Support NeoGAF

[Clear]

I don't think they are saying PC gaming is cheap. It has always been more expensive. Nobody is subsidizing your PC. It's just consoles were always a cheaper option, and dropped in price as the generation went on.

I mean damn, 20 years ago before the ps3 launch you could get a ps2 for $129. Now consoles are going up in price as the generation goes on, and PS5 pro is $700.

I'm not complaining and will spend more than $700 on a z2 extreme handheld this year, but the days of MILFs impulse buying a console for their kids are probably gone.

And the PS3 when it came out was $599 !

Nearly 20 years ago.

Now by cherry picking THE most expensive console on the market the situation has... changed ?

I don't think so.

The relevance of PC in this is that its the closest and hence most relevant point of comparison that isn't a console. Allowing a larger context to see what's changed over the years.

 

[Deerock71]

What it's going to boil down to is we're going to have factions. Few will be able to afford all options. In other words, just like the 80s, bitches!

 

[Hari Seldon]

Keep raising prices, I have spent less money on gaming this generation than I ever have previously. I have played more Valheim than my entire PS5 collection combined. When I want to play a shooter I play one of the many excellent f2p ones.

 

[TGO]

A console being expensive is one thing, but when we're paying £90 for controllers & £80 for games + subscription service...
You gotta be some short sighted motherfucker to not see the problem.
I use to believed that a platform is worth it's price if there were 5 games you was solely buying it for at launch that you knew was coming and you got 10 out of it for the price you paid within a 2/3 year period.

Well that's out the fucking window!

 

[Generic]

I don't think they are saying PC gaming is cheap. It has always been more expensive. Nobody is subsidizing your PC. It's just consoles were always a cheaper option, and dropped in price as the generation went on.

I mean damn, 20 years ago before the ps3 launch you could get a ps2 for $129. Now consoles are going up in price as the generation goes on, and PS5 pro is $700.

I'm not complaining and will spend more than $700 on a z2 extreme handheld this year, but the days of MILFs impulse buying a console for their kids are probably gone.

Someone will look at this pic and still try to argue that videogames were always a luxury hobby, or that consoles/games used to be more expensive before inflation, or that paying more for games "is actually good you know" because it "valuates" the hobby.

 

[Deerock71]

I don't know what is most weird.

Microsoft upping their prices in a market where they are already behind, or IGN being silent while Nintendo and Sony ups their prices, and only barks when Microsoft joins in on the price increase.

Including Nintendo is, at best, disingenuous. Their new hardware brings the heat, and they haven't altered their price. That leaves just Sony, naked, in your rebuttal.

 

[awwr999999]

If you think console gaming is expensive it might be time to get into firestick gaming.

There aren't enough destitute former Xbox owners with controllers and great Wifi to make that idea take off.
The PS2 is better now than it's ever been and most people have massive backlogs of inexpensive PS2 (and PS1) games that they've never played.
The Gamepass monthly fee could buy several used AAA PS2 games and build a permanent physical library with extras (manual, map, memory card) that we no longer get at any price.
Anyone who knows someone with a PC can get 100% of those PS2 games for free online.
By 'trying' free downloaded games users can decide which physical games they want to buy before they pay for them in disc form.
No modern console provides that perfection - a risk free digital trial (like Steam) with an option to buy the physical game with all of the extras.
Users can boot directly into games via disc or boot into games via FMCB via HDD.
Renting games or building a modern digital-only game library will never be as fun as building a mixed physical/digital library on the last console with a true console user flow.

 

[ByWatterson]

Los Angeles-based Europoor Americans think insanely advanced technology is too expensive and also unwilling to wait for sales.

Kinda joking but not entirely.

No one writes these dumbass articles about car hobbies, sports ticket prices, etc. But as with everything else gamers write about, it's incessant, short-sighted, and whiny.

 

[Guilty_AI]

It's beyond just the console price being high. Console companies have been nickel and diming their player-base for a while now, from the high game prices to subscription services that lock basic features behind paywalls, not to mention the walled garden nature that leaves little space for alternatives.

Why bother with a console when you can buy a budget Laptop for $500-$1000 that'll play almost anything and help with other necessary computer-related activities that aren't appropriate for a smartphone? Consoles are just becoming luxury items at this point.

 

[TommyCronin6969]

Ign is complain bait at this point

 

[LavitzSlambert]

I don't think they are saying PC gaming is cheap. It has always been more expensive. Nobody is subsidizing your PC. It's just consoles were always a cheaper option, and dropped in price as the generation went on.

I mean damn, 20 years ago before the ps3 launch you could get a ps2 for $129. Now consoles are going up in price as the generation goes on, and PS5 pro is $700.

I'm not complaining and will spend more than $700 on a z2 extreme handheld this year, but the days of MILFs impulse buying a console for their kids are probably gone.

Seeing the PS2 port of RE4 as a greatest hits $20 title, I realized it was holiday ads at the very end of the generation. You points still stand, but given the context it was a firesale of DVD players and a game most people already played. The $40 budget releases stand out to me though, I would like to see more of that and smaller "handheld" budget games like on GBA and DS/3DS. I know indie games often fit in that slot, but I am talking style of gameplay rather than the dev budget.

 

[joeygreco1985]

Microsoft has no problem raising game prices when they want you to subscribe to Game Pass instead. The hardware price increase on 4 year old hardware that isn't selling I will never understand. They should be focused on slashing the hardware cost to bring in new GP subscribers.

 

[Avid Reading Horse]

I don't think they are saying PC gaming is cheap. It has always been more expensive. Nobody is subsidizing your PC. It's just consoles were always a cheaper option, and dropped in price as the generation went on.

I mean damn, 20 years ago before the ps3 launch you could get a ps2 for $129. Now consoles are going up in price as the generation goes on, and PS5 pro is $700.

I'm not complaining and will spend more than $700 on a z2 extreme handheld this year, but the days of MILFs impulse buying a console for their kids are probably gone.

OMG WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T BUY THIS PIECE OF SHIT ESPECIALLY AT THAT PRICE. HOLY SHIT GOD NO!

 

[CLW]

PC gamers stay winning.

Especially with those affordable $3000 gpus to pay for more bedazzled pleather jackets for Jensen

 

[Humdinger]

I think it means you wait for price drops rather than buy games on Day 1. If you're patient, these $80 games will come down to reasonable prices in 6 months or so (excepting Nintendo titles).

I never have a problem waiting. Now, I'm a singleplayer gamer. It's different if you're into the MP stuff - then you want to get in on the action early. But with SP titles, the game is the same 6 months later as it was on Day 1. It may even be better, because of bug fixes, etc. I've only spent $70 for a game once in the past 5 years, and that was because I wanted to support the developer.

 

[semiconscious]

Los Angeles-based Europoor Americans think insanely advanced technology is too expensive and also unwilling to wait for sales.

Kinda joking but not entirely.

No one writes these dumbass articles about car hobbies, sports ticket prices, etc. But as with everything else gamers write about, it's incessant, short-sighted, and whiny.

maybe because gaming journalists've never really had to grow up?...

 

[ByWatterson]

maybe because gaming journalists've never really had to grow up?...

Oh they had to. They just didn't.

And now the vast majority of masthead gaming journos are gaming journos no longer.

 

[Sooner]

If you think console gaming is expensive it might be time to get into firestick gaming.

Or to get a job that is more involved than flipping burgers.

 

[Shifty1897]

Stop buying shit you think is "too expensive".

The industry will correct itself if needed. And if not then there's already tens of thousands of games out there already for you to experience.

That's the thing. Look at concert prices. People decided a concert ticket was actually worth hundreds of dollars. The market never corrected.

It already seems with the Switch 2 that most people are not fazed by this level of price increase.

 

[nial]

I don't think they are saying PC gaming is cheap. It has always been more expensive. Nobody is subsidizing your PC. It's just consoles were always a cheaper option, and dropped in price as the generation went on.

I mean damn, 20 years ago before the ps3 launch you could get a ps2 for $129. Now consoles are going up in price as the generation goes on, and PS5 pro is $700.

I'm not complaining and will spend more than $700 on a z2 extreme handheld this year, but the days of MILFs impulse buying a console for their kids are probably gone.

Dear fucking lord, those are some truly horrid asthetics (and yes, this includes every game cover there).

 

[Barakov]

Not watching it but they're right. Console gaming is supposed to be the affordable option but if prices keep rising like this something is going to have to give. And it isn't the consumer.

 

[Roni]

The amount of rich people ITT completely out of touch with the world's economic reality is pretty damn high too!

 

[WildBoy]

Stop buying shit you think is "too expensive".

The industry will correct itself if needed. And if not then there's already tens of thousands of games out there already for you to experience.

We are way past this thinking. Vote with your wallet does not work now when game that are successful still get the entire team laid off or shut down. It's the investors that want number to go up or it's a failure in their eyes. The industry is in for a rdse awakening - those investors are going to stop making bets on this industry and invest in AI and other future crypto bro tech.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Not watching it but they're right. Console gaming is supposed to be the affordable option but if prices keep rising like this something is going to have to give. And it isn't the consumer.

That's going to be the most fascinating aspect of it. I think, in a way, this situation should expedite the bullshit out of the industry . Should be good thing in the long term

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

those investors are going to stop making bets on this industry and invest in AI and other future crypto bro tech.

which is a good thing.

 

[Power Pro]

PC gamers stay winning.

That's malarky. With the price of GPUs alone, I feel like I'm gonna be using this PC until it's dead and absolutely forced to buy something inferior.

 

[rkofan87]

start saving your cash early

 

[Felessan]

Microsoft is sprinting toward their end game now....

Servers time cost increase even faster over time, so don't count on it.

Why bother with a console when you can buy a budget Laptop for $500-$1000 that'll play almost anything and help with other necessary computer-related activities that aren't appropriate for a smartphone? Consoles are just becoming luxury items at this point.

And play games with ps3 quality? No, thanks.
PC market not mentioned doesnt mean that its healthy, its just it so not mass-market that it's not worth mentioning.

We are way past this thinking. Vote with your wallet does not work now when game that are successful still get the entire team laid off or shut down. It's the investors that want number to go up or it's a failure in their eyes. The industry is in for a rdse awakening - those investors are going to stop making bets on this industry and invest in AI and other future crypto bro tech.

There are always place for high-profile games. And besides investors there much bigger problems in industry - management goals, balooned overpayed stuff etc.
If "investors" leave we will be left with mostly indies and A titles, not even AA as people usually have no money to completelly self-fund even AA game and to get money you need you know whom - investor.
Some investors better than others, have more experience and knowledge to whom give money to make successfull game, most of recent big games, even a new one like Wukong or Stellar Blade, are investor backed.

 

[ArtHands]

Agree with you guys. Consoles is cheap and there are lots of rooms for them to continue increasing the price. IGN act as if a console cost the same as a car or a house

 

[KyoZz]

2006, 50$... that would be 100$ today. yet games are not 100$. They are 70-80 and way way way longer.

I keep seeing this take, but there is one VERY important thing to consider: the average wage has not kept up with inflation. You only have to look at average purchasing power to realize that things are not adding up.

People have much less money to spend on leisure activities than they did 20 years ago.

Stupid ps5 or ps5 pro is cheaper than mid graphics cards... alone....

Same price as the PS5 Pro, but you don't only game on a PC, and you can buy games cheaper, don't need a subscription to play online, have retro-compatibility for pretty much everything, not to mention emulation etc etc... A console is a closed ecosystem, this alone is a BIG difference.

On the lifetime of a console, PC IS cheaper. Even if the entry price is higher.

 

[Sanepar]

This looks more like pub inception for crap cloud.

 

[Stratostar]

My biggest beef with console gaming is paid online. The PS+ price hike to $80 with zero justification for it is what did it for me. Moved to PC and I won't be purchasing a multiplayer title for PlayStation again.

I understand that games can't stay $60-$70 forever but cloud saves and online multiplayer should always be free and I will die on that hill. The way these corporations have made people accustomed to being charged a yearly fee for access to the most basic and essential functionality of a $500+ game console is the second biggest scam in gaming (Scam Citizen anyone?).

If I was CEO of Sony the first thing I would announce would be that online multiplayer and cloud saves now come standard for all PSN accounts. No $80 minimum subscription necessary. Announce that, give PS6 a disc drive, and it will succeed, mark my words.
It'll never happen but I'm goddamn right.

 

[ZehDon]

I keep seeing this take, but there is one VERY important thing to consider: the average wage has not kept up with inflation. You only have to look at average purchasing power to realize that things are not adding up.

People have much less money to spend on leisure activities than they did 20 years ago...

Absolutely correct. This gets lost on gamers who suddenly become economic experts when they need to defend their billion dollar company of choice fattening their bottom line, for some reason. On top of consumer buying power having decreased, games have much higher profit margins thanks to the shift to digital - increasing by around 30% on the digital side. Games have also gotten enormously more expensive through things like DLC, micro-transactions, and expanded post-release content support like expansion packs and collectors edition upgrades that permeates most major games today. Sony introduced paid patches with the current generation, charging gamers a fee to unlock frame rates and boost resolutions for cross-gen titles on their consoles. Games also sell for longer now, allowing games to produce higher revenue tails for longer, thanks to digital libraries and cross-generation support and backwards compatibility. The idea that companies have been doing us a favour for the past twenty years by keeping games at USD$60.00 is downright Stockholm syndrome.

 

[Pimpbaa]

PS5, Xbox, Steam, always wait for sales. Hardware prices suck yes, especially video cards (4070 barely mid my ass, not for that price). But games always come down in price, except for Nintendo 1st party stuff.

 

[DavJay]

The few of us here won't be affected too much with the price increase but I bet most will to the point all greedy publisher won't be able to justify making aaa title anymore.

 

[VGA-Games]

Buying a Nintendo Switch 2 for $500 Dollar's -> 8 Years of Fun.

Buying a Video Game (Mario Kart World) for $80 Dollar's -> 300 Hours of Fun.

Going to a Cinema for $25 Dollar's -> 2 Hours of Fun.

Console Gaming isn't Expensive

 

[Barakov]

We are way past this thinking. Vote with your wallet does not work now when game that are successful still get the entire team laid off or shut down. It's the investors that want number to go up or it's a failure in their eyes. The industry is in for a rdse awakening - those investors are going to stop making bets on this industry and invest in AI and other future crypto bro tech.

These investors are part of the reason why most of western games suck these days. Let them invest in the future crypto bro tech and keep their activism out of videogames.

 

[powder]

it's time to stop playing video games, honestly. Even if you're hyped for a game, don't buy it at release - I guarantee within a month you won't even want to play it anymore and will have moved on.

 

[Generic]

Buying a Nintendo Switch 2 for $500 Dollar's -> 8 Years of Fun.

Buying a Video Game (Mario Kart World) for $80 Dollar's -> 300 Hours of Fun.

Going to a Cinema for $25 Dollar's -> 2 Hours of Fun.

Console Gaming isn't Expensive

I can get 300 hours of fun with a game I bought for $25 on sale.

Why is Mario Kart World worth $80?

 

[Generic]

That's the thing. Look at concert prices. People decided a concert ticket was actually worth hundreds of dollars. The market never corrected.

It already seems with the Switch 2 that most people are not fazed by this level of price increase.

I would pay hundreds of money for a concert too since it's something that involves real people and not a bunch of pixels on the screen.

 

[Skifi28]

I would pay hundreds of money for a concert too since it's something that involves real people and not a bunch of pixels on the screen.

Real people are made out of blood and bones which is disgusting. Why would anyone pay for that? Pixels are so much better.

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

Now it's "console gaming"

As it should be. PC gamers aren't gonna loose access to the newest games on their machine just because a new console generation launched. Gaming is just fine, as people will continue having access to some kind of gaming capable device (smartphones, PCs, tablets etc.). It's really the console niche where at some point, you're gonna loose customers if you price your shit too high. People need a smartphone, and lot's of people also need computing to some capacity. Consoles on the other hand are non essential junktainment in comparison. An exception is streaming services within these legacy ecosystems, of course (like mentioned above).

 

[calico]

Concert tickets are a limited commodity. They're expensive for the most popular performers because more people want to go than there are tickets available.

Games effectively have an unlimited supply and it costs ~zero to produce unlimited copies. This is why people tend to be more accepting of consoles rising in price than of games rising in price. The selling of millions more copies at ~zero additional expense (to produce those extra copies) ought to cover whatever additional expense is being incurred in the development stage, without increasing prices, and it certainly would be able to if they didn't waste so much of the income from the popular games to subsidise their unprofitable propaganda games.

 

[Sinfulgore]

I can get 300 hours of fun with a game I bought for $25 on sale.

Why is Mario Kart World worth $80?

Because it offers a unique experience that some people think is worth it. Everyone has their own value system for the things they buy.


The average American spends over $1000 a year at Starbucks, $80 games and $500-$700 consoles is nothing. At least in America, people have far more disposable income than people here seem to realize. Cost isn't an issue, value is; the console manufacturers and publishers need to make their products worth the cost, and I think this is the real problem. So many modern games and even the consoles don't really justify their price for some people.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I don't think they are saying PC gaming is cheap. It has always been more expensive. Nobody is subsidizing your PC. It's just consoles were always a cheaper option, and dropped in price as the generation went on.

I mean damn, 20 years ago before the ps3 launch you could get a ps2 for $129. Now consoles are going up in price as the generation goes on, and PS5 pro is $700.

I'm not complaining and will spend more than $700 on a z2 extreme handheld this year, but the days of MILFs impulse buying a console for their kids are probably gone.

Pricing has held a lot more firm than back then. Heck, that $129 PS2 is nothing. I remember seeing those slim models being dumped at Canadian Tire for $80 CDN. Ya, Canadian Tire. A shop (for those who dont know) focuses on fixing your car, outdoorsy stuff and sporting goods.

But that era was crazy prices and deals. I see it's a 2006 BB flyer. The next gen was bargain priced too. Maybe not at the beginning, but console prices dropped a lot too and console makers and stores would include 5 pack in games at Xmas. Ya, they were old games but if someone was a casual gamer or family just having fun buying a system and having a stack of games to play right away it was great value.

Then the X1/PS4 gen comes, console prices stay high, all the bundled game deals disappear, almost all demo downloads dry up, and thats when mtx kicked into gear.

 

[calico]

The average American spends over $1000 a year at Starbucks

That can't possibly be true.

 

[CokeDiet]

Buying a Nintendo Switch 2 for $500 Dollar's -> 8 Years of Fun.

Buying a Video Game (Mario Kart World) for $80 Dollar's -> 300 Hours of Fun.

Going to a Cinema for $25 Dollar's -> 2 Hours of Fun.

Console Gaming isn't Expensive

I would argue that these days going to the cinemas is 2 hours of torture.

 

[Zathalus]

A Ps5 Pro costs 800 euro where I live.
A Geforce 4070, which is far from mid, costs 669 euro where I live.

I'll do you one better, the Pro is €799 by me, while a 5070 is €579. Only a GPU of course, but still.

 

[Magic Carpet]

I think getting rid of paid online access should be the first thing to 'give'.
Paying Sony to play online is free money for Sony. Even more than the 30 or whatever percent they take on each game.

There was talk years ago about Xbox abandoning the paid online. But that never happened.

 

[Fess]

Didn't Ryan just buy a $700 PS5 Pro just because he wanted the best GTA6 experience on day one and he was concerned about further price hikes? I highly doubt he is personally getting priced out of anything.

Yeah. Isn't he driving a Tesla as well? Fake outrage just to get clicks. Same with all these loudmouths online that gets rich from ad money from X and YouTube etc.