So...interesting experiment, but in light of the $80 games thing, I figured I'd go back in my steam history and consider what I bought on the steam store and what I normally purchase. Now, to be fair, this won't be a perfect metric. A lot of games I buy outside of steam, especially expensive games on other platforms like COD games from 2019-2021, or battlefield, but most are on steam. So, that said, let's really discuss how much I typically pay for games, to show how absurd the idea of $80 games is to me.
2013
2013 is when I started getting into digitally buying games. I bought around 6 games, costing a total of $41.60. To be fair, this isn't all I bought, and I know some games that are more expensive aren't included. IIRC I spent around $48 on COD ghosts and $80 on BF4+season pass, so let's add that to that. That's $169.60 for 8 games. Averages out to $21.20. Still a relatively low amount. I mean, I'll pay a lot for a game I'll spent tons of time in like a solid MP shooter, but otherwise I was buying games CHEAP. And the cheap ones were pretty good too. Stuff like bioshock infinite and civ 5 included in that. Tons of value. Insane value. Peak value.
But yeah, $21.20 on average.
2014
4 games, $25.68. Of course, again, stuff not included as well. Including COD which IIRC cost like $45ish, and Far cry 4, which also cost, idk, $45ish. I really dont recall. So let's say 6 games at a total of $115.68.
That gives me $19.28 per game.
2015
On steam I bought 17 games for a total of $170.88. I also bought 2 additional games on EA's platform for $55.10. So I spent a total of $225.98 on 19 games. GREAT year for me. Now, a lot of these were budgety games, but some expensive ones too. Oh yeah, almost forgot COD, probably say, $45 there. So 20 games for $270.98.
That's $13.55 a game. What a steal. Again, a few expensive ones in there but also a lot of cheap ones.
2016
I bought 8 games on steam for $146.31. I bought an additional 2 on EA for $79.49. Also, overwatch for $40.
Once again, that's $24.16 per game. You can see how most of my game consumption is padded by cheap games.
2017
4 games for $89.25. An additional 2 on EA for $69.94. And then I bought COD somewhere else. So let's say $45 again, idk I normally spent $40-48 per year through this point. That's. a total of 7 games for $203.89.
That's $29.12 per game. A bit more than average, but I bought fewer games. And during this time I was also incurring hardware costs due to upgrading my PC. So that's one of the reasons I spent a little less.
2018
12 games for $188.01. An additional 2 not on steam, COD BO4 ($45) and BF5 (presumably $40), and yeah, that's 14 games for $273.
That's...$19.50 a game.
2019
$148.53 for 7 games. An additional $45 for COD and IIRC $13 for Fallout 76. So 9 games for $206.53.
That's $22.95 a game. And that's with steam starting to charge sales tax. So probably closer to $21.something all things considered.
2020
11 games for $171.60, also don't forget say, $45 for COD again. So 12 games for $216.60.
That's $18.05 a game. We're really seeing a trend of "$20 a game" here, although it varies from spending as low as $2.50 to as high as $45-50ish.
2021
8 games for $178.45. And an additional 2 for $90 from other platforms that I recall. So $268.45 for 10 games.
$26.85 a game.
2022
5 games for $162.66. had to cut back because I spent some money on PC upgrades.
That's $32.53 a game.
This, btw, is when I start feeling the pinch of increased software costs. I mean, I'm buying fewer games and they cost more money. Hardware costs are getting to me, and the fact that $70 titles now means games cost more on sale when discounted is also affecting me. I'm starting to feel a pinch at this point.
2023
MAJOR hardware costs this year. Spent $71.78 on 3 games.
That's $23.93 a game.
It really goes to show that I dont really buy more when i face higher costs, I just purchase less. To be fair there are far fewer games I've been interested in. But yeah. Again, had to make those sacrifices to keep my hardware current.
2024 (into early 2025)
6 games for $174.74. So...$29.12.
Again, still kinda reeling from upgrading my hardware the previous year.
To be fair I still have money for games but I'm saving most of it for future purchases. Gonna be more new, expensive games I'm going to want this year. Doom the dark ages, battlefield 6, etc. So...I'm preparing my wallet. Hopefully with me acquiring all the hardware I need for the next few years, I won't need to worry about that and now I can spend more on games.
But yeah. A few trends I notice. I normally spend $200ish on games a year. Sometimes more, sometimes less, it depends on what else I buy that exact year and what I can afford.
Historically I would spend $20ish a game. Now I'm spending closer to $30 in recent years. part of this is because games just dont go on sale like they used to. Raising the price to $70 makes the sale price higher, and also developers dont put games on deep discounts any more. Like 10 years ago I also got like free games from friends because that stuff was SO CHEAP. Like a 3 month old game for $7.50 level cheap. I excluded free games from this analysis although i did get quite a few too (although few i actually played in recent years). But yeah. That used to be how things were. Games would start out high at MSRP but they would be cheap. What really drove down the costs of games in the 2010s? The fact that a lot of my buying was padded out by like 3+ year old games going on sale for <$10. it used to be INSANELY common for old games to get that cheap. Like in 2013-2015, I was getting tons of games from 2008-2011ish for like $5. While occasionally that still happens, it happens FAR less than it used to. Most of the cheap games I want I got, and Im mostly waiting on games I missed from 2022 on that still go for like $30+ ON SALE. it's insane.
Like, historically, yeah sure, I'd pay a lot for a game, sometimes up to $50-60 on occasion. BUT...I'd only buy like 1-3 of those a year, typically padding out my game consumption with VERY CHEAP games that cost like $5-10. I'd buy like 10 games a year, only for a few of them to be $40+ and most of them to be cheap. I'd also spend the most on MP games I'd put a lot of hours in like COD and battlefield, recognizing that price/performance is essential in those purchases. if I'm gonna spend a lot on a game, it better net me a LOT of hours. I dont spend $60 on a 10 hour game typically. I spend $10 on a 10 hour game.
And yeah, as you can see, in recent years, inflation is biting me. Again, part of it is hardware costs, as I need to spend more on hardware, especially as my income has stagnated, I spend less on games. You arent getting more out of me on money here. You cant just raise the price and expect me to bite the bullet, I WILL JUST SPEND LESS.
As it is, I'm already spending more on games, closer to $30 a game, and I just buy fewer of them as a result. To be fair, the 2020s kinda suck in gaming where i WANT to buy less, but that's the silver lining, as these costs go up, and become less inflexible as sales discounts are less cheap, there's less I wanna buy. So that's a plus. But that's the nature of the 2020s. Stuff costs more. It's not as good as stuff in the past, bleh. It's why I'm so blah on modern gaming. When I spent $20 on games I'd buy more than when I have to spend $30. I'm buying fewer games at a higher price.
That's the real cost of inflation. As I said, charge $80 a game and never lower your prices like nintendo? F around and find out. I won't buy it. Even if I did, it would cause me to buy fewer cheap games instead, or have to choose between games where i simply dont buy some titles. So think about it, you can charge $40 and maybe get a buy from me, but at $80? Not a chance.
And again, you charge $80 for a game, that's $60 at 25% off. That's what used to be $45 from me. That's now 50% off roughly. $40 a game. 75% off and youre still charging $20. And at this point, a lot of developers of new games wont lower their prices that low. Again, a lot of my gaming habit is REALLY fueled by older games going for <$10 a piece. But if game developers never put games on sale that low since they think $20 is "good enough" for their 8 year old title, well guess what? It makes me less willing to give it a chance.
Again, you gotta keep all of this in mind. Going back to the mid 2010s, A LOT of games I bought were SUPER CHEAP. I only bought a handful of really expensive ones. And while those expensive games are often the ones that I remember the most as they were the best and most worth the money, again, the cheap ones were what fueled the most of my game consumption monetarily. if that dries up, I just consume less. Plain and simple. I have a limited gaming budget. Probably $150-300 depending on the year, with me spending on average around $225 and buying say, 10 games. So that's $22.50 a game give or take. Sound about right above? Sounds about right to me. When that goes up to $30 a game, that's just going to cause me to only buy like 7-8 games instead of 10. And if it's the really expensive games that are even more expensive, well, say, $60 on sale on an $80 game. I buy like 2 of those and that's like $100 for all other games. And if THEY get more expensive since a lot of devs are reluctant to go below the $20 mark these days even for older games, well...again, that's just fewer games.
Point is, I AM facing the economic pressure and AM being priced out. I don't have more money. I'm not gonna just spend $400 a year instead of $200 to keep up with my normal consumption habits. That's what the businesses THINK we'll do. That we're just spend more to buy the same stuff. No...I'll buy LESS stuff to compensate for higher prices.
Also, for the nintendo fans in the room, this is why i dont buy the switch. $200 for a console and then $60 for games that never go on sale...HAHA. HAHAHA. NO. Would eat into what I already spend on PC gaming. I can fuel my PC gaming, or I can play nintendo, I cant handle both. And nintendo franchises are nice, but they're not THAT nice.
And $450 for switch? $80 games. HAHA. HAHAHA. NO.
Again, see the problem?
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