winjer
Gold Member
Toys R Us flyer from 1996. Factor in inflation by doubling the prices you see here.
That comparison is completed nonsense.
For starters, a big chunk of the price of those games was the flash, PCB and additional chips.
Something that today, companies don't have to pay for.
Then there are the costs of printing manuals and art work. Something that modern games don't have, unless it's a special edition.
Also, with so many games being digital, there is no cost with cases.
Another thing to consider is that most games today are sold as digital, especially on PC. This means there is only the cost of running the servers.
So there is no cost of transport, storage and manual labor.
There is also no cost for importers and physical stores.
All this means, that despite the price of games seems similar and with inflation means we are paying less, the fact remains that companies get a much bigger portion of what we pay, as there are much fewer additional costs.
And then there is the issue, that so many games today are not sold as complete packages. Often, we only get a part of the full game, because there is DLC, microtransactions, pre-order bonus, etc.
So when these costs are added up, the price rises up quite significantly.