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Discussion Did Tears of the Kingdom justify its $70 pricing for you?

Did Tears of the Kingdom justify its $70 pricing?

  • Yes

  • No

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Please refrain from personal attacks and making fun of usernames when criticizing a perspective. -xghost777, Josh5890, Barely Able
MeatheadSamus said:
This mindset blows my mind. Why are games, a luxury and entertainment item, supposed to be exempt from inflation? Developers are getting paid more than they were 15 years ago when things began $60. Literally everything is more. The minimum wage in my state has more than doubled since then (rightfully so). Games are a luxury and everyone acts like they're a necessity and even an extremely quality game shouldn't be $70. Wild to me.
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the price hike is benefitting literally no one but the parasites at the top of the chain. again, they sold ten million copies of this game in three days. i get that your username is meathead but you really dont gotta act the part lmao
 
I make over six figures and have basically no month-to-month expenses, so I'm fine paying 70$ for games if it actually helps fund better working conditions and pay for the employees regardless of the quality of the game.
 
Nah, $70 is still expensive for a game.

Regardless of how good it is. Would have liked if they stayed at $60.

But alas, just waiting for more discounts….

Spyder said:
typical lames comment
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Somewhere there’s a Mexican coffee laughing in silence.
 
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GamerJM said:
I make over six figures and have basically no month-to-month expenses, so I'm fine paying 70$ for games if it actually helps fund better working conditions and pay for the employees regardless of the quality of the game.
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You seem to like to reference how you make more than most people on the board and how you have no expenses quite often from what I've noticed
 
I paid like 65 bucks for this game and MK8DX with the Japanese vouchers and, as someone who doesn't have a lot of money to buy games, I wouldn't have it any other way lol.
 
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I hate to sound like a fanboy but there is no reason to say Ragnarok should be 70 and TOTK shouldn't. Pretty graphics aren't enough
 
Lord Azrael said:
You seem to like to reference how you make more than most people on the board and how you have no expenses quite often from what I've noticed
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That's a good point, I should probably stop. The overall point I wanted to make though is that my main concern with game pricing is not how it affects me personally, but what it leads to at the company. Like, if this increases Nintendo's profits, what are they actually going to do because of that? If the answer is nothing except more money in the pockets of the higher ups and CEOs, then I'm frustrated I had to pay 10$ extra for TotK because from my perspective nothing deserving is benefiting.

But yeah, I need to work on my phrasing. I'm not trying to flaunt wealth but it comes off that way and that's wrong. It comes up because a lot of these topics seem to ask these questions regarding game prices from a personal financial point of view, and I have trouble giving an answer to those questions without explaining my own financial circumstances. But then, I can just either not respond to the topic, or give a response that talks more about others rather than myself.
 
I almost always use the vouchers for first party games (I'm in Ireland) so I got it for €49.50 rather than €70, but I wouldn't have had an issue paying the €70 - there's more than enough hours of gameplay and enjoyment there to justify it.
 
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£60 in the UK, but I got it for £42 when vouchers come into play so harder to make a judgment on the RRP. For what it's worth, I don't think my enjoyment would have been stymied by spending more and it's obviously a well crafted game. There are very, very few games I'd part with £60 for but it helps that I buy a ton less games than I used to so I probably wouldn't have minded after playing the finished product.
 
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I always look at after the fact as: did I get an hour of entertainment for every dollar spent on the game? In this case, I am well on my way to putting 70 hours into the game, so yes, it is absolutely worth it.
 
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On another note, to those who say they will never spend $70 on a game: did you know that some SNES games retailed for upwards $80 in the 90’s? I remember paying $80 for Chrono Trigger back in 1995. With inflation, that would be like $150 today. Do you realize how much more expensive and complex to make AAA games have gotten since then? I think the complaints that games are too expensive now are unjustified.
 
Sturmgeist said:
On another note, to those who say they will never spend $70 on a game: did you know that some SNES games retailed for upwards $80 in the 90’s? I remember paying $80 for Chrono Trigger back in 1995. With inflation, that would be like $150 today. Do you realize how much more expensive and complex to make AAA games have gotten since then? I think the complaints that games are too expensive now are unjustified.
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Wages haven’t advanced on average with inflation, so it’s a pointless metric. Game companies are raking in record profits, they’re not upping the price because they’re struggling to get by.
 
It’s a very complex question:

For me, it’s very well worth it and I would pay even more for this. I’ve bought the game twice (for reasons), one being the collector edition. Also the ZOLED, the pro controller and the new amiibo. So I see a lot of value in this particular release.

For the general market, I think it’s a very shitty move. The company is setting record after record and making a looot of money (including from me lol). I appreciate the fact that they don’t change the price because it sends the right message: they sell quality products that don’t devaluate (the opposite is often the case because it’s a way to entice consummerism and compete). Having said that, I think the price should be lower and the company should take the hit of the more expensive 32gb cart or longer dev cycle. They’re still going to make tons of money out of this, the risk factor of this specific release was close to 0. If they told us that the price increase is because they’re paying more to their devs, then that’s ok (even though I still think the higher ups should be paid less). They are charging more because they can, not because they have to.

To sum it up: videogames should be less expensive, maintain the price longer and devs should be paid more.
 
Mekanos said:
Wages haven’t advanced on average with inflation, so it’s a pointless metric. Game companies are raking in record profits, they’re not upping the price because they’re struggling to get by.
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I don't doubt that game companies are making record profits, but wages on average in the US have more than doubled since the mid 90s, and game prices have largely stayed the same, give or take $10.

United States Average Hourly Wages

Wages in the United States increased to 29.71 USD/Hour in February from 29.64 USD/Hour in January of 2024. This page provides - United States Average Hourly Wages - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.
tradingeconomics.com tradingeconomics.com
 
Sturmgeist said:
On another note, to those who say they will never spend $70 on a game: did you know that some SNES games retailed for upwards $80 in the 90’s? I remember paying $80 for Chrono Trigger back in 1995. With inflation, that would be like $150 today. Do you realize how much more expensive and complex to make AAA games have gotten since then? I think the complaints that games are too expensive now are unjustified.
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You don't even need to use cartridges which have obvious reasons for costing more. The PSX era, like FF7, was $50 in 1997 which was way above the real cost of $60 in 2023, and still well above $70 today.

Consumer electronics and related software are the recent textbook case of failing to keep up with inflation, which checks out for anybody that understands how relatively rare and expensive computers, etc. we're in the 80s and early 90s.

Countries that experience inflation have values that go up, while countries that do not have substantial inflation (Japan) have more consistent nominal prices.

Inflation is a real thing, and people acting like it doesn't exist or matter is basically an extremely fringe economic belief.

KeijiKG said:
No, but I wasn't gonna wait a day past launch.
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So you buy things that you feel aren't worth your money? Why?
 
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No, not really. Game length doesn't matter to me and I've paid $60 for 5 hour games (like RE3 Remake, which I've replayed plenty of times). And so I didn't spend $70 on it, I spend $50. I don't really think any game has justified that price increase.

I went through all of the NES/SNES/N64 game prices, I know what they were back then. I also bought one game per year if I was lucky back then. Also it's hard to just say "well games were $80 back then, how could they not go back up to that." They also sell to a vastly bigger audience now. There are subscriptions and services and DLC that subsidize that. It isn't the same.
 
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Please don’t use derogatory terms around mental health like ‘insane’ to make personal attacks aimed at other members. - PixelKnight, MarioDK18, Xghost777
Mekanos said:
whatever point you’re trying to make here is very unclear
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Inflation exists. It is a real thing. Acting like it doesn't exist or isn't a primary driver of broad price increases is a totally fucking insane view on economics.

It hits different markets and countries differently which leads to and weird jittery movements, but there's a whole lot of bad economics in threads like this. 90% of the discussion gets spent on secondary effects, rather than that underlying value of money functionally reduces with time (outside of disasters like the financial collapse) or Japan's Lost Decade.

And, honestly, on the topic of this being a US centric thread, people should use Japan's game prices as an example of "yes, inflation explains what we are observing". The Lost Decade(s) and sticky non-inflation are extremely important historical events that can help explain lots of what we see in the videogame market.

I am explicitly not arguing that Nintendo didn't gouge on something they knew they could finally make the jump in price over. They clearly did! Like, unambiguously! But to first order prices have mostly gone up with inflation, with videogames actually going up less than general inflation over time.
 
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BRRRRRING said:
Inflation exists. It is a real thing. Acting like it doesn't exist or isn't a primary driver of broad price increases is a totally fucking insane view on economics.
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i don’t see anyone saying inflation doesn’t exist so who are you talking to exactly
 
Mekanos said:
i don’t see anyone saying inflation doesn’t exist so who are you talking to exactly
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You posted this:
Mekanos said:
Wages haven’t advanced on average with inflation, so it’s a pointless metric. Game companies are raking in record profits, they’re not upping the price because they’re struggling to get by.
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"It's a pointless metric" because it isn't 100% of the full explanation?

Really. You arguing that it is pointless. Yeah, okay, you aren't saying it doesn't exist, but you are arguing that it is a pointless metric, which is the same thing.

If inflation isn't a thing that makes nominal prices go up, then what the hell is it, in your view?
 
BRRRRRING said:
Yeah, okay, you aren't saying it doesn't exist, but you are arguing that it is a pointless metric, which is the same thing.
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No it’s not, and if you’re gonna be that disingenuous please at least quote me next time instead of subposting at me and wasting my time when I could be petting my cat instead. ✌️
 
Wild to see someone come in and defend the price increases, meanwhile wages remain stagnant and in some cases worse, and then get defensive when they're called out. Disabled people are also entirely left out of these talks, because our income levels are beyond poverty wages (I make just barely over $10,000 a year on my disability). But corprorations are making record profits and keep increasing prices of everything, while wages and disability/social security-equivalents remain stagnant, if not worse.
 
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BRRRRRING said:
If inflation isn't a thing that makes nominal prices go up, then what the hell is it, in your view?
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perhaps greed?

nah, the richest video game company (or one of) would NEVER be greedy with how much they can get away with. haha that would be like if we live in a capitalistic hell world! sure glad that isnt the case!
 
Actually, personally? Inflation is fake. If inflation is real, our wages, including disability/social security income, would increase in response to said inflation to living wages. But they aren't. What we're experiencing is just greed. Nintendo is part of the problem, as does any major corporation. And people defending this are part of the problem.
 
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GamerJM said:
That's a good point, I should probably stop. The overall point I wanted to make though is that my main concern with game pricing is not how it affects me personally, but what it leads to at the company. Like, if this increases Nintendo's profits, what are they actually going to do because of that? If the answer is nothing except more money in the pockets of the higher ups and CEOs, then I'm frustrated I had to pay 10$ extra for TotK because from my perspective nothing deserving is benefiting.

But yeah, I need to work on my phrasing. I'm not trying to flaunt wealth but it comes off that way and that's wrong. It comes up because a lot of these topics seem to ask these questions regarding game prices from a personal financial point of view, and I have trouble giving an answer to those questions without explaining my own financial circumstances. But then, I can just either not respond to the topic, or give a response that talks more about others rather than myself.
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Hey I appreciate the self aware response.

It's hard to say where the extra earnings go because it's not like they have a dedicated tip jar, like a restaurant, that goes directly to devs. Do increased profits contribute to higher salaries indirectly? Maybe, maybe not. But the improvements to dev pay/quality of life never seem to be proportional to company performance. Whereas executive bonuses and salaries at most companies shoot through the roof disproportionately. And then they turn around and lay off thousands of people for their own mistakes.
 
Can I just say that I bought and very heavily enjoyed the game without saying it “justified” the 70 dollar price tag? I’m not a fan of price increases, regardless of how good a game is. That’s all there is to it.

This is also definitely going to become the new standard pricing eventually for all Nintendo games. This game sold 10 million within it’s first week.

I’ll swallow my pride and dish out 70 for Zelda, but I am very much not looking forward to half-finished Mario Sports games with the same price tag, many of which wern’t even worth it at just 60 dollars.
 
Sunshinemario said:
Can I just say that I bought and very heavily enjoyed the game without saying it “justified” the 70 dollar price tag? I’m not a fan of price increases, regardless of how good a game is. That’s all there is to it.

This is also definitely going to become the new standard pricing eventually for all Nintendo games. This game sold 10 million within it’s first week.

I’ll swallow my pride and dish out 70 for Zelda, but I am very much not looking forward to half-finished Mario Sports games with the same price tag, many of which wern’t even worth it at just 60 dollars.
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I don’t think it necessarily will. Some games have had a RRP of €70/£60 in Europe since BOTW, and there’s still varied pricing on titles RRP from £35 (Metroid Prime) all the way up to £60 (ToTK) 6 years later. I think it’s likely what they’ll charge for their ‘premium’ big tentpole releases though.
 
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Pricing of Nintendo games at NA retail is fixed at RRP, unlike competition for physical copies in Europe. Please avoid sweeping attacks on fami members based on flawed comparisons. -PixelKnight, Xghost777, MondoMega
Breath of the Wild was already 70 € in France so I don't see any difference.

This is so funny and ridiculous. People are screaming "I'M NOT PAYING 70 € / 70 $ ! THIS IS SO WRONG, HOW DARE YOU NINTENDO !" but if you look at Amazon or many, many, MANY, M.A.N.Y. official resellers, you find the game at 55 € / 55 $.

Like I got mine at FNAC for 54.99 €. Holy cow, how dare they ask me for such a price.
 
Koren Lesthe said:
Breath of the Wild was already 70 € in France so I don't see any difference.

This is so funny and ridiculous. People are screaming "I'M NOT PAYING 70 € / 70 $ ! THIS IS SO WRONG, HOW DARE YOU NINTENDO !" but if you look at Amazon or many, many, MANY, M.A.N.Y. official resellers, you find the game at 55 € / 55 $.

Like I got mine at FNAC for 54.99 €. Holy cow, how dare they ask me for such a price.
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This isn't the criticism or win you think it is.
 
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Sturmgeist said:
I don't doubt that game companies are making record profits, but wages on average in the US have more than doubled since the mid 90s, and game prices have largely stayed the same, give or take $10.

United States Average Hourly Wages

Wages in the United States increased to 29.71 USD/Hour in February from 29.64 USD/Hour in January of 2024. This page provides - United States Average Hourly Wages - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.
tradingeconomics.com tradingeconomics.com
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I'm not sure average wage in a country of 300+ million where there is absolutely crushing, historic levels of income inequality is a good measure. Most people are sure as shit not making anywhere near 29 dollars/hour.

Also, none of this justifies game publishers price gouging. All you've done is try to say "yeah, but consumers can shoulder the burden of corporate greed, it's fine!"
 
Koren Lesthe said:
Breath of the Wild was already 70 € in France so I don't see any difference.

This is so funny and ridiculous. People are screaming "I'M NOT PAYING 70 € / 70 $ ! THIS IS SO WRONG, HOW DARE YOU NINTENDO !" but if you look at Amazon or many, many, MANY, M.A.N.Y. official resellers, you find the game at 55 € / 55 $.

Like I got mine at FNAC for 54.99 €. Holy cow, how dare they ask me for such a price.
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Your attitude sucks. Honestly, tired of you people dismissing legit criticisms of Nintendo with such bad faith arguments while also mocking them. Grow up.

Also I do not see it going for $55 on my amazon. I see some third party sellers selling it for... $65 w/ shipping and this is before tax is applied.

EDIT: Annddd what do you know. The tax brings it to $70!
 
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Sunshinemario said:
I’ll swallow my pride and dish out 70 for Zelda, but I am very much not looking forward to half-finished Mario Sports games with the same price tag, many of which wern’t even worth it at just 60 dollars.
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You'll get some of the most disingenuous, most mean-spirited, and most privileged people arguing that the dirty poors should suck it up or be excluded from their luxury hobby BeCaUsE iNfLaTiOn Is ReAl
 
Monster Mash said:
You'll get some of the most disingenuous, most mean-spirited, and most privileged people arguing that the dirty poors should suck it up or be excluded from their luxury hobby BeCaUsE iNfLaTiOn Is ReAl
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Considering the direction this thread is going or has gone...

Actually, no, it crossed the line, what am I saying.
 
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Monster Mash said:
I'm not sure average wage in a country of 300+ million where there is absolutely crushing, historic levels of income inequality is a good measure. Most people are sure as shit not making anywhere near 29 dollars/hour.

Also, none of this justifies game publishers price gouging. All you've done is try to say "yeah, but consumers can shoulder the burden of corporate greed, it's fine!"
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the amateur mistake of thinking the average means anything when its the median one must look at in a country where income inequality is so out of control. always funny when some nerd thinks they have a good gotcha moment but it all it does is reveal they dont understand anything lol
 
Genuinely curious if the people who think raising prices to $70 is fair game also think that piracy is NOT fair game. I think I know the answer, but I'd love to hear some of the proponents of the price hike explain why they think people being priced out of games shouldn't just pirate them
 
Monster Mash said:
Genuinely curious if the people who think raising prices to $70 is fair game also think that piracy is NOT fair game. I think I know the answer, but I'd love to hear some of the proponents of the price hike explain why they think people being priced out of games shouldn't just pirate them
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Some people genuinely believes poor people doesn't deserve big games because "muh luxury".
 
Monster Mash said:
Genuinely curious if the people who think raising prices to $70 is fair game also think that piracy is NOT fair game. I think I know the answer, but I'd love to hear some of the proponents of the price hike explain why they think people being priced out of games shouldn't just pirate them
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Most people will always say "Entertainment is premium content and you don't 'NEED' it", and to me, it's always such a bullshit response. It's a means to talk down and look down to the poor. It's the same talking points people use to attack us on Food Stamps and other Social programs to help the poor about what foods we can or can't buy. We deserve to be allowed to have fun. We're deserve to have entertainment. But people will moral police us about what we're allowed to spend on. Even WHEN we have the money, somehow they'll talk to us buying stuff is irresponsible.

We can't win those type of arguments. Unfortunately, liberals will often entertain these discussions and either both sides the arguments, or side with people who look down to us.
 
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Absolutely. The amount of quality content in the game easily justifies the price in this case.

Edit: I guess I should clarify that I mean it's worth it to me personally, not that I think it was right of them to charge more. I DO think that higher quality video games deserve a higher price though, and I think that games (like pretty much everything these days) are too expensive. There are a lot of 3 hour indie games charging 20-30$ which in my opinion is total BS, even moreso than 70$ AAA games.
 
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TheSpaceBetween said:
Absolutely. The amount of quality content in the game easily justifies the price in this case.

Edit: I guess I should clarify that I mean it's worth it to me personally, not that I think it was right of them to charge more. I DO think that higher quality video games deserve a higher price though, and I think that games (like pretty much everything these days) are too expensive. There are a lot of 3 hour indie games charging 20-30$ which in my opinion is total BS, even moreso than 70$ AAA games.
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My indie game is likely going to be like 3ish hours and I'm probably going to charge it 20. It's not more BS than a rich mega corp selling a game for $70 just because they can, which is going mostly to the CEO pockets.

But yeah cool thanks I guess.
 
Monster Mash said:
I'm not sure average wage in a country of 300+ million where there is absolutely crushing, historic levels of income inequality is a good measure. Most people are sure as shit not making anywhere near 29 dollars/hour.

Also, none of this justifies game publishers price gouging. All you've done is try to say "yeah, but consumers can shoulder the burden of corporate greed, it's fine!"
Click to expand...

I don’t think a company raising prices $10 for the first time in many years constitutes price gouging, but what the hell do I know.
 
TheSpaceBetween said:
There are a lot of 3 hour indie games charging 20-30$ which in my opinion is total BS, even moreso than 70$ AAA games.
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this is a wild take lmao

you genuinely think that paying $20 to a small indie team who gets all of that money (minus whatever cut the marketplace they put it on takes) is more egregious than a multibillion dollar company bumping the price up just to increase share holder profits?

shit man, id be more willing to swallow a $70 AAA game if i knew every cent of it was going into the pockets of the people who worked on the game. sometimes i genuinely wonder if some of you think before you post.

Sturmgeist said:
what the hell do I know
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first good point youve made in the thread :)
 
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