£50 seems to be becoming the average price for new games

[silvagti]

Has anyone else noticed that £50 is increasingly the regular price for new games? Normally that's the RRP but you'd often get them for closer to £35. More recently however most stores seem to actually be charging that price and offering virtually no discount off the RRP.

Kind of a worrying trend

 

[Raymond Lin]

I remember paying £50 for a mega drive game.

I’m sure people remember paying £65 for a N64 game.

£50 after 30 years on with inflation is cheap to be fair....

 

[adidan]

I generally only shop in the sales or ask them for birthdays/xmas if at full price.

Tight git, fat wallet.

 

[TheVoice]

Yep, seems to be ever since Detroit: Become Human was released, new releases and pre-orders have gravitated towards the £50 mark with the "special editions" hitting £75-80. Amazon aren't interested in competing much any more either, they're one of the more expensive places for the major pre-orders and they removed their £2 discount for Prime members too.

Prices don't seem to be coming down so quickly either, Far Cry 5 took a while to drop in price.

I'd be interested to know what's set it off, it's got to be something at the top of the chain because essentially all retailers are reflecting it in their pricing.

 

[BGGLP]

Tbh though if you buy physical you can get a substantial amount back if you trade it in for cash. Will always be able to get some back and if you complete it fairly quick you can usually get 2/3 back.

 

[Plainsong]

I've noticed it too. Well, unlucky I'm not desperate to play anything I will wait for it to be cheaper either second hand or in a sale.

 

[silvagti]

I can certainly remember that prices were much higher back in the 90s than they are now where you'd think nothing of paying £60-70 for some SNES and N64 titles!

At least then you knew you were getting the whole game whereas now you'll pay £50 and then have to buy the season pass and DLC to go with it! Just look at how much you get gouged buying something like Forza.

In fact recently I paid £53 for Zelda at launch on the switch. I kind of baulked at that but was pretty hyped for the release of a new system so let it slide at the time. I don't mind for a game of Zelda: BOTW quality but it has to be something special to justify that much.

It's not something I'm keen to go back to though! Unless it's something I really want (or perhaps is multiplayer and I want to play at launch) I'll also normally wait for a sale or get 2nd hand.

As others have pointed out it is very noticeable all retailers have increased game prices across the board.

 

[jimferno]

As has already been alluded to £50 is just the entrance fee now, if you want the full game you have to buy the special edition and season pass on top making most games today actually cost around £80-100 brand new. What grinds my gears is when they have a free to play microtransaction economy added in to sell you stuff that should be available in the game.

The games industry is no longer about selling you a game, it's about extracting as much money as possible from people willing to buy new games at release.

 

[Moley]

£50 for a top game today is cheap compared to the past. I still have a copy of X-wing vs Tie Fighter on the shelf behind me with a £49.99 price label on it - and that was released 21 years ago....

 

[kinger8938]

Next gen will be even more I'm sure. £60 standard I imagine

 

[marcus_667]

I dont mind £50 if the game is great and not being taken to the cleaners because everything is dlc

 

[theone8181]

As has already been alluded to £50 is just the entrance fee now, if you want the full game you have to buy the special edition and season pass on top making most games today actually cost around £80-100 brand new. What grinds my gears is when they have a free to play microtransaction economy added in to sell you stuff that should be available in the game.

The games industry is no longer about selling you a game, it's about extracting as much money as possible from people willing to buy new games at release.

I disagree with not getting the "full" game. I think games now have far more content I'm than they used to. I tend to work on how long I'll get from a game, I might have spent 80 quid on battlefield 4 but I've put 90 hours into it. That works out cheaper then buying a game for say 50 1uid and only getting a few hours out of it.

 

[Broken Hope]

I preorder a lot of my games from Smyths, you get a £5 discount if you collect, Spider-Man cost me £40.99.

 

[Vapo Reaper]

£50 pound for half the game and then you get the full game with a season pass....

 

[biron_w]

This is why I still buy my games on disc. I can get them for £50 and then sell them when I'm done for £30.

 

[beachBOYken]

This is why I still buy my games on disc. I can get them for £50 and then sell them when I'm done for £30.

How long do they hold a decent value for?

I mean I can understand the benefit of disc and selling on, especially for peeps that complete games within a week and sell, but I take forever to complete games and like to take my time, thats why I generally go digital now.

 

[AWPC]

£70-80 with all DLC content at launch!

 

[Vapo Reaper]

It

£70-80 with all DLC content at launch!

It's ridiculous isn't it.

 

[MOOGLEYS]

I think there should be a 90 day ban on any DLC other than cosmetic items from the launch of the game.

The whole season pass thing gets on my nerves tbh.

 

[Sargatanas2511]

I remember paying £50 for a mega drive game.

I’m sure people remember paying £65 for a N64 game.

£50 after 30 years on with inflation is cheap to be fair....

I have said this for a long time but people seem to think games are too expensive even when not impacted by inflation for some reason. It seems to be a common thing on PCs in particular that people will spend £800+ Making a gaming PC then refuse to spend more than £30 on a game. It's odd.