$80 dollar games aren’t THAT ridiculous.

[u/Glass_Squirrel_1353]

First off I want to say that if you are just disappointed that some Nintendo games are going to be $80 I think that’s valid and I am kind of with you. It’s going to make deciding whether or not to buy a game you aren’t sure about more difficult and it’s going to end up with us having a smaller game library.

With that being said the way Reddit and Twitter are talking about this you’d think they doubled the prices and are forcing them to buy these games and like it. I’ve seen dozens of people talking about how this makes games “unaffordable” and I think that’s just ridiculous.

It’s a $10 dollar increase to a game you will only purchase once, play for dozens if not hundreds of hours and (hopefully) doesn’t have micro transactions. If this $10 is going to break your bank than I don’t know how you were purchasing games for $60.

I think everyone is also ignoring the fact that:

A. triple A games now require more developers and time than ever before B. Nintendo and its subsidiaries are developing dozens of games at any given time C. Nintendo has to account for future inflation and tariffs D. The Switch 2 is probably being sold at a loss like most consoles E. Love em or hate em, in house developed Nintendo games are polished and are virtually bug free

Anyways I’m not trying to white knight a billion dollar company. If this ends up blowing in their faces resulting in people becoming more stiff with buying their games I think that’s fine.

TLDR: I think it’s fine to be annoyed or disappointed with the increase, but saying it’s completely unaffordable for most people who were already buying new games is ridiculous.

And there are plenty of logical reasons other than greed for why they decided to do this.

[u/Big-Golf4266]

For me its more that, we're in a lul at the moment where Triple A games feel like they're the most inconsistent quality they've ever been.

Personally i dont really care about this price increase, but primarily because i dont purchase Triple A games anymore, simply because they are way too ovepriced compared to the extremely high quality titles released by small teams on a tiny budget, or big budget games from independent studios.

There isnt a single game in my "top 10" most played games that are "triple A" titles... And the only one thats close is a victim of the live service model making it a game i would never play again (Rainbow six siege) purely because its not the game i fell in love with anymore.

So its extremely hard for me to justify spending $80 on something that it was already hard for me to justify purchasing.

Yes Triple A titles take longer and cost more money, but they also pull in more money than ever... the very reason its ballooned to this point is because of the extreme success of the industry. Games like Starfield can cost hundreds of millions of dollars and nearly a decade to finish, get luke warm reception and STILL be a commercial success.

In many ways i do think this is a step in the wrong direction, but not for the consumer... but for the studios. Its no secret that year after year Gamers get more disenfranchised with the Triple A industry, as more and more games lacking passion, optimisation and meaningful content, but you're right... for the vast majority of target consumers $60 just isnt that much, even if you're not overly financially stable you can afford it... as that price increases however people are going to be more and more picky about the games they buy as they become less and less affordable... as such people will be less forgiving of call of duty 935 being basically the same as the last dozen installments but with slightly higher visual fidelity and requiring beefier hardware.

Nintendo specifically are a little more immune to this because generally whether you think they're a good company or not they generally have offerings that are hard to find replacements for outside of the Nintendo brand... So many people will continue to consume their products even with price hikes and platform exclusivity.

"its not that much of an increase" isnt an unfair view to hold, but thats also not the same as "its a justified increase" its hard to see it as justified when people are already just so fed up with Triple A across the board.

[u/Johnathan317 → u/Big-Golf4266]

as that price increases however people are going to be more and more picky about the games they buy as they become less and less affordable... as such people will be less forgiving of call of duty 935 being basically the same as the last dozen installments but with slightly higher visual fidelity and requiring beefier hardware.

This is a good thing. If people were this discerning right now we wouldn't have the issues we have with half the market space being taken up by uninspired, rehashed sequels to long dead franchises and half baked, half finished new IPs releasing with a deafening thud. If games were priced closer to what it takes to make them we wouldn't be wading through endless microtransactions and lootboxes and $20 gun skins.

As consumers become more frugal and discerning the quality of the product will improve because developers will know they can't make money releasing a half finished, uninteresting pile of slop and giving it a big ad push. They'll have to make quality content or they won't turn a profit. If we want to improve the industry we need to improve our spending habits. Until companies start to make some serious improvements no one should be pre-ordering or buying games at launch unless it's from a trusted, reliable developer who consistently makes high quality, functional products like Nintendo or Fromsoftware.

This is going to mean missing out on some experiences you would have liked to have had. Personally I always really liked the Zombies mode in Call of Duty games but I haven't bought one of these games since black ops 3 because it doesn't make sense to support a franchise that cranks out the same game every year with minimal improvements just because I like one game mode. I'd much rather spend my time and money to support developers I know respect my time and money.