It's not "surge", it's not "dynamic", it's not "personalized" pricing... It's price gouging. Look forward to paying more for games during peak times and months. It's never enough for these greedy giant corporations.
this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2026
354 points (98.9% liked)
Games
48715 readers
1048 users here now
Welcome to the largest gaming community on Lemmy! Discussion for all kinds of games. Video games, tabletop games, card games etc.
Rules
1. Submissions have to be related to games
Video games, tabletop, or otherwise. Posts not related to games will be deleted.
This community is focused on games, of all kinds. Any news item or discussion should be related to gaming in some way.
2. No bigotry or harassment, be civil
No bigotry, hardline stance. Try not to get too heated when entering into a discussion or debate.
We are here to talk and discuss about one of our passions, not fight or be exposed to hate. Posts or responses that are hateful will be deleted to keep the atmosphere good. If repeatedly violated, not only will the comment be deleted but a ban will be handed out as well. We judge each case individually.
3. No excessive self-promotion
Try to keep it to 10% self-promotion / 90% other stuff in your post history.
This is to prevent people from posting for the sole purpose of promoting their own website or social media account.
4. Stay on-topic; no memes, funny videos, giveaways, reposts, or low-effort posts
This community is mostly for discussion and news. Remember to search for the thing you're submitting before posting to see if it's already been posted.
We want to keep the quality of posts high. Therefore, memes, funny videos, low-effort posts and reposts are not allowed. We prohibit giveaways because we cannot be sure that the person holding the giveaway will actually do what they promise.
5. Mark Spoilers and NSFW
Make sure to mark your stuff or it may be removed.
No one wants to be spoiled. Therefore, always mark spoilers. Similarly mark NSFW, in case anyone is browsing in a public space or at work.
6. No linking to piracy
Don't share it here, there are other places to find it. Discussion of piracy is fine.
We don't want us moderators or the admins of lemmy.world to get in trouble for linking to piracy. Therefore, any link to piracy will be removed. Discussion of it is of course allowed.
Authorized Regular Threads
Related communities
PM a mod to add your own
Video games
Generic
- !gaming@Lemmy.world: Our sister community, focused on PC and console gaming. Meme are allowed.
- !photomode@feddit.uk: For all your screenshots needs, to share your love for games graphics.
- !vgmusic@lemmy.world: A community to share your love for video games music
- !freegames@feddit.uk: A community sharing free games giveaways.
Help and suggestions
By platform
By type
- !AutomationGames@lemmy.zip
- !Incremental_Games@incremental.social
- !LifeSimulation@lemmy.world
- !CityBuilders@sh.itjust.works
- !CozyGames@Lemmy.world
- !CRPG@lemmy.world
- !horror_games@piefed.world
- !OtomeGames@ani.social
- !Shmups@lemmus.org
- !space_games@piefed.world
- !strategy_games@piefed.world
- !turnbasedstrategy@piefed.world
- !tycoon@lemmy.world
- !VisualNovels@ani.social
By games
- !Baldurs_Gate_3@lemmy.world
- !Cities_Skylines@lemmy.world
- !CassetteBeasts@Lemmy.world
- !Fallout@lemmy.world
- !FinalFantasyXIV@lemmy.world
- !Minecraft@Lemmy.world
- !NoMansSky@lemmy.world
- !Palia@Lemmy.world
- !Pokemon@lemm.ee
- !Silksong@indie-ver.se
- !Skyrim@lemmy.world
- !StardewValley@lemm.ee
- !Subnautica2@Lemmy.world
- !WorkersAndResources@lemmy.world
Language specific
- !JeuxVideo@jlai.lu: French
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
I might be part of the problem. I bought a PS5 years ago, thinking GTA6 was close to being released.
Turns out no.
But what I've discovered is that with how the gaming industry has gone, I don't see any need to buy games anymore.
I'm sick of games being an online focused experience, which requires subscription costs.
I'm sick of every game needing a multiple deluxe collectors editions that are the only way to play the full game, but cost $200 each and come with cheap plastic junk "collectables" to justify the cost.
"But you won't get the super rare coin and lapel pin if you don't get the collectors edition!"
"Thats fine. Just sell me the full game at $60."
"The full game requires the collectors edition. But it comes with this lapen pin and rare coin!"
"How many copies of the collectors edition are there?"
"About 2 million."
"So, not exactly rare, is it?"
The term of art is "price discovery"
Then I will continue my 20 year Sony boycott.
What was it that initially sent you down that path?
Steam and PC gaming if anything. That and changing life priorities in my 30s and 40s. GoG and epic too. Between them I have almost 1000 games I didn't pay for. Combined with hundreds on steam from humble etc. I probably spend more time trying to decide what to play than playing it.
load more comments
(3 replies)
Not the person you asked, but for me:
- The music CD rootkit
- removing OtherOS from the PlayStation 3
- trying to push various proprietary formats like MemoryStick and MiniDisc
- DRM in ATRAC3
- etc.
Take your pick!
Omg their stupid ass 4x normal price proprietary memory sticks lmao
I'm still pissed about the rootkit scandal. That was 21 years ago now, and I haven't spent a penny on Sony products since.
Trying to only establish proprietary media in the past, mostly ignoring open standards.
Oops I didn't fully read, you got it ♥️
Ugh God. I remember that "Magic Gate" bullshit when the PSP launched. They started a trend with the Walkman and they're trying to get lightning to strike twice. Never could do it though. Good.
Those greedy assholes need to engineer and innovate in other areas.
Don't buy anything from Sony, got it
I wonder why steam is so successful
It's almost as though Valve provides a valuable service and respects their customers. Rare traits in the corporate world. Answering to a board of directors is a hell of a lot easier than answering to shareholders.
Enshitification hasn't struck there....yet.
load more comments
(4 replies)
Yeah I’m testing out dynamic buying. If it’s too expensive I don’t buy it.
I've been doing that for years 🏴☠️
I’ve been going back to all the previous generation games I didn’t play since they’re all very easy to access these days in various forms!
GOG 💪
load more comments
(1 replies)
That's nice...
Meanwhile, I am testing piracy: one game - same price on my private torrent tracker.
the PS4 can be jailbroken with a €4 disc from aliexpress nowadays, and it has a great catalog of games. slap a 1tb external hdd on it, download games from archive.org, presto
Intriguing....
this will do the trick, scroll down to the product recommendations and you might find an even cheaper listing
Wait, you can get jailbreak discs from aliexpress? That might be worth looking into...
(although, how do we know if it's got malware on it?)
you can also burn it yourself if you have a bluray burner, the software the aliexpress discs use is freely available (search for "goldhen")
load more comments
(5 replies)
In some cases the ps5 can as well but only older firmwares have the full chain of exploits. That said you can run game backups and if you get an old enough firmware you can even install Linux and run steam games
load more comments
(1 replies)
load more comments
(5 replies)
The dynamic pricing will not affect my static boycott.
Fuck dynamic pricing, anyone even considering it should be jailed.
So tired, so tired of these ultra rich finding new and creative ways of squeezing the plebs and we just, again, let them
🏴☠️ might be the answer to this conundrum
load more comments
(1 replies)
Dynamic pricing = unbridled greed
I'm sure not being able to trust the price does wonders to sales.
Next up: highly personalised dynamic pricing by analyzing your bank account, payment behaviour, your age, gender, location, your app and website interaction patterns, the color of your shit, the time spend on digital media and breathing, your credit score, your biometric data, whether you are white or a terrorist, your political voting behaviour, the number of hairs you have, your likely age of death, your medical and mental health history, your probability of being captivated by addictive patterns anf gambling mechanics, and maybe even your game collection, to maximize squeezing each and every last penny of your barely or even non-existent disposable income.
Well, the only game I was looking forward to from them was Ghost of Yotei, budt since they killed the PC port for whatever reason, i don't even want to buy anything
load more comments
(6 replies)
This should have been an obvious outcome when digital games weren’t priced any less than their physical release.
It’s not about saving the environment with less plastic. It’s not about saving money for the customer. It’s not about making it more convenient for the customer or the developer.
It was always about more greed. More money in their pockets and more ways to fuck you over as a customer.
I'm not sure I follow the dynamic pricing explanation. This article shows evidence of A/B price testing with different sized discounts, but not specifically dynamic pricing. It seems to be regional at most. If I'm missing anything let me know.
Exactly what i was thinking. A/B testin is the best way to get data.
What worries me more is what they are going to do with that data and if it will lead to predatory business model or not.
load more comments
(2 replies)
It seems as though many people aren't reading the article, Sony was testing lower prices for the test groups, not higher. That sounds like the opposite of price gouging to me.
It's just a test. Doesn't mean they won't use it the other way.
Probably just seeing how much people notice and why.
Or maybe they're testing how many more sales they make when discounting more.
load more comments
(2 replies)
testing if there is a call to boycott or people swallow it I assume
Doesn't matter if there is boycott or not. They are letting the cat out of the bag and it's not going back in.
This is the start of normalizing surge pricing in gaming.
I should be able to use dynamic offers. Ok, today I'm offering 20% less.
These are the people who are about to win the console wars once Microsoft throws in the towel with Xbox.
PC gaming hopefully about to have a third golden age soon! 🤞
load more comments
(2 replies)
More incentive for people to go to PC and chances for Linux gaming to grow. We'll get a Linux GOG client someday and drag EGS kicking and screaming to Linux too. Steam lets devs generate keys for free for deva to sell on other stores with no Valve cut. Bundle sites like Fanatical, Humble Bundle, Digiphile
Closed hardware platforms with closed software distribution loops are destined for enshittification
I've always said digital games should be discounted. I saved you the manufacturing, shipping, middle man, and warehousing costs. But I got zero discount, and the digital game can just be taken from you
Anyone dealing with Sony in anyway absolutely deserves everthing they get. Fuck Sony ten ways to forever.
view more: next ›