Price of games is stupidly expensive

Baldbloke said:
sixty quid for a game? get lost.

I don't game much. Bit of sim racing and a wee bit Call of Duty campaign (Well, it has actually been many years since I played COD but I'll try to get back in to it).

I recently bought Call of Duty Modern Warfare (not v2, just the first one) for £16-ish quid on steam sale. Fair enough. Bit dear for my liking but what the heck, go for it I thought to myself.

Then, when I booted up the the game for the first time I was slapped in the face with offers of more expensive upgrades, download content and other stuff for some ridiculous sum of money. Eff off, I thought.

Ok, it's a business. I get that. I think it is ethically dislikable but the world is what it is. I am a 62 year old man who has a good idea of when to call a halt on stupid purchases. What about the young kids who are going to their parents and asking for more money to get the latest fancy dangling carrot? Must be a chuffing nightmare.

Rant ended (But not over:). Your turn.
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I generally pick games up on sale for £35 or less a few months after release.

I have a backlog of wishlisted games to get through so no need to pay full price on release day.

However £60 isn't a lot these days.
 
For those of us old enough, I can remember paying £10+ for top end C64 games.
Amiga games were regularly £20-£30 on release.
When you think that was 30+ years ago, Games have not really increased in price at the rate of other items.
Unless you must have it on release, wait a couple of months.
 
Countcussy said:
For those of us old enough, I can remember paying £10+ for top end C64 games.
Amiga games were regularly £20-£30 on release.
When you think that was 30+ years ago, Games have not really increased in price at the rate of other items.
Unless you must have it on release, wait a couple of months.
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True but the cost for making games has increased. Back in the day, one person could make an C64 or Amiga game for it to be an top end title. Now you need a team of at least 100 people across different countries with investors putting down millions.
 
I totally agree with the price of games on release especially when they are usually a bug fest and need patch after patch, not forgetting the hype which the games rarely meet. I think pretty much every game has been returned apart from Dead Isand 2 and thats only because I miseed the cut of date/time.
 
As others have said, it's far more about the time I'll invest into it. Is it worth while for the enjoyment I'll get out of it and that takes into consideration what playable state the game will be in. Compared to most other things, such as an evening in a pub, it's good value.
 
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malachi said:
True but the cost for making games has increased. Back in the day, one person could make an C64 or Amiga game for it to be an top end title. Now you need a team of at least 100 people across different countries with investors putting down millions.
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Erm....That's the point I was making.....

The price has NOT increased much, relatively speaking.
And £60 for something you may spend many hours playing, is not a huge amount.
 
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GaryTheSnail said:
Digital downloads should be cheaper as it’s not on physical resealable media.

Unless you can then “resell” digital copies at some point it’s a very expensive way of obtaining the games.
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This was a selling point for digital distribution when it started. No printing or manufacturing costs, no delivery costs, cheaper games! All nonsense of course, more profit for publishers.
 
Digital distribution has also given software developers much more leeway in what state a product is released.
How many games now need a day one patch ? Or are launched with missing features ?

Don't need play testers when the paying public will do it for you :p
 
Countcussy said:
Digital distribution has also given software developers much more leeway in what state a product is released.
How many games now need a day one patch ? Or are launched with missing features ?

Don't need play testers when the paying public will do it for you :p
Click to expand...
And they'll even pay for the privilege too! Actually pay money to testers? Eww!
 
Baldbloke said:
sixty quid for a game? get lost.

I don't game much. Bit of sim racing and a wee bit Call of Duty campaign (Well, it has actually been many years since I played COD but I'll try to get back in to it).

I recently bought Call of Duty Modern Warfare (not v2, just the first one) for £16-ish quid on steam sale. Fair enough. Bit dear for my liking but what the heck, go for it I thought to myself.

Then, when I booted up the the game for the first time I was slapped in the face with offers of more expensive upgrades, download content and other stuff for some ridiculous sum of money. Eff off, I thought.

Ok, it's a business. I get that. I think it is ethically dislikable but the world is what it is. I am a 62 year old man who has a good idea of when to call a halt on stupid purchases. What about the young kids who are going to their parents and asking for more money to get the latest fancy dangling carrot? Must be a chuffing nightmare.

Rant ended (But not over:). Your turn.
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Your arguments seem to boil down to:

1. I don't like spending lots on games
- So don't. I imagine that you have other little luxuries which you spend plenty on, which others would consider extortionate
- I'm like you - I don't need games on the day they release, so I wait a bit until they drop in price. To each their own. I accept that this means getting a game a bit later, but I'm OK with that.

2. I don't like paid for DLC
- Nor do lots of people. Don't buy it. Nobody's forcing you to.

3. "Pester power" seems problematic in respect of expensive games.
- See 1 above. Does the parent value teaching their kids about the value of money, or getting them the latest game which is being played at school? This is no different to when I was at school and wanted a new cricket bat every year.
- In each case, there will be different things for the parents to consider. Can they spare the money? What are their thoughts on gaming? How important is it really to their kid? It's no different to loads of other parenting decisions.


In short, companies are entitled to charge what they want for their products. If you don't like the price, don't buy it.
 
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