Embracer Boss Mulls Increasing the Price of Video Games Beyond $70
Embracer Boss Mulls Increasing the Price of Video Games Beyond $70
The controversial boss of Embracer Group has discussed the topic of increasing the price of video games beyond $70 amid rising development costs and an increasingly competitive market.
I didn't even buy them at 60. This would change nothing for me except further cement my patient gaming lifestyle.
Have you tried spending less on making them?
Maybe he should start by paying himself no bonus and cut his own salary, seeing that the company is in a nosedive position when he's in charge.
Well, they have tried shutting down most of their studios. So... kinda?
Back in 1996 AAA games sold for $60 to $75. If we take the lowest price of $60 and adjust it for inflation, that would be $119 today. Computer games today are unrealistically cheap. And if you look at how much more effort goes into development, they're pretty much free.
Back in 1996, the average computer cost $2-6k adjusted for inflation. Now they are also much more difficult and complex to make, are much more powerful, and cost less.
Yes, a bunch of effort has gone into development, but that development doesn't disappear after the game is done. And now we have free, open source game engines that can be filled with assets made in free, open source 3d modeling software, using free, open source high level programming languages. A little bit of learning and the average person could make an early 2000s video game solo in a couple of weeks.
And yet they tend to be a worse experience, release before they are ready with DLC already ready to go, riddled with microtransactions and other awful issues. They aren't worth more.
They can make them more than $70USD and I'll just keep waiting for a sale. I haven't bought one at $70 yet, I'm certainly not going to pay even more.
Wait. Wasn't the whole point of competition to bring prices down?
Plus you'd think that with distribution costs, shelving costs, CD stamping costs and printing manuals, they'd already be cutting our costs... but it's not about us.
That "did" cut our costs. Like the first year. The next year that'd be a net increase of 0%, and you can't have numbers not go up every year
They can do that, but I'm not paying.
looks up
shakes head
goes back to Balatro
Ooh, a two pair
Lol I pirated a game the other day just because the company was charging full price for a remaster.
On the one hand, games have stayed the same price for a long time, well below the rate of inflation.
On the other, wages have also stayed well below inflation for a long time. I don't expect they'll see the growth they want when a game purchase takes a larger and larger bite out of someone's paycheck.
It's a good example for how inflation isn't something constant that affects everything equally. Game development costs are mostly wages, if wages stay below inflation then development costs stay below inflation unless teams get larger, and especially game development is known for paying rather low wages.
Development, yes. Executives, the sky is the limit.
Especially when you have a great success, like laying off tonnes of your employees, which Embracer has been leading the charge on.
Ohh wow, what a weasel. Dude can't even keep their own company intact and still talk big.
The man doesn't want the industry to thrive, he wants money in his own pocket ASAP.
Beyond £55? They cost £55 now?!
That's a significant portion of the cost of a brand new console! That's two weeks worth of electricity for my house! That's 6 months worth of my mobile phone service! Jesus wept.
I'm not paying more than £40 for a video game, and at that price it had better be a GREAT game.
I mostly wait until they're in the £20-30 range anyway, even if that means waiting for sales. I'm not in a rush, I've got plenty of other games I can play in the mean time after all.
Your mobile service is incredibly cheap
Not OP, but also from the UK. I pay £8 per month for 5 gigs of internet traffic and unlimited everything else. Last month I used less than 1 gig... I can probably switch to a £6 tariff with just 2 gigs, but I use closer to 5 from time to time and don't want to switch back and forth all the time. For £25 I can get unlimited traffic.
Brand new ps5 games were releasing for £70
Games from last year will still be less than half of that though, right?
Sekiro still sell for 60 dollar. The industry figured out they can use scarcity in a form of limited time discount to encourage customer to make purchase, so there's no need to lower the base price forever.
@nanoUFO I’m still not used to new games costing $70 USD yet since I buy most of my games used. In my head, $70 games are still the “Deluxe Editions”. If someone released a $100 game, I’d probably think of it as the “Super Deluxe Edition” and wait for it to be $60.
I pretty much exclusively play and buy indie games nowadays but in Canada it's around $80 to $90 for new games not including tax. Don't think any AAA game would draw me for that kind of price. I could get selaco, crow country and probably world of goo 2 for that price.
Just sail the high seas.
Very often games are mediocre and/ or not even fully finished which results in a buggy mess,
Very often games are mediocre and/ or not even fully finished which results in a buggy mess,
AAA trash, sure
Indie games are often 10-20 USD and totally worth the moneySadly indie games more and more scratch on the 45€ mark and it sucks.
I'll wait till they're on sale for under 30. Over 70??? Yeah, if I really want it, i'd hit the high seas for it.