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The sticker price for games has stayed rock steady for decades now while budgets have only exploded (not to mention inflation). AAA budgets, $60 titles, and no

by chiaro 9y ago

The sticker price for games has stayed rock steady for decades now while budgets have only exploded (not to mention inflation). AAA budgets, $60 titles, and no microtransactions or subscriptions is absolutely a 'pick two' scenario, and will continue to be.

izacus 9y ago
That completely ignores the fact that audience and number of sold copies had grown as well. Games that have once sold 1 million copoies now sell in 5-10x as much. If anything the profits are now higher than ever.
- chiaro 9y ago
  And budgets have exploded 200x from the 1-3M N64 game days. It's utterly disproportionate. If you look at the most profitable games (Blizzard, Valve, Riot) they're moving away from sticker prices altogether.
  - izacus 9y ago
    I'm not talking N64 days, e.g. typical EA example is Dead Space - the first one sold 1 million copies and was considered a huge success. Such a success that they bootstrapped a whole franchise. And that's not a N64 type game. It's third installment, Dead Space 3, was slated to sell minimum of 5 million copies. With less than 5 million, EA decided that it's not going to be profitable enough. It also had microtransactions and DLCs on top of those required 5 million copies sold. Who's greedy here?
maxsilver 9y ago
> while budgets have only exploded This is not really true. This is easy for us to check since many of these companies are publicly traded and are required to report their financials. As one example, EA claims in their public filings that EA's cost for AAA game development has decreased over the last ten years (roughly $300 million less dev costs per year today, inflation adjusted, than they spent in 2009). > AAA budgets, $60 titles, and no microtransactions or subscriptions is absolutely a 'pick two' scenario. It's not -- and again, we can know this for a fact from their public financials. EA claims their traditional AAA games (sales only, explicitly excluding any microtransactions or lootboxes) carry roughly 60% profit margin all on their own. They definitely don't need the extra gambling revenue, but it's obvious why they want it.
dkersten 9y ago
> The sticker price for games has stayed rock steady for decades Where I am, AAA games used to cost €40 at the top end. Then €50. Then €60 and now I see them for €70 (more if you buy bullshit deluxe editions that give you extra skins or somesuch; more still for collectors editions, but they've always existed). So, at least where I am, I'm not seeing it staying "rock steady for decades".

by chiaro 9y ago

izacus 9y ago

That completely ignores the fact that audience and number of sold copies had grown as well. Games that have once sold 1 million copoies now sell in 5-10x as much. If anything the profits are now higher than ever.

chiaro 9y ago
And budgets have exploded 200x from the 1-3M N64 game days. It's utterly disproportionate. If you look at the most profitable games (Blizzard, Valve, Riot) they're moving away from sticker prices altogether.
- izacus 9y ago
  I'm not talking N64 days, e.g. typical EA example is Dead Space - the first one sold 1 million copies and was considered a huge success. Such a success that they bootstrapped a whole franchise. And that's not a N64 type game. It's third installment, Dead Space 3, was slated to sell minimum of 5 million copies. With less than 5 million, EA decided that it's not going to be profitable enough. It also had microtransactions and DLCs on top of those required 5 million copies sold. Who's greedy here?

maxsilver 9y ago

> while budgets have only exploded This is not really true. This is easy for us to check since many of these companies are publicly traded and are required to report their financials. As one example, EA claims in their public filings that EA's cost for AAA game development has decreased over the last ten years (roughly $300 million less dev costs per year today, inflation adjusted, than they spent in 2009). > AAA budgets, $60 titles, and no microtransactions or subscriptions is absolutely a 'pick two' scenario. It's not -- and again, we can know this for a fact from their public financials. EA claims their traditional AAA games (sales only, explicitly excluding any microtransactions or lootboxes) carry roughly 60% profit margin all on their own. They definitely don't need the extra gambling revenue, but it's obvious why they want it.

dkersten 9y ago

> The sticker price for games has stayed rock steady for decades Where I am, AAA games used to cost €40 at the top end. Then €50. Then €60 and now I see them for €70 (more if you buy bullshit deluxe editions that give you extra skins or somesuch; more still for collectors editions, but they've always existed). So, at least where I am, I'm not seeing it staying "rock steady for decades".