Let’s be real: things cost more today than they did 25 years ago, and games are no exception. The standard $60 price tag held steady for over 15 years before bumping up to $70 about three years ago. Now we’re seeing $80 for digital editions and $90 for physical copies—and that’s with discs that don’t even contain the full game anymore. You still have to download the data. So what exactly are we paying for?
I don’t mind paying more when there’s more value, but that’s the issue: we’re paying more for less. Less content, more filler, and increasingly average games. Somewhere along the line, open-world maps stuffed with icons started getting confused with actual quality. Every publisher wants to make the next big open-world game, but few bring anything unique to the table.
Yes, price increases might be justified if we were getting higher-quality experiences—but we’re not. And the bigger issue is that once one company successfully charges more, the rest follow suit, regardless of the quality they deliver. EA, Ubisoft, and Take-Two, in particular, have already shown what they’re capable of when unchecked. EA makes more money off card packs and microtransactions in games like FIFA than they do from actual game sales. NBA 2K feels more like a casino than a basketball game at this point. Ubisoft has XP boosters in single-player games. Where does it end?
Fifteen years ago, $60 got you a full game that you owned. Today, you’re paying $70 to $90 for what is essentially a license to access content that may or may not even be on the disc—and can disappear at any time.
What’s even more frustrating is that indie developers are out here putting out creative, polished, and genuinely fun experiences for $20 or $30, while these $80 AAA games often feel bloated, boring, or just unfinished. I don’t even buy $70 games anymore—I wait for price drops. Not because I can’t afford them, but because most simply aren’t worth it.
The publishers say price hikes are for “premium experiences,” but their track record says otherwise. Once they get comfortable charging $80, that becomes the new standard across the board—quality be damned. At this point, it’s hard to trust their word when their actions show the only thing that really matters to them is revenue
