$80 games.

[tp4tissue]

Acceptable o' not?

Programmers gotta eat? Grocery prices are up, probably around +150% ish since the pandemic.

[noisyturtle]

About time, I say

I do not approve of raising hardware prices for old consoles though. **** Trump.

[Leslieann]

I always buy on Steam sales, $80 can kiss my...

[Rob27shred]

It was gonna happen sooner or later, I mean think back to the 80s. NES games were like $50 to $60 when brand new iirc. That said I agree with Leslieann, Steams sales ftw. Combine them with a decent backlog & you have very little reason to pay full price for any game. Also Xbox PC game pass is well worth the $12 a month IMO, huge value with how many big games they put out on it the day of the games release. Like 90% of the games that I would've been tempted to grab for full price in the last year, year & half have come out on game pass. I'm really hoping whatever MS & Steam are working on together right now includes integration of PC game pass into Steam!

[tp4tissue]

We should go back to potato graphics.  10watt consoles. 

[Findecanor]

From my perspective, there are two parts to this:

• A loud fart's import taxes on hardware made in Asia into one of the world's biggest markets impacts prices:
 - Console hardware have traditionally been subsidised by the price of games: when hardware becomes more expensive, then so do games
 - Brands have increased prices worldwide, not just in that market. But they subsidise that market because they obviously think the taxes are temporary. While they are waiting for the tide to change, they are concerned with maintaining their distribution chains and to not lose out to the competition.

• The income divide between the rich and the poor has increased. Not just in the USA but worldwide.
Gaming has more and more become a rich person's hobby, and that has already been visible in the price of gaming hardware.

Neither is acceptable.

[Leslieann]

It was gonna happen sooner or later, I mean think back to the 80s. NES games were like $50 to $60 when brand new iirc. That said I agree with Leslieann, Steams sales ftw. Combine them with a decent backlog & you have very little reason to pay full price for any game. Also Xbox PC game pass is well worth the $12 a month IMO, huge value with how many big games they put out on it the day of the games release. Like 90% of the games that I would've been tempted to grab for full price in the last year, year & half have come out on game pass. I'm really hoping whatever MS & Steam are working on together right now includes integration of PC game pass into Steam!

In the 80's games were expensive because the memory chips in cartridges were insanely expensive, today they don't even really pay for hardware at all. And yes I get it, was going to happen at some point but also look at movies, these companies/studios continue to bet the company on each and every game/movie. Do they need to? Why does a video game need a longer lead time and budget than an operating system or movie? And why bet the company on it? it's just ridiculous.

[chyros]

Loads of games studios are tipping over because of shrinking margins and dried-up funding. I don't mind paying more for good games if it helps keep the industry alive.

Obviously I'm not gonna pay $80 for just any game though. But I'll pay it for Subnautica 2.

[noisyturtle]

As long as indie games remain under $30 and publishers continue to participate in sales, it shouldn't be a huge problem.
You shouldn't be preordering a game for full price that you haven't played anyway.

[Rob27shred]

It was gonna happen sooner or later, I mean think back to the 80s. NES games were like $50 to $60 when brand new iirc. That said I agree with Leslieann, Steams sales ftw. Combine them with a decent backlog & you have very little reason to pay full price for any game. Also Xbox PC game pass is well worth the $12 a month IMO, huge value with how many big games they put out on it the day of the games release. Like 90% of the games that I would've been tempted to grab for full price in the last year, year & half have come out on game pass. I'm really hoping whatever MS & Steam are working on together right now includes integration of PC game pass into Steam!

In the 80's games were expensive because the memory chips in cartridges were insanely expensive, today they don't even really pay for hardware at all. And yes I get it, was going to happen at some point but also look at movies, these companies/studios continue to bet the company on each and every game/movie. Do they need to? Why does a video game need a longer lead time and budget than an operating system or movie? And why bet the company on it? it's just ridiculous.

Yeah I completely agree with that sentiment. It is crazy how they continue to bet the farm on these huge games/movies when they've not only been burned how many times by doing so, but also have the proof that games/movies smaller in scope can easily make as much money as the big boys if done right & good. I've been saying for years now AAA games are dead, like 99% of the most memorable games I've played in the last 5 years have been either AA or indie titles. I really think the video game industry needs another crash to reset it, I know it sounds drastic but I don't see these big publishers pulling their heads out of their asses for any other reason.

[Leslieann]

It was gonna happen sooner or later, I mean think back to the 80s. NES games were like $50 to $60 when brand new iirc. That said I agree with Leslieann, Steams sales ftw. Combine them with a decent backlog & you have very little reason to pay full price for any game. Also Xbox PC game pass is well worth the $12 a month IMO, huge value with how many big games they put out on it the day of the games release. Like 90% of the games that I would've been tempted to grab for full price in the last year, year & half have come out on game pass. I'm really hoping whatever MS & Steam are working on together right now includes integration of PC game pass into Steam!

In the 80's games were expensive because the memory chips in cartridges were insanely expensive, today they don't even really pay for hardware at all. And yes I get it, was going to happen at some point but also look at movies, these companies/studios continue to bet the company on each and every game/movie. Do they need to? Why does a video game need a longer lead time and budget than an operating system or movie? And why bet the company on it? it's just ridiculous.

Yeah I completely agree with that sentiment. It is crazy how they continue to bet the farm on these huge games/movies when they've not only been burned how many times by doing so, but also have the proof that games/movies smaller in scope can easily make as much money as the big boys if done right & good. I've been saying for years now AAA games are dead, like 99% of the most memorable games I've played in the last 5 years have been either AA or indie titles. I really think the video game industry needs another crash to reset it, I know it sounds drastic but I don't see these big publishers pulling their heads out of their asses for any other reason.

How much money did Angry Birds make?
The farming sim? Euro truck? Goat simulator? Kerbal Space Program? Flappy Bird? None of these were major studio endeavors that cost close to a $Bil.

If you can do 95% with 10%, why not.
Kevin Smith was once asked why the studios keep hiring him since his movies never make a lot of money, his response was something to the effect of "they always make money". If he gets a 5x return on investment it doesn't matter if it's $5 mil or $500 mil, it's still a solid return on investment.

[tp4tissue]

Unreal Engine 5 does alot of hard lifting.  Going forward, gameplay won't change much but development for assets and graphics will certainly come down enough to offset the need for $80 charge.

They made clair obscur for $15-25Million, and it looks AAA.