Poll of the Day > New Zelda Game will be the 1st $70 Switch title...

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/zelda-tears-kingdom-nintendos-first-230000547.html

Do you think it's too pricy? (Poll Question)

Discounts? On a Nintendo game? lul

Yeah, I'd have a hard time accepting that the rationale is justified. And $70 USD likely means it'll be $100 CAD which is absolute highway robbery.

I answered yes but I meant no. I think $70 is a fair price for something Im likely going to put 50-100 hours into, and has the great quality I expect from a first party Nintendo product.

https://www.joshuakennon.com/video-games-may-seem-more-expensive-but-they-arent-its-all-in-your-head/

I thought I wouldn't buy it anytime soon, but then I found out you can get 2 game vouchers for $100 on the Nintendo store. Used one of the vouchers to pre-order. Not sure what to use the other one on.

rjsilverthorn posted...

https://www.joshuakennon.com/video-games-may-seem-more-expensive-but-they-arent-its-all-in-your-head/

This would be true if they didn't go out of their way to put DLC in every fucking game now. Nowadays the ultimate version of the game that contains all the future DLC usually costs $90 or more. So this notion that video games only cost $60 or $70 is a joke unless you are fine getting 75-80% of the content.

As much as the "game prices haven't kept up with inflation and we need more revenue!" narrative is largely bullshit coming from Actiblizz, Ubisoft, EA, and other publishers that have been stuffing their games with predatory monetization strategies that earn them significantly more revenue than the MSRP does (whether it's $60 or $70), at least I can kind of respect it coming from Nintendo, who has generally been pretty reasonable with their post-purchase monetization and not milking consumers for every possible cent. It's still lame, but the game will probably be well worth $70, so it won't deter me from buying it. If that becomes the norm for Switch games, though, it'll lead to me waiting for more sales or just buying fewer games (though really, I could maintain the same budget by skipping every 7th game I would otherwise buy, which isn't completely unreasonable).

Nintendo always wins, baby

adjl posted...

As much as the "game prices haven't kept up with inflation and we need more revenue!" narrative is largely bullshit coming from Actiblizz, Ubisoft, EA, and other publishers that have been stuffing their games with predatory monetization strategies that earn them significantly more revenue than the MSRP does (whether it's $60 or $70), at least I can kind of respect it coming from Nintendo, who has generally been pretty reasonable with their post-purchase monetization and not milking consumers for every possible cent. It's still lame, but the game will probably be well worth $70, so it won't deter me from buying it. If that becomes the norm for Switch games, though, it'll lead to me waiting for more sales or just buying fewer games (though really, I could maintain the same budget by skipping every 7th game I would otherwise buy, which isn't completely unreasonable).

Nintendo is notorious for not dropping prices of their games much to this day, Breath of the wild still costs $50. It is on sale right now but those sales are rare in general Nintendo games rarely go down in price even after years.

So?

It's hilarious to me that this game is basically just $70 dlc for BOTW

Sonicplys posted...

So?

What so

Ferron posted...

It's hilarious to me that this game is basically just $70 dlc for BOTW

How do you figure?

My 11 year old self thinks thats an ok price for that content on release day. Any other age me would think twice and be rancorous at Nintendo if it was higher.

I generally think video games are cheap entertainment, so Im not going to complain about $70. IIRC I paid $40 for FF1 way the heck back in the day.

adjl posted...

How do you figure?

It is a game that started as dlc and appears to be using the same game world. Looks very lazy so far hopefully they show something amazing and prove me wrong

Entity13 posted...

Discounts? On a Nintendo game? lul

Ehcks Dee

Ferron posted...

It is a game that started as dlc and appears to be using the same game world. Looks very lazy so far hopefully they show something amazing and prove me wrong

Maybe the ground world. But it seems they have a ton of islands in the sky. And with they skyboard thing, we might have a lot of stuff happening there. And early trailers looked like stuff underground, as well Not to mention, even if they use the same base for the ground floor of Hyrule, the Earth could possibly be a different shape But Im just basing this on what Ive seen from the trailers

LinkPizza posted...

Maybe the ground world. But it seems they have a ton of islands in the sky. And with they skyboard thing, we might have a lot of stuff happening there. And early trailers looked like stuff underground, as well Not to mention, even if they use the same base for the ground floor of Hyrule, the Earth could possibly be a different shape But Im just basing this on what Ive seen from the trailers

Like I said maybe they'll prove me wrong but right now the game looks super lazy that last trailer didn't do them any favors

Yes, games actually are cheaper than they used to be. Adjusting for inflation BotW would be $73 today. And not only that, but constantly inflating dev time and budgets, increasing the price tag was inevitable. Like it or not, $70 for TotK is the correct price.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GCs4JM7dXX4&t=8136s

Ferron posted...

Like I said maybe they'll prove me wrong but right now the game looks super lazy that last trailer didn't do them any favors

I guess I got a way different impression, though Haha But it doesnt matter much, anyway Either way, well have to wait for the game to come out to see

Ive spent $70 on dogshit games so Im fine with spending that on Zelda. Games in the 90s were like $80 and thats almost $150 adjusted for inflation.

papercup posted...

Yes, games actually are cheaper than they used to be. Adjusting for inflation BotW would be $73 today. And not only that, but constantly inflating dev time and budgets, increasing the price tag was inevitable. Like it or not, $70 for TotK is the correct price.

Yeah but adjusting for inflation almost everyone is being paid less than they used to be.

Eh, this was bound to happen at some point just due to inflation. $70 isn't that bad, especially when you consider that Chrono Trigger was $80, in 1995 money.

$70 for a video game is nothing new, and it'll prove to be not too pricey with this game since people will still ravenously gobble it up.

big games make millions already, not even counting ones that have microtransactions.

not paying $70 for any standard edition game, that's bullshit and overpriced.

Lmao at people justifying this when the current industry is thriving and making more money than ever off garbage practices like the gacha business model that's snaked it's way into AAA titles on major platforms.

Get the fuck outta here

It's a good thing I couldn't give less of a shit about Zelda.

DirtBasedSoap posted...

Ive spent $70 on dogshit games so Im fine with spending that on Zelda. Games in the 90s were like $80 and thats almost $150 adjusted for inflation.

What the fuck? No they weren't.

Revelation34 posted...

What the fuck? No they weren't.

What the fuck? Yeah they were. At least some of them were. Is it fun to be wrong all the time?

DirtBasedSoap posted...

Ive spent $70 on dogshit games so Im fine with spending that on Zelda. Games in the 90s were like $80 and thats almost $150 adjusted for inflation.

I remember $70 games in the 90s but I can't remember any $80 ones. Maybe jet force Gemini?

Off the top of my head, Chrono Trigger was $85 at launch in 1995.

DirtBasedSoap posted...

What the fuck? Yeah they were. At least some of them were. Is it fun to be wrong all the time?

The most expensive game back then was Phantasy Star IV for $100. Games averaged around $50. The default price was never $80.

I never said it was the default price. Some games cost $80-$100 in the 90s.

https://youtu.be/zvPkAYT6B1Q

Revelation34 posted...

What the fuck? No they weren't.

Yes actually some did games go for $70 or $80. Sometimes more. Games usually ranged from about $40-$100 back then.
https://preview.redd.it/tq261umjaw491.png?width=680&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=33d0560b4dfc583557a226361ec33a48e21fb822
https://preview.redd.it/knw0fnrkaw491.png?width=680&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=1df2f9b62b80a271d469b19d91096378b3fca763
https://preview.redd.it/gl8k0nklaw491.png?width=680&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=c86d8870b83a34801fec4bf385c53afd91b51632
https://i.imgur.com/nmAniU6.jpg

I know it doesn't fit the narrative that game prices have always been $60, and the recent price increase are due to corporate greed. But games prices have ALWAYS been whack. Adjusting for inflation, some of these games are over $100 in 2023. Game prices have DECREASED over the past 2 decades. That's simply a fact.

papercup posted...

Game prices have DECREASED over the past 2 decades. That's simply a fact.

In my 43-year lifetime of gaming it feels like they have always cost $50, although many are $60 of late. I know that's not strictly true, but it's close enough that it's my perception. That is fairly remarkable given the prices of everything else.

Sure, companies are making their profits off DLC/microtransactions/etc, but...
.
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How do I say games that rely on microtransactions are almost always crap games in the first place without saying it...
.
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Hell with it
.
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Games that rely on microtransactions are almost always crap games in the first place. And DLC haven't become too exploitative yet IMO: they are something I'll buy if I enjoy a game and want more but not otherwise. I rarely feel like I NEED them to experience a game.

All in all if the new Zelda feels like a full/new game and not a modified DLC I won't criticize it for a $70 price tag.

Ferron posted...

It is a game that started as dlc and appears to be using the same game world. Looks very lazy so far hopefully they show something amazing and prove me wrong

I'm not getting that impression at all.

papercup posted...

Yes, games actually are cheaper than they used to be. Adjusting for inflation BotW would be $73 today. And not only that, but constantly inflating dev time and budgets, increasing the price tag was inevitable.

That's not the whole picture. Simply adjusting for inflation, it makes sense, but that inflation hasn't happened in a vacuum. Purchasing power (which is a huge factor in assessing the appropriate price for luxury purchases like video games) has not increased by anywhere close to the margin by which other prices have inflated. Increases in game budgets have been offset by improvements in technology that make games cheaper to make, meaning that games are only actually more expensive to make when studios choose to make them more expensive. The game market as a whole has grown and sales have increased across the board in a way that mostly offsets (and, in fact, is the reason for) increases in budgets.

Most significantly, most games already make quite a bit more than $60 each for their publishers. DLC, microtransactions, loot boxes, battle passes, subscription fees, premium editions... The simple fact of the matter is that the game industry's revenue has been growing since long before the usual suspects started whining about "needing" to increase MSRP to $70 to offset growing costs, and it would have been growing even if they stuck to $60. That MSRP increased is 100% a matter of wanting to grow *faster* (not just to turn a profit) and those publishers feeling like the market had reached a point where the extra revenue would offset the PR hit.

Now, Nintendo hasn't embraced post-purchase monetization to the same degree as most other publishers, and given some of their history (namely the entire executive team voluntarily taking a pay cut when the WiiU and 3DS were struggling instead of laying off workers to recover losses) and the current cost of living crisis, I could believe that this is a matter of needing to increase their revenue because they otherwise can't pay their staff as much as they want to. It may also just be a matter of them feeling that this is a good time to get away with increasing their prices, especially on a high-profile title like Zelda that everyone will buy at just about any price. It's probably a bit of both. Either way, I'm more sympathetic to Nintendo wanting to increase prices than somebody like EA or Actiblizz.

The bottom line, though, is that "games are cheaper than ever" is very much not the whole picture. At a market level, games are making more money than ever, so suggesting that a price increase is needed to turn a profit is more than a little disingenuous, in many cases.

Krow_Incarnate posted...

Lmao at people justifying this when the current industry is thriving and making more money than ever off garbage practices like the gacha business model that's snaked it's way into AAA titles on major platforms.

Get the fuck outta here

It's a good thing I couldn't give less of a shit about Zelda.

While that's a valid criticism of the industry in general, unless Zelda actually has gacha mechanics or other such monetization, that's not a particularly valid criticism of Zelda specifically.

papercup posted...

I know it doesn't fit the narrative that game prices have always been $60,

It's really only since the 360 that MSRP was standardized at $60. A lot of the fluctuation in prices for SNES games and the like was because of different cartidge costs (bigger games needed different cartridges that were just more expensive), but I remember even GC games varied pretty wildly sometimes. "Games must always be $60" is a relatively recent development, as much as people like to treat it like it's been true forever.

Monopoman posted...

Nintendo is notorious for not dropping prices of their games much to this day

The Wii/3DS shop goes down next month... not a one discount

papercup posted...

Yes actually some did games go for $70 or $80. Sometimes more. Games usually ranged from about $40-$100 back then.
https://preview.redd.it/tq261umjaw491.png?width=680&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=33d0560b4dfc583557a226361ec33a48e21fb822
https://preview.redd.it/knw0fnrkaw491.png?width=680&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=1df2f9b62b80a271d469b19d91096378b3fca763
https://preview.redd.it/gl8k0nklaw491.png?width=680&format=png&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=c86d8870b83a34801fec4bf385c53afd91b51632
https://i.imgur.com/nmAniU6.jpg

I know it doesn't fit the narrative that game prices have always been $60, and the recent price increase are due to corporate greed. But games prices have ALWAYS been whack. Adjusting for inflation, some of these games are over $100 in 2023. Game prices have DECREASED over the past 2 decades. That's simply a fact.

It is worth noting that most of the games that were over $40 were because of the price of cartridges and the special chips needed to play the games (such as extra memory for some NES games, FX chips for some SNES games, RAM chips for save games, etc.) The cost of games for the most part have increased with inflation, it is just that the cost of the medium they were available on got cheaper. That stopped happening now that everything is digital.

It is kind of like how comic books from the 30's till the early 60's were always 10 cents. Just that they kept reducing the amount of pages from 96, to 64, then eventually to 32 before they started increasing the price instead.

if any game is worth 70 dollars it's going to be a Zelda game..... But i'll wait for a discount.

Trancer_Hunter posted...

if any game is worth 70 dollars it's going to be a Zelda game..... But i'll wait for a discount.

I'm generally a 'wait until the price drop' gamer, but given Nintendo's recent practices I think you'll be waiting a long time...

Hmm, was going to buy a Switch with money saved up but ended up giving it all to my family for food/bills.

I'm sure most people aren't buying full priced games. But I don't know how that works with Nintendo.

wpot posted...

I'm generally a 'wait until the price drop' gamer, but given Nintendo's recent practices I think you'll be waiting a long time...

Honestly, not that long. You won't see anything on the level of the base price dropping by 75% and then getting another 75% off sale on top of that, as happens so often with anything on Steam, but 20-30% discounts aren't tremendously uncommon. You can set up Dekudeals to notify you when a sale does happen, plus the wishlist in Nintendo's own eShop will notify you when there's a sale on your wishlisted items. If it's just a matter of trying to save a few bucks, there are plenty of options available to help you do that.

adjl posted...

Honestly, not that long. You won't see anything on the level of the base price dropping by 75% and then getting another 75% off sale on top of that, as happens so often with anything on Steam, but 20-30% discounts aren't tremendously uncommon. You can set up Dekudeals to notify you when a sale does happen, plus the wishlist in Nintendo's own eShop will notify you when there's a sale on your wishlisted items. If it's just a matter of trying to save a few bucks, there are plenty of options available to help you do that.

For a game like this it will be a very long time. Breath of the Wild 1 went on Black Friday sale recently at Walmart and that was probably the most it has ever been discounted.

Revelation34 posted...

For a game like this it will be a very long time. Breath of the Wild 1 went on Black Friday sale recently at Walmart and that was probably the most it has ever been discounted.

https://www.dekudeals.com/items/the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild

It's been that low on several other occasions over the years, and seen many lesser discounts. Like I said, you're not going to get it for $5, but 20-30% discounts happen often enough if you make a point of trying to find them.

adjl posted...

https://www.dekudeals.com/items/the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild

It's been that low on several other occasions over the years, and seen many lesser discounts. Like I said, you're not going to get it for $5, but 20-30% discounts happen often enough if you make a point of trying to find them.

It was 50%

And you'll notice I never suggested that 50% happens often. Though even then, it also got down to the 50% range around Black Friday 2021 and 2019, so it's hardly unheard of.

Not gonna pay $70 for a game. I manage to get BOTW at $20 and I will wait for this one as well.