Console games just cost too much...

G

gibber

Gawd
Joined
Jul 16, 2007
Messages
759
I used to be a big console game fan, I played the games so much it was like a 2nd full time job.

As console gaming became more popular, the prices should have come DOWN (not up) as the quantity of sales grew massively. Economies of scale.

"but the production costs have gone up" - whatever, you think they need to charge $60 per copy to make a profit? Hardly.

So, I haven't bought a new console system since the PS2 and I haven't bought a single new console game in years.

I wish there weren't so many sheep that just run out with the herd and buy the latest game the first day everytime something new comes out, so we could drive the prices down :(
 
Look, you're either a family man with many expenses, or someone with a not so great salary. in the first case, this is just life, in the second case, get a better degree, more certs, and find a better job, and $60 games won't be a thing.(game prices aren't going anywhere)
 
Thats pretty idiotic of you to say..Money is of NO issue to me and I think $60 per game is too expensive.Especially since games are full of advertising and companies like MS giving Rockstar a 50 million dollar"bonus"..Why couldnt GTA4 for example been lower??

Of course,if youre living home with Mom and dont get laid on a regular $60 isnt a big deal..:rolleyes:
 
Inflation-adjusted, console games have gone down in price. Your willingness to pay for them, it seems, has decreased even further. Do not confuse the two concepts.

Do what everyone else does: wait a bit for the prices to come down, and then buy used (if needed). I'm sure you'll be able to grab GTA4 or whatever for $40 within six months.
 
g1xx3r said:
Thats pretty idiotic of you to say..Money is of NO issue to me and I think $60 per game is too expensive.Especially since games are full of advertising and companies like MS giving Rockstar a 50 million dollar"bonus"..Why couldnt GTA4 for example been lower??

Of course,if youre living home with Mom and dont get laid on a regular $60 isnt a big deal..:rolleyes:
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if money is no issue, you wouldn't care, so you're contradicting yourself. My mom lives in california and I live on my own in NYC, and I also fail to see how getting laid has to do with money, but feel free to enlighten me :D
 
I remember paying 60+ for NES games. Video game prices have fallen rather substantially considering inflation.
 
erwos said:
Do what everyone else does: wait a bit for the prices to come down, and then buy used (if needed). I'm sure you'll be able to grab GTA4 or whatever for $40 within six months.
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Anyone who would wait 6 months for a game to go down $20 is either a bum or doesn't like gaming. what a joke!
 
Do as I do-

Buy used.

Buy fewer.

It takes so long (calendar wise) for me to beat a game these days, it's not a big deal. I'm still working on the last parts of Crackdown and Uncharted. PLus plenty of other titles to beat.
 
Pretty ignorant claiming everyone is a sheep who buys a new game. Ever think that they enjoy the game, and its worth $60? And costs have risen, some games cost 30-50 million to make. PS1 games were $40 when they came out, now they're $60 on the PS3. A $20 increase per game, is not a lot considering what else has risen in the past 14 years. Have a look at milk prices, gas prices, coffee prices, cigarette prices, etc. Some N64 games were $80 each when they came out, 12 years ago. So counting them, prices have gone down. We could go back even further. You obviously werent around in the NES, SNES, or even Atari days. Prices of games pale in comparison inflation wise compared to many, many, many household items, or things in our daily lives.

Guess what movie prices have gone up too. I hope you dont go see any new movies, or else you're being a hypocrite. Which Im sure you are. Movies are a form of entertainment, with a lot less $/hour ratio. Movie prices have more than doubled overall since the PS1 launch, in 1994. Game prices havent.
 
Was this thread meant to be anything other then a flame? I mean the OP states he hasn't bought a console since the PS2, and then calls anyone who buys console games on release, sheep.

... amazing.
 
IMHO, there is perhaps 1-2 games a year that are worth 1/2 their cost.

I'll use Army of Two as an example. Decent reviews, good MP...spend $67 on the game for a 5hour SP experience and no MP...Thats right, no multiplayer. EA broke it in their last patch, no one has been able to play it online since early march(well, a small handful of people). After countless support tickets, EA denies any problem despite the hundreds of threads on their forums screaming about it, and blames everyones ISP.
Same with TestDriveUnlimited. The game was broken beyond belief, and Atari support was as useless as tits on a nun.

NHL08, another game that is basically NHL05 with a slightly updated roster.

So many games are pure money grabs and it seems that there is ZERO after-sale support.
We are the ones who keep this industry alive, and what do we get in return, garbage, pure f&cking garbage.

$60, not a bloody chance. Very few games are worth $60. Some are worth much more, but for the most part, you can buy 20 bad games for every 1 good game.
 
I look at it as dollar per entertainment hour. If you go to a movie for $8 and it's 1 1/2 hours long, that's about $5.30 an hour. So for a $60 game if you play it for more than 11 1/2 hours, it's a better value than going to see a movie. 11 1/2 hours on one game (over the course of its lifespan) is not much at all.
 
Console games cost so much because they sell the hardware to you at a loss so they have to make it back in game sales. Get a nice gaming PC and wait a few months after game release if you want cheaper game prices. I bought Bioshock PC for just $24.99 about one months ago. Keeping a PC up to date is quite costly too though.
 
If you look at the big picture there aren't many games worth buying over the course of a year, so the total expense isn't really that much (assuming you're only picking up the games that are worth buying and not every game that is released).
 
I recently bought 4 Xbox/Xbox 360 Need For Speed games for $2.00 at a local thrift shop, great places to shop for games and such.
 
Yeah, game companies are just blathering about production costs because they are uncreative hacks who don't know how to make fun games. It's typical managerial MO and with many of the independent and larger, more passionate studios being bought out and commoditized, the fun/dollar ratio is only going to go down.

This isn't to say that there aren't some valid games that require higher production costs. GTA IV is a great example because a lot of its fun comes directly from it's increased production in creating a dynamic open environment.

Other games, such as Crysis didn't really benefit from it's high production values. I loved Crysis, but it probably could have been done equally well using a licensed off the shelf engine.

So, really developers need to do a little planning before they make a game. Find a reasonable budget, hire some talented guys, and just make the best, most fun game you can given your resources. Don't worry about beating out the competition... if you release a fun game, people will buy it. Many games are benefited from a lack of resources because the devs are forced to be creative.

Rant over.
 
It doesn't sound like you're a release day person, so just wait two months after each release and get them off ebay.

SilverSliver said:
I remember paying 60+ for NES games. Video game prices have fallen rather substantially considering inflation.
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Agreed. NES games were incredibly pricey for their day.
 
Games do seem expensive, but you have to consider how much more expensive and complex they are to make today then they were 10-20 years ago. The standard has been raised. 20 years ago one person could probably make a decent game. You didn't need uber 3D graphics, voice actors, music sound tracks, cut scenes, 5.1 surround sound, rag doll physics, and etc. Now development studios need a large staff and need huge budgets. Cost cutting measures are in place like outsourcing the game engine, the cut scenes, and etc because they simply don't have the money and resources to do it themselves to the same standard. GTA and Halo 3 had huge budgets. GTA had like 100 million, but the block buster hits can afford to because they know it will sell well. New IP's still cost a lot to develop (40-50 million?) and are huge investment risk because they are unlikely to sell 8 million copies like Halo, They be lucky to get 1 million.

As far movies go its a different model. They sell $10 movie tickets and then continue to make money off DVD/Blu-rays sells over the next 50 years. Plus blu-rays are like $25 - 35 at release.
 
erwos said:
Inflation-adjusted, console games have gone down in price. Your willingness to pay for them, it seems, has decreased even further. Do not confuse the two concepts.
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SilverSliver said:
I remember paying 60+ for NES games. Video game prices have fallen rather substantially considering inflation.
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Exactly. Considering what games COULD cost, when you factor in inflation, and considering how other products have gone up in price (food, stamps, toys, etc)., it could be a LOT worse.
 
Here's why games costs $60. Now get a job if that's too much for you.
 
gibber said:
I used to be a big console game fan, I played the games so much it was like a 2nd full time job.

As console gaming became more popular, the prices should have come DOWN (not up) as the quantity of sales grew massively. Economies of scale.

"but the production costs have gone up" - whatever, you think they need to charge $60 per copy to make a profit? Hardly.

So, I haven't bought a new console system since the PS2 and I haven't bought a single new console game in years.

I wish there weren't so many sheep that just run out with the herd and buy the latest game the first day everytime something new comes out, so we could drive the prices down :(
Click to expand...

this topic has been talked about 657843267 times already.

do a search
 
damonposey said:
if money is no issue, you wouldn't care, so you're contradicting yourself. My mom lives in california and I live on my own in NYC, and I also fail to see how getting laid has to do with money, but feel free to enlighten me :D
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Look @ my sig.I have a $600 video card that I think was too expensive but decided to treat myself.PC gaming can be expensive but I decide thats what I want to do.Simply put,with all the advertising being forced down gamers throats I dont think games should cost as much as they do..

Getting laid always cost,one way or another..;)
 
greyt_Autumn said:
Do as I do-

Buy used.

Buy fewer.

It takes so long (calendar wise) for me to beat a game these days, it's not a big deal. I'm still working on the last parts of Crackdown and Uncharted. PLus plenty of other titles to beat.
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I buy used quite often, there is always some sap that got a new game, didn't like it, and traded it right back in a few days later...I never buy a 360 game on launch day....
 
anyone remember the Nintendo 64...I payed $80 for my copy of Super Mario 64 when I got my system from Toys R Us. Goldeneye was what $75 when it first came out?

Everyone I know says "games used to be $50!"....yeah and now they are $60...it's only $10 more!

I do have friends that refuse to buy brand new games. They wait for the game to become used at Gamestop or a local game rental shop and pick them up for $20-$30 less than retail. I personally hate Gamestop, but the Edge card can save you some money if you buy used.
 
You are lucky if you can get a dinner for two for 60$. Games are a luxury, just like dinning out, and you get a hell of a lot more entertainment out of a game.
 
greyt_Autumn said:
Do as I do-

Buy used.

Buy fewer.

It takes so long (calendar wise) for me to beat a game these days, it's not a big deal. I'm still working on the last parts of Crackdown and Uncharted. PLus plenty of other titles to beat.
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QFT, I just finished uncharted two days ago after picking it up used for 13 bucks:cool:
 
MrMike said:
It doesn't sound like you're a release day person, so just wait two months after each release and get them off ebay.



Agreed. NES games were incredibly pricey for their day.
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How about some snes games and n64 games? I remember those being in the $70 range for the popular games like Mario 64 and PilotWings. Now I thought THOSE were insane prices.
 
For $192 a year I get to play ALL the games for BOTH Wii and Xbox360. I use GameFly.

If I want a game badly enough to pay full price for a new copy, I do it. I've done it plenty of times. But I have no problem playing all the games I want for consoles. If I'm iffy about a game, I rent it first, decide if it's worth keeping, then pay the "keep-it" price(usually cheaper than the "new" price). PC games while usually just 50 compared to 60 get damned expensive for me since I can't rent them.
 
Draax said:
You are lucky if you can get a dinner for two for 60$. Games are a luxury, just like dinning out, and you get a hell of a lot more entertainment out of a game.
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Do you typically eat at high end restaurants? Last time I went to some local restaurants like Claim Jumpers, sushi restaurants and Macaroni Grill I paid no more than $40-$50 for the dinner for two. The occasional steakhouse will run well over $100 for two, but that's definitely the exception.

Oh and to add to the post... the most I ever payed for a game was $70 during the Sega Master system days. I didn't even own that console. It was a gift for a friend who gave me a used chemistry set a few months later for my birthday. What a rip! $60 these days for games is CHEAP when you adjust for inflation. $35.62 Back then would be $60 according to:

http://www.westegg.com/inflation/
 
gibber said:
I used to be a big console game fan, I played the games so much it was like a 2nd full time job.

As console gaming became more popular, the prices should have come DOWN (not up) as the quantity of sales grew massively. Economies of scale.

"but the production costs have gone up" - whatever, you think they need to charge $60 per copy to make a profit? Hardly.

So, I haven't bought a new console system since the PS2 and I haven't bought a single new console game in years.

I wish there weren't so many sheep that just run out with the herd and buy the latest game the first day everytime something new comes out, so we could drive the prices down :(
Click to expand...

They have been $50-$60 since the NES days and before. Shit I paid $75 for SNES Street Fighter 2:Turbo Edition.

Whine about something else.
 
damonposey said:
Anyone who would wait 6 months for a game to go down $20 is either a bum or doesn't like gaming. what a joke!
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Or they just dont feel the need to jump on the newest thing the day it comes out.. why rush, not like the game is going anywhere, and maybe they have other things to occupy their time, they dont need to run out and buy a new game right away.... so lose assumptions, they make you look like a joke.
 
damonposey said:
if money is no issue, you wouldn't care, so you're contradicting yourself.
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Not really. Just because you have the money doesn't mean you're going to stop caring about the prices you pay. Maybe when you're a multimillionaire those things don't matter, but really, $60 is a lot for a single game.
 
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