2022 Game prices going up

[Gamma_Winstead]

Originally Posted by KilloWertz

It's the same situation it's always been. If you really want a game and think it's good enough to justify the money, get it when it comes out. For all other games, just wait.

I’m fine spending ten dollars more than normal for games I’m really excited for. I’m also fine waiting two months and getting 99.99% of most games on a steep sale. Overall the only people who are being negatively effected are the ones with Fomo and no self control. If the 10 extra bucks for a game is breaking your bank, games shouldn’t be your top priority anyways.*

*of course referring to US members. I’m aware the price hike is significantly more expensive in places like canada and the UK, where it’s far more inexcusable.

[Zivouhr]

In the end, if most people had a choice, they'd want to pay less than more.

Unless saving money was never a concern. But yeah, for those who have jobs (or self-employment) that haven't raised their paychecks with the rising costs of living, that's not fun and I can understand the frustration there.

It's a little like going to see a new movie, and the theater said, "Hey, do you mind if we charge you an extra $10 fee for this ticket? It's just that our costs have risen and it'll help us continue to make a profit."
"Yeah, that's not great, but okay. I'll just have to see fewer movies here, that's all."

Or like the rising cost when fueling up at the gas station. I'm currently paying the cost of a new PS4 game with tax included to fill a vehicle up from near empty. It's almost as expensive as it was at its peak cost years ago for fuel. So it's nice when prices are lower, even though I can afford it. But all of the new PS4/PS5 games I could've bought with that fuel! (More people and cars, less fuel available, higher costs).

There will be a few rare PS5 games I'll pay $70 for, but most at this point I think I can wait for. The sales have been great to my surprise and there are plenty of games to keep me busy while waiting for a sale price.

[CrowKiller]

I've seen a trent with some devs these days. They'll release a game for say... $20, but continuously update the game with free content. Then when they release a bunch of new content for free and after a period of time, they raise the price say... to $30. For those that have yet to buy it earlier, when there was less content. Just curious what all of your thoughts are on that. I thought about doing that with things I dev. Kind of like a believe in me discount in the beginning. Then reward those early buyers with free content, while those that wait pay more later when there's a lot more content added.

[Steelmaker]

Originally Posted by Gamma_Winstead

I’m fine spending ten dollars more than normal for games I’m really excited for. I’m also fine waiting two months and getting 99.99% of most games on a steep sale. Overall the only people who are being negatively effected are the ones with Fomo and no self control. If the 10 extra bucks for a game is breaking your bank, games shouldn’t be your top priority anyways.*

*of course referring to US members. I’m aware the price hike is significantly more expensive in places like canada and the UK, where it’s far more inexcusable.

Nailed it. /thread.

[Zivouhr]

Originally Posted by CrowKiller

I've seen a trent with some devs these days. They'll release a game for say... $20, but continuously update the game with free content. Then when they release a bunch of new content for free and after a period of time, they raise the price say... to $30. For those that have yet to buy it earlier, when there was less content. Just curious what all of your thoughts are on that. I thought about doing that with things I dev. Kind of like a believe in me discount in the beginning. Then reward those early buyers with free content, while those that wait pay more later when there's a lot more content added.

Interesting that they start off at $20 and then eventually raise the price. I haven't seen a game do that yet. Which games would be good examples and are they PC only or consoles?
You develop games? That's cool. I'd be interested to hear what game you might release on PC, Steam or consoles.

[CrowKiller]

Originally Posted by Zivouhr

Interesting that they start off at $20 and then eventually raise the price. I haven't seen a game do that yet. Which games would be good examples and are they PC only or consoles?
You develop games? That's cool. I'd be interested to hear what game you might release on PC, Steam or consoles.

I've actually seen it with Oculus (Meta) Quest more. Not necessarily $20, I just used that as an example of what I was talking about. As far as what I do, I've only done little small mini game type stuff to pay around with, but as of earlier this year, I've started working on more real stuff. I've just been kind of bouncing around with stuff. All super early. Working on a fighting game here and there. As well as a beatem up game, and a first person game. Problem is that graphics are a weak point for me, and I need to find someone to help with that. Which thanks to modern technology, can be anyone anywhere in the world. Then when I find someone to help (if ever) and getting their thoughts on what they would want to do, I'll start to focus on one project at a time and not bounce around. I'd also like to do something with VR, but that would be much later. I plan to release these games on every platform I can. I'm using Unity for all of these.

[LegacyCosts]

Good to have an xbox right now, playing the new halo for 15 bucks. Game prices skyrocketing during a pandemic that never ends, nice.

[Zivouhr]

Originally Posted by CrowKiller

I've seen a trent with some devs these days. They'll release a game for say... $20, but continuously update the game with free content. Then when they release a bunch of new content for free and after a period of time, they raise the price say... to $30. For those that have yet to buy it earlier, when there was less content. Just curious what all of your thoughts are on that. I thought about doing that with things I dev. Kind of like a believe in me discount in the beginning. Then reward those early buyers with free content, while those that wait pay more later when there's a lot more content added.

Originally Posted by CrowKiller

I've actually seen it with Oculus (Meta) Quest more. Not necessarily $20, I just used that as an example of what I was talking about. As far as what I do, I've only done little small mini game type stuff to pay around with, but as of earlier this year, I've started working on more real stuff. I've just been kind of bouncing around with stuff. All super early. Working on a fighting game here and there. As well as a beatem up game, and a first person game. Problem is that graphics are a weak point for me, and I need to find someone to help with that. Which thanks to modern technology, can be anyone anywhere in the world. Then when I find someone to help (if ever) and getting their thoughts on what they would want to do, I'll start to focus on one project at a time and not bounce around. I'd also like to do something with VR, but that would be much later. I plan to release these games on every platform I can. I'm using Unity for all of these.

Sounds good, thanks Crowkiller for the details. Yes, best success with your projects. Unity can be a challenge but I guess once you get the hang of it, the software can be easier to achieve your programming goals. Plus Unity being a free program and all is a nice feature for indie developers. One small step at a time and you can achieve your large goal of creating a new created video game for sale.

Originally Posted by LegacyCosts

Good to have an xbox right now, playing the new halo for 15 bucks. Game prices skyrocketing during a pandemic that never ends, nice.

Right, good point about the bad timing of when to raise game prices more. Probably the lowest the economy can get in a long time but pretty much everything is going up in price due to the whole situation.

[InuYashaCrusade]

This is why I only buy games that I think are absolutely deserving of release day pricing. I say this after I paid full price for Pokemon Brilliant Diamond...but nevermind that. Usually I'll wait until a game is closer to half off.

[Blu Lemmy]

If I want it, I'll pay what I'm happy paying.
No need for any drama. If it means I wait a month or two, cool

[gundamcero]

Yup. Going to be the new norm across all gaming as games are much more expensive to develop these days than most people realize. Happy to pay the extra to support the hard working dev teams.

[ps3bd_owner]

What a few or some (?) do is make multiple PSN accounts from countries such as India, Brazil, Turkey, Indonesia, and U.S. (if they're abroad) to get games cheaper. Damn, that's five accounts and it'd require five email addresses.

In my opinion, that's excessive and something someone can easily lose access of if they're not careful (not to mention they use fraudulent info to make that many PSN accounts).

But I digress. Personally, I just wait for games to get cheaper regardless how long it takes as I've got plenty to go thru.

[NARMAK]

Originally Posted by CrowKiller

I've seen a trent with some devs these days. They'll release a game for say... $20, but continuously update the game with free content. Then when they release a bunch of new content for free and after a period of time, they raise the price say... to $30. For those that have yet to buy it earlier, when there was less content. Just curious what all of your thoughts are on that. I thought about doing that with things I dev. Kind of like a believe in me discount in the beginning. Then reward those early buyers with free content, while those that wait pay more later when there's a lot more content added.

I believe releasing a game at $20 and then jacking the price up is silly if the original RRP/MSRP was $20. Especially if they're giving free DLC.

Let's use GTA V and GTA Online as an example. The games never really gotten more expensive except on re-release to a newer platform and GTA Online has always been free updates since then but they balanced this with the MTX of shark cards and pricing being a bit of a grind to encourage people to buy cosmetics. However, GTA V always needed to be purchased so they'd be making money from that.

The "correct" way imo is how say CDPR did it with The Witcher 3 which is to release some minor cosmetics etc. for free and then expansion DLC that's paid for. Standalone, expansion pack or Game of the Year re-release. That way you can justify increasing the prices imo if the base game didn't get the content. The other way doesn't really work. It seems like it just does for things like food, gas etc.

Originally Posted by Blu Lemmy

If I want it, I'll pay what I'm happy paying.
No need for any drama. If it means I wait a month or two, cool

That's all well and good bud, but some of these prices have been near stagnant and not dropping for near 12 months to a good price in some cases. I get having a biting point, but i'm seeing prices generally have a higher inflated pricing floor than previous gens after a similar period of time even on typical bargain bin pricing 6 months down from release.

Originally Posted by gundamcero

Yup. Going to be the new norm across all gaming as games are much more expensive to develop these days than most people realize. Happy to pay the extra to support the hard working dev teams.

You're not paying more to support the staff. Whilst it's a great notion and i 100% support that if that's what increased prices helped with, the truth is its just lining the pockets of executives and increasing corporate profits.

The Borderlands 3 situation and what happened to them financially imo sums up this damn game industry. They're the organs in this meat grinder and they're not the primary beneficiary of price rises. In fact, the cost of development has actually imo eased. Why?

We now have digital distribution so all physical costs of printing, shipping etc. are eliminated yet we barely get the same level of price drops. That's another way for them to increase their profit margins. Then to also top it off, game engines like Unreal Engine 4/5 show how a single person team can make Bright Memory Infinite or a small teams making Black Myth: Legend of Wukong. The state of AAA development is a sorry tale of mismanagement and waste leading to high costs. I've been around businesses long enough to know its the same old shoddy behaviours of execs and incompetent management that's guised under "rising development costs" to BS people.

I'm gonna probably say that this is one line in the sand i'd happily sit behind for a long time.

[Blu Lemmy]

I'm easy. I'll pay what I am happy to.

[ps3bd_owner]

Originally Posted by Blu Lemmy

I'm easy. I'll pay what I am happy to.

I agree. If Rockstar, for example, puts all their effort into GTA VI it'll be worth every penny.

I really hope they don't screw it up like they did with GTA Definitive Trilogy.

[CrowKiller]

Originally Posted by NARMAK

I believe releasing a game at $20 and then jacking the price up is silly if the original RRP/MSRP was $20. Especially if they're giving free DLC.

I don't think it's so much jacking up the price as is raising the price to justify the content. Basically rewarding early adopters and those that believed in you and your game. Those games that do that still have sales which lower the price back down a bit on occasion. It's also a way to get your game out there quicker. It wouldn't be dlc per say, just regular updates doing fixes and adding more content. Like more characters for a fighting game. The "free" content is really ment for those early adopters, but those that wait much longer have to pay for that free content in the form of a small price hike, assuming there's enough extra content released to justify the higher price.

[Havok83]

Originally Posted by NARMAK

Yes, it's super entitled to complain about prices rising when wages are stagnant and costs of more important things like y'know, food, rent etc. are already squeezing disposable income down to a minimum.

When PS3 was around, i aimed for £40 new as my goal. Still do really and to that end if you now say have £70, that's almost 1.5x the cost i would have purchased a single game for even during the PS4 era on a pre-order.

Personally am i happy to wait? Yes. However, after near a year, some titles had not drastically reduced down at all. Hell, Ubisoft titles notorious for dropping haven't had AC Valhalla drop below £20 in like a year. Similar for like RE7 Village etc. So it's not as simple as just waiting always.

But they're not. The last time there was an increase in the standard game price was during the PS3 era. That was 15 years ago. Wages have increased since then but videogame prices didnt until now. Literally every industry from movies to fast food to retail has since an increase in price over the last 15 years and its incredibly entitled and unreasonable to expect videogames to remain the exception. Heck even the Dollar Store here in the US will start selling stuff more than $1. . If you don’t like it, then don’t game or don’t do so at launch. Remember that videogames are a luxury expense, not a necessity like rent, food, medical, etc…

Originally Posted by NARMAK

You're not paying more to support the staff. Whilst it's a great notion and i 100% support that if that's what increased prices helped with, the truth is its just lining the pockets of executives and increasing corporate profits.

The Borderlands 3 situation and what happened to them financially imo sums up this damn game industry. They're the organs in this meat grinder and they're not the primary beneficiary of price rises. In fact, the cost of development has actually imo eased. Why?

But you are. You cant separate the two. The staff and execs all get paid from the same profit pool. When a game does not sell well and/or is not profitable, the ones that are likely gonna lose their jobs are the staff at the bottom. Buying a game one enjoys 100% supports them as it helps keeps them employed.

We now have digital distribution so all physical costs of printing, shipping etc. are eliminated yet we barely get the same level of price drops. That's another way for them to increase their profit margins. Then to also top it off, game engines like Unreal Engine 4/5 show how a single person team can make Bright Memory Infinite or a small teams making Black Myth: Legend of Wukong. The state of AAA development is a sorry tale of mismanagement and waste leading to high costs. I've been around businesses long enough to know its the same old shoddy behaviours of execs and incompetent management that's guised under "rising development costs" to BS people.

I'm gonna probably say that this is one line in the sand i'd happily sit behind for a long time.

thats a flawed way of looking at things. All physical costs have not been eliminated. Sure for smaller titles and from indie studios that only deal in digital distribution but the majority of traditional games are still manufactured and distributed at retail. Those costs exist and are higher than they were 15 years ago, especially if they arent getting the comparable discount thats given from manufacturing at bulk, which they arent bc as you mentioned, digital has been on the rise. And just bc there may be some money saved from not manufacturing physical retails, thre are still rising costs that counter that including server costs, rental space, increased wages for the devs and voice acting talent. You really cant ever just look at one thing

[NARMAK]

Originally Posted by Havok83

But they're not. The last time there was an increase in the standard game price was during the PS3 era. That was 15 years ago. Wages have increased since then but videogame prices didnt until now. Literally every industry from movies to fast food to retail has since an increase in price over the last 15 years and its incredibly entitled and unreasonable to expect videogames to remain the exception. Heck even the Dollar Store here in the US will start selling stuff more than $1. . If you don’t like it, then don’t game or don’t do so at launch. Remember that videogames are a luxury expense, not a necessity like rent, food, medical, etc…

I have my views on it as do others and yes, i understand prices can go up but you're wrong when you claim they haven't risen since the PS3 era. They already rose during the PS4 gen and then they were raised again now to the $70 for this gen.

I personally don't agree with the new pricing methods because unlike the PS3 era, there's been a mass migration in games towards MTX to nickel and dime gamers to offsetany perceived need for price rises. If it was so necessary for prices to be higher, why is it over time they always lower down?

[Havok83]

Originally Posted by NARMAK

I have my views on it as do others and yes, i understand prices can go up but you're wrong when you claim they haven't risen since the PS3 era. They already rose during the PS4 gen and then they were raised again now to the $70 for this gen.

I personally don't agree with the new pricing methods because unlike the PS3 era, there's been a mass migration in games towards MTX to nickel and dime gamers to offsetany perceived need for price rises. If it was so necessary for prices to be higher, why is it over time they always lower down?

I see you are in the UK so I cant speak for that but in the US, the standard game price at retail was $60 during the PS3 era and that was the case for the PS4. Its only been in the PS5 that games rose to $70 and thats not really standard across the board yet

BTW, what is MTX?

Games decrease in price over time bc of depreciation. That happens with most products. The vast bulk of profits are going to be made upfront and after some point, profits are negligible. People want to be the new hot thing and after a certain point, they simply stop selling, hence why prices go down to incentivize that or move inventory to make way for newer products

[NARMAK]

Originally Posted by Havok83

I see you are in the UK so I cant speak for that but in the US, the standard game price at retail was $60 during the PS3 era and that was the case for the PS4. Its only been in the PS5 that games rose to $70 and thats not really standard across the board yet

BTW, what is MTX?

Games decrease in price over time bc of depreciation. That happens with most products. The vast bulk of profits are going to be made upfront and after some point, profits are negligible. People want to be the new hot thing and after a certain point, they simply stop selling, hence why prices go down to incentivize that or move inventory to make way for newer products

MTX - Microtransaction

As for depreciation over time, due to the increased price, there's definitely not been as much of a reduction in prices 6 months post launch or even 12 months as it used to be and i know because i keep a regular eye out for such things. Spiderman only recently had a reduction by quite a decent margin near 12 months later and even then, its not under £30 really which a LOT of games did get to within 12 months easily brand new in that time frame during the PS4 gen regularly.

Maybe like you say, this arguments also rooted in where we live. I'm in the UK and i honestly can say gaming is the very last thing most like myself should be considering to spend up front on with rising living costs and the debacle of all the high profile scuffed releases.