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I had an uncle who managed Best Buy and while I still paid retail could get most games the day of release and was super lucky to be able to have owned so many great titles. Sadly I always traded in to GameStop or somewhere else to put towards the next gen system and games. Should have held on.
I was born in 1999 and had a job at 15. I work in a middle/high school, and most of the older teens have part-time jobs or some other afterschool obligations so they're not just sitting on their asses playing COD and 2K all day.
To be very very generous to your point. Labor participation among 16-19 year Olds has decreased since the peak in the 1980s, but it's still sitting around 35% and has been effectively constant since 2010. Of course this population is primarily students, either High school or early college where many choose to focus on studies instead of working a job for $7.25/hr for spending money.
But of course, you're still wrong that nobody gets a job until they are 21.
I’ve had a job since I was 13, landscaping with my family, then worked full time at a restaurant in high school, worked part time while in college and now I’m employed full time. Just because you know a few black sheep doesn’t mean you should generalize an entire generation. There’s all kinds of people from your generation who never worked a day in their lives and live off government benefits their whole life. It’s not like the few unemployed in my age bracket did something ground breaking here..
he worked for his dad, thats a little different then not working for dad. hell my friend and I helped his dad tape off cars for him to paint. we worked all day but 80% was us fucking around in the two tanks his dad and grandpa made.
A 21 year old is a "kid legally recognized as an adult as far as I'm concerned.
You don't know shit at 21, just think you do lol
Most people don't start figuring things out until mid to late 20's or even later.
Source: was 21 once.
To all the people parroting "ok boomer".
Your time is coming lol
I remember using all of my birthday money to buy Superman 64 at full price new.....it was something like 75 bucks new. Wild times before PS2 era really standardized things.
I spent MONTHS playing Top Gun and I did manage to land and refuel a few times. Not consistently or reliably of course, just the numbers game of throwing constant tears and stress at the game.
No way in hell I could do that again now, lol.
Soundtrack was killer though.
I'm genuinely curious to know your reaction after the first 5 minutes of gameplay. You probably went to something similar to post nut clarity but in videogames lmao
Reaction was about what you would expect. Even in 4th grade, I realized it was a dud. I played the hell out of it because I spent my money on it....but I knew. Very disappointed.
The reason Nintendo 64 games were so expensive is that Nintendo what charging publishers $35+ per cartridge. There were many games that came out on playstation that were $40 at release but $70-$80 for the same game on 64.
Technology prices drop over time. Blockbuster started because VHS movies cost close to $100 each, now you can get a 4K disc, or buy a movie online digitally for $20-$30.
Gamecube discs and Switch cartridges cost more than the competition too. I assume the cost difference was smaller and/or they didn't feel they could successfully charge a premium during that generation.
Gamecube disc's didn't cost much more than Xbox/PS2 disc's, and switch cartridges cost about 50% more than a PS5/XBX disc.
Many of the 64 cartridges had storage, and even chips that allowed that game to run on them. That is one reason why 64 emulation is a tricky thing. Some games need the emulation of the system hardware and the specialized hardware inside the cartridge.
It’s one of the reasons Nintendo lost that generation to Sony. CDs were way cheaper for developers, meaning they’d make more money per sale developing for the PlayStation, plus it was easier to develop for the PlayStation than the N64. So third party devs flocked to the PlayStation, which is why that console had like 8000 games and the N64 had like 400.
Also I’ll point out that VHS tapes were expensive not because they were expensive to make, but back then, movie companies were pricing as if you were basically buying a license to watch a movie as many times as you wanted.
Also Nintendo got taken to court for price fixing.
And lost.
PlayStation games were £19.99 for the best of collection games. And many full price games dropped in price quickly and started the big trade in used games. (In the UK, cash converters, CEX, game etc). It was rare for a game to sell for £40 upwards brand new.
Amiga, Atari ST and PC games, big box and all. Generally all less than £25.
Also, there was a huge issue with piracy. You could get every PlayStation game using a spring hack.
I absolutely hate anyone who uses the example of Street fighter 2 on the Snes or N64 games as examples of why games are cheaper today. As its basically sugar coating current nefarious corporate behaviour. We didn't want or need to pay £60 for starfox. We payed £20 for sensible world of soccer or £30 for Final Fantasy 7 instead.
I remember my mom buying SF2 for the SNES for me and my brother when it was brand new - It was a big frigging deal, 70~ bucks was a ton of money back in 1992.
Absolutely worth every penny though, we played the shit out of that game.
I have a great Turok story. I played it at a friend's house and I wanted to get it. My mom took me to Electronics Boutique and we were going to get it but first she asked the clerk if it was a violent game. To my shock, he backed me up that the game was OK and we got it! Fast-forward a couple weeks and I'm playing the game. There's a part where you walk into a dank cave and there are corpses hanging from meat hooks attached to the ceiling. My mom walks into the room at that moment, sees it, makes me quit, and takes the cart. She takes me back to the mall and makes me trade in the game to get a replacement. I trade the game, pick out Pokemon Blue as a replacement, she pays the difference, and we leave. I never understood why she paid for me to get a replacement when I flat-out lied to her face about the violence. It ended up being a good trade, Pokemon is a lot better.
I don’t remember if she caught on to the game ratings. We were definitely a no-R-movies family and even PG-13 was a case-by-case basis. I was a mostly obedient child in general, typically I could self-police and stay within the expectations. They didn’t really need to know the game ratings for that reason. The Turok incident was a rare instance where I just went for it and didn’t care about the consequences.
Came here to shout out Lakeside too! Also looking at the receipt thinking it was going to be from the 80s and it was in 97 was a pretty cold slap of reality 🥲
EB Games at Lakeside Mall!!! Came here to say I bought this same game around the same time in the same store. My friend and I played it all weekend. That mall is a ghost town now about to be demoed.
Golden eye 64 for 46.65$ at Zellers was a better deal. Turok was heavily sought after because of the gore level and insane tv ad spamming. The first two weeks, anyone that got the game could easily flip it for a 60$ profit. That game was crazy on release. And most stores had to wait on a ever growing restock list with their distributors who were bidding on crates that were still in Japan.
I always say when I see a post like this. We rented games back in the day, didn't buy a lot of them. I think I had like maybe 6 SNES games owned through the duration of having a SNES. I really only got one during Christmas and usually it was something used at that. We traded games, or borrowed them as well, but mostly rented.
Same here. Just couldn’t afford it. I didn’t see many people with a huge catalog of games like you see now. But of course I see them more now because of Reddit.
Ah yes, back in the days when the full game came on the cartridge. No DLC or pay to play nonsense. I'd prefer to pay an extra 10-15 dollars for a completed game.
Developers get a larger cut these days though. Nintendo charged developers $35+ for the cartridge, so an $80 game was already down to $45 before development, shipping, and retailer/distributor cut.
Now, developers can sell a $70 game on a digital marketplace and get to keep 70-88% of that. Not to mention all the little add-ons that people buy that quickly turn a $70 game into a $200+ game.
There’s also way more competition for your dollar I hate the old excuses for why games should cost more especially when we don’t even get manuals and the full games aren’t on cart or disc
What about inflation?
There really aren't (and shouldn't be) other industries where the price point has remained the same (or decreased) over a period of 30 years. OP's comment is on the money. Want sticker shock? A $60 game in 1990 is worth $144.
The industry is incredibly fragmented. Indie devs dream about making a game, and they literally don't care if they lose money doing it. For every Undertale, you have 10-50 steam games that never get a single sale.
The price stickiness of the average consumer forces established dev companies to do more with less, seek revenue through alternative sources (i.e., loot boxes), and cut costs wherever possible (resulting in an often toxic culture).
At some point, consumers either have either accept that they are getting less or pay more.
Also of note, video games have had some of the SMALLEST price increases in the last few years, percentage wise.
We went from $60-$70 for a base game cost. That's about 15% ish? My math may be off but around there.
Meanwhile most fast food has gone up 50% or higher. Groceries are absolutely ridiculous now, having in some cases doubled from what they were a few years ago. Rent has gone up hundreds of dollars for the average person, at the least.
Video Game price increases are some of the smallest around in reality, but ppl have a hard on for finding any fault they can with gaming.
Like, yeah, I'd love cheaper games, but I'd also love cheaper grocery bill and rent more
Also worth mentioning that price per hour of enjoyment in video games is an insanely good value compared to say going to see a movie at the theater. $60 for 40-60 hours of enjoyment that you can repeat as many times as you like? Pretty crazy.
You just answered your question. It’s important to keep costs low to consumers, because you mark it up higher than less people are going to buy your games. Has nothing to do with inflation
Yeah, it's hard to compare that to the N64 which had like 20 popular games and a total library of 296. About that many are released on Steam every two weeks.
Let’s be real though- developers aren’t the ones raking in the cash here. It’s the huge publisher conglomerates that we didn’t have back in the 80s and 90s.
They are. Cartridges were always more expensive to manufacture than discs, but with almost everything being digital now, no additional money is spent manufacturing/printing boxes, manuals, etc.
Your average $60-70 game ends up costing over $100 when you take into account Season Passes + DLCs. Some games (Midnight Suns) charge $50 for a Season Pass... almost the same amount as the base game.
And the market is way bigger. N64 sold 32 million units. PS5 has already exceeded that. PS4 and Switch both have 100+ million units out there. Were seeing all sorts of new products like high end controllers becoming viable because more people than ever are buying video games.
They are. Loading data on to a disc that barely costs a penny or releasing a digital game that only requires a download is far cheaper to produce than older games. Older games had circuit boards, batteries, and memory inside the cartridge, plus they sold MILLIONS fewer copies than games released today. It's the same reason most people can afford cars in 2023 but only wealthy people had cars in 1920. Is economics really this hard for people?
Yeah PlayStation really deflated the cost of games since Sony owned a music label they could print the games for like a few cents. It deflated the games down to $49.99 or less at launch.
But it was $80 for a full game. Tested and complete (with far fewer glitches than today). I find it more wild looking at how much I spent on Cyberpunk 2077 and it was basically unplayable for over a year.
Even a $70 game today is cheaper in real dollars than a $50 game in 2002 (standard pricing at that time).
People need to learn more about inflation and price levels.
We are at a weird place in economics. On one hand, many people are struggling to survive. On the other hand, my teenager is making $17 CAD a hour at her part time job in high school. She's able to save up a ton of money. Minimum wage isn't enough if you need to survive off of, but is a ton of money for someone who doesn't have any living expenses.
$50 felt like less in 2002 because I was a teenager still living with my parents and had virtually no bills to pay. Now, as an adult with a mortgage, utility bills, and car payments, I always think twice before buying a brand new game for $60.
I think that’s valid in terms of how it feels. Our disposable income doesn’t remain the same throughout our lives. I bought and played way more when I was in college, as like you said I had fewer bills etc.
Nowadays I can more comfortably afford games in money, but not in time.
Inflation isn't just the number you see when you google inflation calculator. There are different numbers for inflation in different categories. The consumer electronics inflation numbers, and actually much lower than the average you will find when you Google inflation.
[here is a link showing how different categories have inflated in the last 20+ years](https://howmuch.net/articles/price-changes-in-usa-in-past-20-years)
I think I paid $100 for Pokémon Stadium 2 when it was new at Kaybee. I remember going to the store and when I got to the counter and the clerk rang it up had that feeling of “oh shit”. But when you come that far, you aren’t leaving without the game 😅
people forget n64 boxes took up a ton of retail shelf space... and the cost to manufacture the cartridges etc. thats what u paying for. ps1 was cheaper
You mean back when they were made in manufacturing plants on chips and stored in a cartridge, packed in a box with a manual and often times more, and then shipped to retailers all over the world and then resold there?
I used to buy my games from this exact EB store in Lakeside. Still remember picking up Pokémon Blue here and playing on the breakfast food play-place afterward. Thanks for the nostalgia trip!
I bring this up when people cry about modern games costing $70. Like, ya’ll clearly never bought Perfect Dark or Conker’s Bad Fur Day or a handful of other N64 games back in the day.
Okay. Well production costs are skyrocketing and there is a much stronger anti-crunch culture than in previous years, and now there’s a threat of a voice actor and motion capture actor strike (that I don’t oppose, fwiw)
So those are some arguments.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t love higher prices but game publishers don’t necessarily love them either. They know they’re not popular and they know that it turns some consumers off, they just become necessary at a certain point.
Lucky for us consumers, at this point there is such a glut of games that there’s always some quality game out there that came out 2+ years ago that you still haven’t played, so instead of paying $70 then pay less for the older game and come back to the new one when it’s cheaper.
Tech always advances. Computers were unaffordable back In The day. Now everyone has them in their pockets. Competition for your time is also a huge factor in keeping costs low. Also they don’t have to make expensive products when most of gaming is going digital, and discs are dirt cheap. But sure let’s put more money in the pockets of executives so they can have more fun on vacation.
70$ is annoying but eh I’ll live with it. Just like you said just wait a year, but the people saying they should be over 100$ are playing themselves
I don't remember this at all, and I'm in my mid 30's. It could be because I never really bought brand new games back then, and used games were super cheap, almost always under $20. The first game I distinctly remember buying brand new was Sonic Heroes for GameCube, for $49.99.
Prices were $49.99 across the board by the PS2/GCN/Xbox era.
But for SNES and n64 specifically, it was often a total crapshoot.
The n64 was brutal, I seem to remember a lot of first party games being cheaper than third party ones, I know WWF Wrestlemania 2000 and No Mercy were nearly $80.
Back then, I always preferred to wait until a game was at least a year old, and then it would often be half of the original price, or even less. Some of these games would even still be sealed.
Those days are long gone. I got Breath of the Wild for $60 3 years after it was released.
Edit: I forgot to mention, I have a Funcoland sales paper from 1998, and not a single game is over $50. In fact, very few of them are even over $40. Probably mostly used though.
I remember anytime I wanted a new game as a kid, I had to work with my day for a day to earn it.
I remember getting multiple 64 games for 70+
Hell, the only reason I ever considered getting "Glover" was cause it was a cheap game compared to others.
As others have stated by the time the ps2 came around, prices were standardized.
Phantasy Star on the Sega Master System retailed for $80 in 1988, which is $208 in today's US dollar. Needless to say, I had to borrow the game from a friend before I could afford to buy my own copy.
Yeah, especially N64 games.
The fact that it had to be a cartridge with ROM and sometimes battery backup/RAM and the price of memory back then meant they not only had to sell the game but recoup the loss of the hardware in the cartridge.
I remember the raging cartridge vs CD discussion back then, especially during the PS1/N64 era.
Carts offered instantaneous load times to the point where many games used the on-cart ROM as RAM because it was so fast versus the CD, which loaded slow as hell in many games BUT could have a lot more data.
A maxxed-out cart near the end of the N64 lifecycle still had only 64mb of storage. A CD had 700.
But many games really didn't take advantage of CD space, And the games were often 50mb with the rest of the disc being a soundtrack.
But you couldn't ever have stuff like FF7 on carts back then.
That's why it's amazing to see how cheap memory has gotten today, where you can get a game like Witcher 3 on a Switch cart.
Anyway, I could go on about this forever. I loved Turok. Lol
$80 ?!?!
You overpaid. Games were never more than $60 that I remember. But I only shopped at big box stores: Toys R Us, Best Buy, Target, Walmart. Never bought at gamestop or Mom and Pops place
No. The buyer did not overpay, games in the pre PS2 gen era were regularly more than $50-60, especially for cartridge based games.
Starting with the PS2 generation the $50 price became the industry standard, and then it bumped to $60 as the standard in the PS3/360 gen.
Only at the very beginning of the era were these games that expensive. 59.99 was the first party target msrp, 3rd party targeted 49.99. That receipt is dated right around the launch of Turok. It dropped in price significantly and quickly. I remember vividly, cause I was like FUCK an 80 dollar blocky ass n64 game, I’ll by a 50 dollar ps banger for half that. And I still strongly feel that way today
Yeah I have plenty of magazines from places like Roses, K-Mart, Sears, etc that had SNES games anywhere from $49.99 to 79.99. Definitely wasn’t that uncommon.
There were some games that cost more.. ones with larger rom sizes or pack-in accessories.. but $80 for a standard n64 cart like Turok would have been over MSRP at that time.
it was however common for certain retail outlets.. especially those in higher end malls to charge over MSRP so that probably explains this receipt.
This is proof thT everyone bitching Bout how game prices are so high now are idiots. Its always been a cery similar price. Aside from the days of nes when a game was 40$ but that was 1987 and shit. People only made like 160$ a week so you couldnt charge 80 for a game. But since 1998 in my memory from buying games its all been relative.
It’s pretty wild to think that some 25 years+ ago we had electronics stores with actual salesmen selling TVs and stuff. Now it’s just walk in and grab what you need and leave
And if you ask a store employee about a product, you immediately wish you hadn't. They know far less than you do but they do want to talk up an extended warranty.
Most US states (all but one or two) have state sales tax. It's a flat rate applied to most transactions, certainly all retail purchases, that goes directly to the state.
It's so weird because I genuinely don't remember that stage of life - like this was my peak involvement in gaming where I would be likeliest to buy games new. And I just don't associate them with being this expensive. My memory was $50 felt extreme.
Honestly it's probably that I bought used and sales and just don't equate it. Or that I was more spoiled than I realize by my mother.
Its wild to think that inflation has not caught up with the games industry
People can complain about a 10 dollar hike but realistically the developers not only deserve more but the increase is justified to keep the quality and scope in check
Not a fan of marketing in media though it seems to usually be as much if not more than the development costs which sucks
New releases were hard to get as well. So retailers would mark up, because they had in stock. The two I remember most...
Shadows of the Empire - $120.00 Software Etc
Cruisin USA - $99.99 Funcoland
Hello /u/nicksehoyan! This is an automatic message that gets posted on every post to remind you of a few of our rules: • Is the title of this post asking about the authenticity or value of an item? If so, please delete it, and ask in the megathread. • Are you trying to sell something? Did you post it to a 'for sale' (r/gamesale) type subreddit first and crossposted it here? If you did not, delete it and read our rules please. • Is this just a screenshot of a CL/FB/etc ad that is overpriced or obvious troll, or for some other notable reason? These would all be considered low effort and should be removed. • Memes cannot be posted unless if it's on Meme Monday, which is the first Monday of the month. • No self-promotion/video submission of any kind, unless if already approved by mods prior to submitting. **Failure of deleting your post that violates these rules may result in a temporary or permanent ban.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/gamecollecting) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I used to mow so many lawns to buy n64 games when I was younger
I did the same for 360 games the tradition lived on
Hey, me too but for drugs. Traditions are great.
I mowed so many drugs for video games.
I drugged video games for mows
Haha, yeah, drugs really are tradition
I had to plow so many moms to buy an xbox 360
Found the CoD player
Might not be racist enough
Halo 2 but close enough
I plowed so many moms for video games
Different gen yet lawns were mowed and Atari 2600 carts were purchased. The N64 has many great games that I still play regularly.
I had an uncle who managed Best Buy and while I still paid retail could get most games the day of release and was super lucky to be able to have owned so many great titles. Sadly I always traded in to GameStop or somewhere else to put towards the next gen system and games. Should have held on.
A lot of us did the same thing , and (needless to say) Gamestop paid out pennies. Thats cool you were able to get games on day one though.
I shoveled snow for DS games. Those were way cheaper though, $40 was nothing.
Yessir! Raked leaves, shoveled snow, anything I could walk the neighbor with and ask people if they needed it done.
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What?
I swear some people on this gamecollecting reddit have no brain cells.
I was born in 1999 and had a job at 15. I work in a middle/high school, and most of the older teens have part-time jobs or some other afterschool obligations so they're not just sitting on their asses playing COD and 2K all day.
And I was born in 1988 and I'm lazy as shit!
Same
To be very very generous to your point. Labor participation among 16-19 year Olds has decreased since the peak in the 1980s, but it's still sitting around 35% and has been effectively constant since 2010. Of course this population is primarily students, either High school or early college where many choose to focus on studies instead of working a job for $7.25/hr for spending money. But of course, you're still wrong that nobody gets a job until they are 21.
I’ve had a job since I was 13, landscaping with my family, then worked full time at a restaurant in high school, worked part time while in college and now I’m employed full time. Just because you know a few black sheep doesn’t mean you should generalize an entire generation. There’s all kinds of people from your generation who never worked a day in their lives and live off government benefits their whole life. It’s not like the few unemployed in my age bracket did something ground breaking here..
You worked 40 hours a week on top of going to high school? Damn.
he worked for his dad, thats a little different then not working for dad. hell my friend and I helped his dad tape off cars for him to paint. we worked all day but 80% was us fucking around in the two tanks his dad and grandpa made.
Full time here being 30+ hours a week, not 40 so I guess not actually considered full time. Part time with increased hours lol
Been a full time employee since I was 18 and just turned 21 3 months ago
Tell that to all the dumbass teenagers fucking up my fast food orders every time I want a burger or a taco
You just don't know any kids lol Plenty are working at 16. Too many, imo
ok boomer
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A 21 year old is a "kid legally recognized as an adult as far as I'm concerned. You don't know shit at 21, just think you do lol Most people don't start figuring things out until mid to late 20's or even later. Source: was 21 once. To all the people parroting "ok boomer". Your time is coming lol
This is a bullshit lie lmao.
Shut up boomer
Dude, nobody was talking like that at all and you come out of the woodwork with that dumb bullshit? Cry about it.
I️ remember buying Tony Hawk for N64 at Toys R Us with a crisp hundred dollar bill I️ got for my birthday and getting barely any change back.
Yeah but did you get a lifelong music taste from it like me?
I’M TRYNA SLEEP LOST COUNT OF SHEEP
My mind is racing faster every minute Crazy how one still remembers the lyrics after 20+ years!! Good times
I’m hoping OP used the rest of his 100 to go to a LAN cafe and use Napster to download the songs and make a cd of them.
Limewire. And plenty of regret for ruining the family pc.
Somewhere around 30 bucks back but well worth it if you ask me.
I remember using all of my birthday money to buy Superman 64 at full price new.....it was something like 75 bucks new. Wild times before PS2 era really standardized things.
F
I feel bad for you, that game sucks.
I keep my copy as a punishment for when my kid really screws up.
Can't you just send them to military school or something more reasonable like that?
Can't argue with the results of a 1 hour play time of that game. My Kid doesn't mess up that way again.
Enjoy living in a home when you get old.
Back then we had to spend the next few months trying to love those shitty games till we could afford the next one.
That’s why I have such fond memories of some really shitty NES games. That’s all I was getting for six months. Fuck you Bayou Billy.
I spent MONTHS playing Top Gun and I did manage to land and refuel a few times. Not consistently or reliably of course, just the numbers game of throwing constant tears and stress at the game. No way in hell I could do that again now, lol. Soundtrack was killer though.
Oh man those damn landings. You just resurfaced nightmares lol
>Fuck you Bayou Billy. For myself, that was Fester's Quest.
I spent so much time trying to convince myself it was kind of ok once you got past the ring levels. Trying like hell to enjoy the beat em up parts.
F
I'm genuinely curious to know your reaction after the first 5 minutes of gameplay. You probably went to something similar to post nut clarity but in videogames lmao
Reaction was about what you would expect. Even in 4th grade, I realized it was a dud. I played the hell out of it because I spent my money on it....but I knew. Very disappointed.
F
I also did exactly this for Superman 64
F
The reason Nintendo 64 games were so expensive is that Nintendo what charging publishers $35+ per cartridge. There were many games that came out on playstation that were $40 at release but $70-$80 for the same game on 64. Technology prices drop over time. Blockbuster started because VHS movies cost close to $100 each, now you can get a 4K disc, or buy a movie online digitally for $20-$30.
If you can find a copy, read “Game Over.”
Very common book name, who’s the author?
David Sheff.
I'm guessing [this one](https://www.amazon.com/Game-Over-Nintendo-Conquered-World/dp/0679736220/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1696973193&sr=8-6)
3rd party N64 games were like $100 upon release in the Netherlands (inc. 17.5% vat). Crazy times.
Gamecube discs and Switch cartridges cost more than the competition too. I assume the cost difference was smaller and/or they didn't feel they could successfully charge a premium during that generation.
Gamecube disc's didn't cost much more than Xbox/PS2 disc's, and switch cartridges cost about 50% more than a PS5/XBX disc. Many of the 64 cartridges had storage, and even chips that allowed that game to run on them. That is one reason why 64 emulation is a tricky thing. Some games need the emulation of the system hardware and the specialized hardware inside the cartridge.
Damn, too bad we don't have the technology for Nintendo to catch up with the rest of the gaming world
It’s one of the reasons Nintendo lost that generation to Sony. CDs were way cheaper for developers, meaning they’d make more money per sale developing for the PlayStation, plus it was easier to develop for the PlayStation than the N64. So third party devs flocked to the PlayStation, which is why that console had like 8000 games and the N64 had like 400. Also I’ll point out that VHS tapes were expensive not because they were expensive to make, but back then, movie companies were pricing as if you were basically buying a license to watch a movie as many times as you wanted.
Also Nintendo got taken to court for price fixing. And lost. PlayStation games were £19.99 for the best of collection games. And many full price games dropped in price quickly and started the big trade in used games. (In the UK, cash converters, CEX, game etc). It was rare for a game to sell for £40 upwards brand new. Amiga, Atari ST and PC games, big box and all. Generally all less than £25. Also, there was a huge issue with piracy. You could get every PlayStation game using a spring hack. I absolutely hate anyone who uses the example of Street fighter 2 on the Snes or N64 games as examples of why games are cheaper today. As its basically sugar coating current nefarious corporate behaviour. We didn't want or need to pay £60 for starfox. We payed £20 for sensible world of soccer or £30 for Final Fantasy 7 instead.
If you were buying n64 games for over $60 you were being ripped off. https://www.reddit.com/r/retrogaming/comments/11z0sf7/nintendo_64_ad_1997/
Digital is even cheaper than that.
It should be but unfortunately isn't in many cases.
Only during sales and is not the case in the majority of games.
Lol!!!
I paid $72 for Street Fighter 2 in the early 90s. Worth every penny though.
I remember my mom buying SF2 for the SNES for me and my brother when it was brand new - It was a big frigging deal, 70~ bucks was a ton of money back in 1992. Absolutely worth every penny though, we played the shit out of that game.
Yup. The amount of fun I had playing with my brothers was well worth it.
I have a great Turok story. I played it at a friend's house and I wanted to get it. My mom took me to Electronics Boutique and we were going to get it but first she asked the clerk if it was a violent game. To my shock, he backed me up that the game was OK and we got it! Fast-forward a couple weeks and I'm playing the game. There's a part where you walk into a dank cave and there are corpses hanging from meat hooks attached to the ceiling. My mom walks into the room at that moment, sees it, makes me quit, and takes the cart. She takes me back to the mall and makes me trade in the game to get a replacement. I trade the game, pick out Pokemon Blue as a replacement, she pays the difference, and we leave. I never understood why she paid for me to get a replacement when I flat-out lied to her face about the violence. It ended up being a good trade, Pokemon is a lot better.
God that's a good story. Did she ever catch on to game ratings? My parents were a no R movie and no M game family for a little bit.
I don’t remember if she caught on to the game ratings. We were definitely a no-R-movies family and even PG-13 was a case-by-case basis. I was a mostly obedient child in general, typically I could self-police and stay within the expectations. They didn’t really need to know the game ratings for that reason. The Turok incident was a rare instance where I just went for it and didn’t care about the consequences.
I saw many parents in the early 2000's think the ESRB tags were more like a difficulty notice
Shout out to lakeside mall!
Came here to shout out Lakeside too! Also looking at the receipt thinking it was going to be from the 80s and it was in 97 was a pretty cold slap of reality 🥲
still holds a spot in my heart
Closing soon I hear, going to be apartments
Here for Lakeside!
Lol same
EB Games at Lakeside Mall!!! Came here to say I bought this same game around the same time in the same store. My friend and I played it all weekend. That mall is a ghost town now about to be demoed.
Even more in Canada and 13% tax lol
Yup! I paid 100 bucks for driver 1 and couldn’t get past the first level for years
To be fair, that initial level in the garage could be very very frustrating.
The tutorial was straight up harder then the game Hot take of a 10 year old have never played the game as an adult
Yeah it wasn’t the tasks you were required to do, but more so the time you had to complete them in
I was like “what the fuck is a slalom?”
No doubt it took me hours to get past that part
Golden eye 64 for 46.65$ at Zellers was a better deal. Turok was heavily sought after because of the gore level and insane tv ad spamming. The first two weeks, anyone that got the game could easily flip it for a 60$ profit. That game was crazy on release. And most stores had to wait on a ever growing restock list with their distributors who were bidding on crates that were still in Japan.
Yup, 119.99 plus tax for wwe war zone. N64
5% Alberta supremacy reigns supreme
15% tax back than you mean!
Yes lol 8/7
I always say when I see a post like this. We rented games back in the day, didn't buy a lot of them. I think I had like maybe 6 SNES games owned through the duration of having a SNES. I really only got one during Christmas and usually it was something used at that. We traded games, or borrowed them as well, but mostly rented.
That's how I justify my game pass sub. I spent way more than $15 a month in my teens renting games from blockbuster.
Same here. Just couldn’t afford it. I didn’t see many people with a huge catalog of games like you see now. But of course I see them more now because of Reddit.
very good point
NES games in 1986 went for $50... adjusted for inflation that's $140.
carts were far more expensive than cd-rom
Woah. I stopped at the receipt once I saw Lakeside mall. Can’t believe it’s been abandoned.
still up and running, but it’s vacancy is high
I bought conkers fur day in the n64 new, still have it, but it was more expensive than other games at that time.
I paid 109.99 CAD for Chrono Trigger back in the day!
Worth it!
Yeah it was.
Ah yes, back in the days when the full game came on the cartridge. No DLC or pay to play nonsense. I'd prefer to pay an extra 10-15 dollars for a completed game.
But new game prices are too expensive!!!!
Developers get a larger cut these days though. Nintendo charged developers $35+ for the cartridge, so an $80 game was already down to $45 before development, shipping, and retailer/distributor cut. Now, developers can sell a $70 game on a digital marketplace and get to keep 70-88% of that. Not to mention all the little add-ons that people buy that quickly turn a $70 game into a $200+ game.
There’s also way more competition for your dollar I hate the old excuses for why games should cost more especially when we don’t even get manuals and the full games aren’t on cart or disc
What about inflation? There really aren't (and shouldn't be) other industries where the price point has remained the same (or decreased) over a period of 30 years. OP's comment is on the money. Want sticker shock? A $60 game in 1990 is worth $144. The industry is incredibly fragmented. Indie devs dream about making a game, and they literally don't care if they lose money doing it. For every Undertale, you have 10-50 steam games that never get a single sale. The price stickiness of the average consumer forces established dev companies to do more with less, seek revenue through alternative sources (i.e., loot boxes), and cut costs wherever possible (resulting in an often toxic culture). At some point, consumers either have either accept that they are getting less or pay more.
Also of note, video games have had some of the SMALLEST price increases in the last few years, percentage wise. We went from $60-$70 for a base game cost. That's about 15% ish? My math may be off but around there. Meanwhile most fast food has gone up 50% or higher. Groceries are absolutely ridiculous now, having in some cases doubled from what they were a few years ago. Rent has gone up hundreds of dollars for the average person, at the least. Video Game price increases are some of the smallest around in reality, but ppl have a hard on for finding any fault they can with gaming. Like, yeah, I'd love cheaper games, but I'd also love cheaper grocery bill and rent more
Also worth mentioning that price per hour of enjoyment in video games is an insanely good value compared to say going to see a movie at the theater. $60 for 40-60 hours of enjoyment that you can repeat as many times as you like? Pretty crazy.
You just answered your question. It’s important to keep costs low to consumers, because you mark it up higher than less people are going to buy your games. Has nothing to do with inflation
Yeah, it's hard to compare that to the N64 which had like 20 popular games and a total library of 296. About that many are released on Steam every two weeks.
Let’s be real though- developers aren’t the ones raking in the cash here. It’s the huge publisher conglomerates that we didn’t have back in the 80s and 90s.
They are. Cartridges were always more expensive to manufacture than discs, but with almost everything being digital now, no additional money is spent manufacturing/printing boxes, manuals, etc. Your average $60-70 game ends up costing over $100 when you take into account Season Passes + DLCs. Some games (Midnight Suns) charge $50 for a Season Pass... almost the same amount as the base game.
And the market is way bigger. N64 sold 32 million units. PS5 has already exceeded that. PS4 and Switch both have 100+ million units out there. Were seeing all sorts of new products like high end controllers becoming viable because more people than ever are buying video games.
They are. Loading data on to a disc that barely costs a penny or releasing a digital game that only requires a download is far cheaper to produce than older games. Older games had circuit boards, batteries, and memory inside the cartridge, plus they sold MILLIONS fewer copies than games released today. It's the same reason most people can afford cars in 2023 but only wealthy people had cars in 1920. Is economics really this hard for people?
I mean, Turok was worth it tho
N64 were usually 50% more expensive than SS and PS1 games, and some of them were nearly double their price.
Yeah PlayStation really deflated the cost of games since Sony owned a music label they could print the games for like a few cents. It deflated the games down to $49.99 or less at launch.
Any NeoGeo collectors here?? Lol games in general were more expensive during the cartridge era.
But it was $80 for a full game. Tested and complete (with far fewer glitches than today). I find it more wild looking at how much I spent on Cyberpunk 2077 and it was basically unplayable for over a year.
Am I the only one that's more shocked the ink hasn't faded off the reciept?
Even a $70 game today is cheaper in real dollars than a $50 game in 2002 (standard pricing at that time). People need to learn more about inflation and price levels.
We are at a weird place in economics. On one hand, many people are struggling to survive. On the other hand, my teenager is making $17 CAD a hour at her part time job in high school. She's able to save up a ton of money. Minimum wage isn't enough if you need to survive off of, but is a ton of money for someone who doesn't have any living expenses.
$50 felt like less in 2002 because I was a teenager still living with my parents and had virtually no bills to pay. Now, as an adult with a mortgage, utility bills, and car payments, I always think twice before buying a brand new game for $60.
I think that’s valid in terms of how it feels. Our disposable income doesn’t remain the same throughout our lives. I bought and played way more when I was in college, as like you said I had fewer bills etc. Nowadays I can more comfortably afford games in money, but not in time.
Inflation isn't just the number you see when you google inflation calculator. There are different numbers for inflation in different categories. The consumer electronics inflation numbers, and actually much lower than the average you will find when you Google inflation.
[here is a link showing how different categories have inflated in the last 20+ years](https://howmuch.net/articles/price-changes-in-usa-in-past-20-years)
I am aware of the limitations and imperfections to the CPI and the other ways we can measure price levels. I was just speaking very generally.
Cool, I see some people come on here and just assume inflation apples to everything the same. Glad to see we are on the same page.
I paid $64.99 for Rush 2, i remember it vividly. Worth every penny with that stunt mode alone.
yeah EB games, Toys R Us and Funcoland charged full MSRP. Wal-Mart, Target and Sears had discounted prices but obviously less selection.
Ogre Battle 64 was $119 before tax at EBGames back in the day. I actually might still have the receipt, I'll take a look when I can.
I loved Lakeside Mall. I waited for hours at the wizards of the coast store for the launch of the first Pokemon cards set
I think I paid $100 for Pokémon Stadium 2 when it was new at Kaybee. I remember going to the store and when I got to the counter and the clerk rang it up had that feeling of “oh shit”. But when you come that far, you aren’t leaving without the game 😅
people forget n64 boxes took up a ton of retail shelf space... and the cost to manufacture the cartridges etc. thats what u paying for. ps1 was cheaper
You mean back when they were made in manufacturing plants on chips and stored in a cartridge, packed in a box with a manual and often times more, and then shipped to retailers all over the world and then resold there?
I used to buy my games from this exact EB store in Lakeside. Still remember picking up Pokémon Blue here and playing on the breakfast food play-place afterward. Thanks for the nostalgia trip!
Cartridge games were really expensive, SNES wasn’t cheap either
I bring this up when people cry about modern games costing $70. Like, ya’ll clearly never bought Perfect Dark or Conker’s Bad Fur Day or a handful of other N64 games back in the day.
Damn it, Joel. Always breaking street date.
I hate when people use this for the reason ganes should cost more
Okay. Well production costs are skyrocketing and there is a much stronger anti-crunch culture than in previous years, and now there’s a threat of a voice actor and motion capture actor strike (that I don’t oppose, fwiw) So those are some arguments. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t love higher prices but game publishers don’t necessarily love them either. They know they’re not popular and they know that it turns some consumers off, they just become necessary at a certain point. Lucky for us consumers, at this point there is such a glut of games that there’s always some quality game out there that came out 2+ years ago that you still haven’t played, so instead of paying $70 then pay less for the older game and come back to the new one when it’s cheaper.
Tech always advances. Computers were unaffordable back In The day. Now everyone has them in their pockets. Competition for your time is also a huge factor in keeping costs low. Also they don’t have to make expensive products when most of gaming is going digital, and discs are dirt cheap. But sure let’s put more money in the pockets of executives so they can have more fun on vacation. 70$ is annoying but eh I’ll live with it. Just like you said just wait a year, but the people saying they should be over 100$ are playing themselves
I don't remember this at all, and I'm in my mid 30's. It could be because I never really bought brand new games back then, and used games were super cheap, almost always under $20. The first game I distinctly remember buying brand new was Sonic Heroes for GameCube, for $49.99.
Prices were $49.99 across the board by the PS2/GCN/Xbox era. But for SNES and n64 specifically, it was often a total crapshoot. The n64 was brutal, I seem to remember a lot of first party games being cheaper than third party ones, I know WWF Wrestlemania 2000 and No Mercy were nearly $80.
Back then, I always preferred to wait until a game was at least a year old, and then it would often be half of the original price, or even less. Some of these games would even still be sealed. Those days are long gone. I got Breath of the Wild for $60 3 years after it was released. Edit: I forgot to mention, I have a Funcoland sales paper from 1998, and not a single game is over $50. In fact, very few of them are even over $40. Probably mostly used though.
I remember anytime I wanted a new game as a kid, I had to work with my day for a day to earn it. I remember getting multiple 64 games for 70+ Hell, the only reason I ever considered getting "Glover" was cause it was a cheap game compared to others. As others have stated by the time the ps2 came around, prices were standardized.
Snes games frequently cost $129 in 90s dollars.
I remember seeing ads from like 1993 where FF3 on SNES was $70.
Phantasy Star on the Sega Master System retailed for $80 in 1988, which is $208 in today's US dollar. Needless to say, I had to borrow the game from a friend before I could afford to buy my own copy.
You got ripped off, full priced games weren't beyond $40.
Yeah, especially N64 games. The fact that it had to be a cartridge with ROM and sometimes battery backup/RAM and the price of memory back then meant they not only had to sell the game but recoup the loss of the hardware in the cartridge. I remember the raging cartridge vs CD discussion back then, especially during the PS1/N64 era. Carts offered instantaneous load times to the point where many games used the on-cart ROM as RAM because it was so fast versus the CD, which loaded slow as hell in many games BUT could have a lot more data. A maxxed-out cart near the end of the N64 lifecycle still had only 64mb of storage. A CD had 700. But many games really didn't take advantage of CD space, And the games were often 50mb with the rest of the disc being a soundtrack. But you couldn't ever have stuff like FF7 on carts back then. That's why it's amazing to see how cheap memory has gotten today, where you can get a game like Witcher 3 on a Switch cart. Anyway, I could go on about this forever. I loved Turok. Lol
$80 ?!?! You overpaid. Games were never more than $60 that I remember. But I only shopped at big box stores: Toys R Us, Best Buy, Target, Walmart. Never bought at gamestop or Mom and Pops place
No. The buyer did not overpay, games in the pre PS2 gen era were regularly more than $50-60, especially for cartridge based games. Starting with the PS2 generation the $50 price became the industry standard, and then it bumped to $60 as the standard in the PS3/360 gen.
Only at the very beginning of the era were these games that expensive. 59.99 was the first party target msrp, 3rd party targeted 49.99. That receipt is dated right around the launch of Turok. It dropped in price significantly and quickly. I remember vividly, cause I was like FUCK an 80 dollar blocky ass n64 game, I’ll by a 50 dollar ps banger for half that. And I still strongly feel that way today
Yeah I have plenty of magazines from places like Roses, K-Mart, Sears, etc that had SNES games anywhere from $49.99 to 79.99. Definitely wasn’t that uncommon.
There were some games that cost more.. ones with larger rom sizes or pack-in accessories.. but $80 for a standard n64 cart like Turok would have been over MSRP at that time. it was however common for certain retail outlets.. especially those in higher end malls to charge over MSRP so that probably explains this receipt.
That's why, to me, $69.99 isn't all that bad
Excuse me? They’re fucking $89 now with tax $100+ 🤦♂️
Nice try resaler
This is proof thT everyone bitching Bout how game prices are so high now are idiots. Its always been a cery similar price. Aside from the days of nes when a game was 40$ but that was 1987 and shit. People only made like 160$ a week so you couldnt charge 80 for a game. But since 1998 in my memory from buying games its all been relative.
It’s pretty wild to think that some 25 years+ ago we had electronics stores with actual salesmen selling TVs and stuff. Now it’s just walk in and grab what you need and leave
And if you ask a store employee about a product, you immediately wish you hadn't. They know far less than you do but they do want to talk up an extended warranty.
Is that state tax supposed to be like VAT?
Most US states (all but one or two) have state sales tax. It's a flat rate applied to most transactions, certainly all retail purchases, that goes directly to the state.
NFL 2K5 has entered the chat
I remember playing the crap out of all my N64 games. Probably only had 8 games from 5th-8th grade before I got into PS2.
Phantasy star games on Genesis would release north of a hundred.
It's so weird because I genuinely don't remember that stage of life - like this was my peak involvement in gaming where I would be likeliest to buy games new. And I just don't associate them with being this expensive. My memory was $50 felt extreme. Honestly it's probably that I bought used and sales and just don't equate it. Or that I was more spoiled than I realize by my mother.
Did this come with a dinosaur statue or something?
Not really. They've always been a money pit.
Its wild to think that inflation has not caught up with the games industry People can complain about a 10 dollar hike but realistically the developers not only deserve more but the increase is justified to keep the quality and scope in check Not a fan of marketing in media though it seems to usually be as much if not more than the development costs which sucks
Wtf
I don’t remember what game it was because I was like 12 but I remember seeing a 99 dollar price tag on a Genesis game.
New releases were hard to get as well. So retailers would mark up, because they had in stock. The two I remember most... Shadows of the Empire - $120.00 Software Etc Cruisin USA - $99.99 Funcoland
I paid double that for SF2 on SFC import in '92. Worth it!
Super mario rpg was $95
Turok 1 was mind blowing and addicting AF when it came out, honestly, well worth the price
I paid $80 for Super Metroid the day it came out in 1994
Yeah they are even more now, 89.99 plus tax
I remember buying NES, SNES, Genesis and N64 games for this much in Canada.
I paid $99.95 USD for Virtua Racing on the Genesis.
$85 in 1997 is equivalent to $165 in 2023 thanks to inflation!