Are Games too Expensive Today?

It seems like I can't go a day without hearing someone talk about the "good 'ol days" when games were bug free and less expensive. Just last night I had someone relentlessly argue with me that N64 games were only 30 dollars and that paying 60 dollars is ridiculous today. Fact is, games overall are cheaper, especially since we get online play and game updates that fix issues. Back then, you did not have post release support. If the game sucked, you were basically stuck with it.

Thanks to this nifty site "Internet Archive" I can finally put this argument to rest. This site gathers screenshots of the internet dating back to the mid 90's. I was seeing if they had Funcoland...and well...yes they did. Here is the archive of Funcoland from 1996. The prices will surely be stunning. Also, this cannot be argued anymore.

http://web.archive.org/web/19970204215610/http://www.funcoland.com/newprod.html#SNES

120 bucks for a new game? Hell yeah it is

Games are pretty expensive, even when you make money it is hard to drop money on the next new game that is released

No games are not too expensive today.

Most people with a job spend more than 60$ on fast food and other junk items during the week so i think most can go a week without buying a pizza or going to the movies.

I was an assistant manager at funcoland during my college years and most new n64 games were 60bucks, PS1 games typically ranged from 40-50 bucks new and ps 2 games were typically 50.

If you go back further, old nes/snes and genesis games typically released in the 50-70 dollar range.

The reality is that games have stayed at around the same price for the last 30 years(give or take 10 dollar fluctuations), however, because of digital distribution sites like steam, game prices are starting to quickly plummet to lows that have not been seen in the entire lifetime of the industry.

Bottom line: I am 35 years old, in my life I have seen every single thing I buy increase in price dramatically, video game prices are literally the only thing that has not only NOT increased dramatically, but is actually lowering in price. This ridiculous notion that new games used to sell for an average of 30 dollars is the mindless jabbering of senile old fools who are imagining a video game industry that never existed.

No I think the prices are pretty fair considering how much they cost these days to make on average. Also most of them get various sales and discounts along with price drops not all that long afterwards.

What was Sega thinking trying to sell the Netlink for 179 dollars? I had a Saturn and wanted one (for the porn of course...before internet...side boob was about all you'd get from TV.)

I do buy the "technically cheaper" argument, though I'm still not willing to spend $60 on most games. Thankfully, games depreciate fairly quickly especially when using sources that aren't major non-online retailers.

Hmm well im sure there were nights when I blew over 60 bucks at a bar getting wasted this past summer and what did that give me. An hour or two of enjoyment and a hangover. At least the 60 bucks spent on a game gives you something to do for a long time and your not harming your body. It all depends how you look at it. Personally I think they are ok right now. But I really hope the prices never go up.

Where in the **** do you live?

is the price worth the content... thats what should be talk about

Well, you don't really have to pay that, unless Norway has some sort of special steam you pay the same as eveyrone else and amazon is amazon and their uk or de site ships to any where in europe and the world.

Depends on the game. I will never, ever pay £49.99.

Games are only expensive because we want so many of them. Fact is, price of games have stayed relatively the same the past three decades. NES games were 50-60 bucks. Today's games are 50-60 bucks. Hell, I remember N64 games being 80. The Genesis version of Virtua Racer was 100.

i'd say they are. last gen, high street game prices were around £40, this gen they're around £50-55.

it's nothing to do with affordability it's to do with the majority of games are just not worth that money to me

Norway mate

Fact is, games are not cheaper.

They were very expensive decades ago, but then the price began to drop.

Devs like Bethesda and Bioware were still making tens of millions in profit , but they weren't happy with that , so they upped the price to $60 dollars.

You ask if games are too expensive today. . .. Well, not for me they're not. When the price of games went to 60 dollars, I made the decision not to buy any game until it goes to 75% off on Steam. Millions of others are doing the same.

so the fact is games are cheaper, since waiting for 75% off sales was not a realistic option years ago, and typically games go on sale for 50% off or cheaper within a few months.

You are also not thinking about inflation, which affects everything, but has somehow avoided videogames.

Where in the hell were N64 games $30?

They were routinely $80-90 and some (like Ocarina of Time) hit $120.

Comparatively to games in the 1990's, games are dirt cheap these days. $60 is nothing.

They've always been expensive. The difference today is that they go on sale more. So I'd say games are cheaper than ever.

If games have been $50 - $60 this whole time (which seems to be the case) then yes, they are cheaper, due to inflation.

two things I'd take away from this though: a) Nintendo has a history of underproducing, raising their prices artificially and b) We have to wait and see if this gen marks a trend of ps4 and xbone games being $70 rather than $60...

They're cheaper, especially adjusting for inflation. Then factor in that games generally have more content now than a few generations ago, moreso with online capabilities. Then factor in game development costs which are ginormous compared to the 80's and 90's. This is one area in gaming where we've never had it so good.

For those talking about inflation, some numbers:

A $60 USD game in 1995 would cost $93.48 USD now.

A $60 USD game in 1985 would cost $132.40 USD now.

Here in the U.S., it costs $60 for a new game... what the hell, Norway?

yes we do, 120 bucks for new games. The import price for ordering on amazon is around 20 bucks or so. Trust me, i did it with Bleach Soul Resureccion and it almost cost the same as the game did cost me

Insane, we need to do something about that Ride.

Ill send you games as gifts and you can sell them for what you want as long as i get 30% :D

But thats just crazy that they put that much extra on games. So when you go on steam do you have a special shop or how does it work there?

I pay about 90 bucks for a new game. It's a price worth paying when it comes to the titles I can enjoy for a longer period of time, but I never pay that much for Fifa or NHL, even if I would love to have those games.

Gaming is cheaper then it ever has been. Most of my gaming when I was a kid came from the video rental store. Purchasing new games was super expensive and very risky in the past.

I have so many games now and I don't even have time to play them all. There are so many options and cheap deals available.

It is really not more expensive now then it was around the NES era. If we take inflation in account it is even cheaper then it was back then.

But I assume it is by country to country, when it comes to game prices, and also platform to platform.

Here (Denmark) there was an outright panicy outburst when PC retail games got upped 5$ over the span of 19-ish years, and most PC games still retail for around the cost they did before. (some 72$ give or take)

It is different on the console front. Which is likely because Publishers tey to squeeze the Price up as much as they can (and on the pc with steam, it is simply not an option).

But Console games got upped around 5-10 bucks per generation in the same 3 generations. However some of the lost marketshare up here have caused the console prices to drop pretty fast to a fairly innocent 90$ +/- 10$ depending on store and game). Ironically that Price IS around what NES games cost, the prices of console games took a dive around the PS1 era, and when a console brand took root here, they upped the Price per gen, except this only happened at thier online stores this time around.

Maybe it is the retail sellers who complained that they lost sales to the pc versions, or maybe it was the fairly bad first showing they did here, but Sony dropped the sugested Price for pretty much all releases fairly soon after launch.

So Nah considering that I can bu a grand spanking new PS4 game, and pay the same as I did 19 years ago? I consider that more then reasonable. I did not even complain about some of the higher prices from last gen.

Add to that that buying online by shipping tends to shave another 10$ off of most titles regardless of platform, and I would say that gaming is nowhere near as expensive a hobby as some claim.

But don't you realise that that means that the price of games has actually gone down?

Hint: inflation.

Yes they are when a year later there like £10. That happened to AC4 black Flag it was £40 PC when new now its £10. Same with a lot of games. So when new where paying more then the US any way.

Over in Australia they are.

Well even pc games cost a lot. They usually go for 80 or 90 bucks

Other than a budget release or two they were always $50+ in the US. I remember me and my brother saving up $70 to buy Goldeneye.

@mbiggs31183: this thread is over four months old. Why bump it?

I think the DLC for most games are overpriced. Most DLC should be free and given as a reward to people who paid for the game.

I guess most games by themselves are probably priced fair... like some people said, even back in the early 90s you could sometimes see games for 60-70 dollars and with inflation that means games are actually less now. I think when i bought street fighter 2 on my snes it was around 80 dollars. But on the other side of things i remember many PC games being half the cost of console games, mostly because it was cheaper probably over the cartridge format the consoles used.

They've always been too expensive. Still a better value than movies, though.

I'm gonna go with no they aren't too expensive today. If anything they haven't increased in price to match inflation. So stop bitching! Also I don't know who was lying to you about N64 prices. And bug free? Back in the day they would just start selling updated version of the cartridges and if you had the old version you were s.o.l.

Well I sure think they are cheap with those fast sales.

isn't minimum wage high there though?

Nope. They're more affordable than ever, especially when you have PSN flash sales selling older games for x<$1, Humble Bundles allowing you to pay $0.01 for a bundle of great games, Steam Sales every couple of months, and retail copies plummeting practically moments after release.

£40 for a new game in the UK. Sometimes 50 is they're really hot like the latest CoD game. Don't understand how we're supposed to afford them. Especially these days.

Doesn't really matter to me how much pubs want to charge for their games. I happily wait a month or two and get them for a fraction, either through the used market or retail sales. The days of me paying full retail ended a long time ago. I know I'm not alone either. I often wonder how much extra money these companies would make if they just lowered their games right out of the gate. Most people wouldn't wait for the used market.