I keep hearing news about layoffs and games failing to meet expectations in the industry. Games are so big nowadays, they need to sell a lot to be profitable. Developers are underpaid and overworked. As a solution, companies add insufferable amounts of monetization to their games, making them worse in the process, and expecting people to keep playing and paying for years.
To this, I say go back to the old ways! Considering inflation, games should be a lot more expensive! Charge 100 dollars per game, if that makes it good and not filled with microtransactions. While we’re at it, charge 700 dollars per console, and then give us free multiplayer instead of this subscription crap. And give game developers 90% of the sales instead of 70%, so that they can afford to take risks with creative stuff.
Then I remember I’m from a country that has lost a lot of purchasing power compared to the US, so game prices have actually gone up here. And I’m on this forum because I like paying less than $20 for classics that were sold for three times that when they came out. And I remember I bought the cheapest console, because it was cheap.
Guess I’m a hypocrite.
Would I be different if the world was different? Would I have an unending backlog of not started games if they were $100? Would the “living room mini pc” concept be in a better state if $300 consoles didn’t exist? We’ll never know for sure, but I think the answer is yes to all, because I don’t like taking the blame.
Add a comment if you’re a hypocrite too.
Considering inflation, games should be a lot more expensive!
…and, considering the economics of scale, they should be a lot less expensive.
It’s not like inflation is the only driver behind prices.
the problem is CEO after you bought your $100 game for your $700 console. “We could boost profits so I can get my bonus this quarter by enabling microtransactions anyway and shut down the severs on the game you bought after a year. Because not enough people are buying the game anymore and we don’t offer dedicated servers like we did for 20 years with no issues but now it’s too hard. We will keep the severs going but you need to buy a subscription.”
If you feed the beast more it just craves more to be full. I would have no problem paying the same prices for games in the 90s adjusted inflation. If wages had kept up with productively. Hell they can even keep the cost reduction going from carts to CDs or downloads.
Also the Steam Deck is $349 right now.
