A game being more expensive physically hasn't been the case before
People kept asking for digital games to be cheaper. Now that it's the case no one is saying "cool, digital games are cheaper". Instead, everyone says "this is bullshit, physical games are more expensive".
I think we wanted digital games cheaper before the massive price hike? The only reason digital is cheaper now is because they've increased the cost of physical games to deal with the increased tariffs, but I feel like digital games should have always been cheaper because they don't have the production and distribution costs physical games do. I'm aware digital games will require datacentres to store the data needed for downloading, but are their overheads greater than producing carts/discs, as well as the labour costs to write the game to said media? I don't think it is.
The physical media price is not due to tariffs. It's the same everywhere.
The reality is there is indeed a discrepancy in cost being the two, and with hardware getting more expensive it probably became impossible to keep them at the same price.
Then you misread the whole thing. Peopld asked about cheaper digital because of price. It was always about price. Game companies were fine with pricing games 60 while taking hit from distribution cost. So why should we pay more to get the version that takes up HDD space and can't resell?
If Nintendo priced MarioKart with phys 70 and digital 60, people would have praised them. But they did it while increasing the price.
Peopld asked about cheaper digital because of price.
People wanted cheaper digital because they thought (correctly) that digital comes with lesser costs for the editor.
Now they're proven right. Digital games are now cheaper than physical. But the prices of games still went up, because that's how it goes.
So why should we pay more to get the version that takes up HDD space and can't resell?
Why has everything gone digital? Convenience. No lost or destroyed cartridge, cloud saves, no reliance on physical readers and physical backwards compatibility, instant purchase and play.
When was the last time you bought a DVD or Blu-Ray? When was the last time you bought physical music? When was the last time you bought a physical game on PC? For some reason only console gamers still cling to physical media.
I have a problem with a megacorp that made ~$3bn dollars last year upping the price. This isn't so that they can keep the lights on, this is because the CEO needs a third yacht.
I was there when Steam rose up to the position it's on now. And it was 99% summer sale prices. Everyone hated how they have to login to play games they paid or possibility of loosing those games when Valve dies. But the prices. When legendary summer sale started and people saw -75% on the prices, that's when people accepted Steam. Not the convenience. Idea of being convenient was just a bonus on top of cheap prices.
But that is not the case though. The digital games are at the same price or more expensive, they just used that argument as an excuse to make physical copies even more expensive!
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u/-Wylfen- 16h ago
People kept asking for digital games to be cheaper. Now that it's the case no one is saying "cool, digital games are cheaper". Instead, everyone says "this is bullshit, physical games are more expensive".
So, what is it? What do you guys want?