Too expensive these days. I am finding games on Steam sell for a base $99aus which is about $70us. The issue is even the low budgeted games are trying to steal you at those prices. Game prices should vary depending on the game but having a standard $70 is ridiculous across the board especally reselling older games 1 to 2 years old for a flat $70.

I understand budgets rise however so have game sales. Games would be lucky to sell 1m copies in the 90s, these days games can sell 2m to 3m copies regardless of quality.

Monster Hunter Rise has sold 7 million copies (that we know of so far), which qualifies it for the middle of the Switch's top-selling games list. Not too long ago, that would have been a top 5 seller, if not the best-seller, on a platform.

And then we have companies who claim they lose money on certain games unless they sell millions of copies. A couple of recent Tomb Raider games come to mind.

That's on the end of the publishers/developers. Games can be high tier and not require tons to break even. Like Breath of the Wild, a title that was worked on for years and had a lot of push behind, only needed 2 million to break even. Heck I even remember hearing at some point Xenoblade X was not in the red, just that it was Xeno 1 and especailly 2 that really broke out. 

The problem is that some games put a lot more into things they don't necessarily need. Like you ever hear about how the marketing budgets can often double the cost of production?

Late last year I spent almost $10,000 on new console hardware (Playstation 5+Xbox Series X), PC and video games in just a month.

Baffles my mind how people need to do such stringent budgeting to afford a single game...

You've just spent my yearly wage in a month haha. But that's alright, you don't need to feel pity I live a comfortable life really and I'm young just started my work life. I can enjoy almost all my hobbies even if I can't afford a ultra high quality PC, but sadly most people just can't game here unless it's free to play or it's piracy 

Things used to be better, our currency used to be 65% of a dollar 10 years ago, now it's about 18%, this makes anything sold with dollar price staggering overpriced and our very high taxes are just the cherry on top 

Tariffs in general have done some interesting things to pricing the world over... And right now the climate for hardware is a premium even for low-end stuff due to the silicon chip crunch... And I think those impacts tend to be felt more in nations that aren't highly developed, advanced economies...

Because I can argue the extra $250 AUD for an extra 4 CPU cores and not bat an eye, but for someone else that could be a few weeks worth of rent.

Insane.

And to think, you are probably not doing any less work than someone else in another country in terms of quality, but would get a fraction of the income and support.
Heck, my uniform is about $4,000 AUD in total.. And I have 3 sets of those... So that is your yearly income right there. Baffles the mind.

Thanks for linking this video. Saved me some time. Those defending the new game prices need to listen to Jim on this one. He nails almost all points as to why nothing good comes from raising the prices even if its just $10.

The video game industry has been becoming more profitable than ever before and to claim developer costs have gone up also need to look into the increase in the audience as well as all the other in game profits implemented into games. Activision continues to profit yearly and the CEO Bobby Kotick continues to make millions yearly while laying off employees the same year. EA continue to resell Madden with the most minimal effort while it continues to grow well into a billion dollar franchise plus increasing the cost of the game that's identical to the previous version.

If people still cannot see the point of this than they are clearly flag waving due to their favorite brand said its okay. Id rather not feed the greedy pockets of corporate suits which could care zero F#$%s about you and as Jim said, would burn your own house down if they saw a profit in it.

If developers want to profit more with video games, than they should be maximizing their efforts into making quality products that more people will buy into rather than try to maximize game prices while not relying on offering quality products, because if we just allow them to raise the prices, we are also sending a message that we will just buy what ever they make instead of caring about the most important part, the game itself being made.

I know it's niche, but I hoped prices of planes would come down a bit with the popularity of FS2020.

Looking at the DC-6, PMDG's cheapest offering, $60 US for one plane
https://pmdg.com/pmdg-dc-6-for-msfs/

And that's 'cheap' as the base package of the 747-400 for Prepare3D is $140!

I guess I'll wait for FS2020 to become more stable before investing that kind of money in add-on planes.

FS2020 is incredibly overpriced. Great game but they are asking way to much.

Everyone views money differently.  I'm blessed enough where I could buy most items and not think about it if that's what I wanted.  I would rather invest my money and retire earlier in life (50's if not 40's) than overspend on things now.  I have no doubt Ratchet and Clank is going to be one of my favorite games, and I haven't bought it yet.  I'll probably hold off on it entirely and ask for it for Christmas.