The $70 Price Tag Is Actually Indefensible (The Jimquisition)

[@riper3126]

'Games are getting more expensive to make" I don't know maybe stop overpaying your CEOS

[@lessiedevelop7718]

I'm probably the millionth person to say this but:

[@blacklightredlight2945]

How dare you, we need to pay the people on top insane amounts of money. People won't work as a ceo for only 2 million a year!

[@t_buddski4672]

Boddy Kodich over hears from afar" Oh no!0_o

[@baronsengir187]

And meanwhile the most expensive games are decades old.

[@Noximo]

This is good news for indie devs as they can price their games higher and still keep competitive prices.

[@LaylaSpellwind]

"There'll be less microtransactions!" No, no there will not. If anything, there will be more.

[@glenngriffon8032]

Yeah that's a trickle down reaganomics idea. "If we give rich people MORE money they'll give us money in return!" No. No they won't. They'll just get more greedy.

[@spiraljumper74]

I mean, have they seen Valhalla and Godfall?

[@mrcheesemunch]

The fact people are optimistic enough to believe that even though multiple new gen games have already proved them wrong.

[@JeffreyThrash]

@@glenngriffon8032 I have overheard a podcast from one of my co-workers where one guy unironically suggested that the latest developments in the feud between Apple and Epic Games will lead to "trickle down" economics that favor the customers. The other guy scoffed the moment he heard the term "trickle down," thankfully, but it goes to show that, if anything, media in general, games, politics, or otherwise, are actually biased towards capitalism and social Darwinism, if anything, because that is the status quo and it makes them the most money. I would argue that it's outlets like CNN or WaPo, instead of Fox News, that are going out of their way to make anyone to the left of Biden look like petulant and potentially-dangerous SJWs just so they can continue making tons of money from "doom-scrollers" under a boring President while paving the way for an even more psycho President than Trump, where they can then make the big bucks off of concerned Democrats again.

[@Noanatsuka]

I love how the majority of us KNOW this. But then half of that majority STILL buys it, when the things they like are being pushed out with all that bullshit on it. They say "vote with your wallet" and they do... in the very OPPOSITE way of actually doing anything of substance to the problems at hand.

[@DarkKnight-ik7ph]

does anyone remember when horse armor was the most outrageous thing ?

[@prplfleur]

That sounds familiar but I can't remember exactly

[@mrsejanoz523]

@@prplfleur It was back in 2006. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_The_Elder_Scrolls_IV:_Oblivion#Downloadable_content

[@Yemeth42pis]

@@mrsejanoz523 What ?! It's been 14 yars ?! .... fuck me ...

[@LexYeen]

Pepperidge Farm remembers.

[@mrsejanoz523]

@@Yemeth42pis I know, that knocked me for a loop, too.

[@TheSrawsome]

"Gamers DEMAND high intensity graphics" Highest selling game of all time: Minecraft

[@TheSrawsome]

Most played game on Twitch RIGHT NOW (just a couple weeks after a new COD release): Among Us

[@jvmango3057]

True we want FUN games graphics are important too but i think it should not be the main reason to buy or play it

[@VisualdelightPro]

And Genshin Impact which has low Poly abstract graphics.

[@PyrokineticFire1]

i think they mean "demand" in an economic sense; there is a market demand for high graphics because those games sell (not necessarily top sellers, but many make their investment money back). they're trying to push the price, recognizing they'll see a small drop in quantity of sales, but net more profit. relatively it's an extra $10 profit, so IF they were making $30 profit before (@$60), it's a 33% increase of profit per unit. they could sell 25% fewer copies and make the same profit!

[@StrazdasLT]

This is incorrect. The highest selling game of all time is actually Wii Sports. But if we talk about real games then it would be Mario brothers. Ok, lets then limit it to not being extremely old. Sims 3 it is then. Minecraft sold a lot, but its not the best selling game. As far as graphics selling - just look at ubisoft sales.

[@craigcharlesworth1538]

1990s: Games are expensive because carts are expensive. When everything is distributed on CD it'll get cheaper. 2000s: Games are expensive because bricks-and-mortar retail is expensive. When everything is digital it'll get cheaper. 2020: $70 please.

[@devonvelasquez5080]

Funny thing is that digital distribution DID result in cheaper games...from indie studios, and even those have slowly been going up in price.

[@cezerelecrucio9717]

@Intel i5 Dual Core Because Java still costs money, and video game development still costs money. Are you stupid?

[@afrog2666]

Inflation is a thing, so a direct comparison of dollars doesn`t make much sense, 50 usd in 1990 is about 99 usd in 2020, "AAA" games are still expensive, but they`re not really a lot *more* expensive today than 30 years ago.. Still unacceptable that games are released half finished or sectioned into pieces and monetized to hell and back..

[@CreepyUncleIdjit]

​@@afrog2666 Inflation does not apply to tech the same way. Otherwise you would be spending over $10,000 for a television or a low end PC right now. This is most definitely an economy of scale situation. Something to keep in mind, there were quite a few SNES games that approached the $80 price point, and N64 games had a $70-$80 price tag. Then Sony came around and knocked that down to $50, which remained for awhile due to the low cost of optical media. Memory, storage, internet speeds, all of it, has gotten cheaper as time has gone on, now making digital distribution cheap as Hell. Games nowadays also do not need to be built from the ground up, with many pre-existing resources and tools available to significantly defray development costs even further (Havok Engine, Unity, Unreal, etc). No, this is greed. The price jump from $50 to $60 was at the same time as DLC and microtransactions were being introduced. It was a three-pronged cash grab to see how much we were willing to put up with.

[@rikowolfin4984]

@@CreepyUncleIdjit "10,000 for a PC" I mean... if you want a good PC, especially a gaming PC, they tend to be fucking close to that much.

[@TheLazySamurai]

"The cost of a movie ticket has gone steadily up over the years." Yeah, and the number of times I go see a movie in cinemas has steadily decreased over the years... gee I wonder what 2 factors caused that? . . . . Hint: Price, and quality

[@mrcheesemunch]

I love that shit because my local cinema dropped the price of ALL tickets to £4.99 a couple of years ago and suddenly I went to see like 10+ movies a year, before I'd have to agonize over the £20 fuel cost + food cost + the £11-15 ticket for movies I was desperate to see. After the change me and my friend went to see a chick flick just because we could.

[@mjc0961]

Going to the movies: ⚪ Costs almost as much as buying the movie on disc (and almost nobody does _that_ anymore either) ⚪ Probably involves sitting in dirty seats and walking across dirty floors ⚪ Doesn't include a pause button in case I need to take a piss ⚪ Doesn't include a rewind button in case I missed a line, which is more likely than ever at the movies because... ⚪ There are jerkoffs who think a movie is a great time to chat, use their cell phones, and eat. Who wants to see and hear the movie, right? I know I'm paying almost disc price to be blinded by a bunch of cell phones in front of me and listen to people chat and chew. I didn't go to the movies even before the price went up and the quality went down. I can't remember a time in my life when going to the movies didn't suck.

[@vendiblesquire]

lets face it, the actual film hasn't been the expensive part of the cinema in at least a decade

[@radioactiverat8751]

Man, Hollywood doesn't know how to make movies anymore. A few jems pop up here and there but most films are really poor. Everything that is wrong with the Red Dawn remake is whats wrong with movies these days. Not to say that the original is flawless, but I haven't seen it in a while.

[@vendiblesquire]

@@radioactiverat8751 yeah. i was gonna make an excuse cause I'm all for devils advoccat... but yeah, especially in the comedy sphere

[@Adam_U]

"Poor people deserve to have fun too" Cannot agree more. I'm digusted at all the idiots that seem to think poor people should just spend their entire existence working three jobs, eating and sleeping, and NEVER have the audacity to attempt any enjoyment of life

[@jbktpl1245]

Then they'll be wondering why people commit suicide or adapt bad habits due to stress

[@mekannatarry1929]

@@jbktpl1245 Not really; "All the more food for them." is what they say.

[@jbktpl1245]

@@mekannatarry1929 For some people, thankfully.

[@mekannatarry1929]

@@jbktpl1245 I'd say most; not very fond of those who are "well off".

[@comicbookprodigy995]

I watch Jim because I love gaming, but can't afford or have the time to play. #2JobsGang

[@Kolbatsu]

Developers should unionize Pundits: no, don't do that then games will cost more! AAA game publisher: we're raising game costs to $70 Pundits: yeah seems fair.

[@FiendMatadorSlayerOfNoobs]

Obligatory: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rWrTloOmrbpobq8

[@ThexDynastxQueen]

They really should strike honestly 99% of the working US population should've had a general strike like India as the exploitative fact of capitalism was exposed. Low wage workers are essential to society not crumbling yet not worthy of a raise, hazard pay or HEALTHCARE EVEN IN A PANDEMIC?! People are considered LUCKY to be getting paid crumbs of crumbs, how can anyone be complaisant with this?

[@RPGDrone]

The worst thing is how there is basically NO CRITICISM from gaming journalists, or journalists in general, no expose, no breaking down of costs, basically zero journalism, and there is this creepy hive-mind where they all start agreeing with each other and quoting each other, from Kotaku to PCGamer to every other "gaming" journalist platform. It is a goddamn Media Industrial Complex and gaming journalists are the cheapest, most laziest vultures money can buy. The amount of times they turned on gamers is absurd - now they want us to boycott games they don't like, but will shill for mega-corporations.

[@NShomebase]

"Movie ticket prices have been rising steadily" AND THEATER ATTENDANCE HAS BEEN DWINDLING STEADILY TOO, IMAGINE THAT.

[@immortalfrieza]

And like all the other things going up in price they're going to use COVID as an excuse for the price increase... and then not lower the price after the pandemic is over.

[@Alucard-A-La-Carte]

That also has a lot to do with not paying employees enough to give a shit AND the fact that the theatergoing experience is piss-poor overall when compared to the experience of watching my massive fuck-off TV with my own hot dogs and nachos.

[@DEVILTAZ35]

Cinema will probably be dead by next year lol

[@JCdental]

Cinemas are dead

[@walperinus]

@@DEVILTAZ35im willig to say 2025, as soon the varsus ends ppl gona do everythig they coulndt do, includig going to the movies, expect news articules on ''industries revival''just to plumet again a bit later, then and only then cinema will start the slow road to the way of blockbuster

[@TheChronboy420]

"Poor people deserve to have fun too" the truth nobody says

[@Gaming_Sparky58]

It's at this point I admire Free to play games more I recently moved from console to PC going from hundreds of games to NONE, and free to play has made the transition a little easier for me in the short term. (The good ones of course)

[@MisterZimbabwe]

But if they were good people who deserved nice things then why are they poor? CHECKMATE SOCIALISTS -Kool Aid Drinkers

[@OFSheep]

There are people who believe the opposite, that poor people should live brutal miserable lives with no luxuries. See that fox news fridge thing.

[@r0bw00d]

Video games aren't the only source for fun. We'll be fine.

[@dychostarr]

@Future Pants if your story is true (this is the internet after all) I'm sorry this happened to you. I hope things go better for you and hope that psycho gets what coming to them. I'm all for having guns for self defense and all. But that guy is the exact person that doesn't need a fucking gun. A disagreement in an arguement is not justification for pulling your firearm on someone.

[@alicehiess6508]

Honestly, I've played $10 indie games with more value than some AAA games.

[@TraustiGeir]

Same.

[@scottvertical398]

*most AAA games

[@HauntedCorpseGaming]

Thats 2020 in a nutshell for me.

[@thevisi0naryy]

That’s probably 60% of my catalog.

[@baileyhowe9401]

I've got more out of Hades - a game i got for £15 - than i have any AAA game that's came out this year

[@mizmamajoe]

$70.00 during a pandemic when people have lost their jobs, homes and can't even buy groceries? Greed has no limits.

[@buttdog420]

Just don't buy the game then? It's a luxury good lol, if companies want to sell it at a higher price and people continue to purchase it at that price then why do you expect anything to change?

[@blowfish1702]

If you've lost your job, home and can't afford food then why the hell would you be buying the latest version assasins creed? If you don't like it, don't buy it 🤷‍♂️

[@ThexDynastxQueen]

It's not greed, the Poors just shouldn't have the cheapest access to any luxuries including dev staff who also haven't had their wages increased yet somehow cost are rising along with profits and CEO pay...BUT IT'S NOT GREED, I SWEAR! HAVING BILLIONS AND STILL WANTING MORE DESPITE NOT NEEDING IT IS JUST BUSINESS WHICH MEANS IT'S FINE!

[@alvinanis3006]

@@buttdog420 In what world have games been categorized or marketed as 'luxury goods'? Do only rich socialites buy them, not regular people? Actually think about what you say next time.

[@buttdog420]

@@alvinanis3006 Oh sorry, didnt realize video games are a necessary good to you. Maybe think before you speak next time bud.

[@spiderbeef23]

I really hate the "Development costs have risen" argument because the money's definitely not going to the developers. It never does.

[@BigFatOfFate]

Ah yes, the "Trickle Down" economy

[@scaper12123]

"Games are so expensive to make-" No, they're not. Your CEO's paycheck is expensive to make.

[@mrshmuga9]

@@scaper12123 Having 50-100 people teams, in an expensive city to live, with 50-80k+ salaries and benefits on top, is not cheap. This guy does a good breakdown of the cost (as best as he can find) for a AAA game. kzbin.info/www/bejne/h2asfH14d7Bsr6M Not gonna argue if CEOs are paid too much or not, because neither you or I actually knows what’s involved (although I can certainly agree golden parachutes are abhorrent, don’t reward failure). But the amount they make has little impact on game development. Especially when CEOs of these huge publishers produce/publish multiple games (it and small) every year.

[@klapauzius101]

Development costs have risen, but revenues have risen too. Let alone that most game sales are now digital, that saves an enormous amount of costs for the publishers.

[@imo098765]

@@mrshmuga9 We arent saying games didnt increase in price to make but if the actual workers get sacked, paid too little to live in the city in which they are employed, have to work obscene amount of crunch time while the upper management gets millions and millions. They dont deserve a single cent more than what they already earning which is too much. How can blizzard have the best ever financial year but then sack 800 people and say they arent making enough money. but they just boasted about how much they made

[@Giogiogio4]

"Games are getting more expensive to make"" No, CEO's are getting more expensive to give bonuses.

[@MrSanctuarys]

Yeah that's just fucking ridiculous

[@USS_Sentinel]

Most CEOs are parasites.

[@gum8191]

Kill the elites

[@yeetleslaw8529]

It seems like the job, a CEO has, is to be a scapegoat the company. And even then, they seem like an very expensive scapegoat. Maybe if they got rid of CEOs, these publishers could make more money for their stockholders.

[@nebufabu]

(Speakingasfastaspossible) But you see high CEO pay packages protect the company from raiders, attract the best and the brightest to the C-suites, and because they're in stock options, they solve the principal-agent problem and thanks to some accounting tricks aren't actually reported as expense (except for tax purposes, naturally, because we want to drown Big Government in a bathtub) Only a dirty SOCIALIST!!11!! could be against such tremendous innovation! /s (Speakingevenfaster) NVM that the way high CEO pay "fixes" raiding is by making them raid their own companies before an outsider does and it's remarkable how there was no raiders before 1980s, I wonder what happened then, or that anyone who really believes American CEOs are really many times better than not just their employees, but CEOS of similar companies in other countries is nuts, that the whole "principal-agent" thing is depending on the belief shareholders are the only principals and that red-baiting is stupid... But not as stupid as the cult of Our Inevitable Innovation.

[@Batchall_Accepted]

"The movie industry has been raising ticket prices for decades" Yeah and look at them now, literally everyone jumped ship the second there was an alternative way to watch new releases cause it's about 1/3 the cost.

[@IAmTheBugInsideYou]

I feel bad for those that worked in movie theaters & the like because it's definitely an entryway job that helps people get a start while they look for other avenues, but I couldn't give a shit for the movie theater companies themselves. I'll be glad if those businesses never come back.

[@darkblood626]

Fun fact. Every penny of the ticket price goes to Hollywood. Theaters only make money from the food they sell.

[@steveom5479]

Every cinema in my city has been charging 5 euro for tickets to movies for the past two years so they're not even raising prices anymore

[@swiggyhunter4682]

@@darkblood626 yup. I used to manage a Regal Theater. The incentives they would push to upgrade people to larger drinks and popcorn was insane.

[@Ckoz2829]

@@steveom5479 The theatre near me has $5 Tuesdays and you get a free small bag of popcorn if you’re a rewards member with the app. And they got the comfy recliner seats. It really is an experience and one of the things I miss the most during this pandemic. That and restaurants.

[@theodorepetridis3977]

I'm officially in the "wait for two years then buy the complete edition at less than half price" club.

[@StrazdasLT]

Been there for years now, wecome, its fun here.

[@hellNo116]

The last game I bought full price was witcher 3... And it was a gift by my family so it might doesn't really count 😂

[@DaciValt]

This. I don't need any game immediately, I already have a library I can pick and chose from whenever I wish and just grab what I can as sales pop up.

[@AmazinglyAwkward]

I’m in this club especially when it comes to consoles and I’m glad I am when we look at the PS5 and Xbox Series X. Who wants to get stressed for hours trying to secure a piece of plastic that has hardly any entertainment other than games you already own?

[@Squiggy2010]

The "wait for it to go on Game Pass" tactic works out as well.

[@Jaxymann]

Game companies: “Games need to be so expensive because game development is so expensive” Also game companies: *Gives multi-million dollar severance packages to corporate executives whilst laying off thousands of game dev employees whilst making billions during a global pandemic*

[@USSAnimeNCC-]

Their like politicians go say we can’t afford this think about the debts and while giving tax break or bailout for the elites and corporations

[@therealbahamut]

This.

[@JustSomebody5]

Don't forget those gaudy and needless live-action ads for games like Titanfall, Dead Space 3, and the pre-rendered movies that look like cinematics but are only used to promote the game, like EA did for Dante's Inferno.

[@useraccount333]

Alright, I guess if we're paying for the game development up front, I guess you don't need microtransactions in games then. Unless you wanna claim they ALSO pay the game developers. Gee, with this constant river of money flowing in, I wonder why people are leaving the industry in droves! IT'S A MYSTERY!

[@ChimiMyChanga73]

I work in AAA, and... we made a fucking killing this year, i've seen the numbers. We made double our hi-target every month but we still laid people off.

[@michaelbrandse7450]

"Games are getting more expensive to make" This argument is not even entirely true either, even if we look purely at development and not marketing. Sure, we could argue that as the need for more detail increases, development costs increases as well. However, this completely and entirely ignores the middleware industry, or even just the advancement in technology. Trees for instance. No big company in their right mind ever makes any tree models anymore. They use SpeedTree, software specifically meant to quickly and easily generate high quality foliage. Assassin's creed Valhalla? Yeah, that uses SpeedTree. That doesn't mean it doesn't take time. However, compared to modelling and texturing a tree from ground up? Simply no comparison. Level of detail meshes? InstaLOD. Realtime lighting and propagation? Enlighten. Physics? Havoc. Before we had to bake normal maps, light maps and whatnot. Nowadays? Use Substance for your textures (or something similar) and not only are variations easily generated, baking out normal maps and whatnot is super easy. We can't even call it baking anymore at this point. Sure, high quality models will still require sculpting, but the last time I looked, characters actually didn't increase in number by that much. That's not even mentioning scanned geometry. That Unreal Engine 5 trailer? Yeah, you can download the props used to make the cave environment from Quixel Megascans, _for free_ (provided you use the Unreal engine). I will fully admit that graphic engineers have a hard time with keeping up with trends and whatnot, considering that seemingly innocuous demands (higher resolution, higher framerate) can have massive impacts on how much optimization you have to do. Still, while demands have gone up, solutions to drive down development time have gone up too. Of course, you won't ever see anyone mentioning that.

[@dinokaiser]

"Sure, high quality models will still require sculpting, but the last time I looked, characters actually didn't increase in number by that much" There's also the fact that higher quality sculpted characters won't actually add all that many (if any) additional costs since sculpting a high res model as a basis for a lower poly model is how modelling characters and pretty much everything has been done for YEARS, its where practically all game models get their normal map data. Also... it's not like they pay their artists more for their work and i'm damn sure they won't see those extra €$10

[@atavusable]

In all some degree of automatisation takes place to minimize devellopment time. Take cyberpunk 2077. I was very surprised when they talked about ”jadil” to generate facial movement on all characters. That’s amazing to lower the animation designer work and avoid a mass effect andromeda repeat!

[@michaelbrandse7450]

@@dinokaiser Indeed. My normal map generation part was mostly regarding surfaces that can be textured without sculpting. Like minute details on rock surfaces, unevenness on rusty metal and whatnot. That stuff nowadays can be generated many many times faster than any baking solution back in the day. I used to suck at realistic materials. Now it's a breeze, because Substance does most of the work for me. Hell, stylized surfaces are now the bigger timesink, and I used to be _good_ at that stuff.

[@michaelbrandse7450]

​@@atavusable That's exactly my point. But that is also exactly what is generally missing from the argument anytime someone mentions "development costs have risen." Automation is not just for low level menial tasks. It's also for high level menial tasks! And there are plenty of those in game development.

[@JeffreyThrash]

Me, an aspiring 3D artist who was dumb enough to model my own trees and never keep an asset library: Write that down! Write that down!!

[@smjaiteh]

I’m 99% certain anybody writing to defend the price hike haven’t had to buy a game out of pocket for the last two years.

[@russell6075]

I haven’t bought a game on launch since red dead theres no need anymore nothing what comes out now is must play right away it’s usually cash grabs or same old stuff you can pick up months later

[@BrappyHour]

Only 2 yrs?

[@theconsolekiller7113]

99 dollars not percentiles makes sense as a gaming price tag dont you think Saxon?

[@AnimatedTerror]

Yeah.

[@Gaming_Sparky58]

@@russell6075 Yeah VERY few worthwhile games anymore such a shame.

[@BeastOrGod]

"Development costs have increased for the past 10 years, so 70 dollars is fair." "So, do you pay your developers more than 10 years ago?" "...... no, but....."

[@Revacholiere]

I agree that $70 is too much due to increasing revenues alongside costs, but why would increased development costs mean developers are paid more? The costs are in hiring more developers. Hiring more people doesn't mean you pay your currently employed ones more money.

[@BeastOrGod]

@@Revacholiere My analogy is perfect, they just need to sell more, not increase price. Hire more staff = Sell more products. Pay more to staff = Increase product price.

[@Revacholiere]

@@BeastOrGod But the developers are still doing the same thing as before, there's just more of them. Why pay more for people doing the same as they were before?

[@BeastOrGod]

@@Revacholiere Why increase the price of a product that is still same as before then? It's not like the games are longer or have more content than before. And it's their choice to make their games more graphically detailed, more lifelike, more realistic. Look at Breath of the Wild, basically cartoon visually, one of the most successful games ever. They chose to make their games expensive, because they THINK it will sell more. Not because we asked them to, but because they are greeedy. The worst part of this argument is that you're defending companies for being assholes, paying your developers more is a good thing. Selling your product cheaper is a good thing. You're defending Bobby Koticks for paying himself 10 million more every year, instead of paying his staff more every year.

[@Revacholiere]

@@BeastOrGod I said in my first comment there's no need for them to increase the price, because whilst development costs have increased (obviously), revenue has also increased significantly through the selling of MTX and DLC which take a lot less money and effort to create. I'm just saying that the increase of development costs would not mean developers are paid more.

[@Dannyboyyay]

Modern video games: - virtually nonexistent material cost due to the primary way of distributiuon being digital - also way reduced costs for shipping and logistics - production so acccessible a single person can develop a fully fleshed game, while in the past tools and knowledge were a pivilege of the rich and the elite - companies are way more structued due to years of experience - the most financially successful form of entertainment media - sponsorships and publishers fueling way way more money into a single game than ever before And you're going to tell me, that games got more expensive to make? If anything, they're becoming cheaper and cheaper by the minute.

[@setcheck67]

Marketing is getting hella more expensive. That's pretty much where there entire argument lies. They really don't pay their devs much at all honestly.

[@no_nameyouknow]

I agree with you mostly, but game devs were not rich and elite back in the day, they just had to work harder to learn the craft.

[@mr649001]

I feel like graphics are also to blame here. It almost feels like companies waste a ton of resources to make every game look as stupidly detailed as possible to drive up costs and justify all the money grubbing practices/price hikes after the fact. "Prestige" (lol) games have a place in the market but there's no way that EVERY game has to look the way it does now. Like if a sports game or a platformer or some kind of B game came out and just sorta looked like a PS3 game (or better yet actually had a unique artstyle that's easy on the artists and hardware), I don't think people would mind too much. Then again, those graphics are part of what grabs people's attention because it's usually the first aspect of a game that you'll take in, so in that way you could almost think of it as part of the marketing costs.

[@realhumanbean7915]

@@mr649001 You don’t get it, we need peepeepoopoo ray tracing gigafart per megashit ultrarealistic textures because you’re forcing us to! We’re forcing them to have good graphics so much, that’s why the game people bought the most was minecraft

[@papapiggie6697]

Hell we have a thriving indie market let’s boycott these shitty devs and support the real developers. What are they gonna do?

[@ItaiSchewartz]

"The wait for a discount" generation.

[@Rastloese]

Yup, that's actually how I buy videogames now.

[@LabMatt]

I will gladly wait 7 years or more to buy a game with at least 50% discount.

[@KindredBrujah]

Yup, I have enough games. I don't need to pay more than £30 for a game to play it immediately. I may make an exception for Cyberpunk 2077 if it's as good as it looks. Still haven't preordered it though.

[@Brandonious15987]

Sadly most people won't do that. Hell most of the people acknowledging the $70 being bullshit will still buy at full price.

[@allistairkumaran3582]

@@KindredBrujah Im willing to bet everything i own that cyberpunk will have massive hype and dissapoint the majority.

[@frydaddy1535]

“We need to raise prices due to cost of making incredible AAA games. Those cost millions more dollars with inflation!” ....Then why is Hades up for game of the year and only $25?

[@kadosho02]

This point exactly. An awesome game, a solid experience, challenging, and fresh. Costs way less, but offers an awesome adventure compared to its competition. Totally deserves that GotY nomination

[@KRisziFicaTion]

100% Agree. Hades is an amazing game!

[@robertrosenthal7264]

Don't forget that 2017s Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice won around 16awards and was definitely "AAA" quality and graphics, It didn't cost as much as the usual crowds overpriced games and beat them in the marketplace as well, holding #1 in Europe for 3 months! And for all that, it's dev costs were only a FRACTION of the big companies claim to spend. The big companies pay big money because they decided to, not because there's any need to bloat things like that.

[@CRXWNWRXITH]

Hades deserves the love and attention coming it's way. I saw it in early form (beta or alpha can't remember) and not a lot of people knew what it was. I thought it was going to be at least $50. I'm surprised they went for $25 and wow, look at that, everyone loves the game for what it is, and it did it while operating on that budget, AND running for GOTY.

[@ziggyinjapan]

My very first thought was my favourite game of the decade, Undertale.

[@MimouFirst]

Most games are already $70! They make a base game that's often pretty scarce, sell it for $60 and then add 2-4 DLC's on top of it. Making the price go over $70.

[@wesleypipes5673]

This is the reason why I end up pirating a lot of the games I already paid for once anyway because I'm not about to pay the same price a second time to get access to all the content they spring on you later as DLC that was often simply cut from the base game to begin with.

[@sj-30000]

Dlc..... What a con..and it's been going on for years because we accept it and buy it.

[@wesleypipes5673]

@@sj-30000 Notable additions to great games I'm ok with but little money grabs like skin packs, weapon textures, outfits etc.... or what is or may as well be cut content with a fee to reintroduce to the game is all complete and utter bullshit. But you're right mindless suckers keep forking over for it and that's the only reason its still here. They say there's a new one born every minute and I believe it more everyday.

[@Omelander]

@@wesleypipes5673 if it’s level packs or whole new fighters(like smash or street fighter) is fine because if the whole game is completed and a character was wanted for a long time

[@jameswhite3799]

"Games graphics are expensive!" EA re-realeases the same sports games for at least the last three years with just a few name swaps. Yes, so much work.

[@nathanlevesque7812]

Releasing the same game would be a step up at this point. They've been shedding features for years.

[@I_Am_The_Social_Reject]

That's WHY games just update and call it a new game. Because dev costs are too much. Graphics are killing gaming. No one even trying to make decent looking unique games. Either indie or AAA

[@Jessica11458]

Them doing it is one thing... But people actually buy it every year..

[@Crown-Fox]

@@I_Am_The_Social_Reject That's not even true though. With advances in technology related to the creation of art assets, and frameworks for developing software, development costs as input are going down relative to output. Producing higher fidelity art assets is becoming easier, and quicker. Back end programming is becoming much more efficient, especially with developers creating reusable libraries to share between projects.

[@Daealis]

Opening Excel and importing a new sheet from a fan-run statistics site must be worth the billions they'll make with the release.

[@ExcelExcel]

Games are $60: "Here's your free review copy" Journalist: "Seems like a fair price to me!" Games are $70: "Here's your free review copy" Journalist: "Seems like a fair price to me!"

[@afrog2666]

"journalist" :p

[@Ragnarok540]

Lack of empathy.

[@ItaiSchewartz]

Buying journalists in their pockets without a dime spent.

[@shawklan27]

@dkn96 yeah it's unbelievable

[@BrentWalker999]

@dkn96 spot on

[@darastarscream]

The logic that consumers must pay for a business's inability to control costs is absurd. Particularly when cost control is used to justify mass layoffs, wage theft, and harmful working conditions.

[@cezerelecrucio9717]

E x a c t l y.

[@Treklosopher]

Someone give this person an award. This comment is 10/10.

[@MasouShizuka]

Why not? I mean I force my roommates with a gun to pay my bills. ;)

[@-._.-KRiS-._.-]

Yep. Every purchase over $50 for me has to be budgeted and planned for.

[@pongchannel.]

When you can get high end headphones for the same price as a new video game

[@tristman8413]

@@pongchannel. you mean mid range? No way you're getting high end headphones for £70

[@mikejett2733]

Me 2 i cried a little when i had to pay 200 for a xbox one from 2014

[@mikejett2733]

​@@pongchannel.No those are 1 hundred to 200 now soon ther be the price of air jordens i hate how some people say oh capitalizuim is good but its the f#€k!ng rich neo nazis that created it

[@pabond008]

Games Journalists: "But movie ticket costs have been increasing!!" Yeah, and theater attendance in the US has been dropping since the early 2000s, sooooooo not the best model for AAA publishers to follow.

[@TheMistyBlueLounge]

Yep meanwhile basically every other form of entertainment has become cheaper and more easily available in the last decade. Movies at home, TV, indie games, books, music, news... All cheaper. I'm not sure why the "AAA" industry thinks it's so special. I guess they do have the most over paid executives of ANY businesses on the globe, so that's bound to bloat those production costs...

[@TheAyanamiRei]

They are also forgetting that what you pay for is a Superior Experience than what most people have at home.

[@OptimusShr]

And there is also the fact that his logic is completely backwards Using the 8 hours he mentions as a base for $60 you get 2 hours for #10 if you go at the right time at you local theater. That's a STEAL compared to video games.

[@spookyskelebloke5388]

@@OptimusShr Not to mention the five dollar days a lot of theaters have.

[@jeffk.9075]

I also love the fact that they trot out "this Marvel movie broke all world records" and ignore the fact that inflation has people paying almost 20 bucks a pop for the ticket. They never want to talk about tickets sold. Those numbers are much more interesting. Not always that off, but much more interesting.

[@FletcherReedsRandomness]

Bobby Kotick could literally fund the next several years worth of Call of Duty games by himself. Think about that.

[@manakmishra]

He could fund hundreds of American college students, pretty ssd

[@Vvonter]

I suppose like most rich people he's just trying to find the way to create mechanical slaves.

[@HOMOLUDENSJM]

But again... why should he do that? What's in it for him? And Im not saying he shouldn't do it or that it wouldn't be great if he did. But WHY should he do it?

[@jessicawarren8314]

Bobby K is such a greasy looking creeper.

[@thatguydownthestreat]

@@manakmishra *thousands ... maybe even millions. do you realize how big a BILLION is?

[@mthomsonkiwi]

The price hasn’t risen for years. But we’ve added micro transactions, season passes, etc. All that extra money they’re making but sure they’re doing it hard and need to raise prices. 🤬

[@JoshSandhu]

Not to mention the market itself has increased in size. There are more consumers. Sure, the production costs have increased, but there's more money to be made because the market is ever increasing. Moreover, if a company decides to go all digital or the streaming route, physical media will be even less of a hit to a publisher. They're just trash arguments for capitalist pigs and their little corporate trotterlickers.

[@TheMunky25]

Price hasn't risen for years they say? i guess that 80 dollars for the special edition of last us part 2 was a typo huh.... there aren't enough middle fingers in the world.🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

[@sindri1447]

@@JoshSandhu the production cost hasn't even gone up at all. They have absolutely no excuse. Game development is becoming more and more easy with each passing year. The tools are just becoming so streamlined and easy to use that you could train just about anybody to just push some buttons and give the work to the next guy over.

[@JoshSandhu]

@@sindri1447 That's not really true of AAA production. Teams are getting larger regardless of outsourcing and what engine they decide to use. But for everything elseoutside of these mammoth productions, you're spot on.

[@chriselliott5835]

I feel like they would probably just respond to the season passes and micro transaction things with the usual 'It's optional'

[@AlterumVeniet]

"Dev costs have gone up!" Even if they did, the popularity of digital storefronts have demolished physical media production and shipping costs.

[@joseaca1010]

why do you think we get so many absurdly low sales? i mean a traditional storefront couldnt bundle 12 games for 12 bucks like humble bundle does for instance

[@BeebletheBee]

Haven't paid 60 dollars for a game in actual years. I've got too many damn bills to waste my money on broken pieces of shite

[@ryand394]

60 Likes now! Can we get that up to 70 for some ray-tracing?

[@landotucker]

I spent 2 grand on a new PC 3 years ago and now I'm playing indie games. AAA titles are (mostly) just sparkly turds.

[@Cyan-hide]

“70$ is not that much money” say the game journalist receiving free review copies

[@McSwiggle]

This cannot be overstated. I'm tired of hearing game journalists or "influencers" tell me what is acceptable to pay for a game when they receive free copies of games all the time. Make them buy all the games they want to play for a year and see if they still think $70 is a reasonable price for a game.

[@MotorBro78]

100% TRUTH.

[@DevilDoghz]

'Journalist', that's funny. ;)

[@Shedovv]

@mayrana2 Imagine a price hike in an industry UTTERLY UN AFFECTED BY THE FUCKING PANDEMIC! Bobby Dipshitotick firing hundreds of people every year from Acti Blizz doesnt count. He'd do that regardless. And in fact. Has done so. Seriously though. Read the reports. Digital Entertainment industry, video games and services like Netflix have been recorded to get massive boosts in amounts of people using them and buying them ever since the C word 19 began, back in spring.

[@khululyp]

@@McSwiggle I got that feeling when Spawn wave said that the 50 dollar price tag on the Nintendo Game&watch super Mario Bros. wouldnt break the bank. For a lot of people specially in uncertain times as this, it most certainly does.

[@roosty2266]

I love how triple AAA companies blame us for games with "more assets" have been giving us less content over time under the guise of live service

[@MatanVil]

And Sony is the one who are pushing for it, a company that most of it's output this gen were linear cinematic experience but what will be seen as the best game in retrospect (ironically) play like a Ubisoft game.

[@Gaming_Sparky58]

It's so sad how obvious a developer wants to desperately create the next big live service game so they don't need to make a new game, Anthem, Marvel Avengers, Fallout 76 to name a few good potential turned into something it shouldn't be just to try and make a money platform.

[@manakmishra]

@Jacob S yes because Microsoft wasn't the company which made Xbox Live a paid service. After their dominance in the 360 era, everyone wanted a paid online service. Nintendo on a daily basis makes nostalgia circlejerkers pay 60$ for an emulator and avoid confrontation with the JoyCon Drift crowd. For how much you hate Sony, judging from your last 4 comments, you never seem to blame any other company for anti consumer practices. Fuck this industry with leeching companies and people like you taking sides in a war where everyone wants to take your money for increasing their billions.

[@emilianyoman8535]

I find it absolutly hilarious and also extremely sad that so much of the "essential" development cost goes to marketing, while the most talked about games this year are fall guys and among us, who mainly get their attention just by being good games.

[@spongesponge9033]

When they talk about inflation,they forget that wages haven't kept up with inflation for over 20 years. So that excuse doesn't work and if they want $70 dollar games than raise people's salaries.

[@TraustiGeir]

*haven't ?

[@spongesponge9033]

@@TraustiGeir thank you

[@madphantompixels6478]

They didn't forget anything, this is how the rich stay rich. They don't want other people taking away or threatening their privileged status. So they intentionally keep people on the verge between financial freedom and burden. That way they rake it in whilst everyone else is really going nowhere fast. It's just a cheaper more efficient form of population control, rather than other more brutal methods such as those used by totalitarian regimes.

[@radioactiverat8751]

@@madphantompixels6478 Jesus, this really did turn from Overpriced videogames in a greedy market to Dictatorships.

[@gildedbear5355]

@@radioactiverat8751 Welcome to Capitalism. "Make the most money with the least expenditure" is some seriously evil bullshit that will inevitably lead to slavery if given free reign.

[@RemyNote]

Jim, we all know the real reason is: "Because we will get away with it."

[@Graknorke]

The price is what the market will bear, and the video game industry is functionally just a lot of small monopolies so it turns out the market will bear a lot.

[@RumForBreakfast]

I think they're gonna start getting mad about people waiting for sales again.

[@CreepyUncleIdjit]

@@Graknorke Yeah, look how well that worked out for Squeenix Avengers.

[@EpsiIonEagle]

I have enough video games to not care about buying games on day one. I just got DMC5 and I'm still waiting for Control to drop the next gen update before buying it

[@mravg79]

I would not be so sure... This might (especially in countries when people have less income) result in more and more people using subscription models as cheap(er) way to play. I recently saw a screenshot where MS support was explaining to a user how to cut cost on Xbox Games Pass Ultimate! (more or less to 50% of the price) Sure you do not get the new releases but if you do not have FOMO, you should have more than enough to play and enjoy.

[@MosoKaiser]

As the old wisdom goes: _"Never pay more than $20 for a video game."_ ...and stop with the pre-ordering!

[@mrsejanoz523]

Guybrush Threepwood was a sage, we just didn't know it.

[@RheubenRheuben]

5$ or 75% off. Yeah you won’t get the play the hot new releases right away. You’ll get to play the version that works. And steam sells will have you drowning in a back catalogue that will seem insurmountable

[@profezzorBALTAZAR]

Yes!!!

[@ThePrecipice66]

You said it for me MosoKaiser. Very, very rare I pay more than half price or even a third for games.

[@walterwang2011]

I'm not sure why people are so upset, if you can't afford it, wait until discount. Or just steal it. At least this won't impact gameplay.

[@morganqorishchi8181]

This is why indie games like Undertale and Stardew Valley are so popular among people on my college campus. Prices you can afford, complete games with no DLC and hidden costs, and good writing. People aren't demanding high fidelity graphics that force the price up, people are demanding a functional product, which can be delivered for a very low price when the dev is actually trying to give that to you.

[@Peringon]

"Games should be 70 dollars, trust me, a guy from (insert media outlet here) who will most likely get his copy for free as part of a review agreement." 🙃

[@bigmac7221]

And they say chivalry is dead 😝😝

[@jaygopinath1694]

WHO THE FUCK BUYS GAME AT FULL PRICE ANYWAYS ITS JUST SO THEY CAN GET MORE MONEY WHEN THEY GO ON SALE THATS WHERE MOST SALE COME FROM

[@russianbot8576]

@@jaygopinath1694 the people who sell them so you can buy them used, i'd reckon

[@BottleWaterson]

"Never Pay More than 20 Bucks for a Computer Game" -Guybrush Threepwood

[@christianbethel]

Words to live by.

[@CircusQueen8]

"Never Pay More than 39 Bucks and 1 cent for a Computer Game" -Guybrush Threepwood (accounted for inflation)

[@radarphaser]

I kept putting off buying Doom Eternal and now I got for $20 only a few months after release. Doesn’t make any sense to buy videogames at full price

[@Jason0binladen]

I still don't pay more than 20 dollars for a game just wait for the digital sale online boys

[@JamesHicksBooks]

If it ain’t on sale then I bail.

[@kristofszilagyi1131]

Here in Hungary with all the taxes and stuff the "70" USD games became around 100 USD. Very generous bonus for games that are pretty much copy paste shit every year.

[@Icedteaable]

More or less same thing here in Canada.

[@NaoyaYami]

That you still need to pay extra 50-100 USD to get most of the content (or few extra hundreds, sometimes thousands, to get ALL items)

[@Star_Killer]

first party Sony games have become 80€ here in Portugal and the rest of Europe, presumably. 80 fucking euros!.....

[@kathj789]

*cries in 300 reais for games on release*

[@kristofszilagyi1131]

@@NaoyaYami at this rate the "deluxe ultimate final megidolaon" edition is barely any more expensive than the normal version. Also I completely ignore MTX games or the MTX itself, because said extra items are never worthy of real money.

[@bbcraz1226]

My backlog is too massive to even worry about new games at this point

[@DoctorLazers]

I hear that. I just chart games based on how much I want to play them. There are some games I genuinely want to play from like three years ago, but other shit that just edges it out comes out too often. Sorry Celeste.

[@ronniejoly1743]

I hear you dude

[@russianbot8576]

this is why switch/ps4 is going to be my last gen, tbh. never bought into the DLC train, and now that it's pushed in games i'm sicker than ever of it, and there just isn't a point anymore. what am i missing when i probably have a game in my backlog that plays similarly?

[@xuxuang8574]

@@russianbot8576 I deliberately stay one gen behind. I end up getting the complete editions second hand for around £2.50. I just bought horizon zero dawn for £2.30. I skip out all the bs of hype and broken games, because I get them way after they've been exposed or fixed. I also don't give money to the dirtbags. If you're patient, imho the pros outweigh the cons. Although, I don't give a shit about multiplayer shooters etc, so I don't feel I'm missing out on any of those...

[@emporioalnino4670]

I waited until the ps5 came out to buy a ps4. Just got a load of games for around A$12 each, bargain

[@bangboom123]

Who would win: 1 x $70 dollar game on an expensive machine reserved exclusively for playing these games OR 7 x $10 indie/older games on a laptop that also lets me do my own actual work

[@itsprivate3061]

great, i guess ill just pirate every "aaa" game from now on then, everyone wins

[@Draclord35]

*insert lazy town music*

[@GregorBarclay]

"They could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and still get a 98 Metacritic average." Some great writing in this one.

[@rickhunter7]

Here's my formula to avoid all this drama : got me a gaming PC, a huge list of wanted games on Steam, and won't buy anything that's above $10. I've got more games than I can play.

[@joshuasizemore9143]

Worked for me going on 6 years now. My backlog is as big as the amount of money I've saved

[@wesleypipes5673]

Yep, I don't take it to the 10 dollar limit you do but I've been on Steam for I think 8 years now, I have close to 2000 games in my steam library and I have rarely ever paid any more than 20-30 bucks for a game. I just refuse to buy them until they are on for an acceptable price. However long that takes doesn't really matter as I have plenty of games to play in the meantime, more than I will ever actually get around to playing already so I'm in no rush to pay a ridiculous price to play the latest greatest game.

[@SingularityMedia]

Same here

[@projectRaMan]

Getting a gaming pc has a huge cost up front.

[@SingularityMedia]

@@projectRaMan not really. If you shop around you can get all the components to build a very good gaming pc for the same or much less than a new (ps5, for example) console. You don't have to get some top of the line, nuclear powered water cooled AI monster to play games to a nice quality.

[@tranquility6789]

I wish that making games 70 dollars would make games have no micro transactions in games as a guarantee or the game is fully complete at launch for justification for the price tag

[@blacklightredlight2945]

Nah, still gonna have Day 1 DLC, and every microtransaction they can legally stuff inside.

[@USSAnimeNCC-]

Blacklight Redlight Dam right paying for nothing but to increase their profit they don’t deserve

[@USSAnimeNCC-]

They don’t deserve 60$ know how they been handling thing now under paid developer and day one dlc and that the tip of the iceberg

[@StraightPunkEdge93]

Personally i can't wait for games to cost $100 and still be filled with more microtransactions than a moblie game

[@tehbeernerd]

You know what the scummiest thing about this is, besides the everything else? That it was inaugurated with NBA 2K21, and it had Kobe Bryant on the cover. For those non sports fans: he died in February in a horrific helicopter accident. They used a dead man to announce the new video game price. The industry doesn’t have a rock bottom.

[@RomLoneWolf23]

This is why I tend not to buy AAA games unless they're on sale, but will gladly pay full price for Indie games.

[@Stoic_Lizard]

Absolutely. Plus these new AAA games rarely do anything interesting anymore either. There's so many indie games out there now that actually have the balls to come up with new ideas and I can get at least 2 of those for the price of 1 AAA game. I havent bought a game for $60 since I moved to PC like 7 years ago.

[@CameronHuff]

same. I prebought Cyberpunk 2077, but canceled it after the delay. I'll just wait until a GoTY edition is on sale and then pick it up.

[@kokosan09]

agreed! buying and playing an Indi or Double A title only very rarely comes with regret for me.

[@Horatio787]

Yeah, I looked it up and Bugsnax is $40 new. I don't get paying $60 for almost any new game unless it's something you personally really are eager for.

[@SaiyanHeretic]

Same. Never pre-order, never buy season passes, never buy loot boxes, never buy AAA games until they're at least 50% off. Very happy to buy indies at full price, so the people actually doing the work get rewarded.

[@auraaetherbladesigma6939]

Ah yes, the $70 excuse. I can see it fail big time, especially during a pandemic and near economic crash.

[@blacklightredlight2945]

"We're making all the money, and laying off our workers during a time when people desperately need jobs. Also we will never pay our devs more. Also we've already made the game 90 dollars if you want everything. Also feel bad for us!"

[@Elazul2k]

Not to mention the fact that wages have been stagnant for decades on top of all that. They're fucking brain dead.

[@jsc315]

We will be lucky if that's all that happens, we're in a bubble, things possibly will implode and we very well may see things get worse then even the depression era.

[@Elazul2k]

@@jsc315 It would already be worse than the depression era if the Gov wasn't artificially propping up the economy with bailouts.

[@RooftopRose079]

Heck, $70 could actually cover one of my bills or pay for one of my college textbooks or provide a ready-made meal from my favorite resturaunt on my way to work for a full week.

[@johnbeer4963]

The whole point of raytracing is that it's actually easier to code than traditional rasterisation

[@PalaceDude]

Exactly. Ray tracing saves so much time for devs that bake artificial shadows and lighting. There'll be so much less work to do anymore lol.

[@Raven3557]

But wrecks framerate on machines not powerful enough

[@PalaceDude]

@@Raven3557 Me personally, I'm against RT, because it makes a game so realistic (hence bland) instead of artistic. There's a lot of games that actually lose a lot of beauty just because it has real-time lighting, which might sometimes put unwanted lighting/shading in certain places that ruin the scenery (and this is in the cases in which RT even makes a slight difference, because mostly it almost doesn't lol). This is why sometimes a game/ art work / movie shot, looks better than reality. Because the dev put some love in their craft, some ART-ifical touches. And that is what I fear RT will deprive us from. And that's without even talking about your point, the expense of hardware that we have to spend just to have a "realistic looking game".

[@theslay66]

@@PalaceDude Lighting a scene is an art in itself. "Unwanted" shadows and lights is just a sign of a botched job, not a problem with the technology itself. Using RT doesn't stop you from adding artificial lightning effects. More tools available is always better than less tools. Just look at what have been done with just regular light in the movie industry. As for the problem of hardware, it has always been that way. "More realistic" have always been a goal since the very first games, it has been a constant chase for decades. RT is just another step on this path.

[@PalaceDude]

@@theslay66 I see your point yeah. I guess the problem that's always been there is my main issue lol Not only concerning Ray Tracing, but the race towards realism in games. I don't mind realism, as long as it's not the priority instead of the writing, gameplay or experience in general.

[@SunchaserKandri]

"TRIPLE AYYY" shills: "Games are so expensive to make you guys! Think of the poor corporations and their valliant workers! ;_; " "TRIPLE AYYYYYYYYY" studios: "We're making more money than ever before, let's put hundreds of our workers out of a job and give our CEOs millions of dollars in bonuses to celebrate!"

[@UGotSerbed]

They need the extra cash to legally intimidate and gaslight their abused employees

[@Gaming_Sparky58]

Isn't it funny the CEO gets a multi Million dollar bonus while that worker doing 60 hour weeks get a pat on the back and gets told to work harder next time.

[@DukeVictory]

@@Gaming_Sparky58 reminds me of that joke: Boss comes to work with a new car - walks over to me, patts my shoulder and tells me - if you work hard and never give up - next year I buy a new one

[@danielduncan6806]

And abused customers.

[@theandy2000]

Only person who’s been gaslit is you. Just because Jim makes 109 videos per year about the same topic doesn’t make it true.

[@UGotSerbed]

@@theandy2000 I'm using a cheeky joke to talk about numerous legitimate news stories about abuse, physical, emotional and sexual, in prominent gaming studios that were widely reported on by international press outlets and you're talking about.. what exactly? Your dislike of a KZbin Channel you still seem to be following slavishly? Get a fucking grip bro

[@Destinychanged]

I wish gamers were more vocal and passionate about this type of economic disparity than they were with a game being delayed for 3 weeks.

[@woaddragon]

Me too

[@LarLakFarStrider]

Death threats to devs over a 2 week delay and defenders coming out of the woodwork over a almost 12% price hike to the BASE (incomplete) GAME.

[@N0VANT0]

oh yeah, my way of being passionate about overpriced AAA games that's not GOTY worthy is to pirate the shit out of them or buy them when they're hella cheap

[@2la84me]

@@LarLakFarStrider We could....not do death threats. Those are never okay.

[@LarLakFarStrider]

@@2la84me absolutely, I was pointing out how people issued death threats over cyberpunk's delay yet people are defending a price increase on games. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

[@femmedracula]

When Extra Credits did a video defending a $70 price point years ago I stopped watching them forever. This was before we found out how awful James is.

[@nosidezero]

I feel that. Extra Credits is terrible

[@TheFlankFrustrater]

What'd he do?

[@SuProcione]

I only watch the Extra History series form them, great stuff for history nerds. Also Game design related videos from then are interesting. But whenever they make a video about about the industry or politics it feels so naive, gullible and ingenue

[@10gamer64]

What did James do?

[@femmedracula]

@@10gamer64 Tried to abuse and harass his ex into dating him again. If you google his full name (James Portnow) you can find the story

[@UncleAlShow]

Can't wait for Nintendo to jump on the $70 trend, you KNOW they'll eat it up sooner or later. $70 Mario Gameboy Advance Collection incoming! Limited time Only.

[@ultimateblade4127]

Playable for a week only, and if you try to play it after the week Nintendo sues you.

[@23Scadu]

I'll be impressed if they can hold it in until the next console. And unlike everyone else, they don't do sales.

[@zebarzebra]

Well Nintendo fans will always buy. They are pretty much like apple users at this point. Also it is totally fair - can't you see the high fidelity graphics in Mario? They are expensive to develop you know^^ Nintendo games are not like those cheap low fidelity games like Half Life Alyx for example.

[@benjaminmenken5693]

They may or may not. Doesn't seem like something nintendo would do considering their ceo's take pay cuts to avoid lay offs and they don't put microtransactions in their games.

[@AkkarisFox]

I'm never getting off of pc indi games.

[@rbotnevik]

It's also, for all intended purposes, a MONOPOLY. In any other buisness field; every company deciding to rise prices in unison would be illegal

[@graysongreydeathcarlyle]

Since it's not a single company but multiple companies doing it together it would be more in line with a price-cartel. Same issue though

[@streamofthesky]

@@graysongreydeathcarlyle I think the correct term is oligopoly? They're like monopolies, but legal. Because it's not one company fixing prices, but a couple of them working together to do it. As far as "any other business", sadly this isn't true. Cable companies are the classic example. Not only mere price fixing, but outright arranging to not compete in the same regional markets. Corporations have insane power in the U.S., and this really isn't abnormal, unfortunately.

[@OneStarRating]

@@graysongreydeathcarlyle They will eventually become a conglomerate and you can't spell conglomerate without cartel. Conglomerates! The new monopolies.

[@spiraljumper74]

Huh, that’s how our internet works too. It’s almost like incentivizing greed and selfishness while also painting regulation as anti-competitive leads to blatant anti-consumer practices and worse service. Fuck capitalism

[@Draclord35]

@@spiraljumper74 well, can't say I have seen the good American folks pouring in the streets to demonstrate against the loss of net neutrality either. When you behave like a flock of sheep, don't be surprised if you're led to the slaughter.

[@mwahahahaha2766]

when I see the good old inflation argument, I can't help but think that it'd be also nice if income grew that fast

[@cat11112222]

My income definitely grew in the past 10 years and video game costs have and the cost hasn’t

[@DJ5540]

@@cat11112222 that has nothing to do with inflation. If minimum wage kept up with inflation then it should be like 20 dollars per hour.

[@MasterShake7144]

In Australia, the average new release already costs $100, with a range of $90-110. If you convert $60 USD to AUD, it's only $80, alas there's an additional $10-30 price hike for our games. They retain these prices even on the digital stores. There's no way shipping/additional taxes cost this much.

[@firedingo5]

Yes. And for context unemployment benefits work out at $40/day which really frames how egregious that pricing is

[@tristman8413]

@@firedingo5 unemployment benefits aren't for games lol

[@kennyholmes5196]

And let's also not forget the whole BS that the console companies are using to charge us for internet we already have!

[@darkwater124]

See a movie doesn't charge me $10, and then asks for another $2 every 15 minutes to keep watching the movie.

[@pakapata]

And you dont pay to see a movie for, you know, 70 fuckin dollars

[@ZYR47]

@Future Pants And they still manage to break the story anyway.

[@RollerDerbyHigh]

@Future Pants "SJW shit" you mean like having female characters? How dare they not cater 100% to white men, and now occasionally have a white woman lead and still Male-dominated cast

[@revuesdeminuit4071]

@@RollerDerbyHigh Right? Having women in films be the main protagonist instead of a prize to be won is so unrealistic. The feminazis are going too far! And that’s without mentioning the audacity of poc for existing and wanting representation in a movie. Simply unacceptable.

[@troyjardine5850]

@Roller Derby High: once again this vine is rellevant. m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/jX64nWqphMprjZY

[@aircraftcarrierwo-class]

The actual developers, the programmers and artists in the trenches, really should unionize.

[@grumpyotter]

Good luck in the US. Not only are there many "right to work" states but these corporations all employ anti-union busters and hire ad agencies to create propaganda.

[@Zeverinsen]

Yes, they probably should, but a lot of studios do development in the US, where they've been so thoroughly brainwashed by their own cultural propaganda, that they're hostile towards things that can literally give them and the people around them a better life. It's a shame, but it's the truth. Honestly, if it didn't affect other countries, I'd say let them fester in the hell of their own creation, but it *does* affect other countries. The quality of the games being made, the micro transactions, the pricing of the games etc. affect people in other countries too. We are unwillingly being subjected to their worshipping of corporate greed, and I *fucking hate it* !

[@Gnidel]

Unions would just create another layer of bloat that drains money. Union leaders will get better conditions, while regular employees will lose their ability to individually negotiate.

[@thegameplayer125]

but unfortunately here in the good old divided states of america, the opinions of unionization is so polarized and we have been taught that the idea of unionization is so communist like that people are too afraid to even try to think of it since it will more than likely be a guarantee of retribution towards the unionists if they were to succeed and actually unionize

[@stewy497]

Get the designers and the writers in too, maybe that would help buck a few of the current unpleasant trends.

[@thefatt1988]

"The development budget has increased every year.." YEah, right.. most of the development budget also mostly to pay millions CEO's bonuses. Just cut them bonuses and spend most of the budget to actually the develop the game, that would be more efficient.

[@Drain_Life_Archive]

"If we pay more for games, the developers will make more money." NOT HOW IT WORKS. These games already have massive profit while the employees are paid as little as possible and let go at the first sign of profit loss. The extra money is going straight to CEOs, not employees.

[@roojackaroo8517]

@kshamwhizzle Man,I get angry at the mere mention of trickle down economics

[@renlevy411]

@kshamwhizzle I hate that many Americans still believe in trickle down economics. Most of them are Neoliberals Republicans and Democrats.

[@UrdnotChuckles]

I still remember all the "fun" I went through after working 60-90 hours a week in the industry for years only to be tossed out the door with hundreds of others when the big wigs decided to clean house.

[@Object7533]

Makes me sad that Jim is "only" reaching roughly 1 Million people ... while he is pretty much the only one talking about the stuff that is really relevant :/ Still glad that he does it! Keep it up! And I hope his channel keeps growing

[@StrazdasLT]

Every time i think about that i start msising John Bain. The best consumer advocate in gaming there was. Cancer is a bitch.

[@brakhai5605]

Thank God for him indeed.

[@satanael9458]

their channel

[@autumnlotus6250]

He would likely gain more attention if he didnt come off so biased involving politics, something he brings up in every video. He is a breath away from a tangential rant every video, which can scare people away

[@TheMunky25]

People like stupid and don't like critical thought. Pewdie pie 100 million subscribers jim sterling not even 1 million

[@Marcos-ze7vb]

"we need more money for games development! it's more expensive now!" oh so you are going to pay more to developers then? "oh god no"

[@joseaca1010]

no but they are going to hire a bunch more, thats why it costs so much

[@shocknawe]

Global recession? Having to spend tons of money on new gen consoles? Why, lets go USD 70.00 for games now!

[@shemsureshot]

My nearest cinema dropped ticket prices by over 50% pre pandemic . This was in response to people not going due to the prices being too high...

[@camunderlain]

It's actually going to be much higher than that in some countries. They're trying to gouge players in the UK for as much as £70, which is roughly $90!

[@KnightSquire]

Finally someone else talking about this shit... games have been £45 to £50 in the UK to make up the difference in currency, now they think they can just jump to £70... Its a joke, and few people have anything to say about it.

[@Sgetti688]

Yeah same in Australia, you could get new games for about $80 on ps4 and now ps5 games are $125. It's ridiculous.

[@Jako101]

It’s a fucking disgrace reason I bought the ps5 was to play demons souls but I had no choice to pay it. £70 is a joke. Sony scamming scum

[@theemulationportal]

@@Jako101 Yup £70 is a fucking joke, I bought demon souls just because I wanted a "Next-gen" game to go along side my PS5 but I'm 100% going to be buying all my games on the second hand market or 12 months after release on a discount. 45-50 to 70 in one generation absolute bollocks. Maybe just maybe I could have lived with £59.99 but even that would have put a sour taste in my mouth.

[@sleep3417]

70£? Oh...Hello there, torrenting sites. Why yes, i am here with a proxy. Would you give me this...AAA game?

[@BrinkOfDecay]

So I've been listening to the Jimquisition playlist at work. I had to take a break from watching these videos for mental health reasons, and I have to say...all of this naked greed and cover ups in the industry make me feel ashamed to be a gamer. Never stop what you're doing. Shine that spotlight and call them out. While I'm not sorry I took a break from watching, I appreciate all the bullshit you put yourself through to try to open people's eyes. On a slightly more positive note, I'm ecstatic that you have finally discovered who you truly are. It's allowed me to be more open with who I am as an individual. I may not agree with everything you say and believe, but I look up to you James Stephanie Sterling. You are a wonderful human being, and deserve all the love you can possibly get your hands on. Thank you for everything. ❤❤❤

[@lehran2516]

I love how these people ignore the argument against this and just keep repeating themselves. It reminds me of the "how are you going to pay for it" propaganda that comes out everytime someone tries to help people financially in the US.

[@grumpyotter]

We can only afford trillion-dollar tax breaks for the rich.

[@Pyre]

@@grumpyotter The past few years in the US have been a trip for that. When even the excruciatingly wealthy people handing out these tax breaks are confused by the sheer greed of the ones receiving them, you know trickle-down logic ate itself somewhere along the way.

[@IAmTheBugInsideYou]

It's practically the same thing yeah, because saying "hoW arE wE goInG to Pay FoR iT?!" isn't an argument, it's a way to deflect from answering the question in ways that could even slightly be construed as honest attempts to speak to someone. It's a way to smear dirt in someone's eyes & make them look like the moron for asking why we can't have nice things that aren't weapons & explosives & billion dollar aircraft.

[@BlindErephon]

@@IAmTheBugInsideYou Dont forget the knife missiles. It's very important you not forget the knife missiles. It costs around $70, 000 dollars, and using it brings the total to 115,000 dollars. Each one could purchase a fucking house for a low income family, but I guess its more important to explodeslice civilians with high tech remote weapon platforms.

[@SageVallant]

Games Companies and Media: "Consumers demand high fidelity graphics in games!" Me: (puts 160 hours into Hades)

[@HarmonicResonanceScale]

to be fair Hades is a beautiful game.

[@SageVallant]

@@HarmonicResonanceScale it is amazing how beautiful you can make a game on a budget if you don't obsess over hyper-realistic graphics, that turn out to be pretty ugly.

[@Ramsey276one]

@@SageVallant fully agree

[@Eon2641]

The people who say this have never met the people who play dwarf fortress

[@mjc0961]

Me: Happily replaying all kinds of GameBoy/Color and PlayStation 1 games because they're more fun than modern AAA homogenized trash.

[@DrErikNefarious]

*stares at what EA is doing with the Sims*...............Yeah, I'm not paying over $700 for a videogame, especially not the Sims

[@AxxLAfriku]

WARNING I am the unprettiest human alive and I need YT to afford my house and the desires of my two girlfriends so please observe my highly stimulating videos, dear erik

[@Smeagolthevile]

Legit sims was like 50% off if not more on Black Friday, I clicked DLC and on sale it was still 400$, atleast, for all of them

[@realhumanbean7915]

Crusader kings 2 bruh moment

[@bitnewt]

They know it, too; Sims expansions and stuff packs are extremely discounted in regular sales a few months after release.

[@fumarc4501]

I’m not buying any games above $40 anymore. Not even interested in buying a next gen console this generation.

[@-._.-KRiS-._.-]

I always wait until the games I want are on sale for $10-or-under on Steam or GoG.

[@fumarc4501]

@@SuperG3X Whatever doomer

[@aLilyinbloom]

@@-._.-KRiS-._.- i would recommend Instant gaming, probs the best 3rd party site i know of, you can often find games for like nothing

[@jsalmon9168]

Video Game Company: Is scummy Jim Sterling: It's free real estate

[@arminkaza]

@Down 4 aint about the price tag its about micro trans its about chi chi ching

[@Jaxymann]

Thank God for Sterling

[@Ghoxtfire]

I will solve this problem for all: don't like the price? don't buy it saved 25 minutes of your life

[@brianjensen5661]

@Down 4 pfft no you don't

[@lessonslearned2569]

@@Ghoxtfire The bootlickers, welcome to the bottom of the swamp.

[@JB-pu3oj]

This is the Jim Sterling: “I am as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!”-Moment! Lovely! Thanks Jim!

[@tehbeernerd]

It’s also a video that’s non-crunch industry focused and not about culture wars, crunch, or Jim’s PS5 hang ups. That’s been the lion’s share of their focus lately and it sucks. More like this please!

[@boxofgreed]

What were all the other moments with roughly the same message called? I love Jim's work. It's virtually inapplicable to me on a "get the message" level because I can't afford games above $40 (Canada price) and I rarely buy even those, but most of his videos on this subject are just reiterations of past videos with small updates for current trends.

[@daniellewasdelayed8921]

@@tehbeernerd So you'd prefer for Jim to not do videos on crunch during a global pandemic and the constant years-long abuse happening at Ubisoft?? In the larger picture, those videos are a hell of a lot more important, and if you're tired of seeing it, congratulations, you're kinda shitty. I understand wanting to get back to videos more in line with this one, but Ubisoft and crunch should be our biggest current focuses because lives are being quite literally destroyed over it. "Getting back to normal" while the world is on fire isn't the solution here, and if you wanna not be reminded of the constant abuse at the hands of executives and the ruling class, that's... fine I guess, but don't act like Jim is doing a bad by focusing on the things that matter and keeping pressure on the industry in places that everyone else is ignoring.

[@Altair718]

$60-$70 is literally my monthly electricity bill. So are AAA companies saying their games are essential now? Because I feel like that's what they're trying to say with this, amongst the other usual BS lol

[@originalscreenname44]

Well, Gamestop started that ball rolling during the pandemic, so why not let the other companies in the industry get in on the grift.

[@Altair718]

@@originalscreenname44 bruh, if I start ranting about Gamestop I'll be here all day lol "So we need a way to raise employee morale during these trying times." How about some kinda contest? "Brilliant! And we'll give the winner more hours to work for us!" Wait wha- "Rodney! What's that new app the youngins are into? Click-Clack?"

[@originalscreenname44]

@H N That doesn't matter when 90% of people's wages have never been adjusted for inflation.

[@Plasmacat1]

@H N this is a terrible meme reply because wages have never been adjusted.

[@perrybyford9185]

@Altair718 that is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Cocaine can be that price, does that mean cocaine is an essential good. Stop pretending like you’re being forced to buy games. If you don’t have the money don’t buy it and I know he Jim said poor people deserve video games too. But they deserve the ones they can afford just like every other good that has existed.

[@robertgrindley8234]

"I'm pretty infantile with my money" - Jim Stirling, bogglin collector

[@BlobyFloby]

@@SuperG3X That's his money, yes.

[@satanael9458]

@@BlobyFloby their money

[@BlobyFloby]

@@satanael9458 Until they willingly gave it to him. You don't say it's still your money after you pay the cashier for groceries.

[@satanael9458]

@@BlobyFloby no im saying jim sterling has identified with they/them pronouns ever since august so dont call it his money when it's their money

[@BlobyFloby]

@@satanael9458 Ohhh, right, my bad!

[@shytendeakatamanoir9740]

As a long time handled user, the 70$ price is unacceptable because 60$ dollars is already unacceptable. Finding that games now cost 50% more with the Switch was already quite hard to swallow.

[@LordOfTime23]

@@SuperG3X wow, problem solved

[@shytendeakatamanoir9740]

@@SuperG3X 20$, actually. And if you want to use the Internet, it's 20$ more every year. For those that can barely afford the basics, while a 2DS and a few games could fit into the budget, a Switch may not (not a Switch Lite, because of the Joy Con Drift, which is a different issue, but still adds to the overall cost.) I can afford it personally, but I know not everyone can.

[@Psykolord1989]

@@SuperG3X TBH What I find unacceptable is that there's people out there who don't have time to tuck their children in at night because they work 3 jobs but you're in here wasting your time bitching about someone else being pissed about paying $10 more for a game. Get a grip, get a spell checker, and grow up.

[@Elepole]

The ray tracing argument is pretty funny considering it was actually said to help drive the development cost down since it's easier to do than regular lighting.

[@mrrodgers0]

To be fair on this one specific point, it holds if a) you're developing in an engine that already supports ray tracing and b) you are not planning on supporting non-ray traced rendering, which is a no-go for pc until the install base of ray-tracing hardware overtakes old gpus. (A problem made all the worse by nvidia and AMD insisting on keeping their ray-tracing architectures incompatible with one another) I expect development costs will actually be higher over the next 2-3 year transition period as old in-house engines get updated and support for conventional rendering remains a commercial necessity. (But not so high as to justify a $10 price increase)

[@Woeboez]

Yep. As the technology (and game devs' familiarity with it) improves, the costs will only keep getting lower.

[@MasterfulPeon]

I barely ever buy games that aren’t on sale. I just can’t justify spending $60 on a game, never mind $70 😂

[@CreepyUncleIdjit]

@@Kamellion Yeah but they get you with FOMO on some stuff because they never release a complete edition.

[@DragonNexus]

I got a surprise going through my really old Amazon invoices (kept them for over a decade...dunno why). I got GTA San Andreas for £28 at launch. I got a bunch of PS2 and early 360 games for around the £30 at launch. I got the Black edition of Assassins Creed 2 (with the statue) for £60 at launch. Now games are £45-55 at launch for physical, and sometimes more than that if you look at MS or Sony's online prices. So I don't buy that "They never went up in price" BS for a second.

[@ikillify]

Same.

[@tubetubecommentor4795]

@@CreepyUncleIdjit when they employ the fomo tactics I'll just stop buying their game altogether. They can't be a good game developer if that's what they rely on.

[@fistfulofgroovy9746]

Agreed, If I pay full price for a game it will be from a small developer I believe in and want to support. Or a bigger one I can trust like Larian Studios... I have never seen them not make a game worth the price and I never see them stuff their games full of micro transactions.

[@VulpineDemon]

Two years later, now Nintendo, and other companies are following suit. We have season passes for every game, MTX on top of it, AND the game is also $70. The games barely work half the time, but that's okay because they "feel" it's worth $70.

[@danielkjm]

*70$ Dollars is 374$ Reais (Brazil currency) while Our Minimum Wage is 980 Reais.... I wonder why soo many people here in Brazil pirate...*

[@gronank]

The reason it's $70 is because they don't think people are prepared to pay $80, yet

[@johanandersson5846]

Here in Sweden we went from ~60 dollars (600 sek) in the last gens to ~80 dollars (800 sek) this gen. Its fucking bullshit

[@kingsleysummers1410]

@@johanandersson5846 yeah in the UK its gone from £50 to £70 its a ffin joke

[@ziggyinjapan]

The 'millionaire CEO' business model really has to go...

[@Rat2rrj]

They can just buy off or kill people against them with all the money they have 8/

[@MrSuperAJ]

....back to hell.

[@Pyreleaf]

ziggy2007dn comrade, have you heard the good news of our lord and savior Karl Marx?

[@KochDerDamonen]

@@Pyreleaf It doesn't work like this in other countries either. Executives are not worth hundreds(or thousands)-times the working value of the people they work over. But sure, haha communism

[@GhostLink92]

@@KochDerDamonen nobody forces those employees to work there. I work at amazon, knowing full well the guys at the top make millions doing 1/100 of the work I do for them. Communism won't give you that choice. You work the job you're given and you say fucking thank you. Or it's gulag for you.

[@zerospaceca3376]

8:36 They even Admit that jacking the price won't do anything about microtransactions!

[@MrKodell]

When greed is given no bounds, it will corrupt everything.

[@ViewTube_Emperor_of_Mankind]

Yeah but how could you bin the greed of these people.. they are literally ruining lives in the thousands just to make even more money.. money they can never spend in all their life.. just to have digit numbers they cause people to get sick and worse.. How would you punish stuff like that? Kidnap those people, skin them and amputate their limbs and then bring them back to society.. it would be adequate punishment but I bet even that wouldn't stop their greed.. there is no laws being made in a billion years in the current system to reduce greed.. the only way I can imagine is endless fear being caused by an invisible enemy... and since that doesn't exist and is only dark fantasy we can only nod.. and not buy shit.. but all the impulsive idiots will sustain the greed and nothing will change... I wish the whole fucking thing would just burn down...

[@qwertyuiop-tk9rr]

@@ViewTube_Emperor_of_Mankind Capitalism in a nutshell

[@VisualdelightPro]

@@qwertyuiop-tk9rr Genshin Impact in a nutshell

[@Pyreleaf]

KZbin Emperor of Mankind comrade, have you heard of our lord and savior Karl Marx?

[@ThePurbleKing]

"Using pure inflation as a baseline" That's all I'd need to know that the person talking either has no idea what they're talking about, or is being intentionally dishonest. Inflation isn't really an important aspect of pricing a video game, when you consider the growth of the industry itself. Sure, ten years ago, most AAA games were priced at $60. But ten years ago, less people bought games, and marketing had to assume that people weren't already interested in the games. Now, Ubisoft could just say "Buy this new game", and they'd make a killing even at $40 per game. In fact, a *lot* of industries have this problem, where they raise prices despite not actually needing to do so.

[@StrazdasLT]

Ironically, Ubisoft actually spends A LOT on marketing, arguably more than other publishers. Altrough the only one i saw penetrate the "normie" sphere was Rockstar Games as they ran TV ads of GTA5!

[@plznerf3326]

Supply: LITERALLY infinite Demand: at least 1 in 4 people play games in some form Price: (come on, this isn't hard)

[@StrazdasLT]

@@plznerf3326 The supply is limited by the capacity/price of the service to provide the downloads and servers.Its not infinite.

[@StrazdasLT]

@Я не знаю как говорить по-русски DS and PS2 also was used for a very longtime. If you look at amount sold per year - they loose. If you look at amount sold at launch - they loose. There are more people buying new hardware now. There are more people buying copies of games now. Ubisoft consistently claims its games break sale records of previuos games they released. "By asking for lower price games you are also asking for worse monetisation models "Not when the companies are making billions in profit (quite literally if you look at financial statements).

[@Strangten]

The idea that businesses would cut their prices when they notice that their profitability increases is silly and naive. Personal analogy: if you’re making $20 per hour but then start making $40, $50, $100, $200 or more per hour doing the same job, are you going to say “nah I’m good with the $20, I don’t want to earn x10”. Sure, some people might say that, but businesses (especially publicly listed) do not operate like that. Their interest is in generating returns for their owners, and other stakeholders such as customers come second. The larger a business grows the more prevalent this becomes, usually because the owner base grows and an increasing number of the owners don’t really care about the product or the customers but only about the profits (I’m looking at you again, publicly listed companies).

[@skiks3562]

The digital distribution argument really needs to be drilled harder: even as the costs to develop and promote games has gone up, the cost of distribution and manufacturing has dropped steeply.

[@zachj19991]

Me in Canada who paid $79.99 for a new game: now they know how it feels Me realizing I now have to pay $89 👁👄👁

[@CptnBillHarris]

Isn't CAD worth less than usd? In ireland we pay €80 for a ps5 game. Which is fucked.

[@zachj19991]

@@CptnBillHarris it is worth less yea but we make the same amount almost in terms of minimum wages.

[@CptnBillHarris]

@@zachj19991 well then that does suck. Especially in a world of no shipping costs.

[@brainyskeletonofdoom7824]

@@CptnBillHarris same prices in Italy, completely absurd

[@firedingo5]

Yep. Canadian pricing is often similar to Australian pricing and even then developers like to whack on the "Australia Tax" and just arbitrarily jack up the price because they can

[@SanguineThor]

Holy shit... That movie ticket price comparison. Jesus how disconnected are these people?

[@Nagatem]

@@GodhandPlusOne people who have or want COVID-19

[@Gamerkat10]

It was literally incomprehensible. Can you *imagine* thinking your game is the equivalent of movie-level production for the entire playtime, even setting aside all the other things wrong with that comparison?

[@HalfDayHero]

I know lol imagine paying to see a film

[@onutube6392]

@@GodhandPlusOne i mean up until covid i did.

[@GoneFishingAmalgam]

Game Companies: The Consumer demand 4K ultras realistic graphics Gamers: Play Among Us, which has an art style like it was made in MS paint

[@razorcloud1]

Laughs in runescape

[@ALWTunes]

Truth. Look for the $70 AAA ripoff next year from Activision though.

[@GoneFishingAmalgam]

@@ALWTunes an extra $25 gets you the limited edition seasonal battle pass with bonus doritos skin

[@erickschusterdeoliveira2662]

@Future Pants except those games are pretty well and alive? it’s not just because they’re not the most played thing on Twitch that they’re failing, dummy

[@valletas]

@Future Pants just because the gamed have past their prime doesnt mean they are failures By your logic pokemon was just a fad that ended on yellow...

[@TobiIsAGoodBoy1]

they say 70$ is necessary YET they still charge dlcs an micros..

[@werdna2590]

People deserve the pay for the work why should DLC be free and if you don’t like the type of DLC they sell don’t buy it

[@szorrin6812]

@@werdna2590 You have clearly missed the point, please rewatch the entire video and make sure to actually listen and don't just look at the pretty pictures.

[@shawklan27]

@@werdna2590 dude.

[@werdna2590]

Szorrin you can get pissy at CEOs you want at the end of the day if they don’t get paid these games don’t get made and the games don’t get made the people who make the games don’t have jobs anyone if you want these games to exist you got a pay for them simple as that

[@TrailerTrashThorne]

"games have actually been getting cheaper for the last 15 years." Jesus.. Good video Jim.

[@patentedorganism1557]

The day that people stop defending multi-billion dollar corporations is the day that we experience the heat death of the universe.

[@JeffreyThrash]

Someone needs to look into the psychology of that. Why in God’s name would ANYONE have more sympathy for multimillion dollar corporations who could afford the best therapists on Earth if the meanie Twitter comments ever bothered them but not be capable of basic empathy for the starving, homeless, and needy? Especially when they ARE the starving, homeless, and needy? It just doesn’t make any sense to me, and yet more and more of the poor in America are willing to go to bat for the same companies that are destroying their future!

[@7th808s]

@@JeffreyThrash They'll tell refugees to go back to their own country to build up their country, yet call it fair that CEOs take their business elsewhere when taxes rise slightly for them.

[@NShomebase]

Capitalist realism.

[@abdulsadiq8873]

I’ve come to loathe the term “consumer”

[@brianjensen5661]

You know it's funny. I never really thought about it till Jim did a Jimquistion about the word 'consumer'. Now i hardly use the word except in a derogatory sense.

[@dychostarr]

@@brianjensen5661 you and me both

[@r0bw00d]

Good. Welcome to the club, my friend!

[@rcblazer]

The term "consumer" is offensive. You know what also consumes? Whales.

[@desmondbrown5508]

It's a subtle manipulative definition for "people who participate in society" so they can justify crappier and crappier goods, then pin it on "consumers" as though we are the problem for "consuming too much". I guarantee you that half of all consumption growth (at least) is due to goods breaking down faster and being less flexible in usage than several decades ago, aka planned obsolescence. And none of that is the fault of average people living in society, buying goods. They didn't ask/want shittier quality goods that force them to buy more. That was capitalists and their market firms demanding more money, more frequently.

[@PkGam]

Back when they first raised game prices to $60 from $50, even I was skeptical as I knew full well that "AAA" games sold really well. Yet at the time, I still didn't fully know the economics of it. Yes, even not knowing it all I had reason for suspicion at the most basic of levels. As they kept throwing in more and more microtransactions and degrading the game quality to boot so they could sell people solutions, my list of publishers to not get games from grew more and more as it became very apparent who was doing it repeatedly. That all being said: I am astonished by the amount of people that repeatedly get duped by them game after game after game and continue to buy them. Heck, it's astonishing that even the new players are getting duped by them because every time they put out garbage, there's an outcry of people blasting them and their games which spreads far and wide. That should act as a warning to anyone, but apparently not. Unless it's just not reaching enough people... I mean yes, I do get that some people have an addiction to video games, gambling or both. Maybe even an addiction to spending. But those sorts of people are always the minority. So who besides them keeps buying them and their microtransactions, DLC, "cosmetics", season passes, etc...? There are so many better games out there to be played!

[@sunyavadin]

"$70 price tag?" Ah, you mean the "$50 six month early access premium"? I've been hard passing on this forever.

[@RajSingh-du5ux]

Sad part is a lot of people dont mind.

[@aurtosebaelheim5942]

For a lot of people it's hard to get past the FOMO and as much as I think the term 'spoiler' gets overused there absolutely are games that benefit from going in to blind. Also, depending on your taste in games it can be a lot harder to miss out on the opening 6 months, if you're into, say, multiplayer games with progression and cutting-edge graphics you're missing out on a lot by not paying that early access premium. That said, Nier : Automata is my 2020 GotY - it would probably be a very good £30 game, but as a £15 game it was truly outstanding. I think I bought about 5 non-preowned games in the entire time I owned an xbox 360 (and a lot of the games I bought during that time were original xbox games in buy-2-get-1-free bundles). Buying games a year and a half later once the base price has dropped and they get caught in a big sale is a better way to live. It doesn't change the fact that a shoddily-justified price increase is a bad thing for consumers to the sole benefit of CEOs and shareholders, though (not that you were saying it was).