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Upper_Lengthiness_42 t1_jaedsb1 wrote

Reply to comment by Shedix in Why are games so expensive nowdays? by PythonEntusiast

>You can't expect a game to cost the same like 25 years ago

why not? i mean yes, things got more expensive due but games are not comparable to physical goods. software can be replicated at no cost, you can sell it more than once while the production cost stays the same. if you want to sell more than one car or aircraft, you have to buy twice the material, put in twice the labor. this doesn't apply to software. 25 years ago only very few people had access to computers and the market for software was extremely small. now you've got millions of users - software can become cheaper than 25 years ago and we see that a lot actually became cheaper

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Shedix t1_jaee1sn wrote

Are you really that naive? Just thing about wages, server running costs and stuff. Do you earn the same money you did like 5yrs ago? I hope not.

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Upper_Lengthiness_42 t1_jaefpc7 wrote

of course things get more expensive but the increasing market has the opposite effect. imagine having to pay your staff 30% more but selling 200% more units - you still end up with a massive profit increase. on average consumer software got cheaper with time, not more expensive

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EditorVFXReditor t1_jaent38 wrote

dude production costs didn't stay the same. modern AAA titles cost 200 -300 mil easily, require teams of hundreds of highly qualified people making 6 figures+

Compare that to most games made in the 90's. Small teams, cheaper labor, cheaper equipment, etc.

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Upper_Lengthiness_42 t1_jaeqnlm wrote

Again, that still can be offset by selling more software licenses - the fact that consumer software became cheaper while profits were increased clearly indicate that. I never even claimed that production cost stayed the same, I said that production cost increased. I recommend you take the time to actually fucking read my comment

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EditorVFXReditor t1_jaes07m wrote

https://marvelousmoviescom.files.wordpress.com/2021/06/language.jpg

You don't pay your staff 30% more, it's a magnitude higher than that with a massively bigger staff. And with big money, comes bigger risk, therefore I stand with the point I made.

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Upper_Lengthiness_42 t1_jaeugwa wrote

Then you are not only dumb but willfully ignorant, which is even worse. Console games were 60 dollars and more over 20 years ago - which is over 120 dollars today when adjusted for inflation. Games are much cheaper than they used to be and companies are having record profits. Higher production cost are more than offset by higher selling unit numbers. If you try to deny this you are absolutely delusional

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EditorVFXReditor t1_jaeveli wrote

Dude I worked in this field and still have plenty of colleagues currently in game development. Companies have way more staff, WAY way more overhead and take on a lot more risk than 20 years ago. This more than justifies the prices. Sure, some companies sell a lot more and create record profits but all it takes is one game that flops that can throw a developer close to bankruptcy. It's very similar in the movie world too these days.

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Upper_Lengthiness_42 t1_jaewl8l wrote

> Companies have way more staff, WAY way more overhead and take on a lot more risk than 20 years ago

And yet games are 50 percent cheaper than 20 years ago

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