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[Grinchy]

I have a weird concern lately that we are going to see a new standard price next-gen. It's not that I have some lengthy analysis for why I think that - it's just a weird feeling in my gut. This was our 2nd full generation of $59.99 being the standard price. I just can't see us getting another 6-7 years without an increase.

There are many methods for extracting more than $60 out of people already. Season passes, cosmetic DLC, expansions, ect. And those will still be around next-gen (and will get worse, most likely) on top of this baseless assumption that games will go up another $10.

 

[FranXico]

I have a weird concern lately that we are going to see a new standard price next-gen. It's not that I have some lengthy analysis for why I think that - it's just a weird feeling in my gut. This was our 2nd full generation of $59.99 being the standard price. I just can't see us getting another 6-7 years without an increase.

There are many methods for extracting more than $60 out of people already. Season passes, cosmetic DLC, expansions, ect. And those will still be around next-gen (and will get worse, most likely) on top of this baseless assumption that games will go up another $10.

Some games already get released at a RRP of $69.99. So, it already is happening.

 

[InterMusketeer]

It has happened (temporarily) before. It will happen again. Most PS4 games were 70 euros at launch. A more recent example is the digital version of Smash Ultimate on Switch. Game prices come down so quickly these days though, that I don't think it'll matter much in the long run.

 

[RyanTheGod]

Doing some quick googling, you can find games going for 59.99 on the SNES in the early 90's. It's not like 59.99 is a price point only used the past two generations.

 

[RyanTheGod]

Here's an ad from 1996:

 

[Enjay]

Meh today's games don't really deserve to be bought at full price anyway. Happy to wait for price drops.

 

[Grinchy]

Doing some quick googling, you can find games going for 59.99 on the SNES in the early 90's. It's not like 59.99 is a price point only used the past two generations.

I almost added this stuff to the OP, but it was getting too long. Once it gets to a certain threshold, only like 5% of the people clicking on the thread will read it

When games started being manufactured on discs, that's when standard prices were set (because it suddenly cost pennies compared to dollars for each unit). And those standard prices were $40-50 for the PS1, $50 during the PS2 generation, then $60 for PS3 and PS4 generations. The N64 had $70 and I think even $80 games because the cartridges cost so damn much to make. The same even happened for the Genesis and SNES. So there wasn't really a standard price everywhere used.

 

[Vawn]

Here's an ad from 1996:

$60 in 1990 equates to about $116 in 2019 money. And these are 16-bit games, super cheap to make compared to AAA budget titles today.

Gaming has never been as cheap as it is today. Gamers demanding games don't go over $60 ever is a factor in us getting to where games are riddled with microtransactions, monthly subscription fees, etc.

 

[Starlight Lotice]

In the UK, the Big 3 always take the piss by releasing the games at maximum RRP (£59.99/£54.99) because they try and mug the early adopters for every penny they can get away with.

It sadly works too...especially if the console is popular enough to be out of stock for months like the Wii/PS4/Switch did.

I don't mind paying £39.99 tops (I think this is the standard price for most new games of a few generations), but I expect Next Gen to stick to £44.99/£49.99 for at least 2 years.

 

[TheKillerStove]

I doubt we're gonna see 70. The rise in digital sales means the publishers are saving money in shipping and manufacturing. Not to mention monetization models that turn games into platforms. If they raise the price, I'm confident the loss in player numbers will result in less revenue than they'd get by ratcheting up in game purchases.

 

[brap]

For me they'll still be $40 and under. Can't imagine paying full price for these shits.

 

[lock2k]

360 and PS3 gen had games costing R$ 199 and the PS4 /One gen had games costing R$ 249. I had a game store when the gen switched. Guess what the cost was for me per game?

The fucking same it was before with an increase of 50 reais for consumers. And why does this happen here? Because Brazilians are really stupid and have a mentality that if the price is high, it's worth it.

And that's why everything here is super outrageously expensive. I do not doubt next gen games will be standardized as R$299 and people will pay for it with their shitty "don't even have wha to eat" wages.

I hope this stupidity virus doesn't catch other countries.

 

[Phunkydiabetic]

Ya ya I get it, gaming is as cheap as it's ever been. But still, games are $90 after tax here in Canada and it would be fuckin lame to be jacked up to $100.

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

Bad enough we are probably or inevitably paying more for the next generation consoles and accessories, but an increase in game’s prices, DLC, season passes, microtransactions, etc will be too much imo.

It’s hard enough paying $60 for most new releases, but increasing to $70 I feel will be detrimental to software sales and cause more selective purchasing.

 

[GoodIdeaBadIdea]

I don't think the games prices will go up, it's been a $60 mark since nintendo 64 and hasn't moved. Seems like they had a few that have been more but they don't do well. Games have been more leaning towards being free to play with cosmetic benifits for a price have done very well. For example Tera is free but most of it's players spend hundreds on cosmetics. I don't think the prices would go up since they have to compete againts many free games like Destiny 2 for example stuff like that makes me even wonder if prices will go down.

 

[Ar¢tos]

It doesn't matter to me, I won't pay more than 20€ for a game. I always wait for sales, even if it takes 1 year or more.

 

[CharlieTuna]

Hopefully not, games are already crazy expensive over here in Brazil. But I do understand the argument for price increase.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Officially, no, they won't raise the price. However, many games won't be complete unless you've gotten the season pass / DLC pass (which they bundle in with the launch version of the game, essentially as a down-payment on the DLC).

 

[Mr Nash]

Only for people with no self control. For people with the good sense to wait for sales, it should be fine more often than not.

 

[Vawn]

Guys, inflation is real. PS4 released in 2013. $59.99 then is worth $66.27 today.

PS3 released in 2006. Games cost $59.99 then too. To be the same price, the game would cost $76.31 in 2019.

The Inflation Calculator

 

[PocoJoe]

They already cost 69.90€( around 77$) here that Finland. So no way they would be 79.90€, that is just too much.

I personally rarely pay more than 40€ for games, 70€ is madness.

 

[Bonfires Down]

The increased Profitability of digital games has helped publishers to offset some of the increased development costs. But yeah, a $70 standard seems possible.

 

[Chromata]

I would rather have a $10 price increase than a gimped game relying on xp boosts and loot boxes. At least then the game will be designed around one price tag not a bunch of hidden ones.

 

[McRazzle]

Guys, inflation is real. PS4 released in 2013. $59.99 then is worth $66.27 today.

PS3 released in 2006. Games cost $59.99 then too. To be the same price, the game would cost $76.31 in 2019.

The Inflation Calculator

Most people's salaries haven't risen with inflation and the middle class has contracted considerably in the last 20 years.

The reason we have microtransactions is because of greed and public companies have to make it look like their expanding their business to their idiot investors every single quarter and every single year, so executives have to resort to all kinds of petty undertakings to make that happen so they can keep their jobs and get those quarterly performance bonuses.

Major publishers/studios have the benefits of being involved in the largest revenue generating aspect of the entertainment industry and unlike movies/tv studios they don't have employee unions to deal with or actors they have to pay millions of dollars for a few months work, nor do they need to pay out royalties, and I'm pretty sure developers salaries don't rise based upon inflation.

In addition first parties now have the benefit of selling their games online without a retailer taking a cut.
And people buy far more video games now, people used to just get video games on Christmas or on their birthday, now most gamers have a backlog of titles, so they're selling far more in volume now than ever before.

And Nintendo for example can't sell their consoles to anyone but Nintendo fans, mainly as a result of their game prices.
So if prices are increased to $69.99 USD, it really will be the last console generation.

 

[Slings and Arrows]

Borderlands 3 :Fuck you, give me money Edition, cost £97!!! in the UK. I was nearly sick all over the display.

As long as gamepass exists though, these games can cost £20 on release day, I still won't be buying them.

£97 for a new game. Absolutely Haram

 

[I Love Rock 'n' Roll]

It has been next gen for years in Europe!

 

[Fbh]

Hopefully not, games are already really expensive here since our currency has been devaluing for years
When I worked retail (a bit less than than 10 years ago) new releases were between 30 to 35K in our local currency, now they are up to 45-49k and wages haven't increased anywhere near as much. If they get even more expensive they could really kill the console gaming market around here. At least PC storefronts like Steam, GoG and even Epic offer decent regional pricing

 

[Grinchy]

Hopefully not, games are already really expensive here since our currency has been devaluing for year.
When I worked retail (a bit less than than 10 years ago) new releases were between 30 to 35K in our local currency, now they are up to 45-49k and wages haven't increased anywhere near as much. If they get even more expensive they could really kill the console gaming market around here. At least PC storefronts like Steam, GoG and even Epic offer decent regional pricing

In the last few years, I've really stopped buying games new. Even if $60 isn't life-changing money, it is a lot to spend on games you find out you don't like. That's another reason I've gotten away from digital, too. On PSN, once you buy a digital game, good luck ever getting a refund just because it sucks.

More and more, I just wait for sales even on games I have some interest in buying. I'm finding games in the $15-25 range and a lot of times they are barely a year old or less. I bought an $8 copy of Doom 2016 that ended up being one of my favorite games of the gen. It wouldn't have disappointed me at $60.

 

[JORMBO]

I think they will stay the same price and we will continue to get more DLC for people to buy.

 

[rəddəM]

here so I always expect the worse.

 

[Fbh]

In the last few years, I've really stopped buying games new. Even if $60 isn't life-changing money, it is a lot to spend on games you find out you don't like. That's another reason I've gotten away from digital, too. On PSN, once you buy a digital game, good luck ever getting a refund just because it sucks.

More and more, I just wait for sales even on games I have some interest in buying. I'm finding games in the $15-25 range and a lot of times they are barely a year old or less. I bought an $8 copy of Doom 2016 that ended up being one of my favorite games of the gen. It wouldn't have disappointed me at $60.

Yeah I wait for sales too. Even more so now that you can buy games for a fraction of the price in less than a year. I just paid like $13 for DMC5 on PC and that game came out this year
The only game I still try to buy for $60 are those I really want to show my support to, which is why I got Sekiro at launch. And Nintendo games because they don't drop (but I buy them used and then resell them for the same price so I technically play most of those games for "free")

The annoying part though is that it's what keeps me buying digital stuff, because stores around here are terrible with sales. Digital sales on both PC usually include big popular releases, physical stores around only put old stuff they couldn't sell on sale to clear up storage space.

 

[mortal]

Maybe, but I rarely buy games at full price these days so I'm not particularly worried.

 

[Hulk_Smash]

I have a weird concern lately that we are going to see a new standard price next-gen. It's not that I have some lengthy analysis for why I think that - it's just a weird feeling in my gut. This was our 2nd full generation of $59.99 being the standard price. I just can't see us getting another 6-7 years without an increase.

There are many methods for extracting more than $60 out of people already. Season passes, cosmetic DLC, expansions, ect. And those will still be around next-gen (and will get worse, most likely) on top of this baseless assumption that games will go up another $10.

The reason why we have season passes and lootboxes is in part because the customer base refuses to pay more for the base game.

If there was a way we could insure we were getting the whole game, I would gladly pay $10 more.

Maybe we would see the return of AA games from AAA studios. Right now it’s just too much of a risk to produce games that don’t have some kind of monetization attached.

Of course the counter argument is always that publishers will monetize anyway, even with a price hike. Hard to deny that is a possibility. However, I do think the market will speak for itself if this is something customers would put up with (they won’t).

 

[n0razi]

The games I spend the most time on these days have all been free (F2P like Apex Lengends or PS+ sub) or super cheap (Steam sale)

 

[SleepDoctor]

I'd hope not with all the bullshit nickel and diming these devs do to us with their games now.

I'll just buy on deals and continue gamesharing if its still possible next gen.

 

[Northeastmonk]

I doubt it. You already have places selling pre-orders for $49.99. You can get Cyberpunk 2077 and Doom Eternal for $50 USD on amazon still. I think I got FF7R for 47 or $50 too. It’s not like next gen is going to make those game(s) obsolete.

Consider what has already been said about next gen. The biggest points are mainly about speed and lighting. PC does that and there’s about to be a 3000 series. I don’t exactly think that will raise the price of game(s). You’d think used prices would do better if that was the case.

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

Some games already get released at a RRP of $69.99. So, it already is happening.

Not in America.
INB4 BUT COLLECTORS
BUT TECHDEMO GAMES
NO

 

[Slings and Arrows]

I'd hope not with all the bullshit nickel and diming these devs do to us with their games now.

I'll just buy on deals and continue gamesharing if its still possible next gen.

Good point. I wonder if the 'average £/$ spent on games' has increased due to DLC and MTX, where the entry level retail price for the base game is fixed, the average spent has increased

 

[SleepDoctor]

Good point. I wonder if the 'average £/$ spent on games' has increased due to DLC and MTX, where the entry level retail price for the base game is fixed, the average spent has increased

If prices bumps up a bit. I want "complete" games, meaning no bullshit microtransactions nor broken games at launch.

We've gotten to a point where its become acceptable to release buggy games needing patches to complete them. That's bullshit

 

[Slings and Arrows]

If prices bumps up a bit. I want "complete" games, meaning no bullshit microtransactions nor broken games at launch.

We've gotten to a point where its become acceptable to release buggy games needing patches to complete them. That's bullshit

It is bullshit. On top of that, DLC, Season passes MTX can all be found in the same, broken, uncomplete, feature baron game. I think games like fortnite and apex have it right; free to play, spend as much money on cosmetic shit as you want.

Single player games should come as complete games, with optional DLC down the line. Not like last gen where games shipped with DLC on the disc and you had to pay for the unlock key.

 

[Trimesh]

Good point. I wonder if the 'average £/$ spent on games' has increased due to DLC and MTX, where the entry level retail price for the base game is fixed, the average spent has increased

The problem with using average revenue as a metric is that it ends up not counting people like me that react to excessively to excessively monetized games by simply not buying them at all.

 

[Slings and Arrows]

The problem with using average revenue as a metric is that it ends up not counting people like me that react to excessively to excessively monetized games by simply not buying them at all.

You and me both, brother.