GRchats: Next gen console cost

Jenuall wrote:

Buffalo wrote:Same as usual, about £400-£450.

Whilst I think you're right with that suggestion, I don't think that counts as "usual" - only two mainstream consoles have ever launched above £400 as far as I'm aware - PS3 and Xbox One. Saturn was close at £399 but everything else has been considerably lower.

Oh really? Feels like 400+ snoops has been the norm for a while. Ah well, great - hopefully they might come to market at 399.

The £349.99 launch pricing of the PS4 in 2013 is roughly equivalent to £404 today. The GameCube was maybe one of the cheaper launch consoles with it's £129.99 launch price back in 2002 equating to £213 today. The Wii's £179.99 launch checks out to around £262 now. The infamous £425 cost of the PS3 back in 2007 equals £594 in today's terms... crikey!

Yeah inflation is always a fun way to look at these things. When you think about the amount that console prices have gone up it's crazy that the games themselves have, largely, stayed the same price!

Jenuall wrote:...it's crazy that the games themselves have, largely, stayed the same price!

The hugely increased sales of videogames in more recent years has encouraged publishers to offer "base" versions of games at the £55 price point; a tactic frequently used to draw in customers and then encourage them to pay out more via in-game spending. The big publishers are, generally, getting vastly increased income in comparison to previous decades and in-game spending is a major factor in this.

I don't mind in-game spending if the player enjoys it; heck, I continue to spend in F76 because I have fun playing it. The approach has certainly been used in nefarious ways to cover for, and promote, the idea that "the cost of gaming hasn't changed", though. IMHO!

Game prices are now creeping back up to what they were during the SNES/N64 era of around £60, though thankfully prices fall much quicker following launch than they ever did in the past. If you wanted a game for 20 quid you had to buy it second hand or wait for the Platinum releases (definitely one of Sony's better ideas...apart from the plain silver discs).

I was looking back at 2003 prices and the Gamecube with Mario Kart was £75 at Christmas, while the PSone could be picked up for just 45 quid.

KK wrote:Game prices are now creeping back up to what they were during the SNES/N64 era of around £60, though thankfully prices fall much quicker following launch than they ever did in the past. If you wanted a game for 20 quid you had to buy it second hand or wait for the Platinum releases (definitely one of Sony's better ideas...apart from the plain silver discs).

I was looking back at 2003 prices and the Gamecube with Mario Kart was £75 at Christmas, while the PSone could be picked up for just 45 quid.

That's an interesting point - game prices seem to drop very sharply these days compared to say the PS1 era, but in contrast the consoles themselves seem to have held their value much more in this generation where in the past after 3-5 years the consoles could be picked up for a fraction of their launch cost.

jawa4 wrote:

Jenuall wrote:...it's crazy that the games themselves have, largely, stayed the same price!

The hugely increased sales of videogames in more recent years has encouraged publishers to offer "base" versions of games at the £55 price point; a tactic frequently used to draw in customers and then encourage them to pay out more via in-game spending. The big publishers are, generally, getting vastly increased income in comparison to previous decades and in-game spending is a major factor in this.

I don't mind in-game spending if the player enjoys it; heck, I continue to spend in F76 because I have fun playing it. The approach has certainly been used in nefarious ways to cover for, and promote, the idea that "the cost of gaming hasn't changed", though. IMHO!

Yeah that's a whole area of gaming that I have had absolutely nothing to do with. I don't think I've bought a single microtransaction since they became a thing!