Do you still pay full price for games?

The last retail game I paid full price for is the PS5 remake of Demon's Souls on launch day. I was able to secure a Disc-based PS5 and Xbox Series X preorder and I figured, hell, I was already spending $1000 on consoles, might as well have something new to play on it...plus, I was super pumped about the game itself.

Since then, the only games I've spent money on have been smaller, download-only games like Rogue Legacy 2 or retail games that were either used or discounted. So for almost 2 years now, my hobby has subsisted on a diet of smaller, sale-priced games...and Game Pass.

It's a wonder how this has happened to me, but it's kind of shocking how little money I've spent based on the number of hours I've put in. Now, for context, I am 37 and I'm married with no kids. I work a full-time, work-from-home corporate job and my wife run a movie podcast that puts out 2 hour-long episodes per week (Link to the show). I turn on either of my systems pretty much every night to at least do my daily rewards check-in. So, whatever free time I have I'm usually playing something when we're not working on the podcast.

Looking ahead at the landscape of games, there's really only one game that is tempting me to buy at launch and that's the Resident Evil 4 remake. But based on the recent history with Capcom and their retail games, it's likely I could wait a little while and pick it up at a pretty substantial discount.

And since I haven't mentioned it yet, I do have a Switch but it tends to collect dust. Nintendo's history of rarely discounting their 1st-party games tends to limit what I buy for their system, but on occasion I will pick up a game or two. I think the last one I got was the Link's Awakening remake last year, but again, at a discount. I was suckered in to buying the 3D Mario All-Stars at launch simply because they were touting it as a limited run. I typically use my Switch on the occasion I take a plane ride somewhere and play the NES/SNES included with their online service. Like with most of their other consoles, I buy a Nintendo system to play Nintendo games.

So, that all being said, my question is this: Who is paying full price for games anymore?

Are they kids spending their allowance on new games or are they just all paying for V-Bucks and such?

Are they people who jumped into the digital-only consoles and are at the mercy of the monopoly that is PSN?

Are they the kids on Twitch who aren't big enough to get a free code from the publishers and want to get in on the hype of a new release?

Or are they normal work-a-day people who don't pay attention to the industry and don't follow a guy like Wario64 for their hot deals?

With all of the talk about raising the price of new retail games to $70 and the specter of monetary inflation hovering over this industry and others, it's not affecting me in the least bit. I come to a site like Giant Bomb and others to keep up with the happenings of the industry and be entertained at the same time. I like hearing about the buzz of new games, but I don't need to run out and get every shiny new game to keep up. I've never been able to keep up. Even the people employed by this website can't keep up with everything and this is what they do for a living!

As I sit here approaching the fall of 2022, I am content with my Game Pass subscription, my backlog of games I got for cheap or free (thanks PS+ and Games with Gold) and the occasional impulse buy for something fairly new on sale. As Playstation builds up their higher tiered PS+ plans, they might tempt me into joining their ranks as well, but their policy of not including 1st-party games might keep me on the sidelines. This hobby of mine has been with me pretty much my entire life and I see no end in sight. I'm glad it has matured along side me and not become exclusionary considering my elder-millennial status.

What say you?

I try to avoid it because my budget is tight but I bought Splatoon full price because Nintendo games don’t get discounted.

Yeah, sure.

If there's something coming that I wanna play then I do so, I'm not big on waiting a year for a sale.

Unless it's from a developer I really like, I wait for sales. My backlog is too big as it stands.

Pretty sure Demon's Souls was also the last game that I bought full price. And I bought FFVII Remake and Ghost of Tsushima in 2020 at launch. I bought Elden Ring at launch as well but got it 20% off from Greenmangaming so not quite full price. These are probably the last games I buy full price. I have no problem playing the waiting game at this point, especially with games that are guaranteed to get DLC. Gamepass has helped out immensely with finding new stuff to play. Also, I've been going back through my libraries and playing stuff that I already own one way or another but never gave a shot. Any game I haven't played is new to me. The zeitgeist means very little at this point in my life. I'll finally try Deathloop next week on Gamepass. And like most games I expect it will be a better experience now vs. then.

Cyberpunk is a prime example, like Witcher 3, of a game I'll get to multiple years after release when all the DLC is out, its one package for cheap, and miles better than it was at launch. Nintendo games do go on sale once and awhile so I still wait for those as well. 55 bucks CAD is still better than 80 bucks.

Sure, when needed. I bought Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 6 at full price on Steam because the PC Xbox app was such a steaming pile of garbage and I wanted to play them.

I'm still willing to pay $60 for a game from time to time when I know it's something that'll definitely be worth my money, but I'll never be willing to pay $70 for any game. I just can't justify spending that much on my entertainment budget.

But most of my time is spent playing indie stuff anyways. I do frequently pay full price for indie games. Does that count?

Rarely, I usually wait until a sale on PSN. There's usually a game from my wish list I download ahead of time. Now I have a huge backlog lol.

Now and then. I usually have some Amazon bucks laying around, and I use those exclusively for games. My game budget has dropped so much due to Game Pass and PS+, to the point where I only really have to buy 1 or 2 big games a quarter.

I have, but I don't see myself continuing to do so. Most games only get cheaper and better after released. Though for most multiplayer focused games I do feel like purchasing at release still has some merit. Mostly because as the player base gets smaller the barrier to entry gets harder for new players, I find this especially the case for fighting games.

i'm discerning, but i will 1 hundo pay full price for the work i want to support. granted i do a lot of research and listen to critics so i'm not going in blind- but i'm fortunate to be in a position where i can pay for the things i enjoy.

i don't judge anyone who waits for discount (as i often do for things i'm not passionate about)- but i figure the surest way to show a publisher/developer/platform-holder i want more of what they're selling is to pony up the cash. i also have never really gotten used to F2P- there isn't really a single free game that's gotten its hooks in me.

also as an adult- the amount of money i spend on a weekly basis for just getting through the week (caffeine, lunches, etc) leaves me feeling pretty good about the ROI on a full price game i love.

Anything single-player will be much better experienced down the road after some patches. Would love to support developers with money, but paying more for a product which will get better with time is just silly.

If it's something that I'm interested in, then yes.

Probably a handful of times in my life. Tony Hawk 2, Soul Calibur 2, Twilight Princess, Brutal Legend, maybe a few others but that's all I remember for sure. I usually wait for steep discounts, even on games I really want.

I only pay full price for Nintendo games. For almost everything else, I tend to wait for sales. With how the Canadian dollar is, paying full price for games gets pretty expensive quickly.

I haven't paid full price for a game in about 3 years. Last game I remember paying full price for was The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening remake for the Switch.

Less often than I'd like to, and more than I'd want to.

*sigh* Thanks, Sony. I'll buy the PC versions of your ex-PS4 exclusives from a grey market.

I have a huge backlog, so I'm usually willing to wait, but I'll pay full price when I'm not.

By the time i get around to playing something it's usually 2 or more years later, they just announced a new Assassin's Creed but i still need to play Odyssey, also i just get more out of playing older games these days.

There are some exceptions, mostly multiplayer things that i want to be a part of while it's having its moment, i've been playing Isonzo on occasion but that was £22 with the 10% launch discount, i'll probably buy MW2 when it comes out but i'm not sure that counts since COD never goes on discount so you can't save money on that regardless, i bought Flight Simulator because i couldn't believe they were making a new one so they deserved my money, and i'll buy Tekken 8 on day one because i want to be a part of that.

Did they release the 2nd Horizon yet? I still haven't played the first one, that's where i'm at.

@timoneous:i haven't worked in 2 years thanks to being a factory worker with a motor tic that caused me to not be able to wear a mask ( depending on how this season goes maybe i'll be able to get back out there come spring?) ... needless to say money is tight . that said i have a fiancee more willing to shovel out the price if i want something than even i would be.

personally i refuse to pay 70 usd on a new release . its nuts and prices usually drop quick enough for most that i'm not too worried about the few games that do interest me ..... this said to be frank its sorta rare these days i even care about big releases anymore. price aside i found myself just enjoying cheaper indie games over AAA titles. considering that year i'd say its sorta rare i pay full price for games cause usually the ones i want are on sale on steam. i have gamepass so thats honestly saved me a ton of money in even that field.

All this is not to say i won't buy a full priced game tho but it Really depends on the game . i'll trust anything ryu ga gotoku studios puts out so those are pre-orders for me so long as they remain 60 or less. but for something with a 70 dollar price tag like god of war coming out soon.... no . i'm sure it'll be good but i can't justify the price tag on that , its too much greed for my taste coupled with the limited income. on top of all this i really just am not happy with my ps5 enough to want many games on it sales or not , the controller hurts my hand and makes me not want to touch it often.

as for nintendo stuff i'll admit to being pretty picky about what i get on my switch also. the fact they next to never drop in price makes me more willing to just buy something at release if i want it enough but also honestly the fact that i can run games via an emulator n the run n look better than on my actual switch really just stops me from being too interested in any as a whole, and even when i am interested in them i usually talk myself out of them for a number of reasons.

TLDR: sometimes but it depends on the game tho its getting rarer.

I'm in a fairly financially stable situation so if it's a big game that I'm interested in then yah sure, especially if it's a game where I'm worried about spoilers. Some of the smaller stuff I'm willing to wait on. For example I wanted to play Stray but decided that it's probably a game I can either wait to buy on sale or wait until it might hit Game Pass. Elden Ring on the other hand was a day one purchase for me because I was excited to play it and also I knew I was going to get my moneys worth. Game Pass has really helped me in waiting for sales though because even if I'm really itching to play something but don't necessarily want to pony up the full launch price I can always just dive into the Game Pass catalog and usually find something to tide me over for a while.

Never. I have a huge enough backlog as it is and I've never had the need to buy newer games because of FOMO or whatever.

I do keep up with new releases and constantly add stuff to my Wishlist but it might take several years before I actually pick them up. I buy all my games on Steam sales and bundles whenever the deal gets too good to pass up.

last time i paid full price for a game it was Vampire Survivors
other than that its been nothing but Steam sales for me BABY

I only buy maybe 3-4 AAA titles a year and depending on how much I want to play them I'll pay full price.

Same for indies, but I'll buy a few more of those are full price per year (though not many).

It depends. If I want to play a game bad enough I will spend the money at full price. But in most cases I'll wait until months go by and the game is on sale, usually during a major event like the holiday sales. For example, I waited until the summer sale to get Horizon: Forbidden West when it was cheaper than both the PS4 and PS5 version. I might get Bayonetta 3 at full price, but it depends on how good the reviews are, and the fact Nintendo exclusives rarely go on sale anyway.

Almost never. I think the last time I did was the FFVII remake for PS4, which is about as ridiculously anticipated as a release gets. Regardless of what the new "starting point" for titles is, my magic number is usually $19.99, lol.

I do. If it's something I really want to play I'll shell out the $60. That's been rarer recently, since I tend to prefer indies over AAA releases, but for BOTW2 or Pikmin 4 I will absolutely pay full price. That Suikoden I+II remaster looks pretty tempting too.

Never well unless it's a game I need when it's released.

I'm only buying games full whack for coverage purposes. Gran Turismo 7 was my last bite at £70.

if game=eldenRing {

payPrice=full

}

else {

payPrice=discounted

}

I usually only pay full price for about 3-5 games I'm really excited about per year. This year it's been Elden Ring, Total Warhammer 3 and Pokemon Legends (since Nintendo games never go on sale anyway). I most likely will also end up buying God of War and Scarlet/Violet full price. Aside from that everything I play I get on sale, through gamepass or is a smaller/indie title that launches at a budget price to begin with. Having said that I do always feel a little guilty paying full price for a game, which is odd considering I would also think very little about spending $20 on an overpriced lunch.

I still do but I'm trying to stop. I get caught up too much in the new game hype. It's a problem.

I buy fewer games, but what I buy is at full prices and as directly to the developer or producer as I can. For indie games I get them from patreon links, if ista game where updates happen I to wait until "all teh updates have dropped before paying gain for the 2.0 version that is more compet tha the 1.0 I might bought months earlier.

For the big cooperation games that just cannot be bought close to the developers own pocket I just buy it at the going rate when I buy it...if that less then so be it.

I definitely still buy 1-3 new games a month depending on whats coming out….usually i stick to games I would want to play online since communities die out fast. Most single player stuff I can wait on for a price drop.

I probably buy ~4-5 full priced games a year and that's limited to that being the number of new games I want to play not a financial decision. I have more money than time these days. If I think buying the game during release will enhance the experience and ride the zeitgeist I'll always buy it. It's funny how that's changed in my life. I really don't care about the price of the game, I'll buy whatever I want to play at the time. Probably only buy like 10-15 games a year now anyways and at least a third of those are gonna be $20 or less.

I am holding against pushing past the $60 barrier for as long as possible. I do not want to pay $70 for any games. God of War Ragnarok will likely break me on this.

So basically I only pay $60 for the games I am absolutely the most excited for, but in this age of preorder sales the day before game release (often after review embargo), I am frequently picking games up at launch on PC for $40-50. I also still play the Humble Bundle game quite a bit, occasionally biting on bundles that have at least 2 games in them I care about.

If "full price" means $60 or $70 (USD).. the last one I purchased was Ghost of Tsushima because it checked A LOT of my boxes. Open world, historical Japan, excessively pretty, cute animals, easy mode. It was worth the $79.99 Canadian.

I'm not likely to pay full price again any time soon. I can easily afford it but I am just stingy. (I'm tempted for GoW Ragnarok, but with $70 games now costing over $100 here in Canada I think I'll just wait for at least a 20% discount)

I will pay for indies I am very excited for, if they're less than $20-30. I was going to buy Stray day one, but ended up subscribing to PS+ Extra instead.

i just dropped a hot $40 on Metal: Hellsinger for PS5 because i'm morally obligated to support heavy metal video games.

The last game i bought full price was Pokémon Arceus. And the next games will be Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Nintendo games never go down in price anyways :P

Yes, mostly out of impatience. It's a stupid process. I can say though, as a PSA, that if anyone is ever wanting to play something that they don't want to pay full price for, just let me know. I'll buy it at full price and it is certain to go on sale the next week.

The odd Nintendo-title, but nothing else. I have switched to subscriptions.

I still pay full price fore big games that review well that I have hype for. Elden Ring, for this year. I usually buy 2-3 full price games every year. I also buy tons and tons of $10-$30 games, which is what must of my steam library is. Gamepass on PC also helps me save a ton these days on some select big games, like Psychonauts 2 last year or Total War Warhammer 3 this year.

On consoles, I really rarely buy anything, but when I do, it's usually an exclusive PS5, which at this point, I have all 3 of those it's not that many, so I figured I might as well get them all if I went and paid for the console. I've not touched my switch since Metroid Dread, and I paid full for that, I'm pretty sure. Again, an exclusive, so they know how to get money out of me.

Depends on how much that full price is. "Indie darlings" like the recent Freedom Planet 2, 20 us dollars and under, in a heartbeat.

I can see paying full price for Elden Ring is not an original thought for me alone.

Otherwise, if the game seems really wonderful (even besides Elden Ring), I will do it.

But not much has really come along that I am not willing to wait for the old sale in fall or winter.

For me, it fully depends. It depends on my backlog (which I've done a pretty good job of trimming down), if it's a game I'm really looking forward to, and life in general.