[Ladyxxmacbeth]

For us oldies, and since people are getting on their high horse about the cost of games nowadays, I wondered whether people would like to enlighten the youngsters about how much games used to be. For example....

The playstation 1 was released in 1995 costing £299 that works out with inflation at £466 in today's money. The games were the same price they are today, costing approx £45 (19.99 for platinum). with inflation that comes to £72 today.
Does anyone else remember paying a pretty sum for a game which let's face it could be run on a phone nowadays.?

I remember getting The last Express out of the bargain bin for 50p and Grim Fandango for £1 so not all bad ! And let's face it who bought Amiga games when you could just copy them from a copy !

Discuss....or dont !

[The Special One]

You have a valid point, games were equally, if not more expensive 15/20 years ago. I remember when the N64 launched in 1997 many of the games were priced at £59.99 including Mario 64. I do believe Turok was actually priced at £69.99!

[Doomy]

In ye olden days, you could pirate them without having to rip out the hardware

[Danger Close]

Originally Posted by Ladyxxmacbeth

For us oldies, and since people are getting on their high horse about the cost of games nowadays, I wondered whether people would like to enlighten the youngsters about how much games used to be. For example....

The playstation 1 was released in 1995 costing £299 that works out with inflation at £466 in today's money. The games were the same price they are today, costing approx £45 (19.99 for platinum). with inflation that comes to £72 today.
Does anyone else remember paying a pretty sum for a game which let's face it could be run on a phone nowadays.?

I remember getting The last Express out of the bargain bin for 50p and Grim Fandango for £1 so not all bad ! And let's face it who bought Amiga games when you could just copy them from a copy !
Discuss....or dont !

Loved that about the Amiga. A few of mates and I all had one and would swap games all the time. So for the sake of your own £30 you copy the game for your mates then it's someone elses turn to buy the next game and they would copy and so on.
Even when they had the code wheel for certain games. It was the same for each game. So if you had Premier Manager 3 and Hired Guns (two of my favourite Amiga titles) the code wheel for one could be used for the other.

[mred2000]

Some bought Amiga/ST games had copy protection on the actual disc... Sometimes even too strong for X-Copy to rip...

Ah, £1.99 for a Mastertronic or Codemasters game on tape at ASDA, now we're talking!

[Vast_Girth]

Games are very cheap nowadays. I can't remember the last time i paid more than £20 for a game, and i play all the new releases i am interested in.

[plastik2k9]

Originally Posted by Vast_Girth

Games are very cheap nowadays. I can't remember the last time i paid more than £20 for a game, and i play all the new releases i am interested in.

Competition between retailers helps a lot. In theory we could be paying the £54.99 RRP of many new PS3/360 releases, but usually it's closer to £35 and many even less as you say.

[gdjman68wasdigi]

Originally Posted by Vast_Girth

Games are very cheap nowadays. I can't remember the last time i paid more than £20 for a game, and i play all the new releases i am interested in.

well new releases are not £20, you have to wait a while

ive only just paid £20 for Forza, £15 for Portal 2, Harry Potter years 5-7 £10

Binary Domain £10

Xmas will be different, i will have no option but to pay full whack for the likes of Halo 4, AC3, BO2 because ive got a 13 year old..

and i even considered buying Madden 13 just for a change, i havent a clue what to do though...ill wait

and if Gamestation think they are getting £44.99 for a Transformers game, they are living in a dream world, i dont care how good it is

games have always been expensive, some are worth it, some are not

edit

fifa 12 was worth it, my son has had a lot of enjoyment out of it so fifa 13 is pre ordered

what annoys me is DLC,

extra maps on COD4 was a novelty but nowadays its DLC all the way

Game annoymed me the other week actually

FNV ultimate edition £19.99

when i went back the week later £29.99

"its never been £19.99 sir, "cough cough

this week

£19.99

i used to buy imports back in the day

£75 for starfox
£99 for Wildtrax(stunt race fx)

i wouldnt do it now

[Conroy]

I remember one of my school mates paid £60 for Street Fighter 2 on the SNES. I'm sure most titles cost around £45 though.

Another friend had a Neo Geo and all their games cost upwards of £80.

GameBoy games used to cost between £25-£30 as well.

I find it frustrating when people act as though the current price of games is some kind of personal injustice towards them and should be cheaper when the price really hasn't changed over the years.

Compare the price of games to other consumables and services 20yrs ago and there are thousands of things which have doubled/tripled (or greater) in price which are actually worth grumbling about. Kinder Eggs used to be 27p each and Marathon's (Snickers) were under 20p. Public transport? An adult bus ticket (single fare) in London was 30p and I can remember paying under £4 for a One Day Travel Card 10 years ago.

Game prices haven't really changed and people should stop crying about it.

[killthedirector]

at least with ps1 and ps2 games back then you got your moneys worth. I remember playing hours upon hours on those games. now a days i'll probably complete a game over the space of 3 days.

[Danger Close]

Originally Posted by killthedirector

at least with ps1 and ps2 games back then you got your moneys worth. I remember playing hours upon hours on those games. now a days i'll probably complete a game over the space of 3 days.

I think that depends on the game.

I completed the original Max Payne in about 5 hours on PS2.

I bought Oblivion in 2006 for 360 and only recenlty stopped playing it. However, I'm sure I'll go back to it and I'm sure I'll keep it and play it on the next gen console.

Some games just have that (I hate myself already for using this phrase) x-factor, <shudders> that keeps you interested and playing them through multiple times.

[007Fusion]

The price increase is relative to mordern times, which is fine. But i'm also aware that game prices drop very quickly after two or three weeks of release. So i can easily wait until the price drops, unless i really want the game. Also, people should always look at multiple listed prices before purchasing.

[2Dshmuplover]

Games are so cheap these days. I'm more than happy with their cost, I'm personally sick of all the penny-pinching cheapskates who moan that games are too much and/or only buy them when they are on sale.

[darkthunder35]

Originally Posted by 2Dshmuplover

Games are so cheap these days. I'm more than happy with their cost, I'm personally sick of all the penny-pinching cheapskates who moan that games are too much and/or only buy them when they are on sale.

This.

I buy games in GAME all the time for example (prepared for the slating, that I'm helping a high street store stay open).

I don't care that a new release is £42.99, I'd rather buy it there and then, instead of ordering at home, waiting a couple of days just to save a fiver.

[plastik2k9]

Originally Posted by darkthunder35

This.

I buy games in GAME all the time for example (prepared for the slating, that I'm helping a high street store stay open).

I don't care that a new release is £42.99, I'd rather buy it there and then, instead of ordering at home, waiting a couple of days just to save a fiver.

If you pre-order though, you generally get it cheaper and earlier. But I see your point about getting your hands on the game instantly, I much prefer that. In my case it costs around £3-4 to get to the shop anyway so I usually go for online.

[Bester]

For me it depends on how badly I want to play the game in question - CoD, Fifa, Mass Effect, Batman, Assassin's Creed, Uncharted, Killzone etc - I'll pick up at full price on release.

Other times, games like Madden, NHL, NBA, Tiger Woods etc, I enjoy playing but don't mind waiting a while, so I'll get them a month or two after release when they're £20-£30.

[darkthunder35]

Originally Posted by plastik2k9

If you pre-order though, you generally get it cheaper and earlier. But I see your point about getting your hands on the game instantly, I much prefer that. In my case it costs around £3-4 to get to the shop anyway so I usually go for online.

Very true, can't argue with that. I usually get games via pre-order online (shopto), but if I'm in the area, then I stop off in town and get it.

[thomas2400]

I generally only shop online for special editions not available at retail

I much prefer browsing through the games in my city centre and finding a hidden treasure for dirty cheap, rather than looking at endless still images on a website that usually doesn't seperate out of stock games unless you tell it to

In regards to the pricing of games, i think there at three distinct groups of people

- people who understand the price has always been the same and just buy games

- People who would complain about the price no matter what the price because they just like to complain

- people who can't afford games at 39.99 and seem to complain about this and forget that gaming is a priviledge and not a right

[Vast_Girth]

Originally Posted by gdjman68wasdigi

well new releases are not £20, you have to wait a while

Well i tend to pre-order the games i know in going to get so yes i do get new releases for under £20. Anything i don't pre-order i wait a month or 2 and pick it up for £10-£15 or even less in a steam sale.

I am gaming exclusively on PC of course

[blueisthecolour]

Originally Posted by Ladyxxmacbeth

For us oldies, and since people are getting on their high horse about the cost of games nowadays, I wondered whether people would like to enlighten the youngsters about how much games used to be. For example....

The playstation 1 was released in 1995 costing £299 that works out with inflation at £466 in today's money. The games were the same price they are today, costing approx £45 (19.99 for platinum). with inflation that comes to £72 today.
Does anyone else remember paying a pretty sum for a game which let's face it could be run on a phone nowadays.?

I remember getting The last Express out of the bargain bin for 50p and Grim Fandango for £1 so not all bad ! And let's face it who bought Amiga games when you could just copy them from a copy !

Discuss....or dont !

It wasn't just PS1 games that were £45 - so were Mega Drive/SNES games and I think even 8 bit console games were close to it. No one can complain about prices today when they haven't increased in over 20 years.

Interestingly, the Platinum range was pretty much the first time that games were sold at a 'discount'. Before that it was very unusual for games to be sold for less than standard £40-50. Back in the days when games were only sold in entertainment shops you never had discounting of older games, all that happened was that they taken off the market so that new games could take their place. Thankfully the internet and ebay changed all that.

[Keith_13]

I remember taking the bus to town and getting the latest Codemasters game, a bottle of bubblegum drink and a pack of sweets for £4 including my bus fare!

[blueisthecolour]

Originally Posted by Keith_13

I remember taking the bus to town and getting the latest Codemasters game, a bottle of bubblegum drink and a pack of sweets for £4 including my bus fare!

I didn't even need to go to town as my local corner shop sold spectrum games. Magic Land Dizzy was my favourite. Unfortunately my pocket money was only 50p a week at the time so it still took a while to save the £2.99!

I remember spending my birthday money one year on the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games - it cost a staggering £17.99!! You can imagine my disappointment when I realised that it wasn't the same as the arcade version.

[Scrubber]

I remember back in't day my N64 games always cost between 40-50 quid, and that was for a game that came in a cardboard box.

[Davonator]

It's 100 times better than it used to be. It's worth mentioning also that back in the 90s we weren't only paying way more for our games but they were often released here 6-12 months later than in the US, and were often pretty poor PAL 50hz conversions. So we paid more for an inferior version released well after they'd played it.

The companies really were such cowboys back then. In 2002 Nintendo were fined a huge amount by the EU for price fixing during the 1990s. I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't a gentlemans agreement too amongst the big retailers of the times HMV, Virgin Megastore and Electronics Boutique (what would rebrand as Game) that they would always charge full RRP for games. I know HMV and Virgin Megastore got in trouble along with the record industry for fixing CD Prices from 1995-2000 so I wouldn't be surprised if they were doing that with games too,

[beemoh]

Originally Posted by Davonator

I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't a gentlemans agreement too amongst the big retailers of the times HMV, Virgin Megastore and Electronics Boutique (what would rebrand as Game) that they would always charge full RRP for games. I know HMV and Virgin Megastore got in trouble along with the record industry for fixing CD Prices from 1995-2000 so I wouldn't be surprised if they were doing that with games too,

It is in their best interests to keep the prices of new games high to push people towards the second-hand market- HMV used to be pretty good for games- brand new games would often be a hair cheaper than they were at Game, and they'd keep games on the shelves for longer than Game would- so if you wanted a nice, new copy rather than a battered up old used one, you could go to HMV.

Then they got into the used market- suddenly they were as bad as Game on new prices and you'd struggle to get hold of anything more than a week old.

Not sure if it legally qualifies as "price fixing", because in reality they're only fixing their own prices against their own, but it's definitely the same principle.