This is gonna be a long rant but I have to get this off my chest Since people don't seem to get this and I'm tired of hearing the same argument over and over and over The world does not exist in a vacuum where the only thing that has changed since the 90s is inflation. Inflation can be a useful metric in some instances, but when used by itself it's a pretty terrible metric to compare the price of goods and services. Computers and video games were still an emerging market in the 80s and 90s. New technology is expensive to manufacture, and it gets overall cheaper over time. On top of that, brand new markets generally have a smaller pool of consumers supporting it compared to a mature one. I think people forget what in large part made the PS1 hit it big. Nintendo and Sega were using expensive to manufacture, unique and proprietary to them, cartridges, the PS1 came along and games went from dollars to manufacture, to just pennies to manufacture, and those prices were passed on to the consumer. New customers could justify the purchase, and existing customers could get even more games for the same amount they used to pay. On top of that, only a select few people bought the latest and greatest at launch. Most people waited for discounts and sales. So even pretending the inflation argument were true, is a game really worth the same amount forever? Movies still get cheaper over time, that doesn't mean they're not good movies, they just already made their money back. Why are games different?
There's a lot more to be said, inflation vs wages, microtransations and gambling, the gaming industry making higher and higher profits (not just revenue, profits) year after year. And so on. But this is already long enough, and other people have explained those issues far better than I could. But that's my thoughts on the matter, companies don't need you to justify their business decisions, it doesn't benefit you in the slightest. Remember: A product is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it, and *not* what someone is willing to sell it for. And we as consumers should be using that power to our advantage, even if, realistically, I know most of us won't.
Plumtopia
This is gonna be a long rant but I have to get this off my chest
Since people don't seem to get this and I'm tired of hearing the same argument over and over and over
The world does not exist in a vacuum where the only thing that has changed since the 90s is inflation. Inflation can be a useful metric in some instances, but when used by itself it's a pretty terrible metric to compare the price of goods and services. Computers and video games were still an emerging market in the 80s and 90s. New technology is expensive to manufacture, and it gets overall cheaper over time. On top of that, brand new markets generally have a smaller pool of consumers supporting it compared to a mature one.
I think people forget what in large part made the PS1 hit it big. Nintendo and Sega were using expensive to manufacture, unique and proprietary to them, cartridges, the PS1 came along and games went from dollars to manufacture, to just pennies to manufacture, and those prices were passed on to the consumer. New customers could justify the purchase, and existing customers could get even more games for the same amount they used to pay. On top of that, only a select few people bought the latest and greatest at launch. Most people waited for discounts and sales. So even pretending the inflation argument were true, is a game really worth the same amount forever?
Movies still get cheaper over time, that doesn't mean they're not good movies, they just already made their money back. Why are games different?
There's a lot more to be said, inflation vs wages, microtransations and gambling, the gaming industry making higher and higher profits (not just revenue, profits) year after year. And so on. But this is already long enough, and other people have explained those issues far better than I could. But that's my thoughts on the matter, companies don't need you to justify their business decisions, it doesn't benefit you in the slightest.
Remember:
A product is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it, and *not* what someone is willing to sell it for. And we as consumers should be using that power to our advantage, even if, realistically, I know most of us won't.
7 months ago | [YT] | 5