4 ms·

The argument about the $60 price point seems specious to me. Video games have massive economies of scale and the market has been growing steadily faster than in

The argument about the $60 price point seems specious to me. Video games have massive economies of scale and the market has been growing steadily faster than inflation, meaning that while the price point has been the same, the volume of sales have increased with a low marginal cost for each unit sold. Along with sheer sales volume, digital distribution has lowered publishing costs, created after-markets for DLC, and reduced the secondary market. Digital distribution also allows for much greater price elasticity. If anything, you could argue that digital publishers like Steam, PlayStation Store, etc, should lower their cut, but it seems like that's starting to happen on the PC with increased competition in the space from Epic, Origin, etc. I think the real problem with the industry is that video games are a hit business where a handful of games make almost all the profit. The best way to profit in a space like this is to crank out content as cheaply as possible. This is evidenced by the fact that game developers have been working crunch since back in the 90s when a $50 game was worth $80 in 2018 dollars. Edit: Why not comment instead of censoring with downvotes?

ThrowawayR2 7y ago
> Video games have massive economies of scale In what way? The code and art/music/voice/story assets are custom for each game; the only thing that might be shareable is the engine.
- CoolGuySteve 7y ago
  Like I said, cost per unit sold is almost nothing.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
Newtonip 7y ago
Even though volume has gone up, the cost of making a triple AAA game is much higher than it use to be. Current day triple AAA titles are way more complex; they feature a ton of professional acting, highly detailed artwork, etc. Also, as you point out, inflation has gone up so that accounts in part why the unit price has not changed much. Even taking all that into account, perhaps it still doesn't justify the price they sell at. In that case, they may be selling it much higher than they need to because they can. People still buy games prices at $60.

ThrowawayR2 7y ago

> Video games have massive economies of scale In what way? The code and art/music/voice/story assets are custom for each game; the only thing that might be shareable is the engine.

CoolGuySteve 7y ago
Like I said, cost per unit sold is almost nothing.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

Newtonip 7y ago

Even though volume has gone up, the cost of making a triple AAA game is much higher than it use to be. Current day triple AAA titles are way more complex; they feature a ton of professional acting, highly detailed artwork, etc. Also, as you point out, inflation has gone up so that accounts in part why the unit price has not changed much. Even taking all that into account, perhaps it still doesn't justify the price they sell at. In that case, they may be selling it much higher than they need to because they can. People still buy games prices at $60.