This is the angle. It's not whether games are worth $80, it's whether the opportunity cost of spending that on a single game is greater than the experience. - ThreadSky

aidanis.fun • 27 days ago

This is the angle. It's not whether games are worth $80, it's whether the opportunity cost of spending that on a single game is greater than the experience.

Reposted from Jason Schreier

Xbox said this week it will begin selling games at $80. For all but the top products, this price hike may prove to be a critical mistake. Why would people pay $80 for a decent game when they can get a great one for $30?

This week's column: www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Comments

spacetalk.bsky.social•27 days ago

It's BIZARRE that you don't see this take more, and it shows that way too many people are too focused on the producers' interests to think about consumers

Sorry, no, I absolutely do not care what your development budget was and the fun part is I don't have to.

I can and will do something else

camerontalley.bsky.social•27 days ago

I played Mario Kart 8 for over a decade with my family. Between both Wii U and switch that was $120. But I played it for a DECADE. I think it was worth $1 a month.

Depends on the game.

enderws.bsky.social•27 days ago

I also bought DLC both times too. It's been the Mario Kart the entire time my Nephews have been alive. Though, I'm going for the bundle.

garik16.bsky.social•27 days ago

And judging from the continued sales for years after it was first released you were far from alone. MKW will have little problem appealing to people at $80.

oceanicpicon815.bsky.social•27 days ago

Well Xbox can fuck off (for multiple reasons).

herne.bsky.social•27 days ago

Never mind that so many games are adding in-game "currency" and asking for micro-payments from players who want to purchase in-game cosmetic items and perks,

cgremlin.bsky.social•27 days ago

That's one thing I'll never cave for, except for Monster Hunter cosmetics 😂🫣 But those arent things we have to buy to enjoy the game.
I hate when a game, mainly mobile games, are sort of geared towards making in app purchases more enticing to progress/get anything better. It's predatory 😥

opaoni.bsky.social•27 days ago

The question soon becomes, is playing a game immediately worth it or should you wait? If you don't care about multiplayer (a minority of spending dollars, sadly) then why not wait

randomjeweler.bsky.social•27 days ago

Yea I have so many games and so little time but other people apparently have time to game.

curiouscarrottop.bsky.social•27 days ago

YEP! I love gaming and have spent an obscene amount on the games and DLC that I own. That said, it’s incredibly rare for me to spend more that $60 for a single purchase of a single game, and I have never paid more than that for a game bc imho, more than $60 for a game is ridiculous

thuotila.bsky.social•27 days ago

I suppose XBox has a different strategy.

You take max value out of those that really *need* that specific game immediately and drive everyone to Game Pass.

waifuchaser.bsky.social•27 days ago

I came to this same realization after I played Signalis and Crow Country back to back. It just hit me that there's no reason to spend $70+ on a game when I can get something like either of those for ~$20

besthistories.bsky.social•27 days ago

Definitely saving that money and waiting for it to go on sale. Plenty of fun to be had with other games while I wait.

docdiamondfire.bsky.social•27 days ago

There are SO MANY great games way under $80 or $60.

garik16.bsky.social•27 days ago

This is I think the difference between Xbox price increases and Nintendo. Xbox games are not dissimilar in content to the other cheaper games. There’s nothing uniquely Xbox about them. Whereas people want to play Mario kart and Mario from Nintendo and can’t get that fun elsewhere

amfisher.bsky.social•27 days ago

You give me 80 bucks to spend, and I'm picking up 4-5 indy games and maybe a AAA game at steep discount during a Steam sale.

levesque-chris.bsky.social•27 days ago

I definitely don’t see spending $80 on a game.

amfisher.bsky.social•27 days ago

I think the last games I bought at full price were niche wargames, and even those are on Steam now and occasionally on sale.

levesque-chris.bsky.social•27 days ago

I think Outer Planets was the last game I paid full price for.

cgremlin.bsky.social•27 days ago

Yeah I skipped on preordering any of the Switch2 launch titles cause for those prices I need to be 100% all in on a game.

I just got Moonstone Island deluxe edition on sale for $29.99 & it'll give me 100s of hours of playtime. I'd have bought it at full cost if I'd known I'd love it so much.

vlcrst.bsky.social•27 days ago

It also makes me wonder if it will indirectly make gamepass ultimate more enticing. Perhaps not to have it permamently, but for example, Let's say I wanna go through Expedition 99 and Doom The Dark Ages so I sub for a month or two and then cancel it.

kyh9.bsky.social•27 days ago

The irony for me is that the only Xbox published game I liked enough that I’d ever be able to justify spending $80 on is their cheapest exclusive in years with Hi Fi Rush

shaidorsai.bsky.social•27 days ago

Could this also be part of a strategy to drive people to an Xbox Game Pass subscription?

wiswell.bsky.social•27 days ago

Well said. There are pricey games that are worth the cost to me. $70 for Tears of the Kingdom was fair for how much time and wonder I got out of it.

But mostly it's indie games that light my fire.

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