Are You Price Sensitive When It Comes to Games?

Since the start of this new generation of consoles, I’ve seen so much dialogue among enthusiasts on various gaming forums and within the game journalist/news space. There was an uproar with publishers increasing the price of games by $10 for PS5/XSX games, as well as Sony’s own first party games increasing the price of their games to $69.99 USD.

With Returnal coming out next week, people are discussing the price of games once more. It’s not just Returnal, but the value of a video game has consistently been a hot topic. It’s been this way for a few years now, but we haven’t seen game prices increase for ~15 years, until last year with the new consoles. The increase of prices and expense has also resulted in people pushing for reducing the barrier to entry to play games, it’s why services like Xbox Game Pass have also dominated the discussion considering the quantity of games you get for a low price of admission.

Given all the discussions going on about video game prices, it made me think about myself and my purchasing habits. Prior to reading opinions online about whether or not Returnal is “worth it” for $69.99 USD, I had already decided I was 95% certain I’d pick it up on day one, barring any performance/bugs. I like Housemarque titles like Resogun and Nex Machina, and this is the first time we’ve seen a bullet hell shooter with rogue like elements with an AAA budget. I had never wondered if it would be “worth” $69.99 USD (I’m in Canada, so it’s actually $89.99 CAD), because in my mind it was already something I decided I’d wanted.

I’m personally not price sensitive when it comes to games, so I have no issue paying full price for them if they look good and up my alley. I know I’m also coming from a place where I can easily buy a $89.99 game and not really bat an eye — things were much different when I was a student in University.

The thing I find most interesting is that if you think about it, we contradict our own value propositions within our own lives constantly, so I find the price sensitivity in gaming a bit odd. The quote from the Games Industry Biz article I linked above summarizes what I think pretty well.

We can all think of contradictions in our own lives where our perception of value is inconsistent, sometimes even within the same area. For me, £10 for a mobile game is ridiculous, but £50 for a Switch title is reasonable. I happily drop £15 a week going to the cinema, but I had to think twice about renewing Disney+ after its recent price increase.

My personal purchasing habits with games have changed over the last few months. I continually fall into a trap where I get have a fear of missing out when it comes to video game sales on the PlayStation Store and eShop. What happens is I end up buying games I’m interested in on sale, then tell myself “yeah, I’ll get to it at some point”. Instead of doing that, I’ve started to buy what I actually want to play in the moment and just play through the games I already have, ultimately just disregard sales in general. Not only is this better from a time commitment perspective for me, but it also is cheaper to do that then continually buying games I won’t play on sale. I’m also someone who does not care to have a persistent subscription to something like Game Pass and in practice I did not use the service as much as I thought I would have — so spending $230 CAD/year was more of a waste.

I know I also speak from a place where I’m more privileged in that I don’t really have to worry about spending $89.99 outright on a new game, whereas if I was still in university, something like Xbox Game Pass would have been really ideal for me.

Any thoughts? Curious to see what everyone else thinks about this topic!

I'm price sensitive about most things. So yeah I'm hesitant to drop 70 bones on a game. I was hesitant with 60 too. I don't give a flying fuck about the argument about rising development costs. If they want to increase the price in new games to offset those, then fine. But I was already buying my games used and on sales before and this just makes the wait longer.

Everyone is price sensitive to some degree, it's just a question of how sensitive you are. Some people might not care about $70 but would balk at $150. Some very rich people might be willing to drop thousands on an FTP game, but even they generally have some kind of limits. It's just a question of how price sensitive you are and how that matches up to the market.

You yourself decided to drop Game Pass because it wasn't providing enough value, so clearly you have some degree of price sensitivity. It may just happen that 90 Maplebucks is below your pain point for a new game.

I also disagree with the idea that it's irrational to have different price sensitivities for different platforms. When deciding how much you're willing to pay for something you need to look at the specific market you're talking about, not just overall utility. Is it irrational to be willing to pay more for a hotel room in Los Angeles than for one in Poughkeepsie? Of course not. Hotel rooms in LA are more expensive, and even if you're just going tor a business meeting and won't be able to enjoy the city (the reason that LA hotel rooms are more expensive) it's rational to be willing to pay more because otherwise you're going to get a lousy room. Likewise if you want a Switch game because that's your platform of choice you're likely going to have to pay more. $10 is a lot for a mobile game (especially since many mobile games have additional microtransactions in them, but even if they don't) but $50 is pretty standard on the Switch. Different marketplaces, different price sensitivities. It's like going to a restaurant. You might be price sensitive at an expensive restaurant and a cheap one, but your scales are different in the two situations.

As for me, personally, I'm somewhat price sensitive depending on the situation. My sensitivity is not just about absolute value but also relates to things like how quickly I think a game is going to drop in price (That's also rational; if you think a game is likely to drop in price soon it makes sense to not want to pay full price while if you know it won't because it's Nintendo first party or something then considerations are different)

I am willing to pay full price for a game at launch if I think I will play it immediately and it looks like something that I will really like, but if it is likely to drop in price soon or if it's something I might not play all the way through then I will wait. It's certainly true that if I knew exactly what I'd want to play at any time and didn't have a backlog I could save money, but I bounce off a fair number of games and I also just enjoy knowing that I have a backlog of games waiting for me if I ever want to play something. There is value in maintaining a library even if you don't use all of it because you have the security of knowing it's there for you and having choices available depending on your mood. Game Pass also works well for this, so I'm buying fewer games these days and dipping more into that catalog.

Whilst I technically can afford them, this new price range of £70 for new games is making me reconsidering buying games new. Like Returnal looks fun, but no way am I paying £70 for it.

To give an idea for Americans £70 in USD is $97 according to google. It's taking the piss quite frankly.

I’ve really started to turn against paying $60+ for a single game. Part of that is due to my current financial situation, but also I could get 5 games for $60 on PC. Or, you know, a couple weeks worth of groceries. It just doesn’t make sense to me at the moment.

@evilmonkeyslayer Yeah, the regional pricing is crazy. I know things are taxed differently between countries but I cannot understand how they are getting away with such a high price. In Ireland it's 85 euro for a new game, that's 103 USD.

@evilmonkeyslayer: The regional pricing is tough. In Canada like I mentioned in the OP games are $89.99CAD, and with PSN probably starting to charge taxes, it’ll mean in Ontario games are over $100CAD.

I’m pretty price sensitive. I’m usually a year or more late on most games, tho these days, most games hit $20-30 by Black Friday so I’ll get in on a handful of the hottest games of the year in the same year.

It has nothing to do w the $70 thing. Idk if returnal justifies that price but a lot of the longer games I’ve played, if they were $70, I think they can easily be justified. I’m just interested in enough games and my budget is such that, I need to stretch my dollars.

Video games are the only real hobby that I spend any of my excess money on and no singular video game is worth $70 to me. Most games weren't worth $60. It's just hard for me to justify spending that much money on myself when I take into account what I'll have spent over time on the consoles, a tv, harddrives, cords or controllers that might need replacing, or whatever else, on top of the games. $10 might not seem like a whole lot more to pay for one game, but if I'm buying 10 new games a year, suddenly that's $100 that could've have been better spent elsewhere.

I find myself in the strange(?) position of thinking some games are way too expensive, while others way undervalue themselves. For my part, I could never envision spending more than 30$ on a game (and even that would stress me out a bit, unless I was really sure about wanting to play it), so 60-70$ for a game is pretty much right out.

But at the same time, indie games and games older than a couple years consistently go for unreasonably low prices, sometimes not even during a sale. In a weird way, I've seen a few games I felt weirdly guilty about buying for so cheap. Sure, spending 2-5$ for any game is a steal no matter what way you slice it, but there's some awful part of me that can't help but feel like by buying games at that cheap I'm only further cementing the idea that games have to be that cheap.

I'm very price sensitive (I can spend hours justifying a 20 dollar purchase to myself) as a broke boi, but to me the price hike was inevitable and makes sense.

The only AAA games I buy at full price (generally speaking, there are always exceptions) are entries to franchises I love and know will meet a certain level of quality: New GTAs, new Mortal Kombats, and new Dooms. I know that not taking a chance on new IPs is part of the problem, but I can't throw down 60-70 bucks on everything that looks like it might appeal to me.

I also am making a concentrated effort to game less in general, which makes me even pickier. I feel like this is going to be a very casual generation for me, and that's just fine.

I wait for games to go on sale largely because I can. I think 70 dollars/euros is a fair price for a game that provides me with quality entertainment for more than, say, 10 hours, and I also have disposable income to afford that. It's more of the market just being what it is that I would feel dumb to pay that much when I can wait 6 months and get it for half a price. I have a big enough backlog to sustain me for a long time and I don't really suffer from FOMO that would force me to buy a game just because everyone is talking about it.

You're absolutely right that the value is a very fluid and hard to define thing. If I go to a pub for a beer, I wouldn't then say that this beer is too expensive, forget about it, but for some reason it's so easy to be cheap in the comfort of our home, even though in the grand scheme of things, saving a few bucks here and there wouldn't make any kind of noticeable difference in my life.

ps. I don't mean to offend but I find people saying "what about the poor folks who can't afford $70" really disingenuous. If you think the price is too much, just say so, don't hide and present your own opinion as if it's the opinion of someone else. Nowadays there are so many ways to play that anyone who can afford gaming hardware will find more than enough games to keep them occupied.

As the OP sort of mentioned, in Canada game prices have increased significantly the last 5-8 years due to our weakened dollar (and in many cases, wages haven't kept up with the changes in the value of the dollar, simply making things like games more expensive). Back when it was $50 to get a new release, I'd buy a fair number of them because it wasn't that expensive. Now that new games start at $80 and now sometimes $90 it certainly causes me a lot more pause. I went from buying a full priced game every month or two to getting maybe one a year. I'm much more likely to wait for sales now, even for games I really want.

I'm not sure how to phrase this without sounding a bit arrogant, but I'm in a situation in my life where I have a good paying job but with kids and other responsibilities so I maybe play ~5 hours a week on average. What that means is I will basically pay any price if there's a game I want to play. As long as I'm not buying games that I'm not going to play right away, which maybe only happens a few times a year or if there's a Steam sale, I'm not paying that much in a year to enjoy my favorite hobby. Same goes with hardware - I basically buy anything I want... (That's not to say I have the best of everything, I don't have an Xbox Series X, still use a 24" 1080p monitor, still have a 1070 in my pc). I probably buy no more than 12 games a year with only 2/3 of those being new, full-priced games.

If there are a few games I want to play sure I'll start with the one on sale. But having time to play games is the scarce resource right now so if there's any game I'm excited to play when I find time I will just immediately buy it. I also like owning games, physical if I can, so game pass and services are not that appealing to me. It's a good problem to have I suppose.....though truth is I'd be happier being a kid again with the opposite problem of too much time and not enough money to afford games.

The last time I bought a game full price is years ago and it was probably not worth it, because ever since i havent bought a game full price or maybe even above the 30 euro. Its just not worth it, especially when i never play online. I could buy it full price, but even the games i bought in sale and liked very much, they never really felt like a good purchase at full price.

Especially since i know the games are going on sale at one point, i will just wait for it; i really don't fear of missing out on anything. My flow of consuming games is basically that im bored, check the sales, see if i like anything, buy it, play it. If i don't like it i will just move on to another one and don't worry too much about it.

Also, i usually dont buy multiple games on sale either, maybe 2 max. I want to keep my backlog as small as possible to prevent any useless purchases. Its not only about the money really, more of a time / interest / money combination of investment that i want to keep under control. Especially games that are hyped up can be a real pain of investment when you buy them full price, sometimes even when it falls into a genre which you really like.

I'm very price sensitive. Will make some exceptions, but $10 is usually my ceiling. I'll wait years for that price, but that's fine with me.

However, $70 seems reasonable for a new game. You can always get it for less if you are patient. Heck, cartridges used to go for $80 back in the early days of the industry. That's probably about $150 by today's dollars.

I’m not price sensitive at all when it comes to games as it’s the number one way I prefer to spend my spare time. I spent $70 on COD (not worth it) and Demon’s Souls (kinda worth it.) I’ll be spending $70 on Returnal next week. I also buy games when they go on sale and treat them as kinda rainy day entertainment. If I spend $10 on a game, and I fire it up for two or three hours but don’t finish it, I’ve gotten a movies’ worth of value out of it. So, yeah... Different people have different income levels and different ways that they either can or want to spend their money. I don’t mind when reviewers talk about price because I know plenty of people out there have it as a going concern.

hmm that's an interesting question to consider.

i generally don't buy brand new games- but that's usually more a function of hardware limitation and interest than financial limitation. i don't like to live on the very bleeding edge of tech (i'll let early adopters work out the kinks, thank you), and the only AAA, $60+ products i even consider buying are typically single player, story/character driven games. i don't much care for open worlds, games as service, or competitive multiplayer- so that's a real limiting factor on what i buy.

but give me something that is either a new experience for me (animal crossing, paper mario, most 1st party output on the switch) or an existing franchise i'm hooked on (TLOU2) and i'm quite content to pay the full price, no problem. but i'll also wait for critical consensus to form- i'm not waiting to dive in at midnight, i want to know what i've signed up for first.

i also do buy a ton of games on sale- but that's less because i'm driven there out of necessity, and moreso since i'm already at minimum 2 or 3 years in the past in terms of tech- the games i'm purchasing for those platforms are permanently discounted.

so i suppose the tl;dr is-

i don't have tech FOMO, my interests are pretty specific- and so i'm naturally limited in the brand new games i buy. but if it all lines up, i'm happy to pay full price- and i'd be comfortable paying a fair bit more for the stuff i like. but in terms of quantity- most of my money is going to games on sale.

Depends how much I can expense. A couple years ago I was rolling in it, so I didn’t think twice. Lately I have been hesitant to pay for any game over 20 dollars, unless it’s been six months or so since I bought one, in which case I might spend 60 bucks on a game.

Value also comes into question. So for example, I buy almost nothing for the Switch because every game is $10-$25 more than it should be, with very few sales even for 3-year-old games.

Depends on the game. I generally try to hunt for deals, even when I want to get something on launch day, but I'm not opposed to paying high rates for games I know I'm going to adore if I have no other choice. For example, I happily paid $80 for Red Dead Redemption (had to get it overnight airmailed when my little town in the boonies didn't have any copies available on launch day). But for a counter example, I'm struggling to think of any of the upcoming slate of first party Sony games I'm champing at the bit to drop $70 on (I know it's not just them doing the price hike, but they're at the forefront of it). I'd like to play Horizon 2 when it launches, sure, but if I can't find a launch deal somewhere I'll probably wait.

As to the point about inconsistencies with price sensitivity, I tend to be price sensitive within the context of the same specific categories of consumption. For example, $5 to rent a movie objectively is very little, but it still feels like a lot when there's always the chance it'll pop up on HBO for no additional price above my family's subscription fee next month. With games, I'm pretty sensitive to the $70 pricetag for Sony's first party games in major part because their main competition is dropping all their first party games on a subscription service I've already paid up for several years.

It depends on the game, I suppose.

Demon's Souls? Yeah, I'd spend $70 on that. I was trying to find a PS5 in large part to play that game, so I was ready to spend $570 on it. Still haven't been able to get one though.

But I also like playing a large variety of games, I like "trying something out". I don't want to spend $70 on something I'm interested in trying. I'd rather find something similar for cheaper because losing $70 to a game I don't like stings.

I am baffled by the argument that games should be more expensive. If a game has to have microtransactions or lootboxes to be profitable in addition to charging $60 or $70, then the developer and/or publisher's spending habits are way out of line and need to be examined and corrected. Budget accordingly, have a healthy understanding of the genre you're working in and how popular your game is likely to be and manage that well. This is far easier said than done and can get out of line, but passing that cost down to the consumer is shitty.

I'm always price sensitive when it comes to buying games. I usually wait until a game is on sale before I get it. Unless its a game I really want to play and can't wait months before the price drops. Recent examples are Final Fantasy VII Remake and Last of Us Part 2. Both games I got day 1 and haven't regretted it. Right now there is this push to sale next-gen games at 70 dollars, and I will never pay that much for a game. I really wanted to play the new Ratchet and Clank, and if it was 60 dollars, I'd buy it day 1. But they want 70 bones, so I'm going to wait until it drops, even if it takes years. I haven't played the new NBA 2K21 or Demon Souls, because of this and since they refuse to drop the price on both games, I likely won't until years later. Besides, I heard Demon Souls has the same issues the original game did which almost made it unplayable with a fancy new paint job.

I don't go about £40 for a game. The £70 Sony are trying to ask for is ridiculous.

And no, that doesn't mean I need to wait years to play things. This year alone I've managed to get MilesMorales, Nier Replicant, MH Rise, Super Mario 3D World and a preorder of RE Village and GG Strive without breaking my limit. Thankfully most retailers seem to agree the price hike is untenable.

Some games are worth full price.

Some games are worth full price and DLC.

A few games are worth buying multiple times for multiple platforms.

Some games are worth waiting for a sale.

Most games aren't worth spending any money at all.

I am price sensitive at this point, largely because I have a huge backlog of games that I own and would like to play, but don't have the time. There is no need for me to buy a game at full price when it may be years before I get to it anyway. Also, I have Game Pass, which provides a large library I don't need to buy. The exception is when I feel strongly about a particular developer's games. I will likely buy Nier Replicant in the next couple weeks, as I want to support Yoko Taro's work (and apparently prove him wrong). I often buy ATLUS games at release. I bought copies of Hades on different platforms. So it does happen, but not that often.

Depends on the game, I guess. I've already been paying 70€ for most new console games since PS4 came out and 80€ is the new price hike with games like Demon's Souls Remake, Returnal and Ratchet & Clank. That is digitally though, you can still usually get physical releases for 60€ from the big retailers and even less in some special cases, then even more obviously with discounts, which these days already tend to happen within a month or two over here as well.

But like said, depends on the game and my (poor) patience. This is basically my only costly hobby and I have a decent salary, so most of the time if the game seems up my alley, I'll pay the asking price to get it. Sometimes I've regretted it, but more often I've felt that the price justified itself.

FOMO sensitivity is the only reason not to be price sensitive when you think about it.

I'm probably in the minority on this, but I'm not very price sensitive on games most of the time. If it's a 6 hour game and it's one of those new-fangled $70 next gen price points, then yeah, that's ridiculous, but I have no problem paying full price day one for a game I'm looking forward to. It's also silly, as lots of the money goes to publishers and platform holders, but I still hold on to this antiquated "I wanna support the devs!" feeling.

Sometimes this puts me in the position of purchases I'm proud of. I paid full price for Mirror's Edge on launch day, and even though it's a 4 hour campaign, I got so into the time trials and speedrunning it that I ended up putting 70 hours into that thing.

Then there was Evolve. My thought process was, "It's the new game from the guys that made Left 4 Dead! I've played both Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 for hundreds of hours! Surely buying this at full price will be a good investment."

(Only 4 hours played and years untouched and a pivot to free-to-play later...)

P A I N

@lapsariangiraff: I find the "the money actually goes to the publishers and platform holders, not the devs" thing a little weird. Like if you buy a copy of the Nier Replicant remake does that cash go directly into the pocket of Yoko Taro and his team? Of course not. It goes to Squenix and Valve/Sony/Microsoft. But, possible performance bonuses aside, it makes it more likely that Squenix will fund future projects by that team and in that vein, and it helps the careers of the people who worked on the game.

Yuji Naka's career is going to take a big hit from the flop that is Balan Wonderworld and he may even lose his job over it. The members of his team are likely to take career hits too, including people who actually did good work on the game (like the character designers and composers, and probably some of the programmers since it doesn't seem to be super glitchy.)

So while buying a game doesn't directly put money into the artists' pockets (except for an indie game like Hades where it probably does) it does so in a pretty easy to understand indirect way. And it's also generally the only way to accomplish that. Taro and Naka don't have Patreons.

The bigger issue here is that individual consumption choices don't have a large effect and most people aren't thinking that way. They buy what they want because they want it, not to support someone or for second order effects. Passionate fanbases can support smaller projects but for big budget games it's really about the mass market.

Speaking of the mass market, you're definitely not alone in not being price sensitive. The market is changing to some degree (tails have gotten longer and subscription services have really shaken things up) but at least in the past games made the vast majority of their money at release for full price, and that still holds true today for a lot of projects. Sleeper hits were super rare. Pre-orders often defined a game's fate, which is why publishers and retailers did so much to juice them. It's somewhat different now, but gamers are still impatient.

Finally I also bought Evolve and played it for like 5 hours. That game was almost perfectly designed to demo well, look good on shorter streams, and have absolutely no depth or long term value. Asymmetrical multiplayer is one of the hardest styles to balance in a fun way, and they didn't.

Yeah, I'm not happy with the price increase for PS5/Xbox Series X games, if there is a new game that I really want then I must deal with it.

It really depends heavily on the game for me. There are games I've basically bought consoles for (heck, I bought a 360 back in the day just to play Borderlands & Black Ops - games I already owned on PS3 - with my friend group at the time), and there are quite a few games I'd buy at launch even if it's a little over what I'd normally pay because I have a level of trust in the developer. Generally though I rarely buy the majority of games at full price nowadays. Game pass has definitely been a godsend in terms of getting lots of titles (often at release) for an affordable price.

Extremely. It's rare that I'll pay full-price $60-70 for a game, pretty much exclusively Nintendo games (which are often full-price for years) or the Yakuza series (which I'm just a big fan of and want to support). The idea of playing what everyone else is and keeping up with new releases died with me a long time ago, I'm more than happy saving a couple bucks and picking stuff up months later. Especially now with DLC and 'Complete Editions' being a thing, I'll gladly wait two years to get the full experience on a game.

Last time I paid full price was RDR2, and I'm sure I'll get the next GTA day one. Aside from that it's game pass, and deep sales with Microsoft reward points for the occasional Ubisoft game as they never seem to hit gamepass. But those games are generally all the same and waaay too long so one of those every 2-3 years is enough.

As I get older, time is limited and gamepass has me 95% covered.

The only thing I really want to interject into this discussion, and it kinda will show you how sensitive I am to game price, is this:

The increase of $10 on this generation of consoles is not the first price increase the game industry has seen in the past fifteen years. Between 2006 and 2021, we have seen a drastic increase in DLC content, and introduction/populariasation of money-making tactics such as paid-for reward tracks, loot boxes, and pre-order bonuses tied to more-expensive versions of the game.

There are examples in the industry where a base-version game, with no paid-for extras, is not actually a full game. Do you remember the debacle around Deus Ex: Mankind Divided's pre-order "stretch goals"? Yeah, that was just them testing the waters. The argument that games have not gotten more expensive for a comparitive product is false.

So yeah, I'm price-sensitive. I haven't bought that many full-price games over £30 in years, and on those rare occasions that I did I've usually felt cheated out of the full experience thanks to it inevitably asking me to part with more money to play more of the game. Not to mention that there's so much to play already, anything that comes out now will be cheaper when I finally have time to play it.

EDIT: You know what, I'll never say it better than Jim did. This was 2017. Things have not gotten better.

This is certainly a valid point to bring up, and you mention some examples where it's definitely been an issue. But also in many cases I've been able to buy games at their base price and simply not engage with their DLC and in-game MTX because I'm happy with the core content. In that scenario it offers a way for people who do have more money to spend to do so, while those on a tighter budget can still enjoy the core game at a lower price than if the cost of entry were simply increased for everyone.

Of course, it's not as cut-and-dry as that. There are all the other issues that come along with MTX such as their oft-exploitative nature and games which can feel badly balanced to encourage you to spend money. But I think there's certainly a case to be made for "cheaper base game with optional extras" - heck, it's why F2P has been so popular as a model. I spent SO many hours with Dauntless in 2019/20, and only ended up putting in ~£20 total after quite a few hours because I'd had enough fun with the game to justify spending a little on their season pass content when it had cosmetics I thought were fun.

I'm more backlog sensitive. Game really interests me but can't rationalize picking it up right now though I could easily. Still ass deep in MonHun and AC Valhalla.

Only if I'm not passionate about a game. Anything I'm interested or mildy curious about I'll wait for sales on but if I'm looking forward to a specific game then I will get it day 1 or preorder.

I'm definitely more price sensitive as a 'Married with Children' duder these days then in my younger years.

A large part of that is having such limited time (and energy) to game that unless I'm absolutely sucked in I just fall off most games pretty quickly.

The problem is I cant figure out which games I'll connect with and which ones I wont and the idea of spending 80 bucks (Canadian) on a game I may fall asleep playing is a huge turn off.

Some of my favorite games from this console generation have had luke warm critical receptions (Days Gone) and games that were more critically acclaimed I couldn't play more then a few hours before just giving up (Horizon Zero Dawn, FF7 Remake). The thing that makes all this palatable is that I don't think I spent more then 40 bucks for all three of those games and thats a totally reasonable 'investment' in some entertainment.

Yes, I am very price sensitive. My main rule is to not go for a game which is priced over $50.

I never preorder but that about sums it up for me. If it's a game I'm excited for and is a big release like a God of War or a Last of Us then I'm getting it brand new, day one, even though there is little replay value for those sort of titles. Of course I am in a phase of my life where one or two full priced videogames a month isn't breaking the bank so obviously everyones situation is very unique this way.

While as I’ve gotten older and less price sensitive due to making more money, I still am hesitant to buy most games at full price. That mostly comes down to two reasons. One, even single player games need to be patched and tweaked post-release, so I often find myself waiting out the opening week or two jitters while I play already fixed games that I’d enjoy more. And two, I rarely find that I am in a position to have significant time to play a game a lot at launch. Opening week for a game I’d like to get too often overlaps with busy period at work or social commitments. So if I’m missing that first week or two, why not wait a few more for that first price drop and let the game settle out?

I am not generally price-sensitive to games but I am incredibly time-sensitive, I basically haven't played a single open world game (except for BotW) since the 360. What this means is that I basically don't buy a game unless I'm pretty sure I'm going to like it or someone wants to hop on multiplayer literally right now.

That said, I love Game Pass because it makes it really easy to play a ton of games I have zero intention of buying (I played exactly one level of Black because I had always wondered what that game was like, but I wasn't gonna buy it because I knew it would be wasted)

It depends on the game, honestly.

If it is a developer/studio/franchise that I trust, I don't mind paying full price (there are few: Yakuza, Nier, Uncharted, God of War). If it is a game that is not asking for insane amounts of money and has peak my curiosity or I want to support the studio, I don't mind paying what they are asking. If it is a game that I get mildly curious, I set my limit to $ 10 and wait for a sale.

I have been burned by exchange rates or taxes, specially in physical games in the PS3 generation. With one thing or another, it wasn't rare for me to pay up to 90 or 100 bucks for a new game. Being burned on many of those cases has made me more selective.

Taxes is actually quite a big chunk in this case. Looks like Ireland has 23% VAT, so the price without VAT is 70 EUR. At current USD/EUR rates that is still about 85 USD, but that exchange rate obviously fluctuates, and it would be unworkable to have the EUR price of a game change every day. So I guess companies still pick a MSRP which equates to 1 USD = 1 EUR.

Remember, prices advertised to consumers in Europe must include VAT. Advertised prices in the US do NOT include state or federal taxes. The $70 for a game is before taxes, and taxes in the US are typically quite a bit lower than in Europe.

Games are expensive in Canada right now. Like $80. After tax they're nearly $100. My rent is like $550 a month. If they go up.... That's a steep ask when I have a huge backlog and games go on sale so quickly after launch

@warpr I did not know that, it actually makes sense. Thanks for the info. Every time they talk on the podcast about it now I will have to remind myself.

this article from TechRaptor looks at gaming costs over time with inflation added in. It is way cheaper now then it ever was. I appreciate seeing so many making personal choices of what they can afford based on personal finances and not seeing "I'm entitled to play all games for cheap." argument of the entitled that usually follows these questions.

https://techraptor.net/gaming/features/cost-of-gaming-since-1970s

When it comes to AAA games I almost never bother buying day one or pre-ordering. $60 is already way to much to ask considering all the paid DLC and add-ons. Games these days at $60 cost closer to $100 already if you want the full experience. I had considered buying a PS5 but when Sony said they were raising prices of many of their games, absolutely helped me make my decision to not buy one. There is no justification (other than greed) that these mutibillion dollar companies need to make more money when they already make more profits then ever before.

I've in the past year or two been playing games much closer to release date. Mostly because I'm in a place where I can afford it, and my partner tends to want to play certain games the moment they're available.

But the experience kind of sucks, at least for the way I like to play games

It used to be that when I bought a game, either it was on sale or it was some kind of GOTY edition with all the DLC included, and obviously most bugs have been patched, etc... So I was getting the most polished experience available for a game, and if I enjoyed the game I could jump into the DLC immediately.

Now paying full price, I'm getting games which are buggy at launch and if I enjoyed the game and want to keep playing, I still have to wait months for all the DLC to roll out.