Modern games cost too much

[Jayonnaise6105 Jayonnaise6105]

Last time I pre-ordered something at full price was Tears of the Kingdom. I was so upset when it was incredibly mid.

I didn't pre-order it, but I did pick it up day 1. Right there with you on the mid-ness. I liked exploring the underground areas, but the rest of the game was whatever.

 

[Dyne]

Most of the time, I just play games on my backlog (too many) until a game inevitably goes on sale.
Yes, prices are too high nowadays, but sales for 40-80% off is very common; far more so than anything else I buy.
Some games I do buy right away though if I really don't want to wait, but yeah thats a luxury.

Or I pirate.

 

[qw90700]

I don't deny there are ways for the individual to work around this. My issue is that there are people out there who sit in offices intentionally doing everything they can to bleed people dry of every penny they can, and that they're doing it in a way that I believe erodes deeper criticism of videogaming. When people discuss films, books, comics and other media, the topic of cost is very rarely addressed except in extreme circumstances. When it comes to modern games, the primary topic of discussion is price - is the game """""good""""" enough to warrant that price tag? It boils the topic down to a very binary metric, which in turn diminishes engagement.

People in this thread have mentioned JRPGs because they're longer, and so to them, by default are more financially satisfying. I'd argue however that the only reason we use that as a metric of judgement in the first place, is because of this toxic developer/consumer relationship. Developers pad games because they know a longer run time is more compelling, specifically because they know they're charging ludicrous prices

I can talk about how companies intentionally being evil and greedy to make money, but on the other hand how business is cannot be understood properly when you reduce nature of business into how ordinary people lives like because a company is an organization that can only exist because of customers as long as they make enough profit to justify their operation and costs. So despite it has relation to "being evil" and "greed" this is more about fundamental element to survive as a company.

Business 101:

1- Know what kind of industry you plan to survive in: Video game industry.

2- Know your rivals: Capcom, Sony, Nintendo...

3- Know how your rivals survive and what is usual in the industry: DLCs, broken game launches that require a decade fix, service models, DRM, Denuvo...

4- Know your target audience:

- Rich enough people. Profile of rich people: Spending money on things they won't even use is therapeutic for them. They often buy anything that is popular just because they want to be a superior person in the social level they believe they belong to.

- Ordinary folks who can afford video games: They often buy games in huge sells.

5- Know how to sell video games:

- Digital disturubation services are a hot cake. Those people even buy physical games anymore? Just to satisfy such people we can only afford to produce limited collectors edition items though.

- Rich people pre-orders, no problem with that but we know not everyone wanna pay that much so from time to time our games being on sell matters to strategically use the sell potential of the game to make money as much as we can to survive and most importantly we can afford to start development of another game without risking having a business death and shutdown our company + we gotta make sure we have money enough to bounce from fails + make sure to have money enough to deal with potential economical crisis + make sure to have enough money to face changes in the industry to keep up + make sure to have enough money so we can afford to pay our employees + make sure to have enough money for in case how taxes is in our country and the countries we make business with changes + make sure to have enough money for in case of crisis in our country and even global crisis like wars, natural disaster and whanot so we can have money to relocate and protect our asset... This shit is so money based it's based a lot on how much money you have so you can survive yo.

6- Constantly scan society to make sure our video games won't offend, it can be enjoyable for people so basically we can release a video game people would buy.

Long story short video game industry one of the hardest industry for companies to even exist, so you're asking a lot when their operational cost increase but they are still being generous just because all they can do is like they spend $59 for production but they ask $70 to compensate their cost and make enough profit. To make a significant profit they have to sell games around a few millions to cover their cost + make enough money to ensure they can survive in next 5 years especially when dark days comes if it ever.

X- Business Fail 101

It doesn't mean despite companies does whatever they can to survive they always make realistic decisions. Spending too much budget on games that only can attract little kids and then asking $40 price is stupid. Personally I think asking AAAA price for this shit Silent Hill fuck game stupid too. People will buy it but what is important is something what most companies cannot do:

V- V for Victory necessary Business 101 fundamental reality: Being able to relate society. I often see that those who had great life assumes most people in the world also have unfortunate lives. Most people who works in a company that is rather "above layer" had a family who never had to think about not using TV for a week to save for electricity bill to afford food. They didn't have to live with debts. They were educated in university but they never thought how much it costs. They have no idea of ordinary struggle of how much ordinary people always have to suffer from. This shit is beyond of "oh no because this game is expensive I'll skip buying da new iPhone phone this month!" but when people complain about price of games it is what these company guys imagine why. They believe "you spend $200000 on gacha waifus in random porn game so we know you can afford $100 for our way better video game that is actually meaningful to play". This is where how even Public Relations department of companies being stupid on analyzing society wrongly and they having a target audiance that really doesn't exist. It make them confused when their game fail to sell more than 2 millions but when it sells a lot they praise their development team and they shut down the team by saying good bye "we will always remember you when we discuss about our past successes" lolol.

In this context the fundamental compnay level mistake is so many people in the company believe video games released before 2010 was like "developed by cavemen without any cohorent mind and edacuate real deal education to develop video games but we are expert at video game development by experience and proper education" mentality. That's why they believe, despite they are not gamer, it make them develop Netflix fuck BS fake games just because "Netflix makes money a lot" + "I don't care about what is a game but this is what I want games to be" and they develop games by following basics of how to direct a movie but they try to twist it to video game format. That's why they think as long as you put cutscenes and pew pew shooting and then walking with "cinematic BS" game gotta sell because this is not how "ancient games" were like. If you had asked them why pre-PS3 era games sold they would say "people didn't know what a video game supposed to be but they bought these games just because there was no other game to play, now we compete with so many cinematic games we had to hire a whole crew as if we developing a movie". That's is the prime reason why video game prices increased just for nonsense budget to cover so they can put nonsense "cinematic experience" no one asked lolol. Another BS of this topic is in job market how video game development started to be legit so much there are people educated for different aspect of video game development and therefore they believe fresh out of collage they became "god of game developer" whose video game development education can surpses "uneducated twats like Hideo Kojima" so they ask tons of money or "no one will work for you, mate. If you want pay me satisfactoraly then you better make the cleanining lady the video game director and make the ordinary video game tester the head of programmers despite he doesn't even know how computers works" lolol. In the end tons of people in companies believe video game industry is just like movie industry and video games are just interractive movies. They seriously believe that and this is how they define "AAA" and "AAAA" video games anymore and this is what they try to do which their brain fart mentality causes a big reason for price increase. They believe "fuck gameplay, just put a social message, dude these walking simulator games are so popular so instead of scenes that characters walk make the characters walk to save budget, more than real-life realistic graphics that make your RTX 4090 scream like A donkey, sexy characters, tons of nonsense dialogues and BS to watch just because people pay for Netflix" because "this is what you want so pay us $100, ensuring to produce games you want really expensive yo" lol.

In the end price is one thing, the real thing is companies started to believe so much world population gotta mean necessary +2 million sale considering how much "rich enough people" there gotta be and video gaming is a popular hobby so it make them delusionally believe their games will necessarily sell lol.

TL;DR: Current prices is because of ensuring company can exist, economy, politics, to ensure they can start developing new games even when they failed hard in previous game so they can bounce from hell and also how stupid they are due to the delusion that if they don't release Netflix-like games they can't sell well that significantly increases budget a lot, job market increased how much employees want or they won't work for companies, they sacrifice ordinary people to rely on rich people to make profit because they believe most people have tons of money to spend mindlessly ("so why not they would buy our $100 games?") + they rely on the mentality of considering how much people exist in our world they are so sure they will necessarily sell more than +2 millions no matter what fuck game they release for whatever price just because video gaming is a popular hobby anymore.

 

[JoueurCitoyen]

Bruh, I shouldn't have to turn out my pockets and prove I'm not broke every time I want to complain about predatory business tactics. I'm pissed off at whales for getting played, I'm pissed off at corporate heads for playing them, and I'm pissed off that them getting played contributes negatively to videogaming culture as a whole. Inflation this, inflation that - it doesn't hold up. Videogames and the industry have changed since those days. Videogames were not always so widely spread or available and so their higher cost was often necessarry in being able to actually get the games onto the market. As gaming became more mainstream and the process became more standardised, there was a drop in prices relative to inflation, however, since then, there has been a disproportionate and deliberate increase in price again. Simply put, the price is being raised because they can get away with it. If you don't like that I slagged off silent hill and the resident evil games or the culture surrounding them, then fair, but repeating that brainless rhetoric about inflation to stick up for companies that would sell oxygen if they could get away with it, makes you a corporate shill

I'm not "repeating the brainless rhetoric about inflation", it's just facts, a Super Nintendo cartridge today's cost would be around €120/£120. I don't care about Silent Hill or Resident Evil cultures, I'll just wait to buy them when they're cheaper and this is perfectly fine.

 

[MrChester]

I can talk about how companies intentionally being evil and greedy to make money, but on the other hand how business is cannot be understood properly when you reduce nature of business into how ordinary people lives like because a company is an organization that can only exist because of customers as long as they make enough profit to justify their operation and costs. So despite it has relation to "being evil" and "greed" this is more about fundamental element to survive as a company.

Everything you're saying is hinged on a fallacy. According to you, the sales model being used to sell Silent Hill f is a necessary measure being employed to ensure the survival of Konami. As much as I appreciate the thoroughness of your response, if you genuinely believe that, I cannot take what you're saying seriously at all

I'm not "repeating the brainless rhetoric about inflation", it's just facts, a Super Nintendo cartridge today's cost would be around €120/£120. I don't care about Silent Hill or Resident Evil cultures, I'll just wait to buy them when they're cheaper and this is perfectly fine.

It's funny, you say you aren't repeating the same brainless rhetoric, and then you use the same example that literally everyone uses. I think it's easy to compare two eras and draw superficial similarities, but you're missing the greater context. In 1992 home gaming was a niche hobby, there were alternatives in the form of arcades which use an entirely different sales model, and the means for game distribution were a lot less broadly established. In 1992, it was harder to sell games, it was harder to effectively advertise games, and it was harder to distribute games, and so a lot of that price could be seen as necessary (unlike in the case of the other guy I'm responding to ^). In 1992, devs were still dealing with the fallout from the videogame crash. In the modern day, those same obstacles don't exist, or are not as prevalent - the videogame industry is not only completely ingrained into the cultural zeitgeist, but is completely oversaturated. I think most gamers don't even know what the videogame crash is these days. In 1992, someone never having played a videogame is completely normal but in 2025, if you're under the age of 50, that's a little unusual. As the world changed and videogames became both more broadly available and more broadly appreciated, that price tag should have decreased to reflect that... why didn't it? Well, it did and if you weren't so quick to repeat that same dumbass SNES cartridge rhetoric you might have noticed :P

It's very widely documented that videogames steadily decreased in price from 1990 to 200(4~7) and then started to increase again, entirely disproportionate to inflation. In 1992 videogames were VERY expensive (working out to about £110 per cart), so sure, your argument holds up in that specific instance, but no, they are not priced relative to that because of inflation - that connection is incidental, historically inaccurate, and easily debunked when using a wider range of examples. If a dev said modern game prices were higher due to inflation it would be career suicide. The inflation rhetoric is just straight up malarky.

So, I'm gonna be blunt: why did you bring up inflation without any of the facts? Why are you so quick to attempt to silence detractors from a company? You literally implied I was being spoilt and a gatekeeper in your last response (which I wanna point out, I never actually implied I had any interest in purchasing Silent Hill f at all, this is a rant about pricing) which suggests to me you wanted to discredit what I'd said and shame me... but why? Dude, you're a corporate slave

 

[PhrawzT]

I am a cheapskate and just add games to my wishlist and wait until the price drops to play them. I didn't get Spiderman on the PS4 until about 2 year later when it finally dropped to $20.

 

[petran79]

not only that, those same games will be further advertised when they will be used for cpu, gpu and ram benchmarks.

 

[qw90700]

Everything you're saying is hinged on a fallacy. According to you, the sales model being used to sell Silent Hill f is a necessary measure being employed to ensure the survival of Konami. As much as I appreciate the thoroughness of your response, if you genuinely believe that, I cannot take what you're saying seriously at all

Wow I wrote Great Wall of China of the tons of interplay that affects how a video game company operate and makes decisions for survival, how much their operation cost, what they think about their target audiance despite how wrong it may be, what they think how world is and because of how stupid they are (very simply put) but you just reduced it to one reason as if there has to be one reason lol. Then it means you are being angry over concepts you cannot comprehend and cannot learn despite explanation. I suggest you to keep only thinking about soccer instead SMH lolol.

 

[Scotty]

Yeah, no way I'm spending $70 on a game (that's probably jank as all hell, like every AAA game on release day).

 

[Octopus]

Dude, you're a corporate slave

There's been plenty of reasonable points made here about why games are as expensive as they are, and even ways around it as a conscientious consumer; I don't see how dismissing someone as a corporate slave for saying something as a counter-point is an effective conversation tactic. My advice is just don't buy AAA games then if it bothers you this much, there's plenty of great and cheaper smaller games you can always get into instead. I'm not defending modern AAA video game prices as yeah they're fucked, just saying there's plenty of reasonable things you can do around it.

I like games too, but I think the argument of them 'being art, and therefore not a luxury' is a little silly. Yeah, people need enrichment, but there's more than just video games for that. There's numerous other options for mental stimulation that are far cheaper (some are even free), and even way more forms of art that are insanely more expensive than video games, but you very rarely see people complain about the price of buying paintings which are more inflated than video games. I think games can be art, by the way, I'm just saying trying to frame them as this exclusive form of essential mental enrichment is strange.

 

[KenaiPhoenix]

Yeah and it is even worse once you realize many of those price tags are just to get access for a game with an ingame store in it.

And I concur, I reordered BF6 (I just really love Battlefield), but once I saw one of the not tactical skins + them saying that the game will be grounded "for a while", I just say:

Fuck it, games are just too expensive to just have a good experience for 3 months and then have American dad 15 buck bundles running in what was sold to me as a "grounded and realistic" experience.

 

[zacharinolongpants]

These companies want me to pay more money but the good news is they don't make interesting games (barring done indie teams - but they don't charge as much) so it's easy to just keep playing old gens. Between the PS1 and PS2 alone I could never run out of games to play that are artistically interesting and mechanically enjoyable.

Of course my demographic isn't what the massive companies are targeting. Most of those CEOs don't give a shit about the gaming world lol. They run on the philosophy of maximizing profits at the expense of quality and culture. They're machines designed to generate as much capital with as little product as they can. Since I don't want what is generating the most money, I've already been pushed out and they'll do just fine without my money, which I wasn't wasting on their poo ass games anyway lol.

It's a battle of attrition. We have to show we won't pay for stupid bullshit, but that's not going to happen en masse to the point of actually causing change if you ask me. Too many suckers out there. I still feel happy and optimistic overall, as I do still see smaller teams making their dream games at reasonable prices and with good quality. So that's cool at least.

 

[MrChester]

Wow I wrote Great Wall of China of the tons of interplay that affects how a video game company operate and makes decisions for survival, how much their operation cost, what they think about their target audiance despite how wrong it may be, what they think how world is and because of how stupid they are (very simply put) but you just reduced it to one reason as if there has to be one reason lol. Then it means you are being angry over concepts you cannot comprehend and cannot learn despite explanation. I suggest you to keep only thinking about soccer instead SMH lolol.

Yeah because that "reason" is what everything you've said is fundamentally hinged on. Don't act like I'm cherry picking one specific piece of information that is only tangentially relevant to what you're saying and using it to unfairly discredit everything else - the relevance of everything you wrote is predicated purely on a fallacy.

And also, frankly hombre, most of what you wrote isn't particularly well thought out or well informed to begin with - it sounds like you have no actual background in business whatsoever, and that you're talking out your arse, so getting all snooty about people being unable to "comprehend" or "learn despite explanation" is a little ironic. Whether you wrote a massive paragraph or a single sentence does not matter when it's all irrelevant.

I am talking about my dissatisfaction with predatory business tactics and you're trying to give me a surface level explanation of the basic concept of a business - it's not only patronising but beneath the topic at hand. I assumed everyone was on the same page about how a business works because that's largely common knowledge. You just aren't as insightful as you seem to think, so why don't you cool it with the casual digs

I don't see how dismissing someone as a corporate slave for saying something as a counter-point is an effective conversation tactic.

Good, me too. I'm not calling someone a corporate slave for arguing their case - I'm calling THAT GUY specifically a corporate slave for actively trying to discourage complaints by using false information (that can very easily be fact checked, might I add) and trying to personally insult me. I think I made my argument against their counter pretty clear, and I also think I made it pretty clear that I was calling them a corporate slave because they went out of their way to attempt to silence and insult someone for speaking ill of a corporation. That guy responded to my message in bad faith so I think they can handle being called a corporate slave.

I like games too, but I think the argument of them 'being art, and therefore not a luxury' is a little silly. Yeah, people need enrichment, but there's more than just video games for that. There's numerous other options for mental stimulation that are far cheaper (some are even free), and even way more forms of art that are insanely more expensive than video games, but you very rarely see people complain about the price of buying paintings which are more inflated than video games. I think games can be art, by the way, I'm just saying trying to frame them as this exclusive form of essential mental enrichment is strange.

I'm ngl, acting like I was talking exclusively is a little weird. Should I preface every argument with a speculation of the world's global economy and how it intersects with all forms of media to lay the foundations every time I need to talk? No. This is a site about gaming so I can afford to be a little bit narrow, but even then I didn't imply it was exclusive at all, just that we shouldn't be so quick to discredit our own enagegment with media as irrelevant to our survival. YOU, yes YOU, obviously love games like I do (otherwise you wouldn't be on this site), so why are you acting like you'd be fine to just lose them from your life.

But secondly, what the fuck is that argument anyway? Paint is over priced so we shouldn't worry about the cost of other luxory items? Friend, are you pissed off about the ever increasing price of paint when you know it's the result of predatory business tactics? Find somewhere you can express that dissatisfaction and complain about it. If anyone tells you there are bigger issues out there, then tell them to fuck off. If they try to undermine what you're saying by implying you're spoilt, or by insinuating the predatory behaviour is actually necessary then tell them to fuck off. If they tell you it's your responsibility to just accept the short end of the stick then tell them to fuck off. But this ain't a place for discussing paint supplies - it's a place for discussing videogames.

Videogame prices have become eggregious and I don't believe it's an accurate reflection of the circumstances necessary to produce said games, and I'm going to complain and be vitriolic about that because I think the people making these decisions are assholes. Telling me there are other forms of media is on par with telling me that piracy exists - I understand there are ways to circumvent this issue... but I love videogames and I want the art form to develop.

These companies want me to pay more money but the good news is they don't make interesting games (barring done indie teams - but they don't charge as much) so it's easy to just keep playing old gens. Between the PS1 and PS2 alone I could never run out of games to play that are artistically interesting and mechanically enjoyable.

Of course my demographic isn't what the massive companies are targeting. Most of those CEOs don't give a shit about the gaming world lol. They run on the philosophy of maximizing profits at the expense of quality and culture. They're machines designed to generate as much capital with as little product as they can. Since I don't want what is generating the most money, I've already been pushed out and they'll do just fine without my money, which I wasn't wasting on their poo ass games anyway lol.

It's a battle of attrition. We have to show we won't pay for stupid bullshit, but that's not going to happen en masse to the point of actually causing change if you ask me. Too many suckers out there. I still feel happy and optimistic overall, as I do still see smaller teams making their dream games at reasonable prices and with good quality. So that's cool at least.

I'm gonna be real with you, I feel the exact same as you. I have no intention of buying or even playing silent hill f, and it's not something I've ever even really been arsed about. Normally I just leave the suckers to suck and I haven't even bought a new modern game since before like 2020 for those reasons. Idk why, just something about seeing that £70 price tag just made me so mad at/on-behalf-of all those suckers out there and I needed somewhere to vent (assuming most people on here felt the same way)... now I got people tryna unload financial advice onto me like I was complaining because I'm broke

 

[zacharinolongpants]

Yeah because that "reason" is what everything you've said is fundamentally hinged on. Don't act like I'm cherry picking one specific piece of information that is only tangentially relevant to what you're saying and using it to unfairly discredit everything else - the relevance of everything you wrote is predicated purely on a fallacy.

And also, frankly hombre, most of what you wrote isn't particularly well thought out or well informed to begin with - it sounds like you have no actual background in business whatsoever, and that you're talking out your arse, so getting all snooty about people being unable to "comprehend" or "learn despite explanation" is a little ironic. Whether you wrote a massive paragraph or a single sentence does not matter when it's all irrelevant.

I am talking about my dissatisfaction with predatory business tactics and you're trying to give me a surface level explanation of the basic concept of a business - it's not only patronising but beneath the topic at hand. I assumed everyone was on the same page about how a business works because that's largely common knowledge. You just aren't as insightful as you seem to think, so why don't you cool it with the casual digs


Good, me too. I'm not calling someone a corporate slave for arguing their case - I'm calling THAT GUY specifically a corporate slave for actively trying to discourage complaints by using false information (that can very easily be fact checked, might I add) and trying to personally insult me. I think I made my argument against their counter pretty clear, and I also think I made it pretty clear that I was calling them a corporate slave because they went out of their way to attempt to silence and insult someone for speaking ill of a corporation. That guy responded to my message in bad faith so I think they can handle being called a corporate slave.

I'm ngl, acting like I was talking exclusively is a little weird. Should I preface every argument with a speculation of the world's global economy and how it intersects with all forms of media to lay the foundations every time I need to talk? No. This is a site about gaming so I can afford to be a little bit narrow, but even then I didn't imply it was exclusive at all, just that we shouldn't be so quick to discredit our own enagegment with media as irrelevant to our survival. YOU, yes YOU, obviously love games like I do (otherwise you wouldn't be on this site), so why are you acting like you'd be fine to just lose them from your life.

But secondly, what the fuck is that argument anyway? Paint is over priced so we shouldn't worry about the cost of other luxory items? Friend, are you pissed off about the ever increasing price of paint when you know it's the result of predatory business tactics? Find somewhere you can express that dissatisfaction and complain about it. If anyone tells you there are bigger issues out there, then tell them to fuck off. If they try to undermine what you're saying by implying you're spoilt, or by insinuating the predatory behaviour is actually necessary then tell them to fuck off. If they tell you it's your responsibility to just accept the short end of the stick then tell them to fuck off. But this ain't a place for discussing paint supplies - it's a place for discussing videogames.

Videogame prices have become eggregious and I don't believe it's an accurate reflection of the circumstances necessary to produce said games, and I'm going to complain and be vitriolic about that because I think the people making these decisions are assholes. Telling me there are other forms of media is on par with telling me that piracy exists - I understand there are ways to circumvent this issue... but I love videogames and I want the art form to develop.


I'm gonna be real with you, I feel the exact same as you. I have no intention of buying or even playing silent hill f, and it's not something I've ever even really been arsed about. Normally I just leave the suckers to suck and I haven't even bought a new modern game since before like 2020 for those reasons. Idk why, just something about seeing that £70 price tag just made me so mad at/on-behalf-of all those suckers out there and I needed somewhere to vent (assuming most people on here felt the same way)... now I got people tryna unload financial advice onto me like I was complaining because I'm broke

There are some surprisingly defensive takes in here. Are people REALLY okay with what is really just full blown exploitation? At least to me. It's a shame to see really cool tech get fumbled because of myopic corporate greed. I know it's complicated and these monster companies have a lot of overhead but the balance feels very off lol.

 

[Octopus]

YOU, yes YOU, obviously love games like I do (otherwise you wouldn't be on this site), so why are you acting like you'd be fine to just lose them from your life.

Video games aren't being taken from your life by AAA games being expensive, there's still plenty of other games out there if you rightfully don't want to pay the absurd cost of a modern blockbuster game. If you want to play Silent Hill f, which is obviously fine, you do you, I also don't get why you were saying anyone who bought the preorder version was some 'fake gamer' or something, then wait. I get being angry about it, but I think the medium will survive around the latest AAA full priced releases.

Paint is over priced so we shouldn't worry about the cost of other luxory items? Friend, are you pissed off about the ever increasing price of paint when you know it's the result of predatory business tactics? Find somewhere you can express that dissatisfaction and complain about it. If anyone tells you there are bigger issues out there, then tell them to fuck off. If they try to undermine what you're saying by implying you're spoilt, or by insinuating the predatory behaviour is actually necessary then tell them to fuck off. If they tell you it's your responsibility to just accept the short end of the stick then tell them to fuck off. But this ain't a place for discussing paint supplies - it's a place for discussing videogames.

I wasn't comparing or complaining about the price of paint to video games, but the selling price of the finished painting product; though I think paint is also pretty expensive nowadays, like everything is. I disagree with the statement that video games aren't a luxury, and was comparing it to another form of art that people generally accept the on-average insane prices of. The rest of the quote just comes off to me like you're entirely unwilling to accept any discussion of this point if you're that ready to tell anyone to fuck off, and just want to be angry about the price of Silent Hill; fair, but that's really a discussion then, it's just a doomer circle. There are bigger economical issues than the price of video games, and that's coming from someone who also loves video games. Obviously that doesn't mean you can't talk about video games specifically, but don't try to dress video games up as this essential item is all like in your prison example.