Man, the Prices

[windwaker101]

Have you noticed that the prices for video games has gone sky-high? A Wii game, 40$? X-Box, 60$? They cost almost a quarter of the console! We all know that GC games are 20$ but that is 1/3 of what I payed for the console! What about DS games? They range from about 5$ to 30$! Renting them costs about half or the same price for buying it! I have enough money to buy only one Wii game and a very cheap game! Was it always like this, or was it different back then? Back then were they only 15$? I have two questions!
Were they always this expensive?

Why is is like this now?

 

[Djinn]

That is really nothing new at all. Even NES games back in the 80's had an average $50 pricetag and that was thirty years ago. Games actually keeping their price for this long even after the technology going into them has advanced and the number of people working on them multiplied is actually pretty amazing. If they kept an average value then they would be much more than that, but only rising ten more dollars for current generation games is pretty acceptable.

Cheap games only really happened during the PSX and PS2 era mostly because of the Greatest Hits releases that Sony insisted upon. Plus it actually was much cheaper to print more copies of a game on a CD as opposed cartridges or current games. Many gaming manufacturers actually did not appreciate the move because several of them had to adjust their prices to keep up and they were selling too many games far under their original suggested cost. It actually got to a point where many players would not buy a game and wait a few months for it to become a greatest hits title and be sold in the area of $20. This actually caused a lot of games to disappear because people wanted them but not enough to buy them early. This happened to Disgaia years ago. Now it seems that the rereleases have become a bit more rare, possibly die to fewer sales on average, and games are maintaining their normal retail price much longer again.

Either way if a game has a price of $15 then it is either a really terrible game that had few to no sales whatsoever and retailers just want it off their shelves, or it is a game for an old system of a previous generation and retailers want it off their shelves. A greatest hits price would only come if the game sold so amazingly well that the manufacturer decided to release it again for a few more dollars. And that is becoming much more rare these days.

 

[PK Love Omega]

Maybe the only games you have bought for the Wii is Anubis 2 and Gingerbread man? And the game that should be on WiiWare, Bubble Pop or whatever. And WiiWare games.

But if it is 40 bucks for a Wii game, I would not be buying any "Wii" Titles, unless they had a different tag

But it isn't that much of a deal here in the UK. Games are 20 pounds (20 punds is around 40 bucks)but we haven't bought a Wii or DS game in ages. Infact, about 6 years ago we stopped.

 

[Omega Fury]

Video games are popular to this day. (They still are) If a really cool game comes out, it would be 60 bucks, (If a sports game, Price lowers down a month later, Not sure) I'm hoping to get Modern Warfare 3 in november

 

[Katelynn]

Yeah, I wouldn't be suppirsed if it got higher by tomarrow. :xd: (hopefully not)

 

[surferguy7]

If anything, video game prices dropped. Back in the day, and NES game could go for like $80, but now, the average price is about $50.

And think of it this way: People spend around $80 on a sports ticket for around 2-5 hours on entertainment. Video games on the other hand, their prices range from $1-$60 depending on their age and can provide endless hours of entertainment. I think video game prices are pretty fair IMO.

 

[ZeldaOcarina]

As far as prices go, I would suggest trying used gaming stores. GameStop is a great chain store for this, or Ebay for online, but also check out for local stores (where I live, we have one that sells games on just about any system, typically for a lot cheaper). However, as has been mentioned, they are really well priced. On the side of the game creators, they do have the cheaper discs, but that makes them easier to steal. So to compensate for lost wages due to piracy, the price has to go up (and, you'll notice, this is done for movies, as well). Not to mention, the technology is much better. We used to have popular controls being a D-pad, A, B, Start, and Select buttons. Now we have usually a joystick or two, a D-pad, A, B, X, Y, Start, Select, etc., or even up to the whole motion range of a sensor bar, allowing for more complex, and therefore costly, games to be developed. This kind of offsets the price of the cheaper mass-production of the product.

It is unfortunate that gaming is so expensive, but I wouldn't consider it that much, considering you are getting so much out of it.

 

[Irishmile]

Yeah... I remember saving up for $50 NES games back in the day... We had a bunch of crappy NES games because Sams Club sold them for a lot less towards the end of the NES's run.

 

[Ventus]

I'm pretty sure N64 games were also in the $60-$80 USD price range back in the day as well. I could be wrong, as the $60 tag may have been in place on PS1 games, but still. Pricing was difficult back then as it is today. The major difference however is where you put your money. Back then, spending $60 didn't mean anything because we were completely decided on X game being "The Game". We never had to return purchases on the grounds of the game being bad. Now, with somewhat minor inflation/deflation of prices + the decline in game quality, we have to be more weary of where we place our monies.

Greatest Hits as well as Player's Choice threw the price down to $20 per game; when it reached 1 million sales worldwide. They got rid of PC, though now Nintendo has done Nintendo Selects for a few *select* titles. Greatest Hits isn't around anymore for PS3 titles.

OOH, speaking of game prices, Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec which is one of the best racing simulators of all time in my opinion, costs like $3. I think it is because of overproduction, I'm not entirely sure.

 

[Djinn]

An $80 game was incredibly rare and was normally only for games that included extra hardware. Like Majora's Mask which came with the expansion pack. Other games still maintained the same old $50 price games a generation before and a generation later. That remained the norm for almost all games on all consoles.

At least now games will lower in value after a while when sales slow down. NES, SNES, and N64 games remained at a high price until the console was replaced. There were very few greatest hits rereleases until the PS2 era and now that seems to have mostly ended outside of a few specific titles.

 

[Ventus]

I do recall N64 cartridges, at least the ones marked with the giant 'USED' symbol, did reduce to $30. Currently, I find N64 cartridges still going for $10-$20, and Ocarina of Time isn't even sold simply because of the gem it is [at least at my local Movie Trading Co – Vintage Stock in non Texas states].

 

[Dan]

Games have gone up in price. It's for many reasons. Game company's now have a lot more people working on a game than they used to. Another reason is inflation. Check out this twix ad from the 80's only 15p !
[video=youtube;1yjDfNy_Uo8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yjDfNy_Uo8[/video]

Solution is to buy online, or wait for used.

 

[windwaker101]

Thanks for the answers! I was wondering because I saw PH for 1$ at gamestop.

 

[Turo602]

I don't really have a problem with the prices for games these days. Games cost anywhere from 40-60 bucks, not too bad. But this is what I have a problem with. When you just paid full price for a game and then you have to pay extra for DLC. It pisses me off because they announce DLC before the game even releases. Why not just delay the game and give us a complete game? I guess in a way they aren't doing it to steal from us. If we really like their games and want them to keep making them, then why not give them the extra cash to do so if we want to keep enjoying their products? But that's not always the case. Most of the time it gets taken too far.

Another thing that bothers me is when games try to push the 60 dollar price tag. For example, adding a pointless online mode just for the hell of it. Like 007 Quantum of Solace, that game could have easily been a 40 dollar game if it was just the campaign which is the reason someone would by a game like that. So why do they add an online mode? Do they seriously think people are going to spend time on it like they would with Halo or Call of Duty? Same with Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, the game could of been 40 bucks but they added an online mode. Sure I hear it was good but I think you get my point. I don't like the pushing of the 60 dollar price tag when it's not necessary. I buy games for it's core experience, not some damn mode featured in the game. And that's what people need to realize.