Soldato
- Joined
- 27 Mar 2013
- Posts
- 9,150
If we say 1990 for a 50 quid game, that equates to 108 quid now. Not sure what the problem is TBH, games now seem cheap, people always forget about inflation and remember things with rose tinted glasses.
£50 seems to be becoming the average price for new games
- Thread starter silvagti
- Start date
Caporegime
I got Horizon Zero Dawn for like £15 on PSN which reminds me, if you subscribe to that, you can get a lot value from it with games alone, past 12 months have seen MGS5, Mafia 3, Destiny 2. All very recent releases.
Soldato
- Joined
- 4 Apr 2003
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- 7,981
Have a look through the old Argos catalogues linked below, a great archive of pricing and kit. Games and consoles are pretty good value in real terms these days especially, games a short while after launch where they drop considerably in price, something that never seemed to happen in the formative era.
Although the real cost of megadrive / N64 games would be greater than £100 these days, it doesn't tell the whole picture as this was an era in the early 90s when interest rates were 7%-10% and disposable income was not the same as now so actual affordability of £50-£60 was no where near the same as it is currently. It would probably feel like paying £200+ for a game now.
http://retromash.com/argos/
Although the real cost of megadrive / N64 games would be greater than £100 these days, it doesn't tell the whole picture as this was an era in the early 90s when interest rates were 7%-10% and disposable income was not the same as now so actual affordability of £50-£60 was no where near the same as it is currently. It would probably feel like paying £200+ for a game now.
http://retromash.com/argos/
Caporegime
If you don't want to pay full price for a game wait a couple of months, I hardly have time to game these days anyway so it doesn't really matter I'm not getting to play it day one.
Soldato
Virtua Racing was £70+ on the mega drive ....
Which was the right of £132 in 2017, and even more in 2018. A £50 game in 2017 would have cost £26 in 1994.
Even at £60-70 games are way cheaper now than they have been in all but perhaps the 360/PS3 era.
Soldato
Games are cheap relative to n64/mega drive era.
Particularly now that they tumble in price so fast (god of war was 45 quid at launch and soon after 25 quid second hand, greta deals via Xbox gold, Xbox game pass, ea access, ps+.
Thru the above services alone that amount of content has never been so cheap/accessible.
This doesn't even consider increases in development costs.
I do hate when a developer creates pay2win models, or withholds content to bring out dlc! Look at rainbow 6 siege or fortnite for a good way to offer dlc.
Particularly now that they tumble in price so fast (god of war was 45 quid at launch and soon after 25 quid second hand, greta deals via Xbox gold, Xbox game pass, ea access, ps+.
Thru the above services alone that amount of content has never been so cheap/accessible.
This doesn't even consider increases in development costs.
I do hate when a developer creates pay2win models, or withholds content to bring out dlc! Look at rainbow 6 siege or fortnite for a good way to offer dlc.
That price was justified because of the expensive chip Sega used in the carts just like Starfox and with the SuperFX chip.
Charging more to cover the cost of the hardware not because they can.
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For reference, RRP of a new game over here (Australia) is $100. Which right now is about £55. I think the top Forza Horizon 4 is $150 (about £85).
However, I can pick a new release up in-store on the day of release for usually $79.99 (£44) sometimes $69.99 (£38). Never less. Online is pretty hit and miss, usually miss.
Prices have been petty flat for years, but the currency conversion from £-$ has not. 2015 my $100 game was £45. At the worst point after Brexit my $100 game was £62!!
I think Brexit is a major reason your prices are increasing, and to be honest, it's not been as bad as it could have been.
However, I can pick a new release up in-store on the day of release for usually $79.99 (£44) sometimes $69.99 (£38). Never less. Online is pretty hit and miss, usually miss.
Prices have been petty flat for years, but the currency conversion from £-$ has not. 2015 my $100 game was £45. At the worst point after Brexit my $100 game was £62!!
I think Brexit is a major reason your prices are increasing, and to be honest, it's not been as bad as it could have been.
Soldato
Prices have crept up but if you don't mind waiting a month or two then it feels like prices come down much quicker than they used to as well (other than Nintendo games and COD which seem to take an age to come down).
Soldato
You're missing the point. That's 130+ in today's money. BUT even £50, which a lot of games were back them, is £100 with inflation. Games today are many many times more complex, cost an order of magnitude more to produce...And are cheaper to buy. Only the 360/ps3 era had cheaper games as Kreeeee mentioned.
Games sell millions of copies now compared to the 90’s era. Gaming is the biggest most lucrative media market outselling movies. A lot of the reason the prices have remained constant is the growth of gaming and the amount of games sold offsetting price increases and production costs.
Soldato
Quite a few weeks after release. Even if I only get £20 back, it's still £30-35 for the game compared to £55 for a digital copy.
I know but I'm talking about at face value to the average joe. Ignore all the fluff about inflation etc, the same argument was used about the Nintendo Switch RRP and how people complained how expensive it was then all reports about inflation and "if it was released in the 90's it would actually cost £200 more, blah, blah, blah" But really we don't care because ever since the credit crunch people pay more attention to price increases and games is one of them.
Good thing about now compared to the early days many games drop in price fast.
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Soldato
As an adult I simply do not have the time to play everything, so I cherry pick titles some time after they came out.
For example, this year I could probably pick up Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4), The Last of Us (PS3) and Uncharted 1-3 on (PS3) all for £20 and be amazed at every one.
I don't think most games are worth £50 so I vote with my feet by rarely paying it, because unless it is a game like Fifa (which I hate) or the latest Battlefield there is no need.
For example, this year I could probably pick up Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4), The Last of Us (PS3) and Uncharted 1-3 on (PS3) all for £20 and be amazed at every one.
I don't think most games are worth £50 so I vote with my feet by rarely paying it, because unless it is a game like Fifa (which I hate) or the latest Battlefield there is no need.
Soldato
This i why i like Game Pass so much, fairly cheap sub and decent games a plenty new and old , cannot wait for Forza Horizon 4
Soldato
why would you compare face value when the value of money has changed? £50 in 1992 was worth a lot more than it is now.
Soldato
This has been happening on/off for over 20 years. Digital only future, then we're screwed.
This is one thing that really worries me and why I'll always buy physical when I can. Once Sony/MS stop releasing physical copies to retailers there'll be no second hand sales plus they'll have a complete monopoly and will be in a position to rig pricing as they see fit.
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They are already doing this to some extent with their excessive pricing on 2 year old digital games
its why I do not want to buy into Game Pass sooner or later they are going to jack the price up once physical is gone forever. I think Game Pass is actually designed to make this happen as well...…...