Why Do Game Consoles COST SO MUCH?

[The Intergalactic Koala]

Gaming in general is wild expensive even during the 90s. If you had a Nintendo 64 in the 90s, good luck with getting a collection. Hell, I wanted to try to build a Micro ATX gaming machine this year but them damn prices for the GPUs and parts in general. I hate them miners with the passion

 

[The Intergalactic Koala]

forget about game consoles, are games really worth $50-70

• Labor (or lack there of in some games)
• Features
• Graphics
• Online services

You basically paying for a full course meal in gaming format. Of course, the price goes down once the hype goes down for some games, but for the most part...it is what it is. This is why I actually like the idea of Early Access. Despite the shyt it may receive for devs sometimes leaving the projects out to die, I rather take a gamble and cop the game as it grows to perfection vs copping a full game and the shyt is busted from the get go

 

[iceberg_is_on_fire]

The production of higher quality art assets, lossless audio, quality voice actors among many other things have increased the cost of making a game.

This is Super Mario Kart from the NES

This is that same track reimagined on the Switch for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

Yes, we have the technology to create this, but developers need to harness far more tools. Art, by far, takes up a lot of resources, as the programming of bringing all of this together.

See how much Madden cost, that was a long time ago. Still the same price.

Last I checked, Madden 97 on the SNES looked like this

When Madden 18 came out, it looked like this

Staked for inflation (I'm an accountant, this is how I think and what I do) That same 59.99 spent in 1997 is this

When both Madden 97 and Madden 18 dropped, the base game for both was 59.99

CPI Inflation Calculator

Movie prices have definitely increased in price. One of the reasons that prices have relatively stayed the same is because gaming is now a more accepted pastime with a broader reach and other forms of revenue like season passes, merchandise opportunities, etc. However, the cost of admission, as it has largely been since the advent of the NES, is 59.99 for most new games.

 

[TBdaGhost]

Not to mention games cost a ton more to make now. Its one of the reasons for loot boxes and dlc

 

[Food Mane]

Games are cheaper now (indexed for inflation) because more people are buying them.

edit: the ability of a game to make money for the developer after the sale probably keeps the price down as well. I'm sure people that engage in micro transactions are subsidizing those who don't at least a little bit.

 

[Pure Water]

forget about game consoles, are games really worth $50-70

Hell nah. That's why I just wait until they hit a sale. Anything over $40 is too much to me.

Which is crazy because I keep buying 2K at launch

 

[ManBearPig]

Making these games arent free.

 

[5n0man]

Consoles and game prices aren't expensive.

If you can't afford that then your doing something wrong in life.

 

[The_Sheff]

And why is a digital code the same cost as a physical CD-ROM...which can't be activated w/o a digital code?

Because stores would stop carrying physical copies of games and the consoles if their wasn't price parity on release.

 

[obarth]

nikkas are spending twice, sometimes three times, the price of a console on smart phones that they're replacing every year

 

[Dirty Mcdrawz]

forget about game consoles, are games really worth $50-70

Honestly I’d rather games prices jump up to $70-80, then maybe we can get rid of loot boxes and other money grabbing practices.

 

[Los!]

And man im sorry , im one the oldest posters here i dont recall $80 and $90 games with exception of a few. That higher priced games is highly exaggerated here

Funco land, toys r us all that shyt was still $60

Maybe like gold cartridge zelda or something was more... but most I remember paying for a game was $75 for Hexen..

I had NES, SNES, N64, GameCube and OG xbox...

They might of been advertised as $80-90 but between Circuit City, Radioshack, K Mart, Sears (remember Sears used to be heavy into gaming consoles), Toys R Us, Funcoland, etc they would have weekly ads in news papers for discounted new games

Im telling you breh Shadows of the empire was at least 79.99, Turok also was 79.99 the first year. i copped that and the N64 system at the same time fake ballin with my tax return lol

79.99 + Tax damn near 90.00

People complain about how expensive the cost a game is now but it was much worse. Turok 1 was $79.99 at launch.

http://www.ign.com/boards/threads/damn-n64-games-were-very-expensive-the-first-two-years.176986057/

 

[The War Report]

The 49.99 price tag was the sweet spot.

 

[CapitalforCapital]

Gaming is an expensive form of entertainment.

 

[Dre Space Age]

Nintendo eshop sales section for Switch games be having good sales.