The past year or so has seen several AAA game publishers make the decision to raise the price of their video games to $70. Understandably, this has raised concern amongst gamers and led to a debate on the true value of video games. In order to give my own thoughts on the price of video games, I’ve decided to share a bit of my history with video games, their prices and to then discuss my thoughts on video games prices in the modern era.
First, I should explain that I’ve always had a skewed view when it comes to the value of video games. The first video game to ever have a major effect on me was Final Fantasy IV. While a short JRPG by today’s standard, I can remember spending at least over 50 hours playing the game as a kid due in part to both being unfamiliar with the genre and inefficient time management. Nonetheless, I was hooked on JRPGs and sought out others of its kind. I even dipped my toes into Western RPGs as well and came to expect that all video games would take at least 30 hours or more. However, as I began to branch out into other video game genres, I came to the realisation that many other video games averaged around 10-20 hours. This caused me to reject purchasing many other game genres for a while and to favour RPGs since I felt that I got more value out of them. I eventually got past this and came to appreciate the variety of genres in the video game medium but I think it’s important that you’re aware of this history.
Now there is an argument to be made that video games prices have needed some adjustments for a while. Around the fifth generation of consoles, a period running from around 1994 to 2000, publishers standardised a game price of $50. This lasted until the seventh generation of consoles when we saw game prices increase from $50 to $60. Interestingly, something that’s brought up quite a lot during these debates is the concept of inflation. Some have noted that buying a $50 game around the beginning of the fifth generation of consoles would be approximately equivalent to $80 today.
Additionally, certain game publishers are also pointing out the growing budgets of AAA video games. Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of Take-Two Interactive, stated that “production costs have gone up 200 to 300%” in the past 15 years and Jim Ryan, CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, has stated that he considers that “If you measure the hours of entertainment provided by a video game . . . compared to any other form of entertainment” that $70 is a reasonable price in terms of value.
However, I have some rebuttals to these arguments. Interestingly, one of my arguments is similar to an argument I made when I wrote “What Are Manga Box Sets And How Affordable Are They?” where I discussed the difference mentally between paying one lump sum and paying potentially more in smaller increments over time. Similarly, being asked to pay $70 upfront for a game that you may not even like is quite intimidating for many people and many may prefer to pay more over a longer period of time, unfortunately one of the contributory factors for the rise of microtransactions. Additionally, you have to remember the modern competition. Not only do modern gamers have a variety of gaming backlogs across multiple gaming platforms but the rise of subscription services such as Xbox Game Pass which offers 100s of games to play as well as Day 1 releases of Xbox Game Studios games for the relatively low monthly price of $15 also calls for a reevaluation of the value of games.
However, an area that I wouldn’t mind seeing the rise in game prices is the independent game industry. As noted by this PC Gamer article, many indie games are released on Steam at absurdly low prices with the 2017 average price being $8.72. Considering how wonderful many indie games are, it’s unbelievable how cheaply many of them are sold for. Additionally, I also question the quality of a game if I see that its price is low. “How high-quality can this be if they’re selling it this cheaply?” I can remember thinking and, while it’s not the best mindset to have, I can imagine many other people share this thought process.
Ultimately, I understand the reasoning behind the move by AAA game publishers to raise video game prices. However, I don’t think it’s as easy an argument as they would have you believe and I think there are a variety of factors that must be considered with this move. Let me know your thoughts on the price of video games, your thoughts on the arguments for and against raising the price of video games, whether you think indie games should be sold at higher prices, your criteria for value when thinking about how much you’re willing to spend on a video game and any additional thoughts on the topic.
Thanks for reading and if you wish to seek any of the titles I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs! Also feel free to follow my curator page on Steam “JRPG Reviews” for thoughts and opinions on any JRPGs that I play and my YouTube channel “Victory Achieved Gaming” where I guide my friend through challenging games.