https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm
Also games have only become more expensive to make since then and gamer expectations have only increased.
Actually there's been studio bankruptcy after studio bankruptcy, due to a massive contraction post-COVID, and the rise of mobile gaming eating away at casual gamers. Even Ubisoft earlier this year was having some people giving 30% odds of bankruptcy.
As stated elsewhere, games have literally never been cheaper. Even at the launch of the Nintendo Switch, a $60 game in 2017 is the equivalent of $77 today. The launch price of Mario Kart World, in real purchasing power, is completely identical to what Mario Kart 8 launched at. The complaints, therefore, scream entitlement over logic - games must always be bigger, larger, better, and unaffected by 3 decades of inflation. Or it's anti-consumer, as though Nintendo put a gun to their head forcing a purchase alongside toilet paper. (In my opinion, a luxury good not in any way necessary for a good life by definition cannot be anti-consumer, or otherwise Gucci would be the king of anti-consumer practices.)
The complaints don't really seem based in reality.
Whether a game is worth it is different for different people. When you expand your audience beyond enthusiasts then people will not be willing to pay as much money for a game. Saying that enthusiasts will see it as a good deal when most of the audience are notenthusiasts. does not mean too much.
[1] https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/finance/hard_soft/index.htm...
There's really not much backlash. At the most, just some impotent complaints online toward random companies, and nothing at all toward the federal reserve. If people really cared, we would have seen a lot more politicians like Ron Paul.
Could we please stop pretending that corporations do not wish to extract as much money as they can from our pockets?
At that point you can live a perfectly happy life only playing games that are years old and buying them deeply discounted or second hands for peanuts.
It’s a mystery to me who spends 80 bucks on a game which is approximately the same than the previous one itself the same than the one before.
Nowadays a game from 4 years ago looks ~about the same as a current one, might have the same gameplay, and doesn’t suffer as much from the constant progress in monetization strategies. Plus you know if a community will grow around it. And, relatedly, mod support has developed if it ever will.
The only reason to play a game that just came out is if you are into a specific pseudo-competitive scene; the “recently released matchmaking game” genre (and, it should also be noted that this isn’t the real pro-competitive scene, that’s MOBAs and Counterstrike).
Nope, they did not. They're sticking with the original release date
>24% tariff on goods from Japan
There are currently 10% tariffs in place for baseline goods, such as the Switch 2. The 24% rate was announced, but "paused" for 90 days. The USA and Japan will likely come up with some sort of trade deal before that pause ends.
Also keep in mind that the prices have risen in the EU as well. Games are also rising to 80 euros despite VAT being constant at 25% for decades. This is because the Euro has seen heavy inflation since Covid as well.