in the 1990s were still quite niche, whereas the music industry and movie industry were both raking in endless amounts of money, while taking relatively few risks.

 

Today gaming attracts all types. It's no longer a bunch of computer geeks who were socially awkward going out and buying a few games. It's a full fledged industry that is the most profitable entertainment medium. Andrew Wilson of EA and Bobby Kotick of Activision don't represent the average person. Them and the executives represent the top 1 percent. Everybody else suffers.

[Kcrack_Km]

Even though I managed to secure a launch ps5, I have 70+ ps3/ps4 games in my backlog that I’d love to play, so I’m in no rush to drop full retail prices on new games unless I’m dying to play them. Demon’s Souls on launch and that’s it.

[AJ_Radio]

1 hour ago, SaintChris777 said:

Gaming is still a hobby, nothing more. With everything in life not everyone can afford it. Gaming is, was and will never be a cheap hobby in the long run, but you have options to make it cheaper for yourself like sales etc.
a price increase was long overdue and personally I was surprised it took this long.

 

I think you are basing this on people who trophy hunt regularly here on PSNProfiles and people who have a thousand games on their Steam account. Of course it's expensive for them.

 

I can just glance over your list and see you've done more than the average person. And just because it is expensive in the long run, doesn't mean it's not very accessible. Gaming is more popular now than ever before, and that is because more people are getting into it as opposed to the old days when the medium mostly had a specific group of people who were interested in doing the hobby regularly.

 

The average person doesn't look at PS4 sales and Steam sales, sure. But the option is there, and they can start up a new account on Steam and play some awesome games. I've been gaming for a very long time, I'm not some kid who just stumbled onto a video game just the other day. Way to point out the obvious there.

Edited October 25, 2020 by Spaz

[majob]

3 hours ago, Spaz said:

 

A luxury is anything you don't NEED. You need food, you need clothing, you need shelter. You don't NEED videogames therefore they are a luxury and their cost doesn't reflect thing like cost of living. People have confused the term for too long with anything related to extravagance when it was meant to describe anything that wasn't essential to your survival

[FielVeredus]

I am going to wait on most game if $70 became norm. My schedule already occupied until Q1 2021 anyway and it happened to be just all JRPG game i still left to play on PS4 which graphic and loading time is not really that matter. so i can wait that long and PS5 launch title will be on sale by then. incluuding more supply for PS5. The fact that they do this in the midst of most people still struggle with income is beyond me. and price increasing didn't make developer wellbeing better either as we all know it is going into CEO or shareholder.

I personally think they are testing the water... if most of us didn't buy as much on Day 1 , they will probably backpedal it. 

Nor sure if Steam game pricing will still be $59.99 or not.

Edited October 25, 2020 by FielVeredus

[groomyboy]

I have so many games in my PS3 and PS4 backlog purely from PS plus, that there is no need to get a PS5. And that's without going out my way to pick some cheap PS3 games that I never had the chance to play, e.g. Skate 3 or any of the Assassins Creed's. 

 

Haven't bought a new game since GTA V on PS4, there is just no incentive anymore. I can have just as much fun with a 10 year old game whilst still talking to friends in party chat.

[Spike_Hostile17]

Imo it's pointless to buy a game Day 1. Nowadays most of them are not even finished and you got to consider there is at least one Season Pass if not two or three in some cases. I waited 1 year and a half and got AC Odyssey Gold Edition for 25$. This is the ONLY positive part about DLCs and SP : you get a reason for waiting before buying the game. 

Besides there are tons of deals both in physical stores and on the PSStore. Like I know in France, most of new PS4 games are 60-70 euros on Amazon but if you go to a supermarket, the price Day 1 has already dropped to 40-45 euros to attract customers. I am sure it will be the same with PS5 games.

[AJ_Radio]

1 hour ago, majob said:

A luxury is anything you don't NEED. You need food, you need clothing, you need shelter. You don't NEED videogames therefore they are a luxury and their cost doesn't reflect thing like cost of living. People have confused the term for too long with anything related to extravagance when it was meant to describe anything that wasn't essential to your survival

 

Luxury is still generally referring to things that the average person either cannot afford or feels isn't necessary.

 

You don't need movies or music either. Up until the last decade, you didn't need a personal computer, but it's practically mandatory because modern businesses need them to run efficiently.

 

What you and a couple other people aren't getting is gaming is more accessible than ever before. It's an expensive hobby if you choose to make it expensive. Now if you're living on low income and can barely afford anything other than paying bills, that's one thing. But for the most part, you can make yourself a Steam account and play plenty of great games even on a slower computer. That wasn't possible 15 - 20 years ago. Paying for Nintendo 64, Super Nintendo and PlayStation was expensive back in the day. Games generally called for more than $60, and wages were a lot lower.

 

What has come to fruition is bigger companies offering Ultimate Edition, Gold Edition, Deluxe Edition and Silver Edition for specific games on top of there being lootboxes, microtransactions, season passes and DLC. Charging another $10 for new AAA games just reeks of greed to me. Production costs will soar once again just like they did with the PS4 gen and the PS3 gen. But these companies are literally swimming in money, they aren't exactly hurting for money. When Ubisoft charged $120 for Far Cry: New Dawn's Ultimate Edition, I called straight bullshit right there. For that price tag I'd have a much better investment in a physical collectors edition of a game, because at least I'll get some extra goodies that would probably be worth it.

 

But people are still going to say what I do is a luxury. It's a lifelong hobby I enjoy. It's optional, I don't have to do it, I can quit at any time and pursue a different hobby. But I enjoy partaking in it.

 

Most gamers are just people who spend money on a few AAA games a year, but I guess that that is technically still a luxury even when applied to them. It's not like countries that aren't 1st world are suffering, with a vast majority of people far under the poverty line, barely able to contain themselves with food and clothing. Many people do not have shelter.