this post was submitted on 03 Apr 2025
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Which I recognize. I still feel like there is a weird disconnect between gamers and cost. If I spent 80 bucks on a game and I get hundreds of hours of fun out of it that was easily worth the money. I have spent far more on significantly worse fun per dollar events over the years.
I just find it kinda funny how gamers get with the costs of games when compared to their spending on other media. Like how many people complaining about the 80 dollar games have rented a movie on Amazon for 5 bucks or something. That's a 2.50 an hour for entertainment at best.
I won't be buying the console or the 80 dollar games but I find the conversation and interesting one.
There have to be gamers who are consistent in this—there probably is that potential hypocrisy in some people (at least, "hypocrisy" from the outside, we're not sure of their actual reasons) but there are also probably people who are consistent in their behavior. I can tell you I've never rented a movie ;)
Yeah but you gotta remember the tech savvy pirating types are the minority by a long ways. Average Joe is just gonna pay the 5 bucks to watch his favorite childhood movie on a whim. Just like he's probably gonna shell out 80 bucks for a game he's gonna play for a couple hundred hours.
I haven't even pirated a movie in years. I just don't have any more than a very mild "well if there's literally nothing else to do because my arms are strapped to a chair for the next 2.5 hours, I guess I remember this one thing people said was good" (context: platelet donation, so yes this happens in real life and is not an insane hypothetical) interest in watching in the first place. Although I suppose that's rare too ^^;
I do wish that Average Joe was more like the outraged Lemmy commenters though, to be honest. More change against bad practices would happen faster if he just voted with his wallet instead of grumbling a little online and continuing to do the same thing anyways with a non-necessary purchase that you can eliminate, where there are lots of other gaming alternatives for cheaper too. Not like food where if you are poor you kind of just have to buy cheapest and if that means patronizing Evil Company, well, you still have to eat. But I also sympathize with being a fan of Nintendo IPs, picking your battles, and maybe having other things you care about more than price hikes in video games specifically where you do vote with your wallet by refusing to purchase.
I admit I'm doing my best to not turn into "people who don't boycott what I boycott are lazy apathetic sheeple who will not lift a finger to improve their conditions, people who boycott more things than me (especially things I like) are crazy crunchy party poopers who'd consign someone to Bad Person Land for not being 100% perfect and pure in every single purchasing habit" because I think I'm noticing that kind of thinking in myself, so I try to sympathize with both people who do more than me and people who do less.
Game prices aren't all about play time or pretty physics, or anything in particular. My top 3 hours played in steam are all from 2019 and after.
$99 special edition 1000+ hours
$70 for a game plus two expansion 800+ hours
$20 discounted preorder 500+ hours
All three just happen to have interesting and enjoyable replay loops. But I also have a few games I spent $60 on and played less than 50 hours and still felt like I got my money's worth.
Recent intendo games tend to feel well done, but not groundbreaking or unique enough to justify being full priced all the time, much less $80 even if I was to get 100+ hours out of them. They seem overpriced for what they include and that is the real reason for the pushback. Nintendo chose the closed envirionment with everything eternally at full price and that is why people are pushing back in their case.
I could argue the Ace Attorney series was that for me (played on Nintendo DS, am not purchasing the remakes), something along the lines of playing less than 50 hours for $60 and felt I got my money's worth anyways. (Okay, the individual price of each game in the series was not $60, but adding them up altogether… I don't remember their price or my exact playtime, it is entirely possible average playtime is longer and I just totally misremembered—didn't exactly have playtime stats on the Nintendo DS—but you get the point. Costs more $ per hour of play compared to other games with more replayability.)
You could also argue I got lots more hours of enjoyment from it than those 50 hours of playtime though, because I also spent so many more hours reading free fanfiction and looking at free fanart and reading fan discussions online… I finally stopped hurling myself down the Ace Attorney rabbit hole maybe 2 years ago.
I was curious so went and looked at my top 3.
Free now (paid 30 bucks for csgo back in the day) CS2 ~7500 hours
$30 Hunt showdown ~1200 hours
$25 beamNG ~1000 hours.
Now those cost per hour figures don't take into account the thousands of dollars on skins in CS I spent over the years, but still. Even with the money I spent on skins and keys I got way more than my moneuss worth out of counter strike.
Hunt I bought a bunch of DLC to support the devs until they drove that game into the ground and now I wish I could refund all of it. Fuck Crytek and David Fifield. If that man ever gets hired at another company run from any game he touches.
beamNG I actually bought before it was even on steam as a tech demo on a stand alone client. Easily the best investment in terms of fun per dollars spent. I would give them more money if they let me.
Idk man. I do think 80 bucks for Nintendo games is a bit steep but if someone is having fun and they feel they got their moneys worth out of it I ain't gonna bash em.
You're right, but it's also annoying that many people just totally don't care for anything, And those are what bring markets down. AAA has become such a lackluster shitfactory in the last decade it's baffling. But they still sell their shit, prices don't even matter. Amount of stupid DLCs don't matter...nothing really does. They could release a game that just literally flips you the bird and IGN (and the likes) would still say 7/10. Shit gets hyped and sold. The handful of critical customers converge to zero I assume. Neglectable.
I'm lucky to have a stupidly large budget for gaming, and most often just pirate stuff or buy indie games (And donate or just buy a 10 bucks indie 8 times or gift them or whatever)
spoiler
I hate that I know something in the LISA series does this. Although of course it does actually deliver substance, and isn't only a middle finger.Lol, didn't know the series. But I was thinking of no substance. Just a flipped bird,maybe along with some subtitles like "we hate you, you filthy stinking customer" and it would sell.
I mean yeah. There are clearly a TON of people who are willing to spend exorbitant amounts on the same shitty sports game every year with zero improvements.
Until the consumers stop buying the slop and gargling down the micro transactions and battle passes I think AAA is cooked.
I mostly play indie games these days now anyways. If I am playing a AAA game its probably been out for a few years and I got it on sale from steam for like 75% off or more.
I think most gamers have recognized that AAA is garbage these days. Only time will tell if the major companies change their behaviors or ride that slop heap into the grave as many large and one great studios already have.
Aye. But even if "most people" (I kinda doubt it) would just buy indie then, it's fine.
Same with the current *-flations. If 10 people buy my shit for 5 bucks. Or 5 people for 10 bucks. Or just one rich idiot pays 50...nothing much changed for the seller. Except he may save time, material, shipping, operating costs and....
Even Desasters like "forspoken" haven't seen a notable discount despite its abysmal ratings. And it's still sold. The garbage happening with gta5 now? It's just ridiculous what happens in the gaming-industry and they still get away with everything all the time.
If maybe 70% of people stopped buying AAA it might trigger change. But 1 idiot that buys tons of ingame-shit replaces 20 critical customers.
Actually sad. I'm a gamer since pacman and pong. And I paid 70 bucks for the cartridges back then. No regrets. Then I went pirate for fun, then went legit and now pirate again (except for indie). That's sad. Same with streaming like Netflix.