Let’s talk about the current video game landscape

[The Mad Titan]

But we are not all. Game prices have not increased in decades.

Games were $60 in 2002 same as they are now 20 years latter. While literally ever other consumer product has gone up in price over that time.

On top of that Games are now expected to have ongoing support. You pay that $60 and can expect to play that game for much longer than you would have a game 20 years ago.

Games in general cost more to make, take more man power to make, and offer more content than they did in the past all for the same price.

And that’s without even talking about free to play games and discount services like Gamepass.

As a kid I’d be happy to get like 3 new games a year.

My kids literally got $300+ games at their fingertips and it don’t cost me much to provide them.

Yeah Blockbuster, mom and pop rental stores, and department stores and arcades are how I got so much gaming in as a kid.

Like you said games use to be on the low low end 49 dollars and on the higher end 80 plus. And on top of that there was no emulation, hacks, or trade in market.

Now you can get PSN, Gamepass, or heck just use your phone and download mobile games and have access to far more games than me coming up in the 90's and early 2000 did.

The closest thing to anything we have now back in the day was sega channel, and that didn't last very long...



Gaming is just at pop level status right now, and like everything that goes pop there is always a shift in quality and content. Things get more shallow, and spammed around...Messages and agenda begin to flow through the medium, and the quality doesn't necessarily get worse but it not up to par with those that have been into it for a long time.

 

[winb83]

Still results in gaming being cheaper overall. Adjusted for inflation $60 today is closer to $30 20 years ago, so even if you spend some extra money on player packs/updates or whatever you are still spending less than you would have back then, and you are getting more content.

Again the business model changed. If their goal is to reach more people and make the price of a game more frog in pot of luke warm water to boiling then why would they do things that are more noticeable like increasing the price upfront.

Inflation isn't a new concept. Tomorrow's dollars will be worth less than today's and as tech advances more effective ways are found to sell people stuff.

Look how the mobile space evolved. Free to play leads to record revenue and profits. The things you praise the industry for aren't due to its benevolence. What they're doing is the best path to make more money.

 

[MeachTheMonster]

Again the business model changed. If their goal is to reach more people and make the price of a game more frog in pot of luke warm water to boiling then why would they do things that are more noticeable like increasing the price upfront.

Inflation isn't a new concept. Tomorrow's dollars will be worth less than today's and as tech advances more effective ways are found to sell people stuff.

Look how the mobile space evolved. Free to play leads to record revenue and profits. The things you praise the industry for aren't due to its benevolence. What they're doing is the best path to make more money.

Who said they weren’t trying to make money?
da hell are you even arguing right now?

I simply said gaming is cheaper for consumers today than it was in the past.

 

[The Mad Titan]

Who said they weren’t trying to make money?
da hell are you even arguing right now?

I simply said gaming is cheaper for consumers today than it was in the past.

It's much cheaper and it's not even close.

You can be a gamer and not spend a penny on game with mobile gaming.

That wasn't possible back in the day.

Also even having gamepass and PSN allows me access to hundreds of games each month for less than most peoples cheapest utility bill.

 

[Rozay Oro]

Can’t even skim with every post being an essay

We do lack variety in AAA studios. Indie devs are giving us variety.

 

[winb83]

Who said they weren’t trying to make money?
da hell are you even arguing right now?

I simply said gaming is cheaper for consumers today than it was in the past.

No you started with a narrative that these companies haven't made price increases. I disproved that and you shifted well games are cheaper now. As time goes on the future value of a dollar is worth less than today's dollars and companies develop better ways to create and sell their products. The things you're talking about almost as if they're praiseworthy are to be expected. Especially so when a company figures out a better way to make money on their product.

You're solely focused on the introductory price of a game as these companies want you to be. You then compare that to the full price of an entire game in the past. Do you have any actual statistics of how much the average customer spends in a game's run to even make that statement? I haven't heard of gaming companies giving out such high level data as ARPU so I don't know that but I do know that they give out data on how much they make on microtransactions.

Activision made a record $5.1 billion from microtransactions in 2021
$8.8 billion in total revenue,
$5.1 billion of it was from microtransactions.
61% of Activision's business in 2021 is microtransactions so as I've said the business model changed. It really isn't even fruitful to compare this business model's results and impacts to the old ones.

 

[MeachTheMonster]

No you started with a narrative that these companies haven't made price increases. I disproved that and you shifted well games are cheaper now. As time goes on the future value of a dollar is worth less than today's dollars and companies develop better ways to create and sell their products. The things you're talking about almost as if they're praiseworthy are to be expected. Especially so when a company figures out a better way to make money on their product.

You're solely focused on the introductory price of a game as these companies want you to be. You then compare that to the full price of an entire game in the past. Do you have any actual statistics of how much the average customer spends in a game's run to even make that statement? I haven't heard of gaming companies giving out such high level data as ARPU so I don't know that but I do know that they give out data on how much they make on microtransactions.

Activision made a record $5.1 billion from microtransactions in 2021
$8.8 billion in total revenue,
$5.1 billion of it was from microtransactions.
61% of Activision's business in 2021 is microtransactions so as I've said the business model changed. It really isn't even fruitful to compare this business model's results and impacts to the old ones.

You are arguing with yourself breh.

I said
“Game prices have not increased in decades”

Which is true. Then you started typing up paragraphs about the model changing and blah blah blah.

Nobody argued that.

It’s cheaper to be a gamer today than it was in the past thats it

 

[Rekkapryde]

Who said they weren’t trying to make money?
da hell are you even arguing right now?

I simply said gaming is cheaper for consumers today than it was in the past.

EXACTLY

nikkaz wanting shyt to stay the same price forever.... Still don't compare to the rape we experienced as kids with prices back in the day

Mufukkaz get WAY MORE for their money now.

 

[winb83]

EXACTLY

nikkaz wanting shyt to stay the same price forever.... Still don't compare to the rape we experienced as kids with prices back in the day

Mufukkaz get WAY MORE for their money now.

Ok boomer.

 

[MeachTheMonster]

@The Wolf Among You check the street fighter thread it’s just like you said, people just waiting to come in and shyt on the game and argue about it.

We literally know nothing about it other than the fact that it exists and people already hate it.

People just like to complain it seems

 

[The Wolf Among You]

@The Wolf Among You check the street fighter thread it’s just like you said, people just waiting to come in and shyt on the game and argue about it.

We literally know nothing about it other than the fact that it exists and people already hate it.

People just like to complain it seems

Yep.
It feels like everyone wants to be the first with a hot take, myself included.
Gotta find that balance, and bring the fun and genuine excitement back to video game discussion, because this ain’t it.

 

[Brian O'Conner]

Now is the best time ever for game discussion since its not controlled by the media

Before we had to rely on these "experts" to do piece in their magazine and wait another year to play the game based on what they say or review

No game devs can skip media , go directly to consumer. No need for e3 when sony or nintendo can just release a live YouTube with all thier coming games

I Find Discord or reddit the best for discussing games you enjoy without being trolled since the majority of people there genuinely play or like that game

Plus you got twitch were I can see someone play a game before purchasing it and plenty of streamers on YouTube discussing games whose opinion you might value

I don't understand what this thread is supposed to be about?

Gaming media is obsolete. No one gives a fukk about their takes when I can download a demo or watch a stream to form my own opinion

 

[The Wolf Among You]

Gaming media is obsolete. No one gives a fukk about their takes when I can download a demo or watch a stream to form my own opinion

The gaming media is far from obsolete, breh. In general there’s more free knowledge than ever, but false narratives are much easier to create nowadays.
Gaming is the same way, for example; for the last seven to eight years it has been the general consensus that Microsoft was to blame for Scalebound’s cancellation due to shoehorning multiplayer into Platinum’s idea, only recently has this been debunked by Platinum Games themselves by stating that they were the main reason the game was cancelled, and that Scalebound had multiplayer components when it was first pitched to Microsoft. The video game media helped foster that narrative.

 

[MeachTheMonster]

Controversy cause From requested reviewers don’t speak on performance issues till after they get the day one patch.

Internet is mad as fukk cause they wanna know how the version of the game they won’t even play feels.

Every single game there is something

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

Controversy cause From requested reviewers don’t speak on performance issues till after they get the day one patch.

Internet is mad as fukk cause they wanna know how the version of the game they won’t even play feels.

Every single game there is something

I mean, people with multiple platforms rely on them for making purchasing decisions. Some might have a PC and Xbox, or PS5 and Xbox, or a last gen system and after cyberpunk buyers have every right to be nervous when stuff like this happens. The network test had pretty lousy performance from what I hear also.

Buuuuuut, It also makes perfect sense to wait until the day 1 patch before doing a performance review. I’m not sure why DF doesn’t do that for every game?