(Yes, I realize the actual new game price tag is $59.99. Thank you, Captain Factual!)
The lowest pricing point I can actually remember from my childhood were the Playstation (PSX) games costing about $39.99. Which sucked ass considering this was about a full month’s worth of allowance for me. Suffice it to say, I was quite the common fixture at the local West Coast Video up the street. Apparently these were the golden years where new game prices are concerned as consoles both before this time period (NES, SNES, Genesis) and afterwards (Xbox, PS2, Gamecube) were more in line with what we’re experiencing now.
The definitive reason as to why all your money has been seemingly disappearing as of late...
This is all well and great, really — and it’s actually pretty cool to see that video games have always existed in such a light where they could charge such exorbitant fees (with much thanks due to supply and demand) — but this becomes infinitely less cool once you realize that we, the consumer, have to pay these fees.
Which, of course, leads us full circle into the reason I wrote this article in the first place. Seriously, why are we paying so much for new games?
Now, before you get all ready to issue your vehement retort, let’s hold on a second. I get that the amount of money needed to create and market games is incredibly high and the pricing structure roughly reflects this. But let me also say that I really don’t have a problem paying $60 for a new game if said game is of the caliber of titles such as Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Dragon Age: Origins, Mass Effect 1 & 2, Skyrim, etc. etc. I do have a problem with paying $60 for games that aren’t nearly as broad and wide-spanning, finely written or just damn frigging entertaining as the aforementioned ones.
I also realize that the current system likely isn’t going to change very much at all barring some kind of earth-shattering mass gamer movement or something. And with the next-gen consoles reportedly slated for a sometime-relatively-late-in-2013 release, it’s likely only going to get more expensive to invest in video games as time goes along.
With recent news that Gamestop may very well have to cease their used game portion of their business, well… I don’t really see where all of this is going to naturally go. Thankfully, I’m not one of the gamer’s who relies on the used game infrastructure in order to enjoy as many titles as possible. But I know several that do and I know first-hand that unless they get a much higher paying job, they’re going to have to seriously cutback on their gaming lest they want to go without food or drink or heat as an exchange.
I honestly don’t even know what I think the current structure could conceivably do — realistically — to improve itself. What I do know is that something is about to give and I’d be more than interested and intrigued by any of your ideas on the topic in the comments below. Much thanks and fist-pounds in advance!
