A frequent complaint you hear from gamers these days is the rising cost of games – especially when you factor in the scummy DLC and games-as-service models.
But a running theme of this blog is putting current events in historical perspective. So it must be asked: Are video games that much more expensive than they were back in the day?
The answer might surprise you.
Over time the price of new games increased with a cycle of approximately 5 to 7 years, as shown in Graph 1. The price increase seems to occur during significant upgrades in the console lifecycle (such as when game technology moved into new graphical improvements or when optical drives were added). For example, between 1993 and 2001 the average cost for a new console game was $49.99, but in 2005 with the release of the Xbox 360 and PS3 that increased to $59.99.
Seems like an open and shut case, right?
But wait – there’s more …
It is obvious that prices have increased over time. We should expect this given the prowess of modern consoles, the cost of making games and the rhythm of naturally incurring inflation. In Graph 2, here are those same release prices but adjusted for 2022 price equivalent, using a US inflation calculator.
Inflation ruins everything.
Except for new game prices, which are below their historic average when you adjust for it.
This means that a 1977 Atari 2600 game today would retail at the equivalent of just under $200. As time progresses, the price of games falls in relative terms. Games for the Xbox One and PS4 that retailed for $59.99 back in 2013, today would be sold at $76.30 if game publishers followed inflationary pressures. Even the $69.99 games that released back in 2020 would today be priced at $80.13 (if game prices were kept at a constant pace with inflation). That is a 14% increase.
This means that although the average price of new video games increased in price in absolute terms, they got cheaper over the years in relative terms. Between 1977 and 2020 the average relative price of games declined by almost 2% every year.
In Graph 3, these two prices, the absolute and the relative, are shown side by side.
So it isn’t all bad news.
Not that you should be buying new AAA games, since the big studios hate you.
The even better news is, you have alternatives.
