Why 60 euros for games is still way too expensive.
Is 60 euros too expensive for a game? It is a question that is as old as humanity … Or at least 2014. That’s when I recorded a spicy Statement of the Week with ex-colleague Roy, in which I explained to him in detail why six decades for a game. goes far.
The funny thing is that my valid arguments at the time (the rise of online retail – read: lower distribution costs – should also lead to lower prices, among other things) still hold true today. In fact, only things have been added that confirm my opinion.
They come:
Nowadays games are often on sale after a month, sometimes even with a 50% discount. Every autumn (and nowadays also at the beginning of summer) it is a battlefield, where with a little patience you can spruce up your game collection with a bunch of semi-new games for a bargain price. How do you explain that to day-one buyers who have paid 60 euros for it ???
Booklets, extras or whatever? Forget it. Nowadays you can be happy if there is even one sheet of toilet paper with the controls on it. And that while Xbox and PlayStation boxes on the inside of those nice clips for, let’s say something, a cool manual with background story, a dog tag and a map … But no, outside the game disc you get exactly nothing, while a nice extra can do so much for the perception of value.
However, it can be even worse, because sometimes you really don’t get anything at all, except for a paper box with download code. Yes, I mean you, PUBG for the Xbox One! Of course this is a dream for many publishers. Printing fewer CDs = after all, more turnover or profit. For me as a consumer, however, it is mainly a reason to wait for a hefty price drop. And now don’t whine like ‘you’re just an old dick with your physical games’, because I want to have something in my hands when I buy something, so that I really feel like it’s mine and I might if I want to resell later. Otherwise I find full-price unacceptable.
What is unacceptable anyway is the fact that many games are buggy as hell in the shops. Much more often than when I recorded that video five years ago, although it was already running out then. Seriously: how can you charge 60 euros with dry eyes for an unfinished game? As if you were offering a car without tires. Or a can of Red Bull without sugar. Bah.
And then I’m not even talking about microtransactions with ‘unfinished’ …
60 euros? Game journalists get that for free; they just have to sell their souls for it. It’s not fair!
Well, after this watertight argument you agree 100% with me: 60 euros for a game is far too much.
Or do you dare to go against it, just like Roy five years ago? Bring it on, I like you raw.
