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[Panajev2001a]

Ignores all the things you get for free now or for cheap... complains about stuff that costs money...

Want to play 4 players, couch co-op? You're buying a multitap. Comes free now because it's all Bluetooth.

Want to save your game AT ALL? You're buying a memory card and probably multiple. Want to save your game now? The console comes with a hard drive.

Want to play online? Network adapter comes included.

Games used to be 50-60 dollars on SNES in the early 90s, some games were even 70 dollars or 80 dollars... Gaming has always been expensive.

Adjust these game prices for inflation...

It's wild how much gamers complain.

True, that was a generation that had also a lot of cost but the console HW was cheaper. Enter PS1 and the games cost dropped.

Enter digital distribution (which massively cuts manufacturing, inventory, and distribution costs and increases profits) and prices… do not decrease…

So yes, we are getting some things for free and others got worse.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Threads like these always make me wonder why Xbox and gamelass didn't do better.

If gamepass went away I feel like we would have so many comments about how great it was. Once people realise the studios and publishers themselves are on track to destroy gaming's popularity worse than a cheap gamepass code.

You want to own a license key to play a game that a publisher can de list at any time....cough up 70 to 80 dollars and never truly own it.

 

[Three]

Dumbest thread ever. Firstly, the stand isn't plastic. It's metal. Secondly you say this as if PC doesn't have those dumb optional extras like graphic card stands sold separately.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Threads like these always make me wonder why Xbox and gamelass didn't do better.

This right here shows what the entire Xbox fanbase can't seem to fathom:

Gaming as it is, is expensive enough. Paying for a service where 90% of it's offering the vast majority of gamers don't care about, makes it an easy pass as it's considered a waste of money.

 

[IDKFA]

Gaming is an expensive HOBBY… Get another job OP.

It doesn't need to be expensive.

You can pick up a Series S for cheap and just use Gamepass.

A cost of a gaming PC is more expensive than a console, but the games are cheaper, especially because you have a choice of places to buy digital games on PC.

lol gaming is cheap. Minimum wage was $3.50/hr in the middle 80s. Games were $60.


Taco Bell here today pays $15/hr. Mario Kart World is $80.

Very simple view that doesn't consider other aspects.

Wages have not increased with inflation, meaning we're all actually pooer than we should be.

Cost of living has skyrocketed, meaning people have less disposable income than the 80s/90s.

Gaming market is far larger.

By your logic paying over 100 per game would be a bargain. Would you be happy to pay a three figure sum per game?

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

It's expensive but I'm much more willing to pay $700 CAD for Switch 2 since it new system that comes with its own exclusives that I want to play.

With PS5pro I can't justify paying $950 CAD for system that will never have its own exclusives and I can't play my physical copy of games I already own because I have to spend extra $100 for a disc drive.

So I decided to get Switch 2 over PS5pro since I already have PS5 and I won't be missing out any games if I don't buy it.

I'm sure there are people who are much richer than me who can effort both.

No way, my man! You're going about this all wrong.

You need to get a second job to fund all those gaming consoles and snag every game release on day one!

 

[rofif]

Cry me a river. Games were 60$ for 30 fucking years or so. Everything else got 2-4x more expensive in last 10 years alone.
Even ps5 pro being 700 is cheap. Of you consider inflation, it's actually cheaper than base ps5 on release and got over 1tb more storage

 

[rofif]

Threads like these always make me wonder why Xbox and gamelass didn't do better.

If gamepass went away I feel like we would have so many comments about how great it was. Once people realise the studios and publishers themselves are on track to destroy gaming's popularity worse than a cheap gamepass code.

You want to own a license key to play a game that a publisher can de list at any time....cough up 70 to 80 dollars and never truly own it.

Because game pass sucks ass. Why play what is free and not what you want ?
Gaming is a choice and your own taste. Playing game for opportunistic reasons is not right. Never was to me.
I buy what I really want to play.

Gp is good for kids. My coworkers who have kids do that. But their kids still prefer to play Roblox on pc.

 

[San Dan Glokta]

Because game pass sucks ass. Why play what is free and not what you want ?
Gaming is a choice and your own taste. Playing game for opportunistic reasons is not right. Never was to me.
I buy what I really want to play.

Gp is good for kids. My coworkers who have kids do that. But their kids still prefer to play Roblox on pc.

What an ignorant take. If your taste is terrible then don't put it on gamepass. Sure not every game is for everyone and certainly there is trash but the majority (50%+) of the offerings are actually good games.
It certainly sounds like your bitter that some people can casually enjoy games for a better deal and actually enjoy themselves without a chip on their shoulder.

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

Threads like these always make me wonder why Xbox and gamelass didn't do better.

If gamepass went away I feel like we would have so many comments about how great it was. Once people realise the studios and publishers themselves are on track to destroy gaming's popularity worse than a cheap gamepass code.

You want to own a license key to play a game that a publisher can de list at any time....cough up 70 to 80 dollars and never truly own it.

It is because Gamepass can't survive off hardcore gamers. Gamepass needed to grab the mass market to survive by volume. But Gamepass has nothing to offer the mass market because the average normal person play less than 2 games a year and often don't pay anything to play.

 

[Goalus]

But if you want GOOD games from Nintendo, you always had to pay.

If they were good, I would want to play them. I have a Switch since early 2018, and my total usage time of the device is about 3 hours. That's a good thing actually, as I won't have to spend any money on Switch 2 now.

 

[Hypnosekroete]

i am spending much less money these days on gaming than years ago. many games are now soulslikes and i hate these games, was never interested in switch 2 and even if i get a new pc it would be a computer max 900eu cause 1080p is good enough for me.

 

[Fess]

what Xbox has been doing leads to the detriment of the industry. They literally drove themselves out of business. (Thank God they're not the market leader). The acquisition of ABK gave them some time, but a division like that can't be sustained by money-losing tactics and initiatives designed to gratify consumers at the expense of the "business".

I can't say I care much about how the money flows in the industry and I'm certainly not going to spend my own money to save the industry.

Been gaming since the early 80s and seen platforms come and go and I've never had to stop playing, no concern that I'll have to stop in the future no matter what MS or anyone else does.

And if someone makes my entertainment cheaper then I'm there. Epic free games, Gamepass, Steam sales, early access, indies, etc. Only full price games I buy are those I'm super hyped for, which isn't that many tbh.

Cheaper gaming means allowing yourself to peek outside of your usual bubble. A decade ago I bought Marlow Briggs for a dollar in a Steam summer sale. Only had a crappy laptop but how bad can it be? Looked like a God of War clone and it's just a dollar so let's check it out.
No regrets there, the game wasn't all that special but it made me discover PC gaming and Steam, felt like a whole new world after being isolated on consoles basically since Commodore went belly up.

 

[daxgame]

After your games already dont go on price drops?

Slightly OT but I always wondered where this myth of Nintendo games not dropping in price comes from, guess it's more of a stereotype.
I've never ever bought any Nintendo first party game at full price. All of their games usually get at minimum a 30% sale on the eShop at some point, usually every single year actually. While the physical versions sometimes drop even more. Complete mystery to me.

 

[ArtHands]

Threads like these always make me wonder why Xbox and gamelass didn't do better.

If gamepass went away I feel like we would have so many comments about how great it was. Once people realise the studios and publishers themselves are on track to destroy gaming's popularity worse than a cheap gamepass code.

You want to own a license key to play a game that a publisher can de list at any time....cough up 70 to 80 dollars and never truly own it.

console fans doesn't want things to race to the bottom. So they support things to be priced more

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

If they were good, I would want to play them. I have a Switch since early 2018, and my total usage time of the device is about 3 hours. That's a good thing actually, as I won't have to spend any money on Switch 2 now.

If you don't want to play Nintendo games then i have no idea why you are so upset about its price. Because you shouldn't buy it to begin with. Just like I wouldn't tell a Vegan to buy steaks.

There are many things in the world that i have no desire for, and because I don't desire them i don't care how much they cost. Because it doesn't affect me.

 

[Venom Snake]

console fans "console gaming is becoming a money sink"

Also console fans "wowwww look at this limited edition 30th anniversary PS5!!!"

Well, at least we don't have to pay thousands of dollars for defective hardware.

In your anti-console state of mind you don't seem to notice the difference between people having the money to buy whatever they want and those who are annoyed by the practice of splitting a product into pieces.

 

[Goalus]

If you don't want to play Nintendo games then i have no idea why you are so upset about its price. Because you shouldn't buy it to begin with. Just like I wouldn't tell a Vegan to buy steaks.

There are many things in the world that i have no desire for, and because I don't desire them i don't care how much they cost. Because it doesn't affect me.

I disagree about Nintendo games being categorically good. That's why I quoted you.

 

[rofif]

What an ignorant take. If your taste is terrible then don't put it on gamepass. Sure not every game is for everyone and certainly there is trash but the majority (50%+) of the offerings are actually good games.
It certainly sounds like your bitter that some people can casually enjoy games for a better deal and actually enjoy themselves without a chip on their shoulder.

Ignorant take?

EAT SLOP AND DONT THINK!!! CONSUME!!!

Choosing my own games to play. Buying what I wans to play and not playing the shit they give you in the service... is ignorant take?!

 

[San Dan Glokta]

Ignorant take?

EAT SLOP AND DONT THINK!!! CONSUME!!!

Choosing my own games to play. Buying what I wans to play and not playing the shit they give you in the service... is ignorant take?!

Yes. Go read the entirety of what you read in your previous post. You use extreme hyperbolic language and come of as bitter. You can buy whatever you want for yourself, that doesn't dimmish the fact that a lot of excellent high quality games do come on gamepass. And people do enjoy playing them or try them out without having to purchase them. They don't have to be zombies or kids or hyper-consumers or whatever.

 

[rofif]

Yes. Go read the entirety of what you read in your previous post. You use extreme hyperbolic language and come of as bitter. You can buy whatever you want for yourself, that doesn't dimmish the fact that a lot of excellent high quality games do come on gamepass. And people do enjoy playing them or try them out without having to purchase them. They don't have to be zombies or kids or hyper-consumers or whatever.

of course I use hyperbolic language because gaming is my main life hobby. I am not leaving it to random games in gamepass.
I did played SOME. Discovered the forghotten city this way. But it was also on psn+ later... so same thing

 

[Klosshufvud]

Console gaming now panders to that same obnoxious audience that buy EVs and Macbook Pros just to show off. The people with more money than taste. So long as these companies can sell these products as must-have status symbols, they will sell. Quality or Value is not important to this audience. They find the purchase in itself to be the value. That's where the kick comes from.

There is also another audience worth mentioning, those that play a lot of games in long hours but somehow can't muster the brain cells or energy to opt for the most high value option available. This is quite the large audience since let's face it, nothing attracts lazy people more than video games. So companies get rich off laziness since people would rather spend the extra money having a corporation form the product for them to the extreme sense.

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

• These companies are publicly traded. They need to satisfy shareholders. Infinite growth is expected. If your user base doesn't grow substantially or the per user spending increases significantly, you have a problem
• You don't need the newest or highest end GPUs to enjoy PC gaming. In fact, if you like playing at a desk and are fine with either 1080p or performance mode upscaling, you can still have an amazing experience and price to performance on PC

 

[DeltaPolarBear]

I disagree about Nintendo games being categorically good. That's why I quoted you.

Then you can accept that Nintendo Games have long standing appeal, then? Even if you don't like them yourself?

 

[Skifi28]

It sucks, but everything is expensive these days. TVs, the GPU market is bonkers, even the series S some people champion is not some crazy deal considering what you get for the money. Things are crap beyond gaming, basic food items, electricty and fuel can suck up most of your paycheck these days.

 

[Mr Hyde]

It's why Im pivoting to PC. I've always been a console gamer but it doesn't feel like a sensible option anymore. PC comes with so many more benefits. Free online. Free cloud saves. Competitive prices. No double dipping on remasters. More games to choose from. Peripherals and controllers are always compatible. It's a high entry cost but from there, everything is more affordable and better. I've come to realize that an open platform is more attractive than a closed platform.

 

[Trilobit]

Hear hear! This sort of cost-cutting and penny-pinching has become ridiculous all over the tech sector. Back in the day the base Macbook came with a frickin' media remote and a plethora of ports, but now we are seeing less and less of those "extravaganzas" from even insanely rich companies like Apple. There is no end to this corporate greed that makes you as the customer feel like a dumb donkey.

It's why Im pivoting to PC. I've always been a console gamer but it doesn't feel like a sensible option anymore.

I'm starting to contemplate a shift too, but more on principle. I don't want to support companies that don't provide value for their products and put costs into every single thing, now even onto a button on the controller.

 

[KungFucius]

Console gaming has become so much nickel and diming.

Look I am excited for the Switch 2, because Donkey Kong and Mario Kart both look great, and the hardware looks extremely capable. I don't even inherently mind the $450 price for the hardware. But I am already paying you $450. You are going to charge me for the fucking tech demo advertisement? You are going to charge $80 for games? After your games already dont go on price drops? And you got rid of your vouchers and coins? The $450 wasnt enough?

I love PlayStation, those have been my console of choice for 30 years. The PS5 Pro... $700. Okay, again, at least the price makes sense for the hardware. But you are charging $700 for a Pro model, not including a disc drive, and charging me $30 for a plastic fucking stand? Really? This is the high end "pro" model, and you are selling it with less functionality than the cheaper model, and not even including a plastic stand? For $700?

It's just... constant. Sony and Nintendo charge for next gen upgrades. They charge for cloud saves. They lock classic games behind subscriptions. Their controllers and accessories cost a lot, like they're way too expensive. Game prices keep going up, and PSN and eShop are nowhere near as good with pricing as PC. Constant anti-consumer decisions and policies from both. And why?

Ultimately, the problem is that both Sony and Nintendo make good games, so I will still get their machines to play those games, but I don't understand why they are constantly nickel and diming the customer more and more. I love PC gaming, because once you are in the ecosystem, you have so many options that you never get locked in to paying for basic QoL or functionality, and prices remain competitive because you always have alternatives. Steam does not charge for online play. Steam does not charge for cloud saves. Steam allows third party sales of games listed on its platform, which allows competitive digital game pricing, even for brand new games. Steam does not charge of better settings or visual upgrades. Honestly, if getting a new GPU was not such a shit show, PC gaming would be the go to recommendation from me for anyone looking to get into the hobby right now. As it stands, the price and stress of getting a new GPU means that I will at least point a complete newcomer to consoles – but those consoles aren't PS5 or Switch 2, they would be a Steam Deck.

I really hope Sony and Nintendo stop this nonsense.

I bought parts to build a gaming PC for my kids so they can play when I am playing. Fucking case did not even come with a splitter or leads for the case fans. I had to buy 2 for $3.49. This was a huge NZXT case, the Fractal Design one I bought years ago had a nice fan lead in the back. Some weenie in finance at these companies is always saying shit like:

• Do we really need to provide a $1 charging cable for this $800 phone
• Do we really need to make this custom charging cable long enough to reach a typical plug when the extra 2 feet will cost us $0.15 per unit?
• Do we need to include the game on the cart when we can charge $10 extra and still make them insert it?
• Can we make them pay monthly for the ability to charge it?
• Can we sell this $2 accessory for 40 bucks instead of including it?
• Why give an extra screw when we know these cheap, butter aluminum ones will strip on first removal and 1 in 10 units will be one or more short because we hired some drunk dudes in Vietnam to pack this shit on Friday nights because that shift is cheapest with a well documented risk of having 100% drunk shift workers partying while fucking up the assembly line.
• How do we make sure to use our market power to deny the market forces any chance of making the price of our 7 year old game any less than it was when it launched?

 

[rofif]

It's why Im pivoting to PC. I've always been a console gamer but it doesn't feel like a sensible option anymore. PC comes with so many more benefits. Free online. Free cloud saves. Competitive prices. No double dipping on remasters. More games to choose from. Peripherals and controllers are always compatible. It's a high entry cost but from there, everything is more affordable and better. I've come to realize that an open platform is more attractive than a closed platform.

sure. games are cheaper on pc (but ps5 DISC games are also quite cheap often) but hardware is not.
mid graphics card is a thousand bucks. Mouse is 150$ and it's scroll wheel will break in few months (encoders now suck ass and every high end mouse is affected imo).
And after spending thousands, you still get some issues that are to be expected.
Obviously you MUST have some pc. To play everything old at the very least. Everyone got a pc.

I am not seeing the issues with just having ps5 sitting there. It's not syphoning money from me lol. It's jut sitting there. yeah the stand was 30$... so what? Nothing on my pc was 30$....

 

[Fbh]

Yeah console manufacturers are using the continued affordability of the hardware to just turn the nickel and diming up to 11

It's why Im pivoting to PC. I've always been a console gamer but it doesn't feel like a sensible option anymore. PC comes with so many more benefits. Free online. Free cloud saves. Competitive prices. No double dipping on remasters. More games to choose from. Peripherals and controllers are always compatible. It's a high entry cost but from there, everything is more affordable and better. I've come to realize that an open platform is more attractive than a closed platform.

True. I've been wanting to switch for a while but PC is just so expensive at the moment.

Getting a new GPU at anything resembling MSRP is pretty much impossible in many places. Where I live, the cheapest I can find the new AMD card that gets championed for being affordable is like $900 (+19% sales tax). And that's just the GPU, there was a time not that long ago where $900 got you an entire decent mid range PC.

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

sure. games are cheaper on pc (but ps5 DISC games are also quite cheap often) but hardware is not.
mid graphics card is a thousand bucks. Mouse is 150$ and it's scroll wheel will break in few months (encoders now suck ass and every high end mouse is affected imo).
And after spending thousands, you still get some issues that are to be expected.
Obviously you MUST have some pc. To play everything old at the very least. Everyone got a pc.

I am not seeing the issues with just having ps5 sitting there. It's not syphoning money from me lol. It's jut sitting there. yeah the stand was 30$... so what? Nothing on my pc was 30$....

I'm also primarily on PS5 right now (even got two), but i'm also consciously paying extra for convenience. A 130.00 USD RX 5600 XT can do 90fps+ in 1080p still just fine. You can build a 1080p gaming PC for less than a PS5 Pro if you shop around.

 

[Axelon]

People complaining about the PS5 stand makes me laugh (I actually agree is ridiculous btw, should be included with the pro) , because I think about Apple and their $799 WHEELS.... WHEELS! For their Mac Pro. People actually tried to justify that and saying it was fine on the MacRumors website back when I looked at that. I left that site right then and there.

 

[Generic]

I wonder if there is any subscription service that I can tip money into which ensures that I won't have to listen to people whining about every little fucking thing, all day, every day, for the rest of time.

I like to pay more for games, except when the games are $80, then suddenly I don't want to pay anymore.

 

[Topher]

Threads like these always make me wonder why Xbox and gamelass didn't do better.

If gamepass went away I feel like we would have so many comments about how great it was. Once people realise the studios and publishers themselves are on track to destroy gaming's popularity worse than a cheap gamepass code.

You want to own a license key to play a game that a publisher can de list at any time....cough up 70 to 80 dollars and never truly own it.

I don't get why this delisting thing comes up so often. It happens every now and then, but it is still rare and the game is typically still available for the people who own it. A game leaving Game Pass is a hell of a lot more likely which is probably one of the reasons it isn't more widely supported.

I like to pay more for games, except when the games are $80, then suddenly I don't want to pay anymore.

Yes, people are going to say that when one game publisher's prices rise above what the rest of the market is charging.

 

[Astray]

I don't understand why people think they NEED the Playstation official stand or console covers.

Just get it on AliExpress or something, be smart with your money and actually punish the company that's trying to fleece you.

 

[Cakeboxer]

I don't understand why people think they NEED the Playstation official stand or console covers.

Just get it on AliExpress or something, be smart with your money and actually punish the company that's trying to fleece you.

If people were smart with their money Apple would be broke.

 

[MMaRsu]

Ignores all the things you get for free now or for cheap... complains about stuff that costs money...

Want to play 4 players, couch co-op? You're buying a multitap. Comes free now because it's all Bluetooth.

Want to save your game AT ALL? You're buying a memory card and probably multiple. Want to save your game now? The console comes with a hard drive.

Want to play online? Network adapter comes included.

Games used to be 50-60 dollars on SNES in the early 90s, some games were even 70 dollars or 80 dollars... Gaming has always been expensive.

Adjust these game prices for inflation...

It's wild how much gamers complain.

Again with this retarded bullshit that holds absolutely NO water????

The industry was so different back then, there were a lot less gamers, games sold a lot less, people bought maybe 1/2 games a year. Renting was huge. Also those cartridges were expensive to manufactur, you got a awesome box and amazing booklet with it.

Nice cherrypicking of one page and idiotic to compare it to today, where publishers are making billions of dollars every year on MTX and other bullshit besides the games they are selling.

Stop drinking the corporate koolaid, inflation hasn't affected people's wages either. Publishers are making billions upon billions each year. Stop crying about inflation.

So it's a stupid, meaningless comparison that is idiotic and has no basis in reality.

 

[phant0m]

This is what happens when your hobby that was built by hobbyists goes full corporate capitalism:

Generate problems they can sell you the solution for.

 

[Topher]

sure. games are cheaper on pc (but ps5 DISC games are also quite cheap often) but hardware is not.
mid graphics card is a thousand bucks. Mouse is 150$ and it's scroll wheel will break in few months (encoders now suck ass and every high end mouse is affected imo).

Good grief man. $1000 gpu is mid? $150 mouse?

 

[Astray]

If people were smart with their money Apple would be broke.

It's honestly insane to me how people will overpay for things that have zero DRM and zero restrictions.. If you really need it then go to AliExpress!

 

[MikeM]

PC gaming isn't really different. Costs of hardware only continues to rise. Only difference is that console makers make their profit generally from services and the software side.

 

[Duchess]

In England, if you bought a game for £50 back in 1993 (such as Link to the Past, on the SNES), that would be the equivalent of £105 today.

Inflation calculator

Use our inflation calculator to check how prices in the UK have changed over time, from 1209 to now.

www.bankofengland.co.uk

So, yeah, £70 for a game isn't as much as some are suggesting.

 

[MMaRsu]

In England, if you bought a game for £50 back in 1993 (such as Link to the Past, on the SNES), that would be the equivalent of £105 today.

Inflation calculator

Use our inflation calculator to check how prices in the UK have changed over time, from 1209 to now.

www.bankofengland.co.uk

So, yeah, £70 for a game isn't as much as some are suggesting.

Thats not how the world , inflation the industry or how wages work

Goddamn

 

[Astray]

PC gaming isn't really different. Costs of hardware only continues to rise. Only difference is that console makers make their profit generally from services and the software side.

PC Gaming has a lot of little bullshit things like this too, but the main difference is it's multiple players trying to fleece you, so you kinda get overwhelmed by it all.

Just look at the amount of overpriced RGB stuff and accessories people get upsold on. Not to mention the explosion in pricing of essential equipment like GPUs and CPUs. Mobos particularly are particularly enshittified, locking essential things like LED error panels behind the highest tier of RGB and bling nonsense!

 

[joeygreco1985]

Heck you even look at Legos…this thing even more expensive than Switch 2.

I was at the Lego store last week and someone there bought this. The box was gigantic.

 

[LordCBH]

Mouse is 150$

Nothing stops you from gaming on a $10 mouse. Or stops you from plugging a controller you might already have in.

 

[FrankWza]

Oh. Can't it stand on its ass without it? I know OG can.

It includes a horizontal stand. The PS2, PS3 and PS4 all had optional vertical stands they sold for $19.99+. The OG PS5 had a convertible stand. PS5 slim and Pro went back to not needing a horizontal stand=Playstation now owes you a vertical stand apparently. This thread is a commercial for the series s. The console with no disc drive, proprietary storage, locked USB ports, complaints from developers and falsely advertised features that the company removed from its website that we're supposed to pretend never happened.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Again with this retarded bullshit that holds absolutely NO water????

The industry was so different back then, there were a lot less gamers, games sold a lot less, people bought maybe 1/2 games a year. Renting was huge. Also those cartridges were expensive to manufactur, you got a awesome box and amazing booklet with it.

Nice cherrypicking of one page and idiotic to compare it to today, where publishers are making billions of dollars every year on MTX and other bullshit besides the games they are selling.

Stop drinking the corporate koolaid, inflation hasn't affected people's wages either. Publishers are making billions upon billions each year. Stop crying about inflation.

So it's a stupid, meaningless comparison that is idiotic and has no basis in reality.

You have a narrow view.

The industry is bigger now than it was before and game development is exponentially higher as well.

We have way fewer major publishers now than we did in the 90s. Why? Because a good number of them have gone out of business or were bought out, largely because they were struggling or beginning to struggle and it takes economies of scale in order to stay in the game.

Almost every major Japanese company was forced into a merger except Nintendo, Sony who were big enough obviously not to, and Konami and Capcom.

Square Enix
Bandai Namco
Sega Sammy
Koei Tecmo

Gone are publishers like Atari, THQ, Midway, Acclaim, Sierra, LucasArts.

And yes, inflation has absolutely impacted wages as well as everything else to do with game development. Buillding rent, computers, middleware, e.t.c.

You look to cut cost where you can, but that doesn't mean your costs aren't going up overall.

 

[ArtHands]

Well, at least we don't have to pay thousands of dollars for defective hardware.

In your anti-console state of mind you don't seem to notice the difference between people having the money to buy whatever they want and those who are annoyed by the practice of splitting a product into pieces.

Not wanting defective hardware is exactly why people are migrating to PC now.

 

[Puscifer]

Gaming is still a cheap hobby compared to almost all other ones OP

Price out a bicycle sometime if you want more information

Guitar and Yoga would like a word with you