Are we really supposed to buy the $80 price increase is because "games cost more to make" from Microsoft?

What point are you even trying to make here - "stuff costs more money sometimes"? And you're calling other people "simple minded"?
What about that statement is false?

And it's not 'sometimes', everything in society is getting more expensive.

I swear, people like you make a great case for the dead internet theory, just an 0.0.1 version of some basic AI.
 
What about that statement is false?
I didn't say it was "false" - I asked what you thought you were saying, because to me it's a bunch of nothing statements that don't really say anything. Your basic premise is: "stuff gets more expensive". Thanks, I guess?
I swear, people like you make a great case for the dead internet theory, just an 0.0.1 version of some basic AI.
You can pocket the attitude, friend: you're on a discussion forum. If you don't want to discuss, why did you bother posting at all?
 
I didn't say it was "false" - I asked what you thought you were saying, because to me it's a bunch of nothing statements that don't really say anything. Your basic premise is: "stuff gets more expensive". Thanks, I guess?
What is hard to understand?
You said people defended the pricehikes, I said it is just accepting and understanding that economy works like that.

It isn't that complicated.
You can pocket the attitude, friend: you're on a discussion forum. If you don't want to discuss, why did you bother posting at all?
Yes, I know. But I'm trying to illustrate how braindead people appear by not being able to comprehend simple things being said.
 
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What is hard to understand? ... I said it is just accepting and understanding that economy works like that.
I'm not having trouble understanding it. I've literally summed it up twice now: "stuff gets more expensive". Ok, great. There's literally nothing to take away from this, and it completely fails to explain the current situation, but I got it - thank you.
... I'm trying to illustrate how braindead people appear by not being able to comprehend simple things being said...
There's a difference between the inability to comprehend, and someone pushing back on "Games cost 30% more in 5 years because stuff just gets expensive sometimes, ok?".
 
I'm not having trouble understanding it. I've literally summed it up twice now: "stuff gets more expensive". Ok, great. There's literally nothing to take away from this, and it completely fails to explain the current situation, but I got it - thank you.
True, there isn't.

Same as complaining about the pricehikes. You won't do anything about it.

And it's not like there aren't alternatives, so you're not stuck with the $80 pricetag.

It's a pretty insignificant non-issue. That's the bottom-line.
There's a difference between the inability to comprehend, and someone pushing back on "Games cost 30% more in 5 years because stuff just gets expensive sometimes, ok?".
I acknowledged it's bullshit in my very first reply to you.

Not my problem that you decide to focus on something else.
 
Keep buying digital and enjoy getting fucked. You brought this on yourselves because "conveniece" and "but but but cheap key sites"
The moment PC prices cross a certain threshold, the masses will once again resort to piracy. There's nothing the publishers can do about it, thus destroying their own business on the open platform.

In the console space, yeah you're fucked. Absolutely nothing you can do about it other than bending over for these companies as long as you're committed to their platforms.

PC will remain to be just fine.
 
Microsoft's message to gamers is essentially 'game pass or fuck off' at this point. To which I am fine to keep choosing the latter.
 
£70 is too much, never mind £80. Games should go back to £60 for the health of the industry and to allow kids to buy games out of their pocket money

In saying that, Mega Drive games would cost over £90 in today's money and £100 for SNES
 
Aside from maybe Doom The Dark Ages, I don't see any reality where I would pay $80 for a game thats made under the Microsoft umbrella. They simply do not have the track record, despite recent successes like Indiana Jones.

Sony first party games, I'd consider it.

Instead of trying to get people to spend $80 how about get these gaming budgets under control.

Take a break from trying to put in graphical bells and whistles and focus on performance.
 
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Currency inflation, particularly the YEN, causes the numerical on-paper values to increase, meaning, over time, every company will almost certainly post "record profits" simply because the numbers themselves are larger. However, your latter comment is simply false. Sony themselves disagrees with you, declaring the PlayStation 5 its most profitable video game console generation. Ever. Hence my statement - I wasn't making baseless assessments, I was literally quoting Sony themselves.
Yes, Sony is correct if you're just talking about raw numbers, and no, they do not disagree with me:

You may also remember that they brought in Totoki because they also recognized that the margins were very, very slim overall. Teams got cut, projects (poorly conceived in pursuit of higher margins) got cancelled.

They're not going to go out of their way to avoid a good headline that keeps their stock price as high as possible, but margins matter.

What's most concerning about the medium overall is that selling games is the least profitable part of the business - save giving them away in Gamepass fashion. The Insomniac leak showed us just how thin the profit margins were on first party games that sold 10-20 million units.

You can see the proof in my post history: I'm not critical of a general increase of price level, and that goes for Microsoft too. They introduced 60 USD games back in 2005; the equivalent today is over 93 big ones. The increase to 70 has been wiped out by inflation, and what with all the shocks of physical production, the increased cost of game production and their Gamepass failures, they've got ground to make up.

Whether it works out for them is a separate discussion.
 
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Its because the west has become fat and unproductive. Recall Twitter before Musk?


It will take some serious leadership to set things right within these industries. The 30 man team who worked on the 33 game are proof of what can be achieved with proper management and teams.
 
While i dont like the idea of game prices going up, i also understand that every yr the cost of living goes up, so every programmer,artist etc that works on games are entitled to a wage increase just like everyone else working in the world, price of electrcity to run the computers , lighting etx, teams are bigger and games taking longer to make, there is a differece of a team of 300 making a game for 5yrs while a small indie team of 10 say making a game over 3yrs, but considering i can remember paying £50+ for games back in 1990 and my take home wage was a fraction of what i get now.
 
Nintendo cartridges for the NES cost 29.99 in 1987, $30 in 1987 adjusted for inflation is $84.45 today.

People need to quit comparing game prices from the 80s/90s to today.

Games back then were on cartridges that were expensive to produce. Gaming was also a far smaller market than it is today and the only money publishers would generate is games sold at retail, with the retailers taking a cut of course.

Nowadays the market is far larger. Physical games are cheaper to manufacturer. Publishers sell games digitally, further reducing costs. Plus there are other revenue streams like DLC, MTX, Season passes etc.

£80 per game is a lot of money for most people in 2025.

Wages have not just kept up with inflation but outpaced them. For all the complaining about "muh record breaking profits", there are record breaking wages to go with it which is pumping more money into the system.

Not really true.

Looking at my own country in the UK.
In some sectors and regions, yes—especially in tech, finance, and parts of healthcare, wages have outpaced inflation. But for the median worker, particularly in the UK and much of Europe, real wage growth has been sluggish and often barely keeping pace with inflation since COVID, or in some cases even falling behind.

Low and middle-income workers have been hit hardest by cost of living increases. In the UK and the rest of Europe, we're living in a cost of living crisis. I earn far more money now than I did pre-Covid, but I feel pooer. Everything has shot up at a record pace. Energy bills, water bills, cost of food etc has been rising at a record pace since Covid and most people are struggling to get by.

I mentioned this in another thread, but it has gotten so bad in the UK that we have radio stations asking people to donate money so families can feed their children. In the UK. One of the richest nations in the world, and we have children starving. This isn't normal in a first world nation.

When the cost of living has skyrocketed since COVID, spending £80 on a single video game feels like a luxury most people simply can't justify.
 
im willing to pay 80 dollars for a game as long as there is a jump in quality too , but instead the quality is dropping or stagnant at best

Every year we get the same games with boring worlds , poor writing , braindead AI

they say that the cost of making games has gone up , how can it go up when you are not doing anything better than what you were doing before
 
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Looking at my own country in the UK.
In some sectors and regions, yes—especially in tech, finance, and parts of healthcare, wages have outpaced inflation. But for the median worker, particularly in the UK and much of Europe, real wage growth has been sluggish and often barely keeping pace with inflation since COVID, or in some cases even falling behind.

Low and middle-income workers have been hit hardest by cost of living increases. In the UK and the rest of Europe, we're living in a cost of living crisis. I earn far more money now than I did pre-Covid, but I feel pooer. Everything has shot up at a record pace. Energy bills, water bills, cost of food etc has been rising at a record pace since Covid and most people are struggling to get by.

I mentioned this in another thread, but it has gotten so bad in the UK that we have radio stations asking people to donate money so families can feed their children. In the UK. One of the richest nations in the world, and we have children starving. This isn't normal in a first world nation.

When the cost of living has skyrocketed since COVID, spending £80 on a single video game feels like a luxury most people simply can't justify.
I can vouch for this also, I live in the UK, and this thing people are banding around about wages increasing faster than inflation is complete BS

They only way you generally get a pay rise in the UK is to switch jobs, most employers basically just laugh at you if you ask for any sort of substantial pay rise. I know numerous people in my friendship group that haven't had a pay rise in 5-6 years

The only people getting richer year on year are the people already on huge salaries who basically give themselves yearly bonus' or people with huge investments stored up, everybody else is getting poorer
 
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1 day ago. Keep forking over your money sheep. 🐑

Calling people 'sheep' for not joining you in pirating games is quite rich, indeed.
 
People need to quit comparing game prices from the 80s/90s to today.

Games back then were on cartridges that were expensive to produce. Gaming was also a far smaller market than it is today and the only money publishers would generate is games sold at retail, with the retailers taking a cut of course.

Nowadays the market is far larger. Physical games are cheaper to manufacturer. Publishers sell games digitally, further reducing costs. Plus there are other revenue streams like DLC, MTX, Season passes etc.

£80 per game is a lot of money for most people in 2025.



Not really true.

Looking at my own country in the UK.
In some sectors and regions, yes—especially in tech, finance, and parts of healthcare, wages have outpaced inflation. But for the median worker, particularly in the UK and much of Europe, real wage growth has been sluggish and often barely keeping pace with inflation since COVID, or in some cases even falling behind.

Low and middle-income workers have been hit hardest by cost of living increases. In the UK and the rest of Europe, we're living in a cost of living crisis. I earn far more money now than I did pre-Covid, but I feel pooer. Everything has shot up at a record pace. Energy bills, water bills, cost of food etc has been rising at a record pace since Covid and most people are struggling to get by.

I mentioned this in another thread, but it has gotten so bad in the UK that we have radio stations asking people to donate money so families can feed their children. In the UK. One of the richest nations in the world, and we have children starving. This isn't normal in a first world nation.

When the cost of living has skyrocketed since COVID, spending £80 on a single video game feels like a luxury most people simply can't justify.

I was gaming back in the early 90s on £125 a week and games costing £50 it was a luxury back then, i was paying £40 rent, take that to today and im taking over £1000 a week, a pizza and chips cost me £17 delivered other week so game prices dont seem so bad compared to other stuff, prices of everything is going up, do i like the idea of £80 games no, but like i always have i will only buy games i really want, or if unsure will wait for sales etc
 
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Bullshit. Their games are mostly AA except Doom / Starfield and Forza. I'd understand a high price for GTAVI or some real next gen game, but for Midnight something or Avowed ? I don't think so.
 
I can vouch for this also, I live in the UK, and this thing people are banding around about wages increasing faster than inflation is complete BS

They only way you generally get a pay rise in the UK is to switch jobs, most employers basically just laugh at you if you ask for any sort of substantial pay rise. I know numerous people in my friendship group that haven't had a pay rise in 5-6 years

The only people getting richer year on year are the people already on huge salaries who basically give themselves yearly bonus' or people with huge investments stored up, everybody else is getting poorer

Agreed.

The company my wife works for are awful for this. The CEO makes millions and the executive team get a six figures bonus, but for the lowly paid staff they can't afford a pay rise this year.

It's bollocks. In recent years we've seen a massive gap between the rich and the poor and it just keeps getting bigger. Everyone is getting fucked to make the rich richer.

Luckily, video games are not an essential purchase. People can choose not to put up with these prices. It's not like the water industry or food sector where they can increase the costs knowing people will be forced to pay it.
 
Microsoft's message to gamers is essentially 'game pass or fuck off' at this point. To which I am fine to keep choosing the latter.

Apparently "fuck off" and "buy a PS5" are the same thing to Microsoft.

"Fuck off and buy Indiana Jones why don't you. GO AHEAD, DO IT"
 
I was gaming back in the early 90s on £125 a week and games costing £50 it was a luxury back then, i was paying £40 rent, take that to today and im taking over £1000 a week,

As mentioned above. It's wrong to compare costs of games in the 90s, then adjust it for inflation today. There are too many other factors involved.

a pizza and chips cost me £17 delivered other week so game prices dont seem so bad compared to other stuff,

We're now at the stage of comparing the cost of cheap fast food to video games to justify these increases?

prices of everything is going up, do i like the idea of £80 games no, but like i always have i will only buy games i really want, or if unsure will wait for sales etc

The problem is the cost of living is skyrocketing at an alarming pace. Look into "Greedflation". We're being squeezed for a reason.
 
Won't be buying shit at £80. UK already went up to £70 games at the start of this gen and I've begrudgingly paid that price, even though IMO not many games have actually been worth that much.

I might have to join the PC master race next gen since they don't get ripped off with online fees and stupidly overpriced games.
 
This is all opportunistic bullshit. Using current events to justify price hikes for stuff that has nothing to do with any tariffs or political nonsense. Applies to any of these corporations raising prices on games.

Record profits incoming
Yep. Tariffs, no tariffs, miraculous global prosperity in a decade. Prices aren't going to go down and if anything will increase every 5-10 years from now on.
 
Calling people 'sheep' for not joining you in pirating games is quite rich, indeed.
Did I tell people to pirate games or did I share a story saying record money is coming in and yet the price keeps going up? I know reading is hard but keep at it and you'll get better.
 
Yes, the official statement is 'some' of the games, which probably means "premium" shit like CoD.

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er .. you're making some really amateur, uninformed, kind of arguments here. When has something like that ever prevented inevitable price increases?

Switch was Nintendo ungodly amounts of money, they still felt the need to increase the price. Netflix raised prices this year despite reporting biggest ever subscriber and profit jumps. Sony raised PS5 prices across the globe despite selling as many units as it has.

They increase price because they know people will cough it up.
Exactly. They increase prices because they can. There is no real competition. You want a game you pretty much need to buy from their store at their price. In the physical game era, retail outlets put things on sale when they had too many copies, now if there are physical copies they sell used for 3/4 the new price at a minimum even 8 years after release for Nintendo games.

There is no free market for these things. No competition in any meaningful way that gives power to consumers. Its pretty shit. Buying physical is not competition. It is taking a product that is way more inconvenient to use instead of the readily available digital version and it doesn't even apply to PC games.

There is no way Sony and other publishers do not follow this trend.
 
I've noticed Microsoft acquired many companies, and then raised their prices across the board.

I've also noticed two companies raise prices at a similar time by a similar amount.

Things are getting quite competitive out there!
 
If you don't like game companies raising their prices don't continue to buy their games, only reasonable solution

So much older games and indies are priced very reasonably and are much more worth your time and attention
 
Did I tell people to pirate games or did I share a story saying record money is coming in and yet the price keeps going up? I know reading is hard but keep at it and you'll get better.

I see. So when you posted:

I refuse to buy $80 games and further fund the psycho liberal blue hair racism studios. You can all rot in piss, high seas for me. ☠️

You were talking about being an actual Pirate sailing the high seas on a boat, and not about stealing games?
 
I see. So when you posted:



You were talking about being an actual Pirate sailing the high seas on a boat, and not about stealing games?
When I posted that did I tell anyone else to pirate games or did I share how I was personally fighting back? There's lots of ways people can fight this including sitting on their wallet or just waiting for deep sales.

Since this will be our last interaction ever I just wanted to say the lame attempt you took on me is laughable and keep practicing and soon you'll be at a grade 5 level of reading comprehension. Welcome to the ignore list. ✌️
 
The moment PC prices cross a certain threshold, the masses will once again resort to piracy. There's nothing the publishers can do about it, thus destroying their own business on the open platform.

In the console space, yeah you're fucked. Absolutely nothing you can do about it other than bending over for these companies as long as you're committed to their platforms.

PC will remain to be just fine.
Even on PC you will see MSRP go up. Yeah, you will find your usual discounts on key sites but those discount will start from higher base.

And with Denuvo piracy is difficult considering newer versions haven't really been cracked I think (haven't bothered to look it up).

It's still going to be an overall worse situation vs before, but better vs that on consoles.
 
If you don't like game companies raising their prices don't continue to buy their games, only reasonable solution

So much older games and indies are priced very reasonably

Gamers should just buy 2025's games in 2028 when they're on sale.
Or just sit a generation out and buy last gen's console when they're on clearance.
 
Im more than happy to just play AA games like Clair Obscure. It's only $30 in my country. AAA games aren't that interesting anyway, the only AAA games I would pay full price are Fromsoftware games, the rest can wait until steam sales.
 
This is all opportunistic bullshit. Using current events to justify price hikes for stuff that has nothing to do with any tariffs or political nonsense. Applies to any of these corporations raising prices on games.

Record profits incoming
C'mon man. Do people really not critically think anymore? I wish games were still $50 like in 2002 and I moaned when they went to $60. However, do some damn googling.

$50 in 2002 is the equivalence of about $89.64 in Jan 2025 and 2005: $83. Therefore, games pro-rata, are cheaper today than they were then.

This is basic economics that they used to teach in cartoons back in the 80s and 90s. If you don't like the rate of inflation, call your legislator and tell them to stop the deficit spending and currency printing.

DownLikeBCPowder DownLikeBCPowder what is going on with people?
 
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C'mon man. Do people really not critically think anymore? I wish games were still $50 like in 2002 and I moaned when they went to $60. However, do some damn googling.

$50 in 2002 is the equivalence of about $89.64 in Jan 2025 and 2005: $83. Therefore, games pro-rata, are cheaper today than they were then.

This is basic economics that they used to teach in cartoons back in the 80s and 90s. If you don't like the rate of inflation, call your legislator and tell them to stop the deficit spending and currency printing.

I do love some condescension with my coffee in the morning. Thanks.

Inflation exists. I get that. My point is that these games are not manufactured products exported out of China and it looks to me like these upcoming price hikes are publishers using the current economic situation to jack up the prices. It is #MeToo economics. And I'm playing one of the best games I've played in years with Expedition 33 and it costs $50 so excuse me if I don't buy every excuse made in favor of massive corporations and $80 games. I think it is all bullshit.

DownLikeBCPowder DownLikeBCPowder what is going on with people?

mad people GIF
 
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Microsoft seem to want to kill off their own hardware.

80 dollars for premium games only is okay with me, ie GTA, Mario, Mario Kart, Zelda, Resident Evil, Bloodborne, Dark Souls, Elden Ring, Divinity Original Sin 3 but normal games like almost everything else needs to be cheaper.

I will not pay the same thing for Assassin's Creed fuckin Shadows that I pay for GTA. Not gonna do it. That's just dumb.

I would have included Halo and Gears of War 10 years ago in the above, but Microsoft has ruined those and they are 2nd hand franchises now.

All you people who say you are "out" what are you gonna do, quit gaming? Do you imagine the PC space is cheaper and safer for you? Are you gonna steal your games? Microsoft is just getting warmed up in the space. They want to control it. The hardware prices are even more out of control on PC so you better hope your little theft sanctuary stays protected.
 
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I do love some condescension with my coffee in the morning. Thanks.

Inflation exists. I get that. My point is that these games are not manufactured products exported out of China and it looks to me like these upcoming price hikes are publishers using the current economic situation to jack up the prices. It is #MeToo economics. And I'm playing one of the best games I've played in years with Expedition 33 and it costs $50 so excuse me if I don't buy every excuse made in favor of massive corporations and $80 games. I think it is all bullshit.



mad people GIF
I provided the numbers pro-rata, games are cheaper now than in 2005. I don't know what else to point to. Is the timing opportunistic? Probably, but that's a PR decision and the hike was always going to happen. I am not thrilled or cheering it on, just pointing out the realities and that the games are cheaper now than they were when priced at $50.

I said in another thread that I'd be happy if next gen we had more "efficient" smaller consoles with less pronounced gains. Give me a slightly better GPU / CPU (over PS5 Pro) and a boat load of RAM at a lower entry level price point.
 
People need to quit comparing game prices from the 80s/90s to today.

Games back then were on cartridges that were expensive to produce. Gaming was also a far smaller market than it is today and the only money publishers would generate is games sold at retail, with the retailers taking a cut of course.

Nowadays the market is far larger. Physical games are cheaper to manufacturer. Publishers sell games digitally, further reducing costs. Plus there are other revenue streams like DLC, MTX, Season passes etc.

£80 per game is a lot of money for most people in 2025.
True, but at the same time, the cost of developing games increased. So I think it evens out.
 
If you don't like game companies raising their prices don't continue to buy their games, only reasonable solution

So much older games and indies are priced very reasonably and are much more worth your time and attention

Pretty much.
- If people continue buying their games, it just means they correctly assessed the value the average customers sees in them, and they were right to increase the price.
- If enough people stop buying their games, they'll be forced to adjust and adapt as their business model will become unsustainable.

Personally, these days I just play most games 1-2 years later, and the stuff I buy day 1 tends to be indies and AA games (the latest one being Expedition 33, which is better than the vast majority of $70 AAA games this gen, IMO).
 
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