this post was submitted on 02 Jun 2024
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Back in 1996 AAA games sold for $60 to $75. If we take the lowest price of $60 and adjust it for inflation, that would be $119 today. Computer games today are unrealistically cheap. And if you look at how much more effort goes into development, they're pretty much free.
I think there is a bigger market for them now though. What was the most popular video game in the 90s and how many copies sold vs the biggest games now? And now with steam and other sevices you don't even have to manufacture as many discs. Even freemium mobile games are making billions in revenue.
There's a bigger market now for many products, but their prices are usually keeping up with inflation.
Back in 1996, the average computer cost $2-6k adjusted for inflation. Now they are also much more difficult and complex to make, are much more powerful, and cost less.
Yes, a bunch of effort has gone into development, but that development doesn't disappear after the game is done. And now we have free, open source game engines that can be filled with assets made in free, open source 3d modeling software, using free, open source high level programming languages. A little bit of learning and the average person could make an early 2000s video game solo in a couple of weeks.
And yet they tend to be a worse experience, release before they are ready with DLC already ready to go, riddled with microtransactions and other awful issues. They aren't worth more.