this post was submitted on 10 May 2024
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I’m not at all defending advertisements because, like every single person on earth, I hate them. However, the constant complaint that ~games are expensive~ is more and more becoming absolutely out of touch. Considering how complex modern games are from a software standpoint, they are fucking cheap as hell. $60 for (generally speaking) 40+ hours of entertainment is a goddamn bargain, not to mention they’ve mostly been priced the same for the better part of two decades. Y’all realize actual people make these things right? People who need to be paid for the work they do? Of all the absolute shit that happens behind the scenes and in plain daylight in the gaming industry, I think we can find better things to bitch about than the price of games.
I'd agree with you if the devs were being treated better, games should cost more and be shorter. But the price hikes aren't that. They're pure greed.
That extra money isn't going to pay the developers. EA just shut down multiple studios, including the studio responsible for the critically acclaimed AA game High-Fi Rush, and are already talking about shutting down more. EA has closed more studios than they've released games this year, and the past 3 years have seen record high layoffs - even worse than during the 2008 financial crash. All this while companies brag about record-breaking profits.
And with the rise of digital media, production costs saw a significant decrease. There was a short period of time where physical copies were $60 and digital were $40. Now digital are averaging $70 and execs are already talking about increasing the price to $80-100.
So… Like I said, there are plenty of things to complain about in the gaming industry aside from the price of AAA titles (which contrary to your claim) have remained priced at about $60 for the past 20+ years. These so-called price hikes are non-existent, and based on inflation, are actually price decreases. Yes, most profits for everything (not just games) go to the CEOs and investors, that is the root cause of the destruction of the western world.
Also there are myriad fantastic indie titles that only cost like $20 so, uh, go play them instead?
As for your claim of digital releases briefly being cheaper than physical copies—I don’t recall that ever being a thing. Granted, I was mostly a console gamer from the 90s through the early 2010s so maybe I missed that.
Frameworks, ready to use engines and props and less care for efficiency (see Ark Survival) make it less effort for more results.
Wasn't there some asian guy who made a whole action level in Unity just for fun?
So because someone made something as a hobby that means other people shouldn’t be paid for work? Also, sure, tools exist to ease in the production of a game (and in every other creative media), doesn’t negate the fact that people’s talent and work are what make the product exist.
No, i only said it isn't as expensive as you think anymore.
Where did you say that?
Between the lines.
And talent is in AAA overruled by sales people.
You realize that it's much easier now to make a game than it was two decades ago (see other comment)? That digital platforms make it more accessible for buyers to get your game? That the overall trend in the industry has been to get a game out as fast as possible then try to patch it after the fact, when that wasn't even an option two decades ago (internet existed, sure, but not everyone had good internet)? Sure, the quality of graphics may have gone up, but everything else has been left behind.
Also, saying that people complaining about price is out-of-touch, is itself out-of-touch. Most people have even less purchasing power now than they did two decades ago and you want us to pay even more for a product inferior to what we would've gotten years ago?
Considering that most titles are cross platform I’d say it’s actually much more difficult to produce games these days than it was in the past (see Cyberpunk’s shaky release due to it trying to run on everything under the sun at launch—and being forced out too early due to investor demand). It’s not like game engines and other development tools make it so people press a button that says “make game” and the game pops into existence.
My main point is that games have not actually gone up in price for over two decades. And, as you have pointed out as well, there are an awful lot of actual things to complain about with the gaming industry. The out of pocket cost we pay to play the games is really not one of them.
I guess some thing about it, like a game costs less than a big budget Hollywood movie to make, and Hollywood movie tickets don't cost $80
but audience for movies like 100x times bigger, yk
Sounds like they're screwing the loyal fans to make up the cash. Imagine if an independent movie or snap budget film charged $80 a ticket because they have a smaller audience?
that would be fair if these companies weren't incredibly profitable, only increasing that profit, and only using that profit to pay the executive and shareholders.
it's just greed. they don't need the money.
What about DLCs? And micro-transactions? And lack of optimisations? Base games these days are more like beta versions of what used to be provided in the past... It kinda feels like shrinkflation, price is the same but you get a lot less, both in quality and quantity.
I'm sure you're right about that. But this topic isn't about games being too expensive. It's about ads being forced on people with no compensation. (Many people don't want ads under any circumstances, while some people say they would accept ads if they get financially compensated.)