And in addition to what Zangoose said, your argument ignores the basic principle of technological progress: as industries mature, costs typically decrease, not increase. Economies of scale, automation, and digital distribution should all lower the cost of making and selling a game over time.
A $60 game in 2008 had to be printed on physical discs, boxed, shipped to stores, and supported with traditional advertising. Today, most games are sold digitally, cutting out huge portions of that overhead. Studios also reuse engines, assets, and development pipelines now more than ever.
Sure, inflation is real—but so are productivity gains. If your costs are going up despite all these efficiencies, that’s not just inflation—it’s mismanagement or greed. Consumers don’t owe companies an inflation-adjusted price just because they want to maintain record-breaking profits and raise prices.
Uh, video games have VERY famously not been decreasing in cost to create- AAA games cost VASTLY more to create now than in 2008. The teams are much, much larger, for one.
It’s a trend I personally think is stupid and unnecessary, but productivity gains aren’t really happening that way in game dev.
And in addition to what Zangoose said, your argument ignores the basic principle of technological progress: as industries mature, costs typically decrease, not increase. Economies of scale, automation, and digital distribution should all lower the cost of making and selling a game over time.
A $60 game in 2008 had to be printed on physical discs, boxed, shipped to stores, and supported with traditional advertising. Today, most games are sold digitally, cutting out huge portions of that overhead. Studios also reuse engines, assets, and development pipelines now more than ever.
Sure, inflation is real—but so are productivity gains. If your costs are going up despite all these efficiencies, that’s not just inflation—it’s mismanagement or greed. Consumers don’t owe companies an inflation-adjusted price just because they want to maintain record-breaking profits and raise prices.
Uh, video games have VERY famously not been decreasing in cost to create- AAA games cost VASTLY more to create now than in 2008. The teams are much, much larger, for one.
It’s a trend I personally think is stupid and unnecessary, but productivity gains aren’t really happening that way in game dev.
CEO pay has also increased VASTLY, something isn’t quite adding up here. 🤔