Poll of the Day > Are video games expensive?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Please answer with as much or as little detail as possible, ok?
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Some are, but recent releases generally aren't too bad.
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only if youre poor
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Everything's relative.
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I guess. I wouldnt say cheap, even if they are cheaper than they use to be...
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If games are your hobby? They are absolutely expensive. Probably among the most expensive hobby. Can buy plenty of fishing stuff for 60$
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No. Prices went up just a couple years ago for the first time since literally the 80s. Given inflation we're paying much less now than we did in the 80s and 90s.

If you're finding it too expensive to buy games, perhaps you should consider either buying less games or reevaluate your work-play balance.
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OneTimeBen posted...

If games are your hobby? They are absolutely expensive. Probably among the most expensive hobby. Can buy plenty of fishing stuff for 60$

Fishing can get pretty expensive, too
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OneTimeBen posted...

Sarcasthma posted...

OneTimeBen posted...

If games are your hobby? They are absolutely expensive. Probably among the most expensive hobby. Can buy plenty of fishing stuff for 60$

Fishing can get pretty expensive, too

If you include a boat absolutely

Or high-quality lures and rods.
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Relativity
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OneTimeBen posted...

If games are your hobby? They are absolutely expensive. Probably among the most expensive hobby. Can buy plenty of fishing stuff for 60$

Lol, almost any hobby can be crazy expensive if you're really into it and buy anything even remotely related to it.

Sarcasthma posted...

Or high-quality lures and rods.

I'll show you a high-quality rod

Good games are more affordable than ever. Yeah there are a few that have ridiculous microtransactions and such bloating the cost, but on the other end of the spectrum you have a bunch of quality indies and just sales in general that offer you many $5-$20 options that were pretty much nonexistent a decade or so ago.

( )

@Chewster
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faramir77 posted...

No. Prices went up just a couple years ago for the first time since literally the 80s. Given inflation we're paying much less now than we did in the 80s and 90s.

If you're finding it too expensive to buy games, perhaps you should consider either buying less games or reevaluate your work-play balance.

One or two isnt expensive. But games themselves still usually are altogether. It starts to add up. I would say theyre cheap, though...
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Not really. Even with DLC and whatever most the time a complete edition comes out at some point and if you really want to save cash you could even buy that in a sale.
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It depends. Used games or digital games on sale run from the price of a fast food hamburger to the price of a round of golf.

Used videogame consoles are worth buying when they get down to the $100 to $125 mark.

Or you can buy new everything. $600 consoles, $2500 computers, $60-$125 games.

You can spend pretty much as much or as little as you want.
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Yes, but also consider that we paid 50 bucks for NES carts back in the day
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What consoles are $600 and games are $125

HylianFox posted...

Yes, but also consider that we paid 50 bucks for NES carts back in the day

Sure. But the question wasn't are video games expensive compared to videos game prices a long time ago...
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They can be the most expensive or the least expensive hobby you'll ever have, depending on the sale and the game.
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LinkPizza posted...

HylianFox posted...

Yes, but also consider that we paid 50 bucks for NES carts back in the day

Sure. But the question wasn't are video games expensive compared to videos game prices a long time ago...

It's a perfectly valid point. The price of video games has stayed pretty much the same, it's just that there are so many to buy. But as has been said there are plenty of games for $20 or less these days too, not to mention the advent of the internet which means it's easier to research a game before you buy so you don't end up spending 200 big ones on another Action 52
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I mean, if you buy maybe 4 or 5 games a year then no, but if you have to get every AAA title that comes out then yeah, that shit adds up.
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HylianFox posted...

LinkPizza posted...

HylianFox posted...

Yes, but also consider that we paid 50 bucks for NES carts back in the day

Sure. But the question wasn't are video games expensive compared to videos game prices a long time ago...

It's a perfectly valid point. The price of video games has stayed pretty much the same, it's just that there are so many to buy. But as has been said there are plenty of games for $20 or less these days too, not to mention the advent of the internet which means it's easier to research a game before you buy so you don't end up spending 200 big ones on another Action 52

The reason I mention that is because if a car cost $500,000 10 years ago, and cost $450,000 now, its gotten cheaper. But doesnt mean its cheap. I agree that games are cheaper than they were log ago. But I also wouldnt say cheap. But I guess it depends on the person. People see things different. Including prices of stuff...
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OneTimeBen posted...

Can buy plenty of fishing stuff for 60$

Or you could just get a stick, with some string and a hook.
>_>

Any hobby can be expensive or cheap depending on what you go for.
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some are, some aren't. I want to play EU4 with all the DLC, but that's something like an additional $100-200 after the cost of the base game...

adding it up, it's $112.40 before tax just for the main DLCs, and that's *with* the current 50% off sale. then there's another $32.15 for some less important game mechanic DLCs, and another $22.72 for some cosmetic DLCs. then there's still some other misc ones that total another $44.39.

again, that's all at 50% off... and it totals to $211.66. it would be somewhere around $400 without the sale...
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I dont think so even at full price and the systems are one pop every 5+ years so thats not really that bad. Not for US wages at least. But even if i thought 60 was too much i could always wait for a sale or just the general price drop after x amount of time. Or both. And its definitely not expensive then.
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Depends on what kinds of games you want to play. If you buy multiple consoles and all the big releases you'll easily spend hundreds of dollars a year. If you build a budget PC and play dota all day you could get tens of thousands of hours of entertainment for $500. Little point in generalizing when the variance is that high.
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Considering the value of the dollar, and the amount of money that goes into making them now? No. If anything they are pretty damn cheap compared to the past. Chrono Trigger could go for like, $80 in 90s money, which would be close to $140 now.

Depends. Do you mean retro gaming or modern? What console? If you're collecting for PS1 it'll be cheap but for something like the Sega Saturn, good luck.
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I guess I just feel cheap and cheaper are different words...
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Buying the initial hardware is quite expensive, but once you've got a console set up the cost/hours of entertainment ratio of new games is pretty damn low.
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ZeldaMutant posted...

Buying the initial hardware is quite expensive, but once you've got a console set up the cost/hours of entertainment ratio of new games is pretty damn low.

That's about what I was going to say. The systems and games generally have pretty high costs in absolute terms, but when you look at how much entertainment you can get out of that cost, you're doing a lot better than many other forms of entertainment. That gets even better when you start hunting sales, which is really easy to do in a world where Steam and whatnot means you just have to check your online wishlist periodically to see if anything's sufficiently discounted.

TL;DR: They are generally expensive, but they're a good value for what you get.

Yeah but not as expensive as the good old neo geo
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Honestly? Not that much. It really depends on how much time you put in the game and how entertained you are (which usually goes hand in hand). I've put hundreds of hours in Mounts and Blades: Warband which barely cost me 10$. I think that's a pretty good return on investment.
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They're too expensive brand new, considering the volume of content. Faaaaar too much is invested in looks at the cost of enjoyment.
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Medium
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When I look in the shops they seem about the same price they were when I first started buying games in 1997.
Taking inflation into account and that development costs have shot up (it's been reported that developing games with current generation graphics cost about 100 times as much) they are, in relative terms, a bargain now
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Aculo posted...

Please answer with as much or as little detail as possible, ok?

Gaming is simultaneously the cheapest and most expensive hobby
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Yes, assuming new and at launch prices only.

They always have been. A Squaresoft RPG back on SNES would run you $80, almost like $120 when accounting for inflation.

You can always find games cheap used, on sale, or last gen, so I'm not really involving that here.
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I would say that $60 is far too much for a lot of these games that are only half completed on release. Then they have the audacity to charge you another $60 for the expansion or DLC or whatever when that comes out a few months later instead of taking an extra few months to finish their game.

So video games actually cost $120.

$120 dollars is too much for a video game.
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Llamachama posted...

I would say that $60 is far too much for a lot of these games that are only half completed on release. Then they have the audacity to charge you another $60 for the expansion or DLC or whatever when that comes out a few months later instead of taking an extra few months to finish their game.

So video games actually cost $120.

$120 dollars is too much for a video game.

Well, sometimes, DLC is extra. And it usually doesnt cost that much...
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No, once they are $100-120 again, then I'll say they're expensive.
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I would say it is a mid-range hobby. On the one end you have stuff like Warhammer where you can spend hundreds of dollars a year on figures, terrain, paint, supplies, etc. On the other hand, a pen and paper RPG costs less then $100 for the book, paper, pencil, and dice and that is a one-time purchase.

Gaming is somewhere in the middle as long as you aren't buying way more games then you are actually playing.
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Dikitain posted...

a pen and paper RPG costs less then $100 for the book, paper, pencil, and dice and that is a one-time purchase.

Though, some of those books are expensive. And sometimes, you have to buy multiple books... I hate it when it tells me on pg something of another book...
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No. I recently added up everything video game related (consoles, peripherals, games, imported OSTs, and a few miscellaneous things) that I've bought since 1989 (I keep all my receipts), and it totaled less than half of what my job pays per year.
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How much do you have? Im pretty sure of all the gaming stuff I have/had, it would all together cost more than my highest paying job would pay in a year. Probably more than 2...
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Over 1000 physical games, 30+ consoles, and several dozen OSTs.
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A movie is about 2 hours of entertainment.
In a theatre that is about $10 per person.
New rental $5
Old rental 1-3
5-25 to buy.

Comparatively games 60 dollars new. Most games are 30+ hours of entertainment.

It is a bigger up front cost, but a game with good replay value will be cost effective.

That said compare it to other hobbies some of which even have a negative cost from selling or saving by not buying other things and it is not a cheap hobby either.
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Blaqthourne posted...

Over 1000 physical games, 30+ consoles, and several dozen OSTs.

You must make a lot. Or bought everything when it was cheap...
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Games are pretty cheap now. The Atari 2600 cost $199 when it came out in 1977, that's equivalent to $820 now. Games cost about $18.95, which is about $78 today, though a few such as Custer's Revenge sold for $49.95, or about $129 today.

The Atari 800 cost a whopping $1000 when it came out, about $3400 in today's dollars!