Is the market ready for a $500 console yet?

[Bofferbrauer2]

Mnementh said:

Dulfite said:
Consumers: Everything else has gotten more expensive, but we will riot if game consoles and video games become more expensive!

Companies: Well everyone, looks like we have to cut some people from their jobs because we didn't sell ludicrous numbers that we need to make a profit off our game because the consumers don't understand inflation, good luck on your future endeavors!

Consumers: Why did you fire those poor people? We riot!

Companies: Ok, Ok! We won't fire anymore! We will release DLC after games to make up for the lost profit on ya'll not understanding inflation. Sound fair?

Consumers: No! NO DLC! That just means you didn't put in enough effort into the game in the first place! We will only buy game of the year editions at 87% off on Steam sale now! Take that you capitalist pigs!

Companies: Uh...

You failed to mention the main problem: explosion of cost in developing games. In 1990 Monkey Island was made by ten people. In 2018 God of War was developed by 270 people over four years. The costs are just incomparable, and number of gamers didn't grow in the same way as the costs. That is the core of the problem.

And you fail to mention with your example, that Monkey Island was a success by selling over 100k copies, while GoW sold 5M copies. That is 50 times more sales, and in a shorter amount of time, too. And yet both are about equal size of hits for their time.

Also, those 270 were not all the time on the project, as it includes everything from 2D artists, 3D artists, Programmers, Musicians, and so on. Some were only on the project for a couple months before moving on the next project in line.

Videogame development has become much more expensive, no doubt. But the market grew bigger even faster. Selling one million copies of a game, outside of Mario or Tetris, was exceptional until the late 90's. Nowadays, only selling a million would most of the time be considered a massive flop, unless it's an indie title.

Lastly, You fail to acknowledge what was in the box of a videogame at the time. What is nowadays sold as special or limited editions were the normal editions in the heyday, especially on PC.