It's because the cost to develop the game, distribute it, studio costs, employee wages, taxes, etc are all on the rise. They have to charge more to cover costs. Hardly the game developer's fault life is so expensive nowadays.

The vast majority of games are still worth the high price tag.

I'd say they've been unreal for the past decade personally. I can't think of a single game after The Witcher 3 that I would consider worth 60 bucks let alone what they are charging now. The state of the market though is what is to be expected. Companies will charge whatever they can get away with and there are millions of sheep who will pay absurd prices because they are just consumers at the end of the day. This is why video games going mainstream really ruined the industry as a whole. I remember years ago when digital games were entering the conversation several devs made promises like their games would be cheaper on digital storefronts because they wouldn't need to manufacture physical products. Look at how quick that promise fell through.

Of course games are also expensive because of how poorly game development companies are run. It's amazing how we now have hundreds of people, and often multiple studios working on a game and yet the end product is still leagues worse then games from the 90's and early aughts. The industry seems to think they need to throw millions of dollars into something to get a huge return or that you can simply buy enough talent but that's been proven wrong every step of the way.

Originally posted by Hi Im Swat:

It's because the cost to develop the game, distribute it, studio costs, employee wages, taxes, etc are all on the rise. They have to charge more to cover costs. Hardly the game developer's fault life is so expensive nowadays.

True enough enough except the only people that seem to be increasing their prices consistently are the same companies who have abandoned any interest in their fans. Case and point Silksong. Small inde dev with a large fanbase made a great game ans sold it for 20 bucks. It's more so these greedy companies trying to milk their trash products because they know they won't sell as many as they used to.

Originally posted by Hi Im Swat:

It's because the cost to develop the game, distribute it, studio costs, employee wages, taxes, etc are all on the rise. They have to charge more to cover costs. Hardly the game developer's fault life is so expensive nowadays.

Price gouging is unrelated to expenses. How do you think companies make profits in the millions? By price gouging.

The cheapest part of a game is it's physical media.

Originally posted by Myrth the Plague:

Originally posted by Hi Im Swat:

It's because the cost to develop the game, distribute it, studio costs, employee wages, taxes, etc are all on the rise. They have to charge more to cover costs. Hardly the game developer's fault life is so expensive nowadays.

True enough enough except the only people that seem to be increasing their prices consistently are the same companies who have abandoned any interest in their fans. Case and point Silksong. Small inde dev with a large fanbase made a great game ans sold it for 20 bucks. It's more so these greedy companies trying to milk their trash products because they know they won't sell as many as they used to.

You've actually got the entire situation completely backwards. Silksong is actually very overpriced in regards to its own genre. At the end of the day it's still a side scrolling title, and those typically go for less then ten dollars. Those games are relatively inexpensive to develop, and that's why they are popular with indie developers.

Silent Hill f costed its developer magnitudes more to create. The guy making a full turkey dinner has to charge much more. Then the guy serving up a simple burger and fries. Now that burger and fries might've been worth the premium, but Silent Hill f that games full of a lot of eye candy, and that game has lots of detailed interactivity.

A lot of people have spent a lot of money on top tier hardware, and they didn't do that just to play side scrolling games with a cartoon aesthetic. They are chasing after that photo realistic dragon, and chasing any dragon ends up being expensive. The games made to service that market are expensive to develop. Not just the graphics, but the writing, orchestration, acting, the engine.

Silent Hill f looks and plays like it costs. I own it and it's beautiful for what it is. Would I pay twenty for Silksong no. I wouldn't even pay five dollars. I don't buy side scrolling games. I was thoroughly done with that genre twenty years ago. Having to play them almost exclusively for over a decade.

A cheap game to make being cheaper then a more expensive game to make. You are basically comparing apples to oranges. Now if a new Resident Evil not a remake dropped, and the price was twenty dollars lower then Silent Hill. Well now that would be a compelling argument, but the reality is there aren't a lot of high end horror games released yearly.

Sadly digital distribution has allowed most storefronts to artificially inflate the price of goods with no additional cost, so this market will no doubt be heavily regulated within the next decade (and it should be).

It's ironic of course that most game devs and publishers are totally economically illiterate, and thus do not comprehend economy of scale - selling 500,000 copies at $10 is way better than 1,000 copies at $100, and costs no more to distribute on this platform.

"But", stutters the game dev in between mouthfuls of vegan cheeseburger and heart medication: "$100 more than $10, give money now". He then throws a crudely-drawn stick figure at you.
"DLC. $100 more now!"

Off in the distance, some poor sap who paid both lots of $100 incoherently shouts something about "worth it for me" and "works fine" before going back to the trough.

did you notice that prices for games have been extrem constant for pretty much the last 25 - 30 years?

And only in the last few years they got a small price increase.

Originally posted by ClOwN EAteR:

Please tell me that someone else has noticed the ever creeping up of prices for digitally distributed games are getting unreal now?

I mean lets take Silent Hill f - still a very Niche client market even after all these years.

70 GBP for it?!

Same for the disc release side!

Please tell me I'm not just becoming old here......PLEASE!!!!

The price of everything is going up, and noticing that proves your old. I remember hamburgers used to cost a nickle, and penny candy used to cost a penny. I remember when this all used to be farmland, and there used to be a little family store down there.

Dude it's sixteen percent inflation. Candy has seen twenty five percent. The same for bread, and as for beef, eggs, and even milk. The cost of living has gone up, and wages have to reflect that. People who code games have families too.

Be thankful that it's going this slow at all. Companies are already laying off thousands, and the recent deluge of remakes/remasters. These are symptoms of cost cutting attempts. To keep the prices of games down. Next comes downsizing the games themselves. Less game same price.

Silent Hill f was conceived during coffin cough. Back then developers were seeing huge sales, and they were willing to put more money down. Developers now are going to become miserly. You're going to start to see more corner cutting, less quality assurance, and far fewer genres.

In a few years your probably going to look back at today, and say wow back then we used to get premium horror games. Rather then gimmicky indie asset flips with jump scares. Silent Hill f may be a high water mark, and by turning your nose up you may insure that.

Voting with your wallet here probably wont convince them to lower the prices. It will just convince them to stop making premium horror games altogether. Perhaps convince them to abandon horror games altogether. When you stop buying they tend to chase the newer fads.

If you don't like the price, just wait for a sale that gives you the price you like. The less people that buy at a launch price, the less likely they're to charge that price. If people happily buy at the price, then they may likely keep that for future products, but patience and steam sales can give you a price you'd want.

Originally posted by Dodece:

Originally posted by Myrth the Plague:

True enough enough except the only people that seem to be increasing their prices consistently are the same companies who have abandoned any interest in their fans. Case and point Silksong. Small inde dev with a large fanbase made a great game ans sold it for 20 bucks. It's more so these greedy companies trying to milk their trash products because they know they won't sell as many as they used to.

You've actually got the entire situation completely backwards. Silksong is actually very overpriced in regards to its own genre. At the end of the day it's still a side scrolling title, and those typically go for less then ten dollars. Those games are relatively inexpensive to develop, and that's why they are popular with indie developers.

Silent Hill f costed its developer magnitudes more to create. The guy making a full turkey dinner has to charge much more. Then the guy serving up a simple burger and fries. Now that burger and fries might've been worth the premium, but Silent Hill f that games full of a lot of eye candy, and that game has lots of detailed interactivity.

A lot of people have spent a lot of money on top tier hardware, and they didn't do that just to play side scrolling games with a cartoon aesthetic. They are chasing after that photo realistic dragon, and chasing any dragon ends up being expensive. The games made to service that market are expensive to develop. Not just the graphics, but the writing, orchestration, acting, the engine.

Silent Hill f looks and plays like it costs. I own it and it's beautiful for what it is. Would I pay twenty for Silksong no. I wouldn't even pay five dollars. I don't buy side scrolling games. I was thoroughly done with that genre twenty years ago. Having to play them almost exclusively for over a decade.

A cheap game to make being cheaper then a more expensive game to make. You are basically comparing apples to oranges. Now if a new Resident Evil not a remake dropped, and the price was twenty dollars lower then Silent Hill. Well now that would be a compelling argument, but the reality is there aren't a lot of high end horror games released yearly.

While your point has merit iy holds biased. I wouldn't play silksong either because its just not the type of game I play. As a counter argument let's take all the large titles that have failed in recent years such as Vieldguard, Anthem, Suicide Squad, and Conord. The reason they failed i won't argue about here but they all were from AAA studios and all of them had poor reception from fans. I shall point out Vielguard specifically because its the one i have played, it was a 250 million dollar project, took over a decade to make, sold for 60-70 bucks and didn't recuperate half its production cost. The game itself isn't worth 10 bucks (my heavily biased opinion) but the reality is that fans voted with their wallets and determined it wasn't worth it. Silksong on the other hand managed to crash every market it was sold on because of how much their fans appreciate the game. The fans of silksong determined that 20 bucks was a great deal, even if we wouldn't pay that. I haven't played silent Hill in years, tbh I didn't know they had a new one and will definitely look into it so thank you, but if it was received well then thats because it is a good game. Fans decided whatever its price that it was worth it. The genre of game doesn't determine price, or value and it think its unfair to say it does.

Yea i have if the game is over $100 AU i just don't buy it now.. Its just too much for a game these days.. Borderlands 4 was the last..

I'll wait a few years now for deals no longer buying release unless its something amazing with 1000 hours of content..

Originally posted by WreckWren:

Sadly digital distribution has allowed most storefronts to artificially inflate the price of goods with no additional cost

No. It is the fans who allow games to be priced at 120 USD basic edition + paywalls + battlepasses.

Originally posted by WreckWren:

selling 500,000 copies at $10 is way better than 1,000 copies at $100, and costs no more to distribute on this platform.

500 000 * 10 gives 5 000 000 USD
1000 * 100 gives 1000 because 100 USD for what? New Yacht for CEO?

The good news is, you are in control. We all are. Every. Single. Gamer. Is free to vote with the own wallet. Hell, I've always considered 60 bucks to be too much so I haven't paid that. Even Doom TDA, which is the #1 game I've ever been hyped for (no kidding), I've bought on a sale instead the full price (which is well over 60 bucks anyway).

We're all masters of our own purchases.

It's basically Phil Spencers "growth" except we are running out of new gamers that could - as sheer numbers - counteract the increasing costs with higher sales numbers. So instead of higher sales numbers we now get higher prices.
"Growth."