Why are video games so expensive?

[Warm Gun]

That camera or first person view is in most AAA games now. When you're talking about continuing the perspective through the entire story, that is not a conversation about gameplay, but presentation (though it negatively impacts the gameplay). The mechanic becomes more used by inertia. One game does it, then another apes the first, gradually people grow more used to the mechanic, eventually it creeps its way into places it doesn't belong. But by that point the players have already used that perspective so much in other games that they don't realize how badly it impacts the game they are currently playing. They would rather be comfortable with what they know. The publisher fulfills the player's expectation to increase the chance of a return on their bloated investment.

[PenguinInfinity]

Originally Posted by Warm Gun

That camera or first person view is in most AAA games now. When you're talking about continuing the perspective through the entire story, that is not a conversation about gameplay, but presentation (though it negatively impacts the gameplay). The mechanic becomes more used by inertia. One game does it, then another apes the first, gradually people grow more used to the mechanic, eventually it creeps its way into places it doesn't belong. But by that point the players have already used that perspective so much in other games that they don't realize how badly it impacts the game they are currently playing. They would rather be comfortable with what they know. The publisher fulfills the player's expectation to increase the chance of a return on their bloated investment.

You complain about lack of variety and then you say that the developers of God of War shouldn't have changed their game. Maybe the developers wanted more variety in their work instead of making another God of War game that played just like all of the other ones.

[Warm Gun]

Originally Posted by PenguinInfinity

You complain about lack of variety and then you say that the developers of God of War shouldn't have changed their game. Maybe the developers wanted more variety in their work instead of making another God of War game that played just like all of the other ones.

Already talked about that elsewhere. I didn't want the same game either. But making it play like every third person shooter isn't any better.

"What they should have done was replace Kratos. People kept complaining that the character had become totally unlikable and the story had declined since the original. So instead of turning the same simplistic character into someone he could never be, they should have replaced him with a different god of war from another pantheon. They should have kept the fixed, cinematic camera angles, but given him or her a completely new combat system with mechanics tailored to their style and weapons. We get few enough exceptions to the cramped over the shoulder perspective with shoulder button attacks/shooting among the cinematic AAA developers as it is. In the spirit of the original trilogy, the reboot should have had the same entertaining, sadistic over the top violence and gore, the sexuality/tits and the awesome setpieces. The game should have been linear and the production values slightly simpler, so that the game wasn't stuck with only the same few troll enemies and the Valkarye-types for bosses. It's hard to even consider that white trash Baldur and the dragon as bosses, since so much of them is just cutscene with occasional player input. The game should have gone light on the story moments and kept the narrator as a way to move it along. No persistent companion, because that just means more walking and talking that silences the music. It's dull, with the dialogue all too often sounding real world rather than mythical. The pondering, the quips and the idle everyday talk came off as really pretentious because of how fantastic the world is supposed to be. Immortals and gods talking almost like regular folk. White trash Baldur comes to mind again."

[PenguinInfinity]

Originally Posted by Warm Gun

Already talked about that elsewhere. I didn't want the same game either. But making it play like every third person shooter isn't any better.

"What they should have done was replace Kratos. People kept complaining that the character had become totally unlikable and the story had declined since the original. So instead of turning the same simplistic character into someone he could never be, they should have replaced him with a different god of war from another pantheon. They should have kept the fixed, cinematic camera angles, but given him or her a completely new combat system with mechanics tailored to their style and weapons. We get few enough exceptions to the cramped over the shoulder perspective with shoulder button attacks/shooting among the cinematic AAA developers as it is. In the spirit of the original trilogy, the reboot should have had the same entertaining, sadistic over the top violence and gore, the sexuality/tits and the awesome setpieces. The game should have been linear and the production values slightly simpler, so that the game wasn't stuck with only the same few troll enemies and the Valkarye-types for bosses. It's hard to even consider that white trash Baldur and the dragon as bosses, since so much of them is just cutscene with occasional player input. The game should have gone light on the story moments and kept the narrator as a way to move it along. No persistent companion, because that just means more walking and talking that silences the music. It's dull, with the dialogue all too often sounding real world rather than mythical. The pondering, the quips and the idle everyday talk came off as really pretentious because of how fantastic the world is supposed to be. Immortals and gods talking almost like regular folk. White trash Baldur comes to mind again."

It comes off as extremely pretentious telling the developers exactly how they should have made the game.

It's a huge leap to assume that everything that the developers did was just to pander the masses and it wasn't what they wanted to do.

[Warm Gun]

If that's pretentious and entitled or whatever, then there is no way to say their ideas and (indeed) pandering are shit. You shut out all criticism. I explained why the camera didn't work already, so it makes sense to then suggest an alternative for originality.

[PenguinInfinity]

Originally Posted by Warm Gun

If that's pretentious and entitled or whatever, then there is no way to say their ideas and (indeed) pandering are shit. You shut out all criticism. I explained why the camera didn't work already, so it makes sense to then suggest an alternative for originality.

There are plenty of popular games that I don't enjoy but, unlike you, I would never assume that they were made the way they were just to appeal to the masses.

I highly doubt that the developers would have used the camera angle they did if they didn't personally like it. I highly doubt that they would have had Atreus accompany Kratos throughout the game if they didn't think having dialogue throughout the game was enjoyable.

It's fine that you don't enjoy that style of game, but as I previously mentioned it's a huge leap to think that it was only made that way to appeal to the masses.

[Warm Gun]

Made on the heels of The Last of Us's success. And then you also look at how logical that camera really is in that type of action-adventure game. Yeah, I'm not making any leaps.

[PenguinInfinity]

The lead designer, Cory Barlog, previously worked on the Tomb Raider reboot (after working on 5 other God of War games) and wanted to do the single shot for that but Crystal Dynamics turned him down. He left Crystal Dynamics and came back to Santa Monica Studio where he was able to implement an idea he was clearly passionate about.

[PenguinInfinity]

Originally Posted by Warm Gun

Made on the heels of The Last of Us's success. And then you also look at how logical that camera really is in that type of action-adventure game. Yeah, I'm not making any leaps.

You don't think it's possible that the people at Santa Monica Studio really liked The Last of Us and thought it had a lot of great ideas?

[emailking]

Huh? I don't see how The Last of Us influenced anything in God of War lol.

[Low123]

Wow
It's very cool.

[lalbers]

The primary reason video games are expensive is budget.

The budget includes the cost of research and development, the cost of running a company, retaining talented employees for game development, marketing and distribution, royalties, and game maintenance.

Video game prices can also be affected by external factors such as what price the consumer will accept and the landscape of the used video game market.
Research And Development
Research and development, or R&D, is the process of taking an idea for a video game and bringing it to fruition.

The cost of R&D has skyrocketed since the initial surge in home video game consoles such as Nintendo and PlayStation.
Marketing And Distribution
When a video game development company feels that they have developed a winning video game, the video game must be marketed to the masses to spread the word and the excitement about the new game.

The marketing budget can be massive with commercial spots reaching as high as $1 million for a single 30-second commercial.

I think these are the 3 most important aspects of pricing. For example, I'm working on a project, transferring from the mobile version to the desktop version, my company has given funding for this. This is not fast. You can check it out here, post your intermediate results. This is not a release yet, I need to fix the Frontend

[russweiss1]

I don't really consider video games to be expensive. RPG games are what I enjoy and typically I will get at least 30 hours of play out of them. Some I get several hundreds of hours of playtime. Compare this to buying a movie that has 3 hours of material on it. Games are much more economical in terms of what you get from them, at least to me.

[SlimShadyy]

Last few years prices for AAA games are super high. I remember how I bought CoD vanguard for 60$ and was super disappointed, game were super raw. And the same feelings with the new CoD MW2. If we gonna talk about monetisation in games. Just take a look for Overwatch 2. Battlepass is defenetly pay to win, to get new hero Ramattra on 45 battlepass level -.- And ranked system is super broke, full of noobs, toxic kids and cheaters, Impossible to rank up without using Overwatch boosting service to get a help by pro player for rank up just to Diamond 5.

Moreover I just prefer to play indie games like Disco Elysium or Inside or Stray. All this games is super fun with very good histories and cost cheap.

[red_5ive]

Originally Posted by russweiss1

I don't really consider video games to be expensive. RPG games are what I enjoy and typically I will get at least 30 hours of play out of them. Some I get several hundreds of hours of playtime. Compare this to buying a movie that has 3 hours of material on it. Games are much more economical in terms of what you get from them, at least to me.

Same here. Although I'm selective on which RPGs I play these days, there are still titles that I continue to play. I have several hundred hours into the Fallout games and Skyrim. Mods only help that too. And more recently I have about 150 hours into Cyberpunk 2077.

But outside of RPG, I still have an active GameFly account and just rent most of my games. For $14.99/month, there's almost no non-RPG game that I can't get through in 30 days. Although there have been a few times I spent 2-3 months on a game, but that's still cheaper than $50-$70 a pop for new titles.

[tcripe]

If its not a MP game or a long single player game I'm not spending $70 on it. I need to put at least 70 hours into a title for it to worth that price point imo.

[Takeshikurwasaw]

In recent years, the price of video games has become a concern among players and enthusiasts. As the industry continues to grow and evolve, the cost of producing and distributing games has skyrocketed. From the development process to marketing strategies, many factors contribute to the high price of video games. The main reason is complex development. Developing a video game is a complex and resource-intensive process. It takes a team of skilled professionals, including programmers, artists, designers, writers, and sound designers, to create a high-quality game. These people devote countless hours to coding, developing assets, creating intricate narratives and compelling sound effects. The cost of hiring such talented staff, combined with the overhead of software, hardware and utilities, adds significantly to the overall cost of development. That's why mobile development services are now actively gaining momentum and creating more and more interesting things.

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by tcripe

If its not a MP game or a long single player game I'm not spending $70 on it. I need to put at least 70 hours into a title for it to worth that price point imo.

I also have this 1 hour played for $1 spent rule.

[Donl1282]

I’m more concerned about retro games from the 80s and 90s being unaffordable, especially if you want it with the box and manual. A lot of them complete sell for the price of a gaming console. As for new games being expensive, I think the price is actually cheaper when factored in with inflation. A lot of the games in the 90s were selling for $60-$70.

[PenguinInfinity]

Originally Posted by Batman1980

I also have this 1 hour played for $1 spent rule.

Does that mean you are only willing to spend $2 on a 2 hour movie?