View Full Version : Videogames are to expensive!
50 dollars is to much!
http://www.fairplay-campaign.co.uk/front.htm
Arrrhalomynn
10-13-2002, 11:48 AM
They're 70 here. That's even more too much!
Serious, I think if that was REALLY too much, people wouldn't buy them anymore. If you buy a cool game, that gives you great fun for weeks it doesn't seem so expensive anymore. for example, it's cheaper than going to the movies, where you have to pay ehmmm... whatever and you only get to see a 90 minute movie.
$50 seems OK to me, but I don't like to go higher.
$40 is much nicer. Sly Cooper retails at $39.95 -- a nice change from recent trends.
Lady Jaye
10-14-2002, 06:24 AM
Hmm, if you look at old American videogame magazines from the late 80s and early 90s. you'd see that both console and game prices have remained pretty much the same through the years (approx. $200 launch price for consoles and $50 games). Of course, if you live in Canada, the prices did hike, but that's due to the lower value of the Canadian dollar, not to actual price changes in the industry.
The main difference between then and now is that consoles no longer ship with a pack-in game and that we now need to buy memory cards to save our games, unlike the way it was with carts.
Obviously, I'm talking about the North American side of console gaming only.
theaveng
10-14-2002, 07:21 AM
In the "Atari Age" (early 80's] carts cost $25-30. That's what they should cost today. Of course, today's games require many programmers, not just 1 or 2 so I guess that makes a difference?
Anyway, I wait until the price drops to $30 before I buy a game. Red Faction2 for example. I won't buy that until sometime next year when the price drops. Meanwhile, I'll keep myself busy with Red Faction 1 at $20.
MankeyMan
10-14-2002, 07:26 AM
*Loud coughs*
We already did this guys: http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2725&highlight=
Sniderman
10-14-2002, 09:16 AM
In the "Atari Age" (early 80's] carts cost $25-30.
Uh, just HOW old are you? As a dude who was in his teens during the "Atari Age," I can say without contradiction that you are wrong, wrong, wrong. games averaged around $35-$40 easily with some titles going as high as $50 (Tapper, Spy Hunter, Pitfall II and other carts of like ilk with 8K+ in size.)
In the LATER "Atari Age," after the introduction of the NES (late 80s, early 90s) Atari cart prices dipped to these high-end $20 prices. But in the hey-day, prices were exactly what they are today. Do some research before posting erroneous info, dude.
buttasuperb
10-14-2002, 11:26 AM
there's also a thing called inflation. i remember when candy bars cost 35 cents, then 40, then 45, now 50 and even more.
btw, i think all sony published games are now 40 right out the gate.
Cafeman
10-14-2002, 02:42 PM
http://cafeman.www9.50megs.com/atari/atari5200.html
I can't direct link a picture from 50megs, but you can see from the 5200 $$ list that those games were $29 to $37.
I remember games being in the high 20's and middle 30's in the 80's.
Lady Jaye
10-14-2002, 04:36 PM
The new hardware price has always been pretty much the same (with the exception of the 3DO and the Neo-Geo, of course), but the price of games has been high since the NES days. In any case, the price tag has remained steady for over a decade, despite the inflation.
And as I've said earlier, Canada has seen a bad hike in game prices due to the weak Canadian dollar. Brand-new games sell for $70-$80, and $40-$50 for a USED recent game is the average price.
Aswald
10-14-2002, 04:46 PM
In a way, videogames are too expensive. Although the prices are, when you adjust for inflation, pretty much the same or even a bit cheaper, you have to look at the medium itself. `Way back when, cartridges were used. Today, it's CDs. Producing a game on a CD is far, far cheaper than on cartridge.
Also, there's platform conversion. If you wanted to convert 5200 Qix to, say, the ColecoVision, you not only had to convert the program, you also had to put it on an entirely different cartridge. On the other hand, if you wanted to do this with, say, Saturn-to-Playstation, all you had to do was re-write the program. A CD is a CD, be it on a Saturn, Dreamcast, Playstation, or a music player.
Fun historical fact- although "on-line" gaming did exist back in the early 1980s- some even had crude color graphics- (remember CompuServe?), you had to pay anywhere from about 10 to 20 dollars (in today's money) AN HOUR to play them, depending on what time and day you did so. Obviously, there weren't many players.
maxlords
10-14-2002, 05:31 PM
And as I've said earlier, Canada has seen a bad hike in game prices due to the weak Canadian dollar. Brand-new games sell for $70-$80, and $40-$50 for a USED recent game is the average price.
Damn..wish I was that lucky here in Ontario...I'm LUCKY to find used games for under $60! The local EB is selling a used Romance of the 3 Kingdoms VIII for $70 + tax. New games are hitting $80 + tax steadily, and I can't even find a Luigi's Mansion for under $50 used! It's NUTS here. Good thing I get US currency a lot, or I'd never buy another new game! The 15% tax doesn't help much either!
theaveng
10-14-2002, 05:55 PM
In the "Atari Age" (early 80's) carts cost $25-30.
Uh, just HOW old are you? I can say without contradiction that you are wrong, wrong, wrong. games averaged around $35-$40 easily with some titles going as high as $50 (Tapper, Spy Hunter, Pitfall II and other carts of like ilk with 8K+ in size.). Do some research before posting erroneous info, dude.
Take Your Attitude and Stick It Somewhere.
I don't know what to say to someone like you? *I* paid US$25-30 per game from 1980-84 on Atari 2600 carts. I guess you just got ripped off! :lol:
The ONLY games that cost me $50 were Indy500 and Star Raiders... and that's because they came with controllers! All the rest were $25-30. And YES, I did my research. I WAS THERE.
Also "late 80s/early 90s" is the Nintendo Age. Nintendo was dominant.
Troy
Revolt
10-14-2002, 06:53 PM
In the "Atari Age" (early 80's] carts cost $25-30. That's what they should cost today. Of course, today's games require many programmers, not just 1 or 2 so I guess that makes a difference?
Anyway, I wait until the price drops to $30 before I buy a game. Red Faction2 for example. I won't buy that until sometime next year when the price drops. Meanwhile, I'll keep myself busy with Red Faction 1 at $20.
i dont know if i could wait too long to play Red faction 2. The demo is too sweet. I do love the first RF, almost at the end of the game.
Sniderman
10-15-2002, 06:25 AM
Take Your Attitude and Stick It Somewhere.
Whoa. Calm down there, Spunky Puppet. There was no "attitude" intended with my post. Touchy, touchy...
I don't know what to say to someone like you? *I* paid US$25-30 per game from 1980-84 on Atari 2600 carts. I guess you just got ripped off!
*Sigh.* I'm beginning to see that might be the case based on other posts here. Only place near me to pick up games new (back "in the day") was a Toys R Us...and even back then they were an overpriced conglomerate.
But, to veer this topic is a slightly different direction, there is a reason games are so highly priced. Because idiots like us and others out there are paying those extreme prices.
Were you there the day GTAIII was released? Did you pick up Kingdom Hearts last week? Do you have GTA: Vice City on hold at local Electronics Boutique? Then YOU'RE the reason prices are so high.
I may have gotten screwed "in the day," but I haven't paid full price for a PSX/PS2 release in years.[/quote]
moycon
10-15-2002, 06:35 AM
Where you bought the games must have depended on how much they cost. I can remember Defender for the Atari 2600 costing around $45 at Sears when it first came out.
Cafeman
10-15-2002, 10:18 AM
Yep, it has to do with where you live & shop.
I never paid over $40 for any Atari 2600 or 5200 game. I can still recall during the "Crash", going to Hills Department store and finding 5200 games discounted to $9.99 each ! What a glorious day that was.
The most expensive games for me occurred during the Genesis / SNES / Sega CD years. I can distinctly recall that Genesis carts cost $57.99 at EB. That was the price. I payed that much for games such as Pitfall: Mayan Adventure and Jurassic Park for the Sega CD, and EA's NHL Hockey.
I've been spoiled by the Dreamcast. New games often started at $39.99 for some reason! And I've picked up most of my stuff used at under $25, some of them though I bought new at under $10!
I've found that just by waiting for a month or two, I can save a lot of bucks. I'm just upgrading to a GCN now, with the mario sunshine deal probably. Sure, I missed the experience of playing GCN games for a year now, but who cares? I have lots of games, many of which I'm only now taking off the shelf and experiencing now. That's my attitutude.
Old and satisfied with games, Cafeman
DeanoCalver
10-15-2002, 04:31 PM
In a way, videogames are too expensive. Although the prices are, when you adjust for inflation, pretty much the same or even a bit cheaper, you have to look at the medium itself. `Way back when, cartridges were used. Today, it's CDs. Producing a game on a CD is far, far cheaper than on cartridge.
Also, there's platform conversion. If you wanted to convert 5200 Qix to, say, the ColecoVision, you not only had to convert the program, you also had to put it on an entirely different cartridge. On the other hand, if you wanted to do this with, say, Saturn-to-Playstation, all you had to do was re-write the program. A CD is a CD, be it on a Saturn, Dreamcast, Playstation, or a music player.
What? Saturn and Playstation both use CD but its rare for different consoles to use the same media. GCN is different from Xbox which is different from Dreamcast which is different from PS1. (PS2 and XBox are the same media but totally different filesystem).
While you may be able to share art assets (PS2 might has different textures but may share geometry with Xbox), the amount of code that requires converting can be enormous. Even Pc <-> Xbox conversions aren't easy. In fact changing cartridge is an easy bit, its just memory so its treated just another part of the system.
The going rate for a big conversion job is on the $250,000 to $500,000 mark! Thats just the dev cost, the actual cost once marketing etc is in place is well over a $1,000,000. Still think its cheaper than the old days? The one thing your right on is that the physical cost are cheaper but that doesn't really matter as the IP holders (MS, Sony, Nintendo) still charge a similar license fee (the money they take for every copy sold) last time I heard (which was a couple of years ago) it was on the $10-$15 mark.
Most people agree games should be cheaper but to much money is being lost for it to happen for a while. Most publisher and developers are just struggling to survive.
Deano
scooterb23
10-16-2002, 12:31 AM
I only pay full price for games that I know I will be playing 6 months to a year from now...
So far it's done me pretty good...except way back in the Genesis days when I bought Mortal Kombat the day it came out...can't remember what it cost, I want to say $59.99, luckily I was able to sell it one week later once I beat it... :roll:
Actually, I must be very happy with the quality of newer games because I have several games that I was more than willing to shell out $50 to get the week it came out.
Lady Jaye
10-16-2002, 06:46 AM
I too have payed full price for recent games (Spiderman GCN, Animal Crossing...) but I've also had a great deal on Star Wars: Rogue Leader, which I bought used but complete for $35 Cdn ($22 US) at Electronics Boutique (yes, we do have EBs in Canada).
theaveng
10-16-2002, 07:20 AM
I don't know what to say to someone like you? *I* paid US$25-30 per game from 1980-84 on Atari 2600 carts. Troy
EARLIER: You are wrong, wrong, wrong. games averaged around $35-$40 easily with some titles going as high as $50
LATER: *Sigh.* I'm beginning to see that [$25-30] might be the case based on other posts here.
QUOTE: "Do some research before posting erroneous info, dude."
Try listening to your own advice "dude."
theaveng
10-16-2002, 07:31 AM
Also, there's platform conversion. If you wanted to convert 5200 Qix to, say, the ColecoVision, you not only had to convert the program, you also had to put it on an entirely different cartridge. On the other hand, if you wanted to do this with, say, Saturn-to-Playstation, all you had to do was re-write the program. A CD is a CD, be it on a Saturn, Dreamcast, Playstation, or a music player.
What? Saturn and Playstation both use CD but its rare for different consoles to use the same media. GCN is different from Xbox which is different from Dreamcast which is different from PS1. (PS2 and XBox are the same media but totally different filesystem).
They all use the same manufacturing process. So they can all be pressed at the same plant which drives down the individual cost of each CD/DVD.
In contrast, each cartridge is unique... even between different games on the same system. So, that requires different manufacturing lines and frequent re-tooling which drives up the cost of carts.
Summary: Carts expensive. CD/DVDs cheap.
Earlier some of you said we don't see cheaper games now that they are on CD/DVD. Actually, we do. A quick 1999 comparison between N64 carts at $60-70 each vs. PS1 CDs at $40-50 each shows the cost benefit of laser media. Even today when N64/PS1 games are liquidating, the N64 carts cost twice as much as PS1 CDs.
So I guess it could be worse. If we still used carts, we'd probably be spending $70-80 a game!
Sniderman
10-16-2002, 02:19 PM
QUOTE: "Do some research before posting erroneous info, dude."
Try listening to your own advice "dude."
To borrow one of your own earier witticisms: "Take your attitude and shove it someplace."
Listen, we were both rude in this thread. I mea culpa'ed earlier when I admitted my own info was incorrect. I'm sorry, you're sorry. Let's stop pissin' on each other and discuss this.
Now then, you make a good point about the cart vs. CD costs. Not having owned an N64 (the most recent cart system I know of), can someone post an average cost for one of those cart releases (when they were new) vs. prices for similar PSX/DC releases? Were the carts more than or comparable to the disc releases?
theaveng
10-16-2002, 06:32 PM
I was not rude.
Anyway, here's one quick example:
Resident Evil 2 - amazon.com
N64 $30
PS1 $10
Achika
10-16-2002, 09:06 PM
Hmm....I don't think $50 USD is too much for a game when I sit and contemplate what goes into the games. The way I see it, Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, etc. have to put 'bids' on the games from 3rd party mfctr.s they want. Sure, CD media might be cheap. DVD isn't as cheap though.
-But--then, what about the computers they use to create the games? -The illustrators they have to pay for character design?
-The marketing(posters, standees, commercials) they create to get the word out there
-The ultra highy quality paper they print on? (just look at the cover for Kingdom Hearts) Instructions have gotten longer and more colorful since the days of the Atari
-The salaries paid to those who work on them and meet deadlines?
-Rent for the offices they design these games in?
-The small mark up from the stores in order for them to turn a profit and stay in business.
There are many more things that cost THEM money, we pay their salaries. Perhaps if we lower the prices on the games, they won't eat tonight or their computer won't get fixed? Or, Or....Games are a luxury item, we don't need them to survive. In 2 weeks you can find it used anyway because you don't HAVE to buy it on the first day. If $54.99 USD is too much to pay at a mall store, go across the street and buy it for $49.99 USD. That extra $5 goes towards the boutique rental of the mall.
scooterb23
10-16-2002, 11:26 PM
I was not rude.
Let it go theaveng, Snider apologized, and dropped it, yet you had to take anouther jab. Why? This happens so often, I'm beginning to dread seeing your name in a thread...give it up, it's over, and yes, that whole "Take your attitude and shove it" crap sounded rude to me...
Sniderman, to answer your question about the original MSRP on cart vs. cd games...most PSX games came out at $39.99-49.99, many N64 carts would retail in the $49.99-$64.99, some even as high as $74.99 (mainly Hey You Pikachu if I recall, because of a special microphone control)...if the game appeared on several consoles at the same time, they usually retailed with the same price (give or take $5).
theaveng
10-17-2002, 12:02 PM
Sure, CD media might be cheap. DVD isn't as cheap though.
What is the price difference between pressing a CD and DVD?
Troy
Achika
10-17-2002, 12:30 PM
I'm talking the cost of the media, not the cost of pressing it.
kontos
10-17-2002, 04:27 PM
:idea: Just wait for the games you want to get to the Bargain Bin. I thought we're all here (on this board) because we realize that old games don't get less fun.
The only case I can see for getting a game during it's launch is one that has an Online component. It's hard to find opponents for older games sometimes.
theaveng
10-17-2002, 08:26 PM
I'm talking the cost of the media, not the cost of pressing it.
Okay. What's the price difference between CD and DVD media?
drumguy79
10-17-2002, 08:54 PM
the word is spelled "TOO"
Achika
10-17-2002, 09:27 PM
At least on the street level, DVD-R is over 10x the price of a CD-R. I know that companies either manufacture the product themselves or get someone to do it for them, but the fact is that it still costs money.
theaveng
10-18-2002, 08:48 AM
You know, some games (like Ico) are released on cheap CD media. And yet, they still cost $50 when first released.
I suspect price is set, not by actual cost, but by demand. If people are willing to pay $50 per game, then that's what Sony/Nintendo will charge. If people were dumb enough to pay $100 a game, Sony/Nintendo would charge it.
I bought Red Faction 1 for $20 last month... so clearly pressing DVDs isn't too costly. Otherwise Sony could not afford to drop the price so low. ~$10 is probably the actual cost of the DVD game, plus $10 profit.
Sniderman
10-18-2002, 09:57 AM
I suspect price is set, not by actual cost, but by demand. If people are willing to pay $50 per game, then that's what Sony/Nintendo will charge. If people were dumb enough to pay $100 a game, Sony/Nintendo would charge it.
Absolutely. That's why concert tix are $50 and up and a movie is $8. We'll cut corners on our medical care and such, but we'll let ourselves get reamed for overpriced entertainment.
But people are willing to shell out the bux for fun crap. Sigh....[/quote]
Raedon
10-18-2002, 10:11 AM
well, I just baught them both so here you go
100 32x burn rated cd-r's silver/silvers cakebox 11.99 shipped so 11 cents a CD
50 spool DVD-R's $50.00+6.00 shipping so $1.12 per DVD
Funny, that is also what it costs me for new games for the PS2, ps1, DC, Saturn, sega CD, turbo duo, cd-I, and 3D0..
No way in hell I'm paying $50 bucks for one game.. No way.. I didn't do it with the c64, I didn't do it for the Amiga, and I won't do it now.
For the C64 I got Tape games for $5.00 and new games for $19.99, for the Amiga the most expensive game I baught was Eye of the Beholder for 39.99 and it was worth every penny.. I paid 24.99 for a brand new just out game called "Lemmings" maybe you heard of it.
I was conflicted about paying $14.99 for GTAIII a month ago but I really wanted that game complete..
I haven't baught a brand new just out this week console game in ages.. Think it was Zelda:OOT.