3 ms·

>> I remember paying $60 for a Genesis cartridge, back when graphics and immersion were improving every year. Seems crazy though, I don't feel like I live in th

>> I remember paying $60 for a Genesis cartridge, back when graphics and immersion were improving every year. Seems crazy though, I don't feel like I live in that world anymore. I wonder if the fact that we're talking digital downloads (vs shelf space at Walmart) has been the driving factor behind "race to the bottom". As a developer, I don't like the "race to the bottom" because it means I have to charge less to remain competitive. As a consumer, I like it because I get quality games (sometimes) for free or like $5. Thinking about how I used to have to beg for mommy to buy me a $60 game when I was 10 yrs old. This would be a $5 effort now. Could I have gotten away with being a more disobedient kid? Nah, prolly not. Thing is, now the race to the bottom has just (irreversibly?) skewed price expectations so I still hear consumers complaining "oh it costs $5? I'm not going to play that. SKIP" And in my head I'm thinking — "wow...you spend how much on your coffee EVERY DAY, COMPULSIVELY, yet you scoff at a complete body of work someone is selling to you for $5?"

brownbat 13y ago
> And in my head I'm thinking — "wow...you spend how much on your coffee EVERY DAY, COMPULSIVELY, yet you scoff at a complete body of work someone is selling to you for $5?" Yeah, but, I don't know many people who will harvest, ship, and roast coffee beans just for fun. I'm mostly just thrown by everyone casting this as some insane race condition, some producer lunacy that's confusing irrational consumers. Maybe consumers are the smart ones, and they're sending a deliberate signal to producers. Maybe we're saying, "Hey, we have distraction mostly covered as a human problem. And there are a lot of these other human problems to work on. If you're smart and can pitch in other places where we have greater needs, where it's harder to attract talent because the fields aren't as inherently rewarding, then we'll toss you better returns. (If you can go without good returns, then no big deal, just do what you love.)" I don't think markets are always (or even usually) rational. But if we're pitting today's game prices against the monopolistic rents charged by consoles a couple decades ago... I don't first assume today's prices are the irrational ones.

brownbat 13y ago

> And in my head I'm thinking — "wow...you spend how much on your coffee EVERY DAY, COMPULSIVELY, yet you scoff at a complete body of work someone is selling to you for $5?" Yeah, but, I don't know many people who will harvest, ship, and roast coffee beans just for fun. I'm mostly just thrown by everyone casting this as some insane race condition, some producer lunacy that's confusing irrational consumers. Maybe consumers are the smart ones, and they're sending a deliberate signal to producers. Maybe we're saying, "Hey, we have distraction mostly covered as a human problem. And there are a lot of these other human problems to work on. If you're smart and can pitch in other places where we have greater needs, where it's harder to attract talent because the fields aren't as inherently rewarding, then we'll toss you better returns. (If you can go without good returns, then no big deal, just do what you love.)" I don't think markets are always (or even usually) rational. But if we're pitting today's game prices against the monopolistic rents charged by consoles a couple decades ago... I don't first assume today's prices are the irrational ones.