The last time games were increased in price I was in grade school, 50 to 60, a 10 dollar increase. I wrote a letter to nintendo actually and got a response basically saying costs were up in the nicest way you could to a child.
That was well over 15 years ago, so the extra 10 they tacked on was honestly coming eventually. Everything else in life is getting expensive so of course it was only a matter of time until it reached this part of our lives, its really basic economics.
A comparison to keep in mind is also that we were still buying physical copies of games when the last increase happened, now we are strictly digital for a large majority of purchases while this next increase has happened.
But luckily this increase in price seems to be a trend only taken on by AAA companies, which are hit and miss in their titles lately imo, so most will be on sale in a year and you won’t ever have to pay 70 unless you are really into that title. Most indie companies are pricing their games at around 30-40 dollars right out of the gate and honestly have more of the spirit of what video games should be.
I don’t have an issue with the pricing I was just explaining why I think the pricing isn’t an issue (didn’t really state this clearly) strictly due to economic pressures and giving just a little bit of background as to why. Because honestly like you said, games historically have been more expensive in the past. And they have lightned up on prices in the past two decades only to gradually increase them with tons of time in between for whatever reason they site.
Just another thought here but I honestly think the micro transaction economy we’ve gotten in games the past few years probably stifled the price increase just a little longer.
All I’m going to say is that it’s nice being able to patiently wait to play games… Might have to wait a few months to a year but by then you’ll get it on sale with hopefully a few patches in and bugs being worked out by then.
If the game is in Early access, the price is justified to change as it becomes more fleshed out.
If the game gets a massive update (Such as Quake II recently) a price raise feels justified.
Also, none of this applies if the game goes over 60$, you should never pay more than 60$ because of a price raise. But, these are all just my opinions.
When a games been sitting in my wishlist for a while it’s usually there for a reason. Sometimes it’s just that I have a glut of other games to play in that genre, sometimes I’m waiting for the game to improve. But usually it’s because I’ve looked at the game and said “I don’t think it’s worth that price” and am waiting for it to fall to something I consider reasonable. Obviously, a price hike isn’t going to help it reach that point.
I looked at Riftbreaker’s steam DB page and it looks like it was only some countries who got a price spike, so I’m guessing it was some sort of currency re-balancing. You know, the Ruble is weak so prices relative to the Dollar went up or whatever. All that being said my first point stands, if I didn’t want to buy a game at price X , I’m going to want to buy it even less at X * 1.5, regardless of what’s happening in international money markets.
I don’t pay sticker price and I don’t pay more than the historical low. So I’ll just wait longer if a game does that, or end up not buying it at all as other games catch my interest. I have games that have been on my wishlist for years that I’ve had to go and clean out.
It’s pretty hard to believe that it was 20 years ago that Steam arrived, and with it that glorious green interface.
They weren’t even close to being the first digital store to provide games, but requiring Steam to run Half-Life 2 regardless of digital purchase or a boxed copy was likely the defining moment that helped push it to success for Valve.
This was likely my own introduction to Steam as well, back in the day were my PC could only just about run Half-Life 2 when you had long loading screens between sections.
Pictured - Steam homepage back in 2004 after Half-Life 2 released
Not everything Valve has tried went well like the original Steam Machines, and killing off their ambitions for non-gaming video content but they keep on trying and expanding and it seems there’s really no stopping it.
Naturally, without Steam and Valve, Linux gaming wouldn’t be where it is today so we’re doubly thankful for its existence.
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As of 11:55am EST today, my account still hasn’t turned 20, so I’m guessing they actually store the exact hour/minute/second that you signed up for your account too. I think I used to get home from school around 2:45pm, so I gotta keep checking.
Thx, Apparently I signed up way later in the day than I thought! I gotta wait until 11pm, lol - damn it, I wanted to show off my 20yr badge in a screenshot today. :D
My account turns 20 on the 14th, and I can't help but think about the fact that games like Half-Life and Counter-Strike that I bought once 20 years ago are still so easy to play and enjoy today. Steam really set the model for how digital media sales should be done.
Contrast to that was trying to play StarCraft again and even though I own I don’t have a CD drive anymore. I’d have to buy another copy to even play again.
Actually if you have/create a battle net account, you can register your CD key to your account, and then they have a downloadable installer for starcraft and Diablo. 2, and other old games.
There are certain world-changing events that it’s hard to remember them ever not-existing. Like…the iPhone was released in 2007. It’s so weird to think of the time before smartphones. Like when Nextels were a thing and basically everyone had a walkey-talkey on them…
Everyone here with their 20 year badges about to be unlocked and I’m over here with 9 year badge - curse my 7 year old self for only having access to a gameboy lmao
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