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[Gantz]

How much was the first video game? Have video games always been expensive? Why haven't game prices increased lately due to piracy?

 

[PhatSaqs]

I think NES game debuted at 29 bucks but I might be mistaken. I do remember Phantasy Star 2 coming out at $69.99 and thinking that games would be @ hundred dollars in a couple years at that time.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

uhh, this is nothing. I remember paying $85 for Street Fighter 2 when it first came out on SNES. And N64 games were occasionaly $70 for the first couple years. Its wierd cause it seemed like there was no rhyme or reason to the pricing. I remember paying $59.99 for Mario 64 and Wave Race at/around laungh, but then a month later, KI Gold came out and was like $75. Thank god for CD/DVD formats.

 

[LakeEarth]

Old systems like Intellivision and Coleco were like $300 in the fricken 70's! Today that's like almost a grand.

Early N64 pricing was just retarded. At WalMart, Doom 64 was $126 Canadian for some ungodly reason.

 

[Grizzlyjin]

I can't believe SNES games costed so much, thank god I had my parents to buy them back then.

 

[Deg]

Its getting cheaper.

 

[lexi]

In Australia, N64 games like Shadows of the Empie and Turok were going for $120.

 

[RevenantKioku]

Games are cheaper now, pretty much.
But like any hobby, you can always find better deals, you just gotta look.

 

[LakeEarth]

2004

$50??!? That's so expensive!

1978

$50 + 25 years worth of inflation = WHAT A DEAL!

 

[DaCocoBrova]

Games have always costed more than they should.

 

[maximum360]

The good thing is that the market has continued to grow so companies still make sizeable profits.

I hope prices don't change for a long time.

*crosses fingers*

Um..oh yeah...and Outpost.com is your friend.

 

[Mr. Lemming]

Don't disrespect Astrosmash!

 

[robot]

I always thought games were cheaper than ever - at least when you look for deals (gamerush rox). Not to mention you get so much more for your money nowadays.

 

[LakeEarth]

Don't disrespect Astrosmash!

Hell I wasn't disrespecting Astrosmash. The only game ever where I can play for fricken hours non-stop. Also the only game where you can build up 100 free men, and lose them all just as quick.

I was so dissapointed by the cellphone version. Started out good with the Intellevision title screen, but the game had no hyperspace, no hurricane bombs, no alien diamond things, just fricken astroids.

 

[lordmrw]

I can't believe SNES games costed so much

Games have always costed more than they should.

Come on guys. Anyway, I honestly think games are the cheapest they've been. New releases end up dropping in price withing 2 or 3 months, and for PC games sometimes even faster than that. I remember wanting Secret of Mana really badly back in 93 but it cost $70, and it wasn't until 95 ot 96 that I found it for $35.

 

[Jupiter Jones]

My local Kay-bee Toys charged me $80 for Dragon Warrior IV back when it first came out. Fortunately,these days I have plenty of choices besides that overpriced store.

 

[Mr. Lemming]

I was so dissapointed by the cellphone version. Started out good with the Intellevision title screen, but the game had no hyperspace, no hurricane bombs, no alien diamond things, just fricken astroids.

That's like everything that makes the game good... that is horrible

 

[Razoric]

Games are cheaper now. I remember getting Chrono Trigger for $80 at Target back in the day.

 

[jarrod]

Hardware: more expensive
Software: less expensive

 

[CygnusXI]

Well....

My Odyssey 2 games were 50 bucks back in the day.
so....

 

[ManaByte]

Its wierd cause it seemed like there was no rhyme or reason to the pricing. I remember paying $59.99 for Mario 64 and Wave Race at/around laungh, but then a month later, KI Gold came out and was like $75

Cart (Memory) size. KI Gold was a larger cart in terms of memory than Mario or Wave Race.

 

[DJ Demon J]

NES games were typically $40 or higher. Most were at $50.

 

[lachesis]

IMHO, I think the hardware and games are both cheaper than older days. All because of actual "inflation" and "de-valueing" the current dollar. 1 dollar in 1980s and 1 dollar in 2000s aren't just the same yet alone 100 bucks. Thus, today's games - say 49.99 suggest retail price is cheaper, as for the actual value.

lachesis

 

[GDJustin]

I paid either $70 or $75 for Mortal Kombat Trilogy

 

[Pimpbaa]

Old systems like Intellivision and Coleco were like $300 in the fricken 70's! Today that's like almost a grand.

Both those systems came out in the early 80's. But it's true they were around $300 bucks. Hardware (and software) is definitely cheaper if you consider inflation.

 

[vireland]

Its wierd cause it seemed like there was no rhyme or reason to the pricing. I remember paying $59.99 for Mario 64 and Wave Race at/around laungh, but then a month later, KI Gold came out and was like $75. Thank god for CD/DVD formats.

Actually in this example, it makes sense if you know about the manufacturing because Mario 64 and WR64 were 8MB carts and I think KI Gold was 12MB. The extra cost was most-likely in the extra ROM chips. A common downside to carts. Is KI a better game than Mario64? No. But it takes more chips to make it fit on a N64 cart, so it costs more.



Guh...I see this was brought up already, but at least you have the cart differential in this post. 50% bigger cart (12 vs 8) != 50% more cost at retail.

 

[MattKeil]

Paid $99.99 plus tax at TRU for Phantasy Star 4 day of release. I remember it was over a year before Beyond Oasis dropped from its initial $89.99 price.

$50 games? Bah, I'll take two.

 

[sprsk]

i would think game prices will fall before they get any more expensive.

 

[Diomedeskun]

I worked at Media Play from 95-98 and I remember most RPGs were rather pricey, especially the $100 Phantasy Star IV. I think Virtua Racing was close in price. N64 games were about $50-60 for first party games and $60-75 for third party around launch. One launch basketball game, NBA Hangtime I think, cost well over $80.

Actually, I think most RPGs were about $60 until the cd era (I think I paid that much for Dragon Warrior IV), and even FFVII ran about five dollars more than most Playstation games at Media Play.

 

[COCKLES]

I remember seeing Atari VCS carts in late 70's when shopping in Tesco with my mum. I'd ask her if I could have one...she'd look at price £29 for a cartridge (!!!) and clip me around the ear. Cart medium really killed consoles when the ZX Spectrum, 64 ect came along with cheap games on tapes.

 

[Gek54]

"costed"

WTF mate?

 

[ManaByte]

Paid $99.99 plus tax at TRU for Phantasy Star 4 day of release.

Virtua Racing was also $100.

 

[Kiriku]

I think prices have been going down partly thanks to the increased use of Internet, resulting in more competition with all the online-based game shops.

 

[Jacobi]

You shouldn't talk about expensive games if you aren't living in Europe

 

[shuri]

Paid 115$ to get Super Street fighter 2 Snes a week before retail. I was desperated and needed my sf2 fix

 

[belgurdo]

I remember when they tried to sell the Neo Geo in stores. It was rare to find the person that would lay down $600 (more for the "gold" system) for one and $250 for its games, especially back in 1990. 3D0s were nuts too (a $700 machine that could barely do 3D trying to compete against the Saturn, PS1, and CD-i, all of which were in the $400-300 range then)

And the highest game I've ever seen was Phantasy Star IV and Virtua Racing (both $100.) I have yet to figure out why anyone would charge this much for either game

 

[Tommie Hu$tle]

When Sony had that thing going on where the majority of their games only cost 29.00 it was a good thing. But gaming has come down in the past decade. Many games see price drops from 50 to 20 in a matter of a few months.

 

[ManaByte]

3D0s were nuts too (a $700 machine that could barely do 3D trying to compete against the Saturn, PS1, and CD-i, all of which were in the $400-300 range then)

CD-i? 3D? HAHAHAHAHAHAH

Both the CD-i and 3D0 were out for quite a while before the Saturn and PSX hit. The CD-i came out around 1991 and the first 3D0 was around 1993. The Saturn and PSX weren't released until 1995 and by then the 3D0 was actually less than both. I bought my FZ-10 for $100 NEW when the PSX came out.

 

[Cherubae]

I remember buying Secret of Mana and Earthbound for $80. They both came with user guides though. Super Mario Allstars was about $50, but Sears let me apply for one of their credit cards which dropped the price by $10.

I don't have that much free cash floating around anymore so games seem more expensive, when they really haven't changed prices that much. I want to buy the new Paper Mario game, but I don't want to pay $50 for it. I have more important things to spend money on (rent, bills, etc.). I can see the kids buying these new games, and then 10 years later complaining that the new ones are too expensive

 

[borghe]

Most early SMS games and many NES games launched at $29.99. Launch Genesis games I believe launched at $40 or $50 each. Donkey Kong Country I believe was $60. Phantasy Star IV was $80(?).

$30 in 1987 would be about $50 right now.
$50 in 1989 would be about $74 right now.
$60 in 1995 would be about $73 right now.
$80 in 1995 would be about $97 right now.

Answer? Games have always been around the same price except for the last days of the cartridge when they got pretty freaking expensive.

 

[OmniGamer]

Street Fighter 2 for the SNES was $79.99 at Toys'R'Us back in the day...seeing that yellow price ticket always stuck out to me, and I couldn't believe my dad was actually going to buy it for me. I also remember Mortal Kombat Trilogy for the N64 being high priced(again due t cart size). Games now are dirt cheap compared to those days.

 

[borghe]

you got robbed on SF2 SNES. It was $60 everywhere in our area.

 

[jarrod]

Bringing up boutique items like 3DO, Neo*Geo or CDi as evidence that hardware prices have dropped is pretty irrelevant. They were never mass market platforms like NES, SNES or Genesis and their pricing reflected that... it'd be like using PSX as an example of game consoles being $700 this generation.

8-bit & 16-bit consoles not only came in at lower prices, they almost always had better pack in deals and faster price drops. Hardware MSRPs are getting progressively higher, offering less software extras and staying higher longer...

 

[mCACGj]

The most I think I've ever payed for a game was $80 for PTO on the SNES. Damn Koei.

 

[XS+]

I played damn near the whole Genesis library (import and domestic) for $5 a pop for 3 days. They let me rent SNES and a game for a week at $20. Thank god for that awesome game rental shop in my old neighborhood, I totally dodged the 16-bit price rape.

 

[xexex]

Super Nintendo games were always expensive, iirc. like $59-$69 often.

most major Sega Genesis RPGs were very expensive also.... $69-$99 Phantasy Star II was $79 in winter/spring 1990 when it released in the U.S. Sword of Vermillion was either $69 or $79 in the fall of 1990. I forget what Phantasy Star III cost in the summer of 1991 but I know PS IV was $99 in winter 1995.

NeoGeo games were outrageous for the consumer market, $199-$299, and roughly used prices were like the new prices of Genesis/SNES games. although these were a bargin concidering they were arcade games


so no, videogaming is generally cheaper these days.

 

[DDayton]

I do find it interesting that Nintendo has managed to sell ALL of their systems at the $200 level. The SNES, N64, and GameCube were all sold at $189-$200... unless I'm horribly mistaken.

Sega and Sony attempted to change the price structure for hardware, but were put into check by Nintendo at each opportunity... which does make me glad. Wasn't the Saturn a $400 system at one point?

 

[Ronin]

When I got Sega Channel, I never had to buy a Genesis game again. Well, unless it was an RPG.

 

[mosaic]

Man, I remember begging my mom for Super Mario Bros. 2, and watching her shell out $64.99 for it. I remember kicking my own money toward Street Fighter 2 SNES, which I believe was also $64.99--perhaps $63.99. I didn't buy Virtua Racing Genesis when it came out at $99.99, but I did buy it when it was marked down to $69.99 a couple months later. No wonder I loved the 32X so much. Good thing no one remembers the circumstances behind how I came to own a 32X. I'd be banned from gamers circles everywhere.

Nowadays, I'm spoiled by games that cost $49.99 and $39.99. Not to mention budget games. Yum! I'll buy almost anything for $20, just cuz it's such a shock to see that price tag, having lived in the expensive 80's and 90's.

 

[ManaByte]

Sega and Sony attempted to change the price structure for hardware, but were put into check by Nintendo at each opportunity... which does make me glad.

Despite that, Sony sure did put Nintendo in check

Wasn't the Saturn a $400 system at one point?

IIRC it launched in May of 1995 at $399, and then the PS2 on 9/9/95 at $299.