He’s not wrong since games pricing hasn’t kept up with inflation. If it had we’d be buying $120 games. The problem is wages also haven’t kept up with inflation either. If gaming companies had increased the prices they’d have fucked themselves.
Game prices should have increased with every new generation, former PlayStation US boss says
Submitted 8 months ago by inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world to games@lemmy.world
Comments
teft@piefed.social 8 months ago
Katana314@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I could also point out: If the main sales race was for the gold-plated base copy of a game, instead of nickel and dining people who only have nickels and dimes, then it’s possible we would have a gaming world entirely focused on churning out AAAA singleplayer experiences, back to putting out trilogies of obscure gaming experiences.
This is not blaming gamers for not accepting higher prices for incomplete games; publishers moved where the money was, and I don’t blame them. I blame the rest of OTHER industries for not updating their wages so the world is livable and people have extra for entertainment.
Sunsofold@lemmings.world 8 months ago
Instead, investors did the fucking, and now here we are.
cattywampas@midwest.social 8 months ago
Gaming is one of the cheapest hobbies and forms of entertainment there is. The price I have paid per hour for playing my favorite games is miniscule compared to something like seeing a movie.
Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip 8 months ago
Except costs went down when they switched from cartridges to discs, and then again to mostly digital.
So, no. It should not have.
NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 8 months ago
Cartridges to discs were definitely a massive savings… and happened basically one and a half times (Sega to the CD and Sony from nothing to the Playstation)
Digital… is complicated. It definitely benefits the platform holder and lowers production costs for the major publishers (and makes indie games viable) but it also fundamentally changes marketing. Because people generally don’t browse the PSN Store to find new games. They only get recommendations from influencers. Whereas plenty of us have fond memories of standing in a Best Buy or Circuit City and picking what game looked good on the shelves.
But yes. I agree that not every single generation should have led to a price jump. But I can definitely see an argument for most of them to have raised the price of “AAA” games with tiered pricing beyond that. Because it really is a problem and not just for the major publishers. Indie games basically need to launch at an effective price of 10-20 bucks on PC to stand a chance and… that is great money for the small dev teams but not so much for a medium sized C/B tier game.
rainwall@piefed.social 8 months ago
The huge win in digital for them was killing the resell market.
No used games means no competition from previous owners. Prices can stay at $60/70/80 forever without any user market forcing prices down.
Every media vendor wants digital only to cut production costs, but it's really to own the market. Consoles did exactly that for decades. The shift to subscriptipns for not only online at all but also to "sont own games, just gove us a monthly oart of your invome forever" was them pushing this advsntage to its maximum conclusion.
Only now, with falling sales and falling interest due to "quick media" like tiktok/instagram/etc, is microsoft giving up on its console moat and sharing all games across devices. Only a loss of relevance as an entertainment medium is forcing them to open the market up again.
deafboy@lemmy.world 8 months ago
People don’t browse the PSN store, because it’s crap. I mean, the steam store is pretty bad, but I still manage to just browse and bookmark some games there to get back to later.
Gork@sopuli.xyz 8 months ago
Who chooses to buy games based on influencers? I rely on reviews.
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Costs have ballooned, but on the production side, not the distribution side. Perhaps the reduced costs on the distribution side are partially responsible for prices remaining so stable in the face of inflation.
RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world 8 months ago
You can’t seriously think something like Cyberpunk or God of War costs less than Super Mario World.
piefood@feddit.online 8 months ago
The costs only ballooned because the companies keep bloating themselves. It's gotten cheaper to make games, but more expensive to run giant companies that pay ludicrus amounts of money to executives.
Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip 8 months ago
Yes, companies have made very bad decisions in what aspects of production to focus on in the last decade. They’re pouring more and more into ever decreasing rates of return on visual fidelity.
k1ck455kc@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
The quality of games did not improve, in fact game quality and diversity has deteriorated. The quantity of content has dropped off as well. Graphics fidelity and production costs have skyrocketed though.
Graphics are so superficial when it comes to games anyhow, why would anyone pay more for a pretty waste of time?
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 8 months ago
a good case study is swsh, pokemon, starting from that, it lower and lower quality, yet people sitll buy it,.
iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
Neither quality nor diversity are objective measures, and I’d certainly disagree with you that they didn’t improve.
k1ck455kc@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
Yes both very subjective. Accessibility and streamlining gameplay has seemed to be the focus. Developing unique, novel but also enjoyable new gameplay experiences? (the reason i believe most people game) That ended with the Wii, Ps3 and 360
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Diversity and quality are both going to be difficult to measure objectively, and I’d argue both are still in better supply today. Quantity is far easier to prove objectively. Not only are there just far more games out there, but try some like for like comparisons of some of your favorite long-running franchises on How Long to Beat. Assassin’s Creed II was 20-25 hours; Assassin’s Creed: Shadows is 35-64. Halo 2 was 9-12; Halo Infinite is 11-20. Baldur’s Gate 3 is close to as long as its two predecessors combined. Call of Duty is three games in one now.
k1ck455kc@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
Quantity is directly proportionate to quality though, starfield and its 1000s of repetitive planets are the perfect example of this. Would any halo fan rather play 20 hours of infinite or 20 hours of halo 2…?
Yes there have been outliers of increased quality and quantity over the last decade, but in the full priced AAA space nowadays, that is the exception not the rule.
Fermion@feddit.nl 8 months ago
“Fancy graphics” also doesn’t correlate well with how visually appealing a game is. I would take Ori graphics over CoD any day.
Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Well, because purchasing power has also collapsed in that span of time, obvi
/s
Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip 8 months ago
All everyone shoveling money and then praising remasters incessantly.
VonReposti@feddit.dk 8 months ago
There were more sports cars in the parking lot in the PS1 era than there were in the PS4 era
What a struggle. Should we then have tripled the prices so the poor publishers could afford 2 sports cars instead? Or, hear me out, just play indie games that’s higher quality and doesn’t have a useless middle man.
blattrules@lemmy.world 8 months ago
How many sports cars were in the CEO’s garage during each era though?
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 8 months ago
how many HOMES or yachts you mean.
slazer2au@lemmy.world 8 months ago
So should the quality.
And not just graphical quality.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 8 months ago
its an inverse situation with games. more expenisve lower quality, they tested how much certain fans will tolerate it, and then go higher.
sk1nnym1ke@piefed.social 8 months ago
Unfortunately you get half of the games and the other half is splitted in DLCs, season pass, and pre order bonus.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 8 months ago
yup 60-70 for the base game, 10-30ish for DLC, and then more for online play.
Fermion@feddit.nl 8 months ago
Which is to say that prices did increase every generation.
ampersandrew@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I think even if they did, we’d still have arrived at exactly where we are right now. They sold more copies of games because, after inflation, the games became cheaper and more accessible for the average consumer. Now that prices are rising again, that average consumer is getting priced out, and they’re not making up for that volume in the higher price. $70 seems to be what the highest tier of production value can get away with in 2025 if they’re maximizing sales, GTA and Mario Kart notwithstanding, as they’re outliers.