While searching the game retail site called Steam I came to the conclusion that new computer games cost too much. Once you add the price of some new games and their extra content you can easily spend over a hundred dollars. My price range for games is thirty dollars or less. Spending a hundred dollars or more for a program is something I have to justify in terms of work and school. Gaming for me isn't a "lifestyle" it is just a entertaining diversion that I enjoy. I think the gaming industry is taking itself too serious and has forgotten that games are for play and are not that important.
I realize that today's games are full of high end graphics and filled with a lot of content. Game companies have got to make a profit and I am fine with that. I just don't like all the "hidden" costs that make today's games so expensive in the long run.
Unfortunately most games are released way too early in development. What happens is that if you buy a game on day one you end up buying a sixty dollar plus game that isn't finished. It isn't finished on a technical level and may be full of game breaking bugs. Also, the game that is released is not done in terms of having complete content. Many games love to sell you Down Loadable Content (DLC) after the release that adds more content. In the early days of computer gaming you got the whole game and if you wanted more you waited for the sequel. Games were complete and were judged based on their technical merit and content as sold on day one. Now you might have to wait a year or longer to have technical patches sent out and game content sold piecemeal.
Steam and a lot of game retailers have sales on games. I saw a sale for Fallout 4 and a 4X space strategy game called Stellaris. Fallout had a price tag of $59.99 and Stellaris was $39.99 to $69.99 depending on what type of deluxe edition you wanted. But their DLC was $49.99 for Fallout's season pass (gives you all the DLCs for one price) and Stellaris's DLCs came in at a whopping $89.95! I can't remember when these games came on sale if they were marked down 25% or 50% off but when I saw what the DLC was going to cost I left the web page for each quickly!
Unfortunately games and computer software in general today are just a bunch of unfinished products that developers have the consumer pay for the privilege of beta testing. The software industry should be held to the same standards as car manufacturers. No one would sell you the other half of a car a year later or send you home in one that didn't work. Okay, sometimes they do but the consumer has some sort of recourse and the industry can be held accountable. Software gets a pass because of the "legal fiction" of being "leased." The consumer thinks they are buying something they own but the industry just treats you like a renter. The industry has gone so far as to require monthly subscriptions (leases/rents) to use some of their product. The funny thing is if you rented/leased an apartment and there was something wrong with it the landlord has to make things right even to the extent of sending you to a hotel in some cases. Not the software industry.
There are two ways things can be corrected. Either there needs to be some sort of legislation to protect consumers or customers just need to walk away. I think walking away is the best solution. Right now I own plenty of software that I can go back to that I got on a sale that I haven't even touched. I think I can wait longer than the software companies can and spend my money on real products that deliver. It wouldn't hurt to go out to dinner or a movie once in a while instead of playing a game. My entertainment dollar can always find a way to be spent. Will the software companies realize this? We will see...
