Do Video Games Cost Too Much? [Slashdot]

[Rob2600]

My theory is that the average adult gamer isn't going to plunk down 60.00 every week or two unless he's insanely well off.

This brings up another question: how many people buy a new game every week or two? Is that normal or excessive?

[Sudo]

I ask this of the people that buy 60.00 games because most of us, as I've pointed out, feel that 60.00 is too steep for a new game and accordingly wait for a cheaper alternative.

The guys that actually PURCHASE 60.00 games are the ones I want to hear from. Do they buy them because they feel that the games are worth every penny, or that they're not expensive, or that they're buying them at full price to support the industry, or they have enough disposable income to buy it whether it was 60.00 or 160.00?

I'm just curious as to who the guys buying sixty dollar games are, as few of my friends and apparently few of the guys on this thread do so. For the ones that do, I want to know how they justify doing so. I really want to be proven wrong when I say that a great majority of 60.00 games are purchased by parents for their offspring. My theory is that the average adult gamer isn't going to plunk down 60.00 every week or two unless he's insanely well off.

I don't consider myself well off at all, and I buy two full-price games a month usually (3 this month), and I have a 3-game Gamefly subscription. Games have been $60 long before this generation, it's nothing new. Development costs keep going up, so I don't see it as very expensive at all for hours of entertainment. Gaming is my primary hobby, and I don't have any problems buying what I want.

[TonyTheTiger]

I ask this of the people that buy 60.00 games because most of us, as I've pointed out, feel that 60.00 is too steep for a new game and accordingly wait for a cheaper alternative.

The guys that actually PURCHASE 60.00 games are the ones I want to hear from. Do they buy them because they feel that the games are worth every penny, or that they're not expensive, or that they're buying them at full price to support the industry, or they have enough disposable income to buy it whether it was 60.00 or 160.00?

I'm just curious as to who the guys buying sixty dollar games are, as few of my friends and apparently few of the guys on this thread do so. For the ones that do, I want to know how they justify doing so. I really want to be proven wrong when I say that a great majority of 60.00 games are purchased by parents for their offspring. My theory is that the average adult gamer isn't going to plunk down 60.00 every week or two unless he's insanely well off.

I'll bite. This is assuming new game = $60. With $40, and even $50 to a point, I'm a bit more flexible.

I'll buy a game brand new under a few circumstances.

1) I absolutely have to freaking have it. A good example is Mass Effect. I wanted it enough and I'll want the sequel enough.

2) It's a game that I want and also involves competition. Something like Street Fighter IV. I want to buy it upon release because not only is it very good but also because I want to get into the game while it's relevant and the competition is hot.

3) I want it and I'm afraid I won't be able to find it later on. This is slightly irrational in the current climate of the industry but it's the result of me being burned before. I can think of more than a few instances where I wanted a game but didn't want it enough to justify paying full price. Yet, before I could blink, my only option became $80+ Ebay prices. Though I highly doubt this is going to come into play with $60 games. So far I've only done this with last gen games.

As you can tell, this doesn't amount to a very large number of games each year. #3 has never come into play with current game prices and the last time I bought a brand new game on a whim was Ar Tonelico back when it first came out. I randomly saw it on the shelf and remembered reading some good things about it in Game Informer and decided to give it a shot just because. And before that it was Disgaea for the exact same reason. Before that, Tales of Destiny II on the PSOne, ditto. I highly doubt I'll be doing that sort of thing now at $60 a pop.

[Ed Oscuro]

I'm sure there's people out there who've bought games at $60 and thought it was too much. Heck, I bought Bioshock a few months ago at $20 and definitely overpaid.

[Astrocade]

I don't consider myself well off at all, and I buy two full-price games a month usually (3 this month), and I have a 3-game Gamefly subscription. Games have been $60 long before this generation, it's nothing new. Development costs keep going up, so I don't see it as very expensive at all for hours of entertainment. Gaming is my primary hobby, and I don't have any problems buying what I want.

Good points, all well taken. But with your Gamefly account, I'd whether to bet that you often buy games for less than full price, correct? I also remember you saying you only paid $38 for SF IV CE, which is less than half of the 80.00 asking price.

That's what troubles me about your post. You claim it's not expensive at all for all the hours of enjoyment you get out of it, but if you find a deal you know as well as I do that you're not going to pay full price for it. I'm sure you do regularly buy full priced games, but your buying (and renting) preferences show that 60.00 isn't expensive, unless there's a cheaper alternative.

(And seriously, I'm not singling you out or anything. I've just yet to hear someone that says that games aren't expensive actually paying full price 100% of the time.)

[TonyTheTiger]

To be fair to him, though, I don't think anybody is unwilling to take advantage of a deal. Paying full price for a game because you don't think it's too expensive is one thing. Paying full price for a game despite having a discount dropped into your lap, however, is just insane.

[Sudo]

Good points, all well taken. But with your Gamefly account, I'd whether to bet that you often buy games for less than full price, correct? I also remember you saying you only paid $38 for SF IV CE, which is less than half of the 80.00 asking price.

That's what troubles me about your post. You claim it's not expensive at all for all the hours of enjoyment you get out of it, but if you find a deal you know as well as I do that you're not going to pay full price for it. I'm sure you do regularly buy full priced games, but your buying (and renting) preferences show that 60.00 isn't expensive, unless there's a cheaper alternative.

(And seriously, I'm not singling you out or anything. I've just yet to hear someone that says that games aren't expensive actually paying full price 100% of the time.)

I actually do pay full price for games a lot of the time. I'm pretty damn impatient, and don't want to wait for Gamefly to send the game to me sometimes (case in point, I'm buying Star Ocean 4 at Gamestop tomorrow). I also have an import copy of Demon's Souls for the PS3 shipping tomorrow, which I paid $70 for since it most likely isn't going to be released here. For developers that I'm a really big fan of, I tend to buy their games new opposed to keeping them from Gamefly. As far as SF IV goes, I still have it at home and will most likely pay to keep it eventually, but I'm holding onto it for now.

[Zap!]

Good points, all well taken. But with your Gamefly account, I'd whether to bet that you often buy games for less than full price, correct? I also remember you saying you only paid $38 for SF IV CE, which is less than half of the 80.00 asking price.

That's what troubles me about your post. You claim it's not expensive at all for all the hours of enjoyment you get out of it, but if you find a deal you know as well as I do that you're not going to pay full price for it. I'm sure you do regularly buy full priced games, but your buying (and renting) preferences show that 60.00 isn't expensive, unless there's a cheaper alternative.

(And seriously, I'm not singling you out or anything. I've just yet to hear someone that says that games aren't expensive actually paying full price 100% of the time.)

I can't speak for him, but as for myself, I'll buy an expensive game if I really want it. Like Resident Evil 5 (not sure what it'll cost yet, but let's say it's $60). I'll gladly buy it for $60, but if I could get it for cheaper, I'll drive that extra mile or go out of my way a bit. But I don't buy many new games. I will get MLB '09: The Show on March 3rd and RE5 10 days or so later, but only when it's a must-have game.

[Zap!]

Well, I'm almost 30 and I made nearly $30,000 last year.

Keep in mind that I don't have any debts, bills are on the low side (I don't consume much) and I don't buy much either...and I STILL think games today are expensive.

Of course, that's me...I've always been super cheap when it comes to money. Heck, I complain about spending $1 buying lunch!

I have a question, though. What if, in the future, all games will be in digital format (for example, all games will be available for download ONLY). No more physical media exists. Yet the game still costs $60 to purchase. Is this still acceptable, at least regarding price?

I'm not gonna lie, I wish games were $10 or even free. That would be awesome, I'd save money and get myself a better car. I'm just saying $60 isn't too bad. After all, I found a way to get $200 Neo-Geo games when I was 18, broke and jobless in the early 90's.

I am anti-digital media gaming. I need a box to hold and display. For those who want it, they should be far cheaper.

[Zap!]

This brings up another question: how many people buy a new game every week or two? Is that normal or excessive?

I think it's excessive, even though there was a time when I got four games a month from 1987-1991. But I didn't exactly buy them.

[Zap!]

To be fair to him, though, I don't think anybody is unwilling to take advantage of a deal. Paying full price for a game because you don't think it's too expensive is one thing. Paying full price for a game despite having a discount dropped into your lap, however, is just insane.

Yeah, even if you make $500,000 a year, if you have a discount card you will use it.

[Sudo]

I'm not gonna lie, I wish games were $10 or even free. That would be awesome, I'd save money and get myself a better car. I'm just saying $60 isn't too bad. After all, I found a way to get $200 Neo-Geo games when I was 18, broke and jobless in the early 90's.

I am anti-digital media gaming. I need a box to hold and display. For those who want it, they should be far cheaper.

I agree completely. I buy the occasional PSN and XBLA title, but that's only because there's no other option. I imported the Asian version of Siren for PS3 since I refused to download it on PSN when there was an English Blu-ray version available.

[Nature Boy]

This brings up another question: how many people buy a new game every week or two? Is that normal or excessive?

Without being able to cite actual statistics, I'm comfortable saying that the average gamer buys at a pace that is far less than the 26-52 games per year quoted above.

I wouldn't call it excessive though - that would depend on the gamer in question (disposable income, free time, etc.)

[Flippy8490]

I definately buy a lot less games with the high game prices. I hardly EVER (unless its a must have) buy brand new games when they come out. I wait a year or so for the price to drop to the 30-40$ range. Even the increase from 50-60$ discourages me from buying.

[Zap!]

You wanna know what costs too much? Not games, but the PS3 Duelshock 3 controller. $54.99 is so insane, I only have one. And the PS3 Wireless Keypad is even worse. It just clips onto your controller and is $50+. It should not be more than $25.

[TonyTheTiger]

I think we can all agree that accessories have gotten absurd. No way that friggin' nunchaku should be $20.

[Zap!]

I think we can all agree that accessories have gotten absurd. No way that friggin' nunchaku should be $20.

Ya know, the $20 for the Nunchucks never bothered me. However, the $40 for the Wiimote is madness. $60 (together) for one controller. Having to buy it seperately also is not smart.

[otoko]

Ya know, the $20 for the Nunchucks never bothered me. However, the $40 for the Wiimote is madness. $60 (together) for one controller. Having to but it seperately also is not smart.

Agree.. It's the reason why I have not gotten a second controller for my Wii.. I've owned mine since launch... Also on the subject the last time I bought a new game at full price was Super Mario Galaxy.. about a month since launch.. I heard from some people on this site that they had almost 600$ a month habits.. Well there's no way in hell I could ever afford that.. At college I make a grand total of (if I'm lucky) 250$ some odd a month and at home I will usually make (also if I'm lucky) 400$. I really do not have the cash to go spending on new games. I'm usually buying my games used from my local goodwill and I estimate approimately 40% of my collection actually came from there.

Well, I have friends who own xbox 360s and they do buy games straight up from launch... but I've asked them how they are able to afford the 60$ price and most of them tell me they will trade many titles back. Now I don't have the resources for that...

/ramble

[robotriot]

I saw Little Big Planet and Motorstorm: Pacific Rift today for €71,95 at a store today. These prices are ridiculous :/

[PapaStu]

You wanna know what costs too much? Not games, but the PS3 Duelshock 3 controller. $54.99 is so insane, I only have one. And the PS3 Wireless Keypad is even worse. It just clips onto your controller and is $50+. It should not be more than $25.

Ya know, the $20 for the Nunchucks never bothered me. However, the $40 for the Wiimote is madness. $60 (together) for one controller. Having to buy it seperately also is not smart.

A quick glance gives me these standard non-sale prices for todays modern console controllers
360 Wireless = 50, buy a rechargeable battery +11 = 61
Wiimote = 40 add a nunchuck +20 = 60
PS3 Dualshock = 55

Accessories is where they make their biggest profit margins. First party stuff never drops in price for a reason. Even if the console is making $$ per unit sold.