Unpopular Opinions about Video Games

[deleuzeon]

The most expensive games should cost more than $60. I don't think $100 is unreasonable for certain AAA games. Instead, as a game publisher and knowing gamers won't tolerate more than $60, obviously you make your profit up by shoving loot box gambling, season passes, and shit like that into everything. Much worse than the games just costing more.

 

[The Ugly One]

Maybe I just "aged out" of competitive online multiplayer but who the fuck has the time?

Kids, same as we did back in the day. One thing I've noticed is that competitive multiplayer games stress me out. It's not whether I win or lose. It's that kind of adrenaline-pumping intensity no longer feels good to me, even when I win. I play one game, maybe two, and that's it for me.

 

[The Last Stand]

I've never seen the appeal of couch co-op gaming myself.

 

[Fig Kommandant]

The most expensive games should cost more than $60. I don't think $100 is unreasonable for certain AAA games. Instead, as a game publisher and knowing gamers won't tolerate more than $60, obviously you make your profit up by shoving loot box gambling, season passes, and shit like that into everything. Much worse than the games just costing more.

I agree given the current budget of AAA games, but I don't think games should have teams of hundreds of people working for years on end. Games should be smaller in scale and have "worse" graphics.

 

[deleuzeon]

I agree given the current budget of AAA games, but I don't think games should have teams of hundreds of people working for years on end. Games should be smaller in scale and have "worse" graphics.

Many smaller indie games are also relatively underpriced. Some of these things going for $5 or $10 and giving you 20 hours of entertainment is honestly crazy when you compare it to anything else. The whole spectrum is oddly compressed because the upper end hasn't moved from $60 in two decades despite inflation across the entire economy.

 

[Point Man]

the upper end hasn't moved from $60 in two decades despite inflation across the entire economy.

Most modern mainstream games are now releasing for $70 USD, the past three Call of Duty games were $70, TEKKEN 8 and Mortal Kombat 1 released with a $70 price tag. The price is increasing, it's just a slow process. Wait for something like GTA 6 to come out where the game is going to cost a lot more than $70 for the base edition which will then normalize something like a $90 price tag for a base game.

 

[ShadowAngel785]

Wait for something like GTA 6 to come out where the game is going to cost a lot more than $70 for the base edition which will then normalize something like a $90 price tag for a base game.

Which would still be cheaper than inflation corrected prices of games from the past. A NES game retailed for 49,99 dollars (+ tax thanks to the wonky tax system the USA has) which would be 121.50 dollars today.
Even with all the DLC crap today, games on average are cheaper than back in the day. Let's not forget that at least on Computers, games were monetized to the maximum and DLC-like shit existed even in 1990. A good example is Wing Commander 2, alongside 2 Mission Packs, it also got a "Speech Pack". For half the price of the game you get a few voice samples - Origin didn't even bother to voice record all cut scenes, but only "a select few" because recording all would've required a fourth floppy and that would've cut into their profit too much!
Same with Links, that golf game came with 1 course. Then Access released 18 Golf courses each sold separate, each costing half the price of Links itself, so if you wanted all, you had to pay over 600 dollars back then. And people complain about Sims today...
Heck, back in the day, some publishers even sold their demos for money. Software 2000 here in Germany was really infamous for their money-hungry tactics: They sold demos of their games for 5 DM, if you wanted a player editor for their Bundesliga Manager game, you had to fork over 20 DM and if you wanted your own picture in the game, it costed you another 20 DM, on top of the game being 100 DM (50 dollars around back then). What went on back then was totally insane. Let's also not forget that there were companies selling shareware games for money, which is ludicrious considering the concept of Shareware was to give those test versions out for free.
And let's not forget that most games would remain their retail price for at least one year, big hits even for two. Today a game is -50% after just a few months usually.

People who cry about the prices of games today, don't know how good they have it and how bad it was back in the day in comparison.

 

[The Ugly One]

I've never seen the appeal of couch co-op gaming myself.

It's the best when you either are in school and have roommates or have small boys of your own.

 

[ButterflyBarbie]

Metal Gear Solid 4 fucking sucked.

 

[Brain Power]

blablabla

Oh look, it's another episode of "WELL ACKSHUALLY YOU PAID MORE BACK THEN, SO DON'T COMPLAIN ABOUT RAISED PRICES, MUH INFLATION N SHIT"

 

[The Ugly One]

Oh look, it's another episode of "WELL ACKSHUALLY YOU PAID MORE BACK THEN, SO DON'T COMPLAIN ABOUT RAISED PRICES, MUH INFLATION N SHIT"

$1500 GPUs sell out instantaneously. New games will be $150 by the end of the decade. Your salary will have a 3% "inflation adjustment" to keep up.

 

[Glory To Arztotska]

$1500 GPUs sell out instantaneously. New games will be $150 by the end of the decade. Your salary will have a 3% "inflation adjustment" to keep up.

Is shit like that inflation adjustment bit a side effect of bucking up minimum wage?

If so I have horrible regrets of being a Bernie bro back in the day (even if not a particularly committal one).

 

[McMitch]

People who cry about the prices of games today, don't know how good they have it and how bad it was back in the day in comparison.

What inflation-actualists (read: faggots) like yourself fail to account is games back then were significantly less competitive for your time than today. While the proliferation of games in the average person’s day has increased fairly linearly, the selection of games and the price range thereof have increased by orders of magnitude. You also fail to account that these games that are being released pushing $100 today are not worth the same relative value games were even ten years ago (i.e. they suck).

 

[The Last Stand]

What inflation-actualists (read: faggots) like yourself fail to account is games back then were significantly less competitive for your time than today. While the proliferation of games in the average person’s day has increased fairly linearly, the selection of games and the price range thereof have increased by orders of magnitude.

I never understand the inflation argument when comparing MSRP for games then and now. If anything, games should be cheaper since microtransactions exist now in every game.

 

[The Ugly One]

Is shit like that inflation adjustment bit a side effect of bucking up minimum wage?

If so I have horrible regrets of being a Bernie bro back in the day (even if not a particularly committal one).

No, it's just companies trying to keep you from quitting as their costs explode and so do yours.

What inflation-actualists (read: faggots) like yourself fail to account is games back then were significantly less competitive for your time than today. While the proliferation of games in the average person’s day has increased fairly linearly, the selection of games and the price range thereof have increased by orders of magnitude. You also fail to account that these games that are being released pushing $100 today are not worth the same relative value games were even ten years ago (i.e. they suck).

Back in the good old days, RPGs were advertised as having dozens of hours of gameplay. Dozens! Today, a game is considered dog shit if it gets boring after 100+ hours. One of my favorite games back in the good old days was TimeSplitters 2. I have...blows off the dust from the cover...a grand total of 44 hours, 12 minutes, and 42 seconds in the game. Meanwhile, in 40K: Darktide, a game I consider "okay" but not an enduring classic, I have almost 200 hours.

 

[Whoopsie Daisy]

Which would still be cheaper than inflation corrected prices of games from the past

What formula are you using to calculate inflation? Are you using the same formula from back in 1994, or the modern day formula which changed in 2022 to prevent the realisation that inflation is almost double what the official figures are?

 

[Ibanez RG 350EX]

I like stealth games and I like Hotline Miami, so I really wanted to like the well-reviewed (10 on Steam, 4.5 on GoG) Intravenous games.



Instead I think I may actually hate them. Whoever decided "let's take the simple, frenetic gameplay of Hotline Miami and then add 20 different player actions on 20 different buttons, plus even more inside of fiddle-fucky context menus" was a goddamn sadist.

Games should be smaller in scale and have "worse" graphics.

Every game from major publishers wants to be some 300 hour sprawling alternate reality where you can go anywhere and do anything these days and then they cry endlessly about the cost of development. I understand that the cost of asset creation has increased a lot since the move to HD, but so much of this is a self-inflicted scope problem that doesn't even make the player's experience any better.

 

[Glory To Arztotska]

So I WASN'T the only one that couldn't get into Intravenous. Interesting.

 

[POWER IN MISERY]

40K: Darktide, a game I consider "okay" but not an enduring classic, I have almost 200 hours.

it makes me glad that darktide managed to get its shit together, get a job, and grow into a solid 6.5/10 you can fool around with every couple months

 

[Calandrino]

A NES game retailed for 49,99 dollars (+ tax thanks to the wonky tax system the USA has) which would be 121.50 dollars today.

Have you priced an NES cartridge lately? Those things can go for hundreds or even thousands of dollars, whereas a AAA game like Suicide Squad Kills the Justice League is free on Epic Games a matter of months after its release. Now, SSKtJL isn't exactly my cup of tea, but I respect that the devs were dedicated to making the game they wanted to make, regardless of profit. One can hardly accuse them of being greedy when they're operating at a significant loss.

Back in the good old days, RPGs were advertised as having dozens of hours of gameplay. Dozens!

Maybe more modern rpgs like Fallout 1 are about that length, but the original Might and Magic boasted of hundreds of hours of gameplay in the 80s. It's like an hour of gameplay per kb. Games nowadays can't keep up with that.