Comment on The Switch 2 Rollout Was So Convoluted It Made Us Want A Steam Deck.
thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.works 1 day agoMy point is more that new/launch technology is always more expensive at launch, until economies of scale can kick in; and this is the first console launch after the 1-2 years of post-COVID double-digit inflation globally.
It sucks, and I’m not trying to excuse it or hand-wave it away - more-so just pointing out that it was kinda foreseeable, given the current state of things.
If you think this is bad, wait until the next round of console launches in ~2027 from Sony.
pathief@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I can understand the console being more expensive, especially since we don’t really know its specs yet (or at least I don’t). Why is Mario Kart 30 euros more expensive, tho? It doesn’t paint a good picture.
thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
I’m an old curmudgeon, and I remember (my parents) paying ~$50 for SNES back in the early-to-mid ‘90s; so I’m not exactly shocked that Nintendo have lifted their sell-price.
Compared to back then; gaming is still somewhat more affordable, which definitely feels counter-intuitive - I know!
Japan has for the first time since 1991 had >2% annual inflation for 3 straight years, definitively ending their 2+ decade of stagflation. Developer wages are going up, and games take longer to develop - those costs need to be covered. I am in support of paying a fair market price if (and only if), that increase goes to the labour, and not shareholder profits.
Seeing as the Executive team at Nintendo opted to take a salary-cut, rather than lay off staff, following the failure of the WiiU — they have exactly one credit from me, for the benefit of the doubt.
But that is where my good graces end; other developers are going to take this as the green light to further increase prices on their own (unfinished, rushed, micropayment-laden) titles, across the industry. Heck, there are rumblings that the base version of GTA6 may be $100USD!