I’m pretty sure that most of us remember the days of cheaper video games, and for the youngest of us, I’m sure we can remember when DS games were $40 upon launch. Now-a-days, all first and major third party games are $60 upon release, regardless of system. Obviously, the price increase is needed as games start using more technology to be produced and animation bills become higher, but I was wondering if the increase in prices makes you more reluctant to buy games new.

I know for me, I have far fewer switch games than I do Wii/DS games that were only $40 on release (Wii games started hitting $60 near the end of its life,with titles such as Metroid: Other M). It may also be that money has been getting tighter as I age, but it may also be that the $60 price tag for me seems out of my reach. I always think twice now before buying games, and have been more prone to buying lesser known games, such as Bomberman for the switch.

What do you guys think?

I think games have always been slightly expensive (more so than say new movie releases) and they seem to range from anywhere from $30 to $100 brand new (hundreds of dollars if collectable). The most I spent on a single game was $100, but the reason for the high price was it was a japanese version and it was not yet released in the states.

I think $60 for a typical game is a lot but it is nothing new, games from decades ago also cost $60+ when they first launched. Same with consoles, 3DO retailed for $699 back in the 90's.

While I'll admit that the increasing prices drive me away from buying games, I must also say that I've become detached of videogames because they were my shelter to avoid real life instead of tackling my problems head on, so double the reason to have very few games.

Another problem is not only the price, but the versions. Back in the day, you had the single game and nothing more, maybe only Collector Editions for top-notch games. Now there are up to five or more versions of a single game with differing content (most of which is only for customization) and also differing prices, though always above the standard version, and sometimes these versions are easier to find than standard versions.

Gaming has become too expensive nowadays. I almost even don't ask for videogames when my birthday or holidays come, I make sure enough time has passed for the game to lower its launch price or at least be in offer, and even then it's not like they come cheap.

Here's my long rant on video game prices. I was actually going to make an in depth thread but whatever. I got the idea because when I'm at work at least a few people come in every day and they complain about how a game costs $60. But here's the thing, in terms of the amount of content, video games are one of the cheapest forms of media and entertainment, even the ones that cost $60.

Take a look at movies, millions of people go to theaters to watch a movie every week, even the bad movies. They rarely complain. The average ticket costs about $13 to $18 dollars and when you're talking about premium and large format, those prices go from $24 to $30. But when you go to watch a movie, you're not getting the same amount of content as a video game, no matter how much it costs or how good it was. A good movie is going to run about 2 hours and then that's it. It's over. No more.

Let's say that over the course of a month you went to see 5 movies and they were all regular 2D movies. Yeah it was great but you just spent $75 for 10 hours. You see 10 IMAX movies and you just spent $250 for 2 hours worth of content. You can't even rewatch the movie unless you spend the money again to see it or you pay even more to get it on DVD unless you're hopeful it's gonna randomly appear on TV or Netflix.

On the other hand, you pay $60 for a game you're gonna get much more than 10 hours worth. Look at Red Dead Redemption II. It cost $60 and if all you do is the regular story, you get 60 hours worth of gameplay, story, and cutscenes. But nobody's going to just do the story, someone who likes the game will on average be paying less than a 50 cents per hour of content.

The same goes for any other game, most of the will easily give you 20 hours or more while the huge amazing ones can give you hundreds.

It's not just movies too. People don't complain when they pay $15 to $20 for a CD from their favorite singer or band and what do they get? They get like 10-20 songs for an hour total for that price.

The only thing that's cheaper than video games based on the amount of content would be books.

I've always though $60 for a video game was a pretty absurd price. You know it costs them like 50 cents to make each disc or cartridge, and now a lot of games are digital, so it literally costs them nothing to make each copy. I know development costs are high, and they need to assemble a team for each game and pay all of the employees, as well as paying for advertising, but they could sell the games for half the price and still make a profit.

I have noticed that I buy less games now, and price is definitely a factor in that. The only game I buy consistently now is MLB The Show.

When it comes to AAA physical games for Switch and PS4 (but mostly for Switch since Nintendo titles almost never go down in sale price), the standard $60 price tag is definitely a deterrent for me. This is why I only have a handful of Switch and PS4 games compared to my collection of DS and 3DS games which were usually $40 or lower. That said, the money I do spend on games are games that I know I will get many hours of enjoyment and satisfaction out of. I never buy games at full price that I don't think I'll ever enjoy or play since I don't have extra money to throw around. I tend to stick to the genres and series I know I like unless I'm convinced by a friend to try something new (which I usually end up liking 90% of the time).

Videogames are a novelty. Novelties cost a lot of money, it's nothing out of the ordinary. I think they're all appropriate prices for the games. I'd only disagree with remasters being full price, as not nearly the same amount of money went into that, so they deserve to be less.

I remember watching something about "Why do Video Games always cost us$60". Based on what I heard, sometime in the 1990's, they decided to have the price for new (Standard Edition) games to be permanently marked at us$60.

Before the 1990's, Gaming companies charges on what they want, but they added a new law stated that all New games has to be sold at us$60

This is basically who gets the money (based on Physical copies)...
us$27 = Goes to the Game Publisher.
us$15 = Goes to the stores that sells these games.
us$7 = Goes to the games that are returned once the games are discontinued.
us$7 = Goes to Sony, Microsoft, and/or Nintendo.
us$4 = For Shipping and handling.

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So personally, I don't think us$60 isn't that bad really, with all the separate money that everyone gets, they all get a decent amount of money.

SacredShadow : That $60 price for Switch is about the same for me. More than half the games I have for Switch, I wouldn't have gotten if I didn't work for Gamestop. With my discount and sales, I got like 7 Switch games in total for more than half off and I would have never even thought of getting them if I had to pay full price.

Like Smash, Octopath Traveller, Bayonetta, and Fire Emblem. Just 2 months ago those were games I had no interest in at all.

Yes, brand new games retail for $60, but there's always ways to get them cheaper. Used copies are a very common way of doing it, letting you often get half price or less on some games, although they ironically seem to get more expensive the older the game is. You've also got sales, just waiting for the price to drop(which usually also lets you avoid annoying day 1 bugs), key-reselling sites, or even just buying games that are cheaper instead of the AAA blockbuster titles. One Way Heroics cost me less than a dollar, and there are AAA games that I've gotten less gameplay out of than it.

While it is true that some new games were priced at $40, they were often either low-budget games or handheld games, which were typically valued less until the Switch came along to provide console-grade experiences on the go. Due to the fact that you're getting less game due to it being portable, the lower price tag made sense. Unless Sony, Microsoft, or someone else comes out with a decent handheld, though, we're probably gonna see the handheld game price fix itself at $60 as well.

On a side note, the price for a game has stayed at $60, but publishers have found ways to squeeze more money out of players in fairly effective ways, ranging from day 1 DLC that was carved out of the game and leaves the game incomplete if you don't buy it to the now-infamous loot boxes and microtransactions. $60 is a shell price that gets you a base game with no extra frills when you're talking about AAA games.

I think $60 is a fair value.

The only reason I am saying next is because of the anonymity of having a username on a site like this...
I worked for GameStop seasonal this holiday break. The reason they push used game and used sales is because they only make $2/game from New Games. New games are controlled by the developers. However, used games are controlled by GameStop.
That's why you'll see a used copy of Spider-man cost $55 used, yet $30 new on Black Friday.

thing1 : I worked for Gamestop too and I had no idea that was how the money works for new games.

Coming from a very low income family, we never had the newest thing and we always had to pinch pennies. We always buy used. I understand that the price has to account for money devaluing and all that, but there's still a part of me that can bear to fork over a whopping $60 for a game, even if it's one of the greatest games ever made with 100 hours of gameplay. That's at least three days of food for a family of five.

I've gotten used to games costing $60 over the years but I still remember when $50 seemed to be the standard for a while. Overall I'm okay with it because sales happen often enough that it doesn't matter too much but I hope it doesn't go up (although I could see that happening).

Me personally i feel as though $60 for new games are ridiculous, honestly if its not a open world game its not worth the $60 price tag only because typically open world games have more depth to them in terms of how much activities there are to do in game. Also almost always if you wait maybe a month or two after the game releases the price is usually significantly reduced, and or pre owned version is usually a good deal. But digital copy wise in my opinion never should be $60 simply because the developers can make 100% profit because they essentially cut out the middle man and don't have to pay for printing, boxing and transport.

I tend to take advantage of Steam sales. Some indie games on Steam will only cost a few dollars during a Steam sale. I also tend to buy DS/3DS games used, which also saves money. As for my Switch - well, for that I treat myself to a game every now and then when I have enough money.