cross-posted from: https://jlai.lu/post/17548675
this post was submitted on 05 Apr 2025
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Did you expect them to keep 1990s pricing forever?
Putting aside the fact how little the median citizen earned more in wages in comparison to the prices going up:
No, of course not. However it's not just the games and the console that we're talking about. We're talking about them monetizing every single bit more and more, especially adding subscriptions and taking away ownership. In regards to Nintendo at least they still ship real cartridges with the working game on them, but any digital purchase is neither owned by you nor can be preserved without the help of hackers. They try to continuously make money while giving less and then on top of that the prices went up.
Not to mention their patent troll, anti-preservation and fangame-killing practices. Just in case anyone wants to argue for the company being "not as bad as others" or sth.
Is charging for online play not common anymore? I was paying for Xbox live last time I owned an Xbox in like 2009.
Nintendo was the last holdout and started charging in 2018. Only PC gamers don't have to pay extra to play online now.
And if they start charging PC gamers I'll start figuring out how to self host again.
Fuck corpo scum, choom.
Edit: These goddamn MBA types must not realize that I got along just fine playing Team Fortress Classic against my bot army.
This is why PC is and always will be better than a traditional console. "Oh the dev won't do this, good thing the modding scene already has a workaround."
it was never common on pc
Well said!
No, I expect (not really, because greed) that as companies make bank with not only charging for subscriptions and MTX, but the fact that the gaming industry made around $20 billion in the 90s and $184 billion in 2022, that they can charge reasonable prices and still make money hand over fist. But I get it, they charge the absolute maximum that gamers will tolerate, and it's ultimately gamers' fault.
All companies charge the price that consumers will tolerate, that is literally how prices work. Every single thing you spend money on is based on this principle
And yet, Steam prices exist. Consistently less than console, and I know they could charge more and people would pay. Maximizing the price of everything all the time is the least consumer-friendly way to make money, and most certainly not the only way.
It's not like they're making baby formula here. They're making videogames. Nobody is entitled to a $60 cartridge
If a price is seen to be unreasonable, it is the duty of the consumer to not bend over and take whatever is charged without complaint, whether it's for necessities or on luxury good like video games. It is not necessary to use anti-consumer practices to make money, despite what capitalism has trained you to think.
I, for one, think we live in a pretty good world if the thing that drives us to complain on the internet is a modest increase in price for entertainment goods once every 30 years. I'm not going to bemoan capitalism because I have to shell out a few more bucks for Mario Kart; that actual insanity
If that were the only issue with capitalism, that would be great! But it's just one small symptom out of many. There's no denying Nintendo is being very aggressive here with pricing, and at a particularly uncertain time for the world's economies, to boot. I'm curious to see just how much BS their market will take from them. I'm sure the first year or so, they'll sell out easily as they struggle to meet demand; it's after that I'm interested to see.
I deny that nintendo is being very aggressive with pricing here. Increasing prices once in 30 years is not aggressive at all
Being the first in the industry to charge $80 for a standard game is extremely aggressive.
They're definitely not the first lol
Who was, and what was the game?
Idk who the first was, but Ubisoft, Activision, and EA all release $80 games. Plus there were N64 cartridges back in the 90s that cost $70-$80
I'm talking about now, not 30 years ago when the market was completely different. None of those companies have charged more that $70 for a BASE version of a game - I'm not talking about definitive, ultimate, whatever editions. Mario Kart World is JUST the base game, nothing else included, for $80.
$60 in the 1990s would be like $120 today. $80 is cheap by comparison
Wages were also comparatively higher in the 1990s. Prices go up, but wages don't keep pace. Simply converting the currency doesn't tell the whole story.
Source?
I’m glad at least one person in this thread knows how inflation works. However, as I’ve recently researched, games started costing $60 in 2005, which lands us at 90$ in today’s money.
That would be fine if wages had kept up with inflation. They have not, at all.
I don't think it's a game publisher's problem if you haven't had a raise in 20 years.
If they had kept 1990s prices, they would already be $100 or more. 🤦♂️ You know how fucking expensive NES and SNES games were back then? They weren't often $50 or cheaper. They were often $90-120!
My copy of teenage mutant ninja turtles tournament fighters for the NES was 50 bucks in 1994.
That’s a $50 price tag for a “previous generation” console.
Inflation adjusted that's $111
Inflation adjusted it's apparently (less than) $30, because that's one of 13 games in the Cowabunga Collection.
My mom was like “you gotta be fucking kidding me” lol