Not only that, but charging full price for a game and then charging $15-20 for cosmetic DLC is fucking wild. If I’ve paid you $60+ for a title, I expect the full experience. If you want to add some shit a year down the line to lengthen the life, I’m on board, but day one DLC that costs more than the base game was played out the moment Bethesda graced us with horse armor. I’ve gotten more joy out of Vampire Survivors than I have out of any Ubisoft and EA games in the last 20 years combined.
Submitted 16 hours ago by Agent_Karyo@piefed.world to games@lemmy.world
Comments
chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world 16 hours ago
unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 13 hours ago
I was considering buying Risk of Rain 2 on sale yesterday for 9€ but buying all the DLCs costs 45€.
moncharleskey@lemmy.zip 12 hours ago
For what it’s worth, only one player needs the DLC for everybody in the session to use it, which is pretty cool of the devs to allow that in this day and age.
ramsgrl909@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
This is one of my favorite games and I haven’t bought any DLC, my friend has and I mooch off of them when we play :)
jaschen306@sh.itjust.works 7 hours ago
Piracy is free. If you’re charging 70usd for a game, then I’d rather just spend the time and pirate it. If it’s 10 bucks, Im just lazy to do a Google search and pay you for it.
MangoPenguin@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 hours ago
That plus so many games that are genuinely good and I have lots of hours into are in the $5-20 range.
Randelung@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
Plus those 70$ games invest so much of that $ in fucking you with DRM.
jaschen306@sh.itjust.works 5 hours ago
Oh fuuuuuck the DRM. I purchased CIV5 for my phone and it requires an active internet connection or it boots you out. I only play on an airplane. So I ended up downloading the pirated version so I can play the game I purchased.
Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 hours ago
Almost all of the “Top 10 most replayable games” I have are Indie games, especially in the last 10 years.
They’re games like Factorio or Project Zomboid which I keep getting back to a year or two after I last played so much of it that I got fed up.
Glitzy AAA open-world-ish games have beautiful visuals but their replayability is near zero, worse so for games which seem open-world but are in fact linear.
Mind you, some older AAA jewels in that style (such as Oblivion) do get me to come back eventually, but it takes something like 5+ or more as I basically have to forget most of the story before it’s interesting to play such a game again.
If price matched “hours of fun”, the AAA stuff would be way cheaper whilst many Indie games would be far more expensive.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
Glitzy AAA open-world-ish games have beautiful visuals but their replayability is near zero
I mean, I gotta disagree, at least in part. Some of these games don’t age well. But I still know folks who line up for the “WoW Classic” experience. Hell, I know people who have been playing since the game came out in '02/'03(?) and now they’re out playing with their kids. I know one family who plays with their grandmother, ffs.
I think one thing that really gave Blizzard titles staying power was the choice to deliberately tack towards the cartoon-y style of art. When you’re not going for that hyper-real experience, the games age better. Hard to pick up a vintage Laura Croft or Devil May Cry without feeling its age. But Wind Waker? Mario 64? They do just fine.
Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 hours ago
Fallout New Vegas still hooks me in.
Kyrgizion@lemmy.world 16 hours ago
Let’s see, 70-100+(!) bucks for the (yawn) twentyseventh COD with a 4 hour campaign, or 20 for a game that is complete and lasts for dozens if not hundreds of hours?
Yeah, my choice is easily made.
Malix@sopuli.xyz 14 hours ago
it kinda feels like the more expensive a game is, the less value it seem to have.
zecg@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
That’s exactly it, was looking for this comment.
PerogiBoi@lemmy.ca 12 hours ago
The most expensive game I own is Baldurs Gate 3 and it’s the only game that was worth full price in my 12 years of activity on steam and over 250 games purchased. My next most expensive game was $30 CAD and I only bought a few games that high.
grillgamesh@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 hours ago
factorio has mods that last thousands of hours. they’re free additions, and the full game with its dlc is only like 60USD. is ridiculous.
THE FACTORY MUST GROW THE FACTORY MUST GROW THE FACTORY MUST GROW THE FACTORY MUST GROW THE FACTORY MUST GROW
SaraTonin@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
I’ve got something like 200 hours in Vampire Survivors, and it cost me less than a fiver
wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 hours ago
The price has crept up with the paid expansions, but holy shit do NOT sleep on the Castlevania one. It doubles the base game content, and fits in great.
bobo1900@startrek.website 14 hours ago
Don’t forget that Fallout New Vegas regularly drops below 15$ with all the DLC
mlg@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de 16 hours ago
And compared to the 10 year old titles on sale that actually work well and look great on 5 year old mid-range HW…
zecg@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
That’s another problem, even if we disregard optimizations, AAA games from 2015. look better than modern upscaled stuff, Unreal Engine seems to be so easy enough to use nowadays that big vertically-integrated slop publishers replaced seasoned developers with the cheapest of zoomers.
Crashumbc@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
Who has money for games?
camdog2000@ttrpg.network 10 hours ago
Charging anything is tricky.
I’m comparing it to what I could be getting for free, either with torrents or emulators.
Most games being released aren’t even worth my time, let alone my money.
thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.works 2 hours ago
This, I think, is the big open secret about the push for consoles to move towards pure digital distribution.
It’s easier to not have to compete against your back catalog for gamer attention, if you cut off end-users ability to access it!
Rockstar already tried something like this, when they released the
DefinitiveDefective Edition.It failed successfully, in no small part to the remaster being absolute garbage, but for the AAA publishers, it’s merely a small setback that they will try again in the near future.
themurphy@lemmy.ml 6 hours ago
Most games being released aren’t even worth my time, let alone my money.
I dont think you are in their target group then.
Damage@feddit.it 15 hours ago
Thing is, I can also NOT play games and spend my money on other hobbies.
IronBird@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
i will continue buying the games and not playing them, tyvm
krooklochurm@lemmy.ca 13 hours ago
A person of culture, I see.
I have the time to play games. I own many games. Yet I am not playing them. Why? I used to love games. Why can I not get sucked in anymore?
CrabAndBroom@lemmy.ml 6 hours ago
Yeah I’m a very patient gamer, I’m perfectly happy to just play games on my Steam Deck years after they come out. If there’s something I want, I’ll usually just wishlist it and let it sit there until it goes down to a price that seems reasonable. Much better to get it for $15-20 with all the DLC and bug fixes than paying $80+ for an unfinished buggy mess IMO.
WanderingThoughts@europe.pub 14 hours ago
That’s why they add gambling mechanics in games. That way many can not stop playing.
user224@lemmy.sdf.org 11 hours ago
Yeah, especially since I know I likely wouldn’t play it much.
On the other hand, if it was free (also as in money) and open-source, and I liked it, I could donate. Although I don’t have much money, so probably just smaller amounts, better than the 0 I do right now by not gaming instead.
For example, I absolutely wouldn’t pay $9.60 for Binary Eye (barcode/2D code scanner app) if it cost that much, but as a donation that was fine.
jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 12 hours ago
Buying power is down. If they want me to spend more, capital has to pay me more.
Arcane2077@sh.itjust.works 13 hours ago
I had to drop my “under 5 bucks” rule because games don’t drop that low anymore. 10-15 is where it’s at now, for better and for worse
Blaiz0r@lemmy.ml 12 hours ago
Yeah the subtext of the article is the more interesting point, that good quality indy games are perhaps a bit more expensive.
hydrashok@sh.itjust.works 12 hours ago
I’m still holding to it, but I agree, it’s getting harder and harder to find stuff on sale for less than $5. Especially if you’ve been on Steam for a long time and have a large library already.
Arcane2077@sh.itjust.works 10 hours ago
SUICIDE SQUAD FOR $3.50 GAMERS REJOICE
~/s, obviously~
Phegan@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
If you sell me a good game at a reasonable price. I will buy it. Otherwise, fuck off.
Blackmist@feddit.uk 11 hours ago
I’ve got to be honest, the price of a game is probably the least important factor on whether I make a full price purchase.
I’m not going to rush out and buy something I’ve no real interest in. I can count on one hand the number I’ve made this generation. On PS2 I’d be grabbing something every week or two, but now I just can’t get excited for the latest and greatest updates on old formulas. Half the time I buy just to encourage them to make more games like that, like I did with Talos Principle 2, Astro Bot and Split Fiction.
I might pick it up later if I feel inclined, or see it on a decent discount. Like Clair Obscur, that I picked up for £29 in a sale just because I remembered it existed and fancied something to play over the winter holiday.
FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
My rule is I’m only willing to pay a dollar for every expected hour of play, so you can imagine I buy few things at full price.
The last two games I paid full price for were Elden Ring and Mandragora. I am far more likely to pay full price for an indie title that I’m excited about than anything else, because as an artist myself, I fully understand the impact of a pre-purchase on an indie studio.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 10 hours ago
I would also generally consider £1/hour of gameplay to be pretty terrible value tbh. Truly good games are more like £0.10/hour or less
Jambalaya@lemmy.zip 9 hours ago
If you only look at $/hr, there are some 70 hr games which milk your time and should have been shorter, like Assassin’s Creed, and then there are short, story rich games, like Outer Wilds, which are absolutely worth it even at more than a dollar an hour.
FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
That’s fine. I don’t.
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 hours ago
People spend like $20 to watch a 2 hour movie, $1/hr isn’t that unreasonable
sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 8 hours ago
It all depends on what you’re looking for. I’ve put hundreds of hours into games and gotten way less than $1/hr, and I’ve also had a great experience paying significantly more.
So I don’t see games in terms of $/hr, especially these days when I’m more limited by time than money. Instead, I look for unique experiences with cost being a much lower factor. Generally speaking, I spend much less than $1/hr since I buy a lot of older games, but I’ve spent far more ($5-10/hr) on particularly interesting games.
But yeah, generally speaking, I’m willing to pay more for indies than AAA titles because indie games are more likely to offer that unique experience.
2FortGaming@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
I’m totally ok paying $30 for a ten hr game, I appreciate shorter games. But if it’s boring or unfun for a whole hour in, I’m getting a refund.
Rekorse@sh.itjust.works 10 hours ago
I like some of the early access development styles used in things like Enshrouded and Satisfactory, so mostly ive been spending on games like that. I like the idea of collaborating with a player base to create a game together I think.
FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
Oh definitely. I’ve enjoyed the experience of helping devs mold a title into something better in exchange for a lower price.
BenjiRenji@feddit.org 10 hours ago
The game must be a GOTY contender or I’m not gonna pick it up at full price. I have no issues paying up for a new, unique experience that sounds exciting. Games I know I like, but rehash an old formula land on the wishlist until they are 30% off. Games that look cool, are recommended, but I’m not sure I will like them land on the wishlist and need to be below $20 when I buy.
With these simple rules I still have too many unplayed and unfinished games in my library, so… yeah… you gonna have to take some risks to win big.
Treczoks@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
Always compare value and price.
More often than not, AA games seem to come with a AAA price tag.
SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 hours ago
Megabonk, my beloved…
Donebrach@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
“gAmeS aRe tOo ExpEnsiVe tHesE Days!” paid $70 for a major release in 1999, also paid $70 for a major release in 2025
Shirasho@lemmings.world 10 hours ago
Games were released as complete games in 1999.
M1ch431@slrpnk.net 6 hours ago
The difference is back then, I didn’t have to wait 2 years (give or take) for it to go on a proper sale to enjoy it. I’d just wait until a month or two passed and ask around, go into Gamestop, find used games at yard sales, etc.
We pay $70 to not play at release due to server issues and critical bugs and we enjoy zero QA and do it for free for these big corporations.
systemglitch@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
Maybe you did, I bought used games for 10.
urandom@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
paid $70 for a major release in 1999,
Aha
systemglitch@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
Better to say, they are compared to good games priced at 10 to 15.
tflyghtz@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
Thing is, anything under 20 gets purchased, anything above that will be pirated (quite easily)
KingGimpicus@sh.itjust.works 10 hours ago
What’s that? Capitalism fixing problems?
Checkmate atheists.
MotoAsh@piefed.social 7 hours ago
Capitalism isn’t fixing anything here. In fact, it’s showing that the companies mindlessly following market inflation to keep profits up are doing worse.
KingGimpicus@sh.itjust.works 7 hours ago
Why buy AAA slop when indie gold cheaper?
Checkmate juden.
flandish@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
is there a way to tell what is indie and what is slop? i really think it’s getting like the ebay days of the 90’s. just … something feels off. repetitive. odd.
frongt@lemmy.zip 12 hours ago
Indie and slop are not mutually exclusive. Something can be both.
MotoAsh@piefed.social 7 hours ago
If it has the AI content flag, it’s most likely slop.
EightBitBlood@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
As an indie dev, this article is fucking stupid.
Want to know why indie games are priced at $10 to $15? Becaue AAA has been putting everything they’ve made in the last decade on Steam and it’s all going for $20 - $25.
Indies can’t launch at that price point anymore because they’re competing with AAA games from 10 years ago that have been discounted to death.
The Steam winter sale is the best example of this, where most people will buy RDR2 for $19 instead of the new mega hit indie that’s $20. So indies have been lowering their price to actually get sales. That’s why team cherry priced Silk Song at $20.
Basically, AAA is now just competing with the bottom part of the market they spent that last decade flooding.
They’re complaining about people actually choosing where to spend their money wisely because that means they might actually have to make a good product if they want to sell a game for $70.
MetaStatistical@lemmy.zip 36 minutes ago
Terraria has always been $10. Stardew Valley: $15. Undertale: $10. Braid was $15 when it launched, and even then, people were bitching about the price. So, the price tag has always been in that range since the first indie game launched.
I think you’re ignoring the incredible amount of oversaturation in the industry. Games are everywhere. I could throw a thousand sticks into the wilderness and it would smack into a thousand different game studios, all working for years on their big hit that (in their eyes) would make them millions of dollars.
But, people don’t have time to even play their own Steam backlog. On average, people buy more games than they even have time to play, and that’s not even counting the sheer amount of movies, music, TV shows, YouTube videos, whatever that is competing for people’s time. If they are playing video games, then they are not watching or listening to other media.
It’s not just the gaming industry. The entire creative industry is propped up on the backing of a 98% failure rate, or sometimes even a 99.99% failure rate. The lucky few get to spout off their survivorship biases, under the bones of former companies and individuals, crunched under the weight of oversaturation.
Wahots@pawb.social 2 hours ago
I think you probably hit the nail on the head here. I’ve been holding off on MGSV because it’s $20, and I’m waiting for that 50% off sale.
Buuut, that didn’t stop my from buying silksong at full price. Or Factorio. :)
EightBitBlood@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
Thanks! 🙂 Appreciate you confirming that. We actually changed the price of our latest game to $10 (from $20) because we launched last December and got buried by AAA selling for $15.
Almost every dev team we talked to this year felt the same about the $20 price. That is, it’s much better to go out at $15 or $10 as a LOT of people see indie games at that price as better than modern AAA. (All while still holding out for classic AAA that go on sale for $20.)
And that being said, I’m totally cool with losing a sale to MGSV or Witcher 3 😁 Just wish the $20 space wasn’t getting so crowded. It’s making it rough for the smaller teams to compete at that price too now.