N64 games also came on physical cartridges with expensive (at the time) ROM chips on them. Even a tiny 256MB chip cost hundreds then. Discs and digital distribution costs pennies. Flash storage is dirt cheap. Bandwidth is abundant. Games may have larger budgets now, but they’ve never been more profitable, thanks to microtransactions and DLC.
Furthermore, inflation doesn’t scale 1:1. There is no justifiable reason to increase the base price of games. They’re so profitable these days that free-to-play is a sustainable and highly successful businesses model.
If anything, games should be cheaper now. There is no excuse.
N64 games also came on physical cartridges with expensive (at the time) ROM chips on them. Even a tiny 256MB chip cost hundreds then. Discs and digital distribution costs pennies. Flash storage is dirt cheap. Bandwidth is abundant. Games may have larger budgets now, but they’ve never been more profitable, thanks to microtransactions and DLC.
Furthermore, inflation doesn’t scale 1:1. There is no justifiable reason to increase the base price of games. They’re so profitable these days that free-to-play is a sustainable and highly successful businesses model.
If anything, games should be cheaper now. There is no excuse.