It's really dispiriting. For all the good things we can stand for, this is downright embarrassing.
A discussion on the price increase in the industry
- Thread starter jman1954goat
- Start date
It's really dispiriting. For all the good things we can stand for, this is downright embarrassing.
Honestly, waiting is the play these days anyway. I still do it often, but buying games Day 1 is a pretty dumb move from a consumer standpoint:
I feel for folks that think $70 is too expensive but I feel more for the thousands of devs that put their heart and soul into a game getting told "you can't charge that, i'm poor". Like it or not, video games are generally speaking a luxury product and are produced in capitalist economies. Only the market as a whole can decide when the goods produced don't match the price.
- The game will probably be 20-30% off within 60-90 days from launch. Especially on physical discs.
- Recently, many games have been kind of a mess at launch and needed weeks if not months to fix.
- Backlog? I could not buy a new game for an entire year and still have hundreds of hours of stuff to play.
I feel for folks that think $70 is too expensive but I feel more for the thousands of devs that put their heart and soul into a game getting told "you can't charge that, i'm poor". Like it or not, video games are generally speaking a luxury product and are produced in capitalist economies. Only the market as a whole can decide when the goods produced don't match the price.
OP
OP
I have purchased less then 10 $60 games in my life.
You missing my point a bit.
The discussion about sales and price drops taking too long is odd to me. I'm guessing this is many peoples first time experiencing a new gen. This is how it's always been. A game has to truly fail to get a deep discount at launch. If it's not a failure or an Ubisoft game, you were never going to get a deal on it lmao.
Something for you lot to consider, these prices won't stick for long. PS3 and PS4 first year were also on the premium
As far as I can remember, games were retailing at £55 on PS4. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
As far as I can remember, games were retailing at £55 on PS4. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
It's completely fair and I'm not even advocating to shit down the thread or the conversation.
Your beef if the fact that you think your concerns are being rolled in to being a "Sony Hater" rather than a concerned consumer who is instead actually poor and doesn't want to be labeled as such.
You start off by talking about wealth (lol) when wealth has absolutely nothing to do with $70.
The average consumer (who's poor btw) owns a console and literally spends that, if not more on video games a year. No one here or out there is wealthy (there are some who are on here and out there lmao) but most of these are the same bredren that will be buying this same game day one even if they are in debt or not…and why? Because they want it. Even if it's their last dollar, those same people who are poor just like me…will spend above their means and get something they don't need because they want it for whatever reason they have. Does that mean you lost because they bought it day one? No. They bought what they simply wanted and that's all it is. If you can't handle people buying what they want….then say that. But don't act like price is the issue here. It's not and it won't ever be. People will pay for what they want whether you like it or not. However, there's another choice ….which is to not do that if you can't. If you want but you can't…then you know what you have to do….so what is the issue?
All the talking points you note just come off as if you would rather people not spend money, hold out for what they want, all to justify your argument to stick it to the man 💪🏾
What's even the point of this? If the people don't want it, it will show.Being upset that people are dismissing it because they simple can afford it and want it, and find the argument exhausting considering everything you have already invested in, to playing the game to even pitch a fork in the sand over this…is ridiculous.
Im not rich, I feel hard on my ass and now I can barely play video games as we speak. I sold everything from my last console and more to get a ps5 I don't even barely use. I didn't buy any of the games for it day one and I have 5 now and that's all because of sales. I'm not made of money and I can barely say that I live comfortably. But I know my limits and what I can do. I'm not however going to sit on this soap box and argue about price.
I will admit though, I did have a problem with Pokémon Snap being $60 though 😂😂 I had my reasons but I wasn't mad other people wanted it. I just thought it was crazy
Uh saying the prices for goods have to increase always is not at all supported by historical fact. It depends. Inflation is about cost of living, not to be applied across the board.
Ex. High end personal computers are infinitely cheaper today than years ago.
As for $70 because free market, the free market is rejecting that price, hence why many people are only buying them at discount
Ex. High end personal computers are infinitely cheaper today than years ago.
As for $70 because free market, the free market is rejecting that price, hence why many people are only buying them at discount
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They stayed at 70 euros the whole generation.
Some retailers eventually dropped price but the digital price never went down.
I'm in a position where I can afford 70 games without issues. But I don't even want to pay $60, and I usually don't pay the 60 since I patiently wait for a sale for most games. Bar the rare exception I decided to pay full price.
i love the hobby, but it's incredibly expensive at $60 to me right now, the $70 starting point for Sony and if Microsoft joins in, is what's preventing me from wanting to get their new console anytime soon.
i love the hobby, but it's incredibly expensive at $60 to me right now, the $70 starting point for Sony and if Microsoft joins in, is what's preventing me from wanting to get their new console anytime soon.
I can afford either, but this is what bothers me. Why is Returnal or Call of Duty $70 while Valhalla, Yakuza, or Resident Evil is still $60?
Not to be a dick but what makes your game worth $10 more? Like what are you actually doing to add that value?
Forgive me for not liking the explanation that "games are expensive to make" when it comes from multi-billion dollar corporations. The way this is being done feels completely arbitrary.
Not to be a dick but what makes your game worth $10 more? Like what are you actually doing to add that value?
Forgive me for not liking the explanation that "games are expensive to make" when it comes from multi-billion dollar corporations. The way this is being done feels completely arbitrary.
Overall, Era does very well to be an inclusive space for everyone. Classism, unfortunately, is the blind spot it struggles with at the moment.
Games are a luxury purchase. If you can't afford them, wait until they drop in price. Now more than ever, there are tons of free games to play instead of the newest $70 title, and while those F2P games obviously want your money too, SO many of them are totally playable without spending a dime.
Not to mention, there are tons of fantastic games you surely have not played that go on massive sales on Steam and other platforms all the time. Maybe dip more into indie games? There are lots of amazing games at $20 or less at full price, and even less expensive options on sale.
Not to mention, there are tons of fantastic games you surely have not played that go on massive sales on Steam and other platforms all the time. Maybe dip more into indie games? There are lots of amazing games at $20 or less at full price, and even less expensive options on sale.
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Wait, excuse me? Are you saying as a poor person myself that this topic represents, I do not have the right to discuss my level of poor in any capacity in regards to this subject
because it's not a global policitical situation?
Is not being poor economical, social and political? Or are we only allowed to talk about this topic in the sense that nothing is happening in the world outside ourselves?
this is giving very much "Keep politics out of my games"….
The topic seems to be open for all interpretations….
the budget of games across the board have definitely increased - so we might expect higher prices. but it is telling that the majority of publishers seem uninterested in raising prices from 60.
This is true. but as you said -- it depends. In your example (computers), the cost has gone down due to significantly reduced cost to produce computers. There's probably 3 primary contributors to that, volume (way more are made and purchased today), automation/robotic assembly, and exploitation of cheap labor (yes it was done before but the scale is much larger now).
Video games don't have the same luxury. Humans still have to make all the art, programming, voice work, motion capture -- the list goes on. Sure, they have much better tools now, but the complexity of games has also risen exponentially over the past 2 decades. Computers on the other hand have been basically the same -- chips on wafers, printed PCBs, etc. It's slowly shifting now with the ARM-based architectures coming into their own, but generally speaking, x86 has held its own for the past 3 decades.
Almost everyone in the world has something they would like to do but can't afford. It's not special.
And?
I hope you get one, they look fun.
Exactly! Thank you.
People aren't going to stop buying video games over a $10 price increase. It's probably due to the pandemic but game sales are going up, up, up, and demand is through the roof for the new consoles to play them.
Recommending that someone should get over FOMO, wait for a sale, and not buy brand-new games on day one is not "gatekeeping".
If you can look at the past year and still support the capitalist idea of "let the market decide" then we won't agree on anything. Unregulated capitalism is broken and consumers can't fix it.
Capitalism at its finest. This is how a free market operates. Complaining won't do anything....not buying the game won't do anything. The market will decide if these prices are reasonable and I'm sure there's enough people who will buy these games at full price.
This isn't the first consumer good that priced out lower income households. Sucks but what can you do?
This isn't the first consumer good that priced out lower income households. Sucks but what can you do?
Horizon Forbidden West will probably be my first PS5 exclusive game I'll ever buy on or around release date, and that's only because I enjoyed HZD. Prices here have reached stratospherically high standards and the the $10 difference is much larger in my currency. I don't appreciate it in the least and I'll probably only get a handful of Sony exclusives day 1 on this gen unless something changes.
I get it but what are pubs supposed to do when the cost to make games keeps going up? I think our only option really is to wait for prices to drop, it sucks and hopefully we'll see more companies taking the gamepass approach, makes things much more affordable for myself.
This is the attitude that's led to letting billionaires make a killing of of the rest of society over this past year. We are past the point of sustainability with the current economic structure and this $10 increase on games for no justifiable reason by already very profitable corporations is just the tip of the iceberg.
Not take gigantic executive bonuses and instead pay laborers with the record profits they already have?
Explain the record profits they are making without the increase?
If you're only going to play a game like Ratchet for a week or 2 you can sell it for $50.
I bought TLOU2 for $48 and sold it for $31 after I got the platinum.
OP
OP
I appreciate the well thought out response. You make multiple good points
If I come off as a little flippant earlier its because I've been having this conversation for 5 hours straight.
I am 100% using the term wealth wrong I didn't really know how to phrase that section correctly.
This is not what I'm trying to say. If you can afford it you should buy day 1 people deserve nice things and I'm not trying to say boycott $70 games. However some people in other threads are showing some hostility and being upset when concerns are expressed towards price points
Yep the point of discussion is different viewpoints
Anyone who is respectful to fellow posters with different opinions is welcome in my threads
Developers like all people in society should have a cap once they make a certain amount. I'm not saying there's a problem with developer pay broadly right now but there are developers that get substantial bonuses along with gracious salaries.
Ok. And? Am I gonna show up to GameStop and protest people who want to buy these games day 1?
If millions of people are willing to buy ratchet at day 1 for 70, nothing you or I say on resetera, change.org, twitter or to our local politicians will change that. I ain't gonna shit on anyone who wants to do it either. Hell, I'm probably gonna do it lol.
and the videogames they are complaining about not being able to afford day one wouldn't even exist without the evils of capitalism.
Am I in the right thread? We're talking about video games, here, right? Not food, housing and healthcare?
Seriously. Agree with the idea of $70 being egregious, or disagree with the idea of $70 being egregious. But the minute someone trots out the whole "Well, people elsewhere are dying of hunger!" counter-argument, my eyes just roll into the back of my skull. Just because something isn't literally the worst thing in the world doesn't mean that it's immune from criticism or opprobrium.
As far as the $70 price tag is concerned, I can afford it, but I refuse to buy games at that price. I'll continue waiting for sales and working through my back catalog of games.
Conversations can help start changes. That is how these things work. You say it won't do anything, but people talking about this at least serves the possibility of doing something more than just shrugging it off will ever do.
I've been in that exact situation plenty of times. The response if I really wanted something was to wait until I could afford it. And for people saying silly things like "What about limited print runs???", well, we are not owed entertainment.
That's fair, look I don't like it any more than you but I guess I'm just not into fighting a fight I don't believe I'll win. People are going to fork up the $70, I made peace with that, doing otherwise is just inconveniencing yourself imo.
And you feel this way because a small number of new video games got a $10 price increase in November, 2020.
These corporate bootlicking accusations are so lazy and tiresome. Acknowledging that we're just gears in the capitalist system and stating that there is little we can do to change that is not bootlicking. It's just reality.
The vast majority of people don't want to see price increases, but we know it's something we have little control over when the demand is still there. Yeah, we can and will complain about it, but accepting it as a reality in a capitalist world isn't bootlicking.
And? I don't understand your point.
Also, you literally don't know that lol.
When you say something like that you actually have to quote the posts of the "corporate cheerleaders".
Some people may never afford it. Too bad for them then, eh?
Yes we do. AAA games wouldn't exist because of the money involved. It shouldn't take much to realize this.