A great (cheap) time to be gaming!

um7y1h83ge06nx

I'v started to keep a list of my console game purchases this year and figured out I've spent just under €140 in total. I got a whole bunch of retail games and other smaller games for that. Some of this is due to having a huge backlog but it would have been unthinkable back in the early 90's to see so much for the equivalent price.

I picked up:

Hitman (Complete Season) PS4
Yakuza 0 PS4
Catherine 360
Prey PS4
Yakuza Kiwami PS4 (Steelbook Edition)
Evil Within PS4
Zelda Switch (wife is getting me the Switch and Mario for Christmas)

I also picked up the following on the Xbox store - Sega Bass Fishing, Crazy Taxi and Daytona USA.

Buying games full price seems to be a con. The only one I paid full price on that list was Zelda as it will be very slow to drop in value. Next year when I reduce the backlog I'll probably pick up Resi 7, Horizon Zero Dawn etc.

nix

Yeah this is how ive been console gaming for the past decade now, i hold out for the price drop/bargains. Theres so many games coming at you if you have a few platforms, like now i have the PS4 and PC, which is more than enough and covers an insane amount of titles to keep up with, i also have the Wii U, which i will box and swap for a switch in a year or two when it deflates and there are more games..

Like yourself there is the odd game i splash out on as the price drop will be a long ways off, or i just cant wait to play, but they are far between, like the Zelda or a From software game.. The ones you know will be worth the inflated price :pac:

Stone Deaf 4evr

I find that I'm not buying as many games as before, but I do play them for longer. Rainbow 6 Siege, Destiny 1&2, Battlefield series and most recently I've gone back to the Division.

I do like to pick up the odd indie here and there as kind of a palette cleanser / genre change as well.

Mr.Saturn

The last few years have seen a shift where current games can be had for pennies if you hang on a bit, but now retro games now come at a premium.

kunst nugget

Probably spent a couple of hundred and I probably overindulged during the Black Friday week sales but I didn't pay over €25 for any game this year and more usually it was around the €10-15 mark. But that said I picked up some great games over the year - Witcher 3, Hitman, Evil Within 2, Dishonored 2 and Death of the Outsider, Prey, Arkham Knight, What Remains of Edith Finch, Hellblade, Horizon Zero Dawn, Firewatch, Doom, Soma, Inside, Daylight… the list goes on. I really don't understand people paying full whack for games at launch unless they're mad into their multiplayer games.

johnny_ultimate

kunst nugget wrote: »

I really don't understand people paying full whack for games at launch

Well...

To throw support behind the sort of games and developers making the sorts of games you're interested in. Launch sales are pretty important for many developers, small and large alike, and many wouldn't be able to survive based on 'sales during sales' alone: niche titles need a passionate, committed niche.

Because a majority of games are released at a fair and reasonable price, with no hidden extras - indie games don't exactly release at AAA prices!

To discover a game along with the rest of the world - this is especially true of something like a Soulsborne game, or Breath of the Wild more recently. There's a special magic to being there as the tricks and secrets of Dark Souls are being found and pieced together...

Because it's a Nintendo game, and the bastards will never substantially reduce its price!

***

Plenty of good reasons to buy games when they're launched (not to mention just wanting to play it, or being lucky enough to be able to afford new games). Don't get me wrong, I buy many games when they're discounted too... but at the same time, if a developer I admire puts out something I'm super interested in, then I'm more than happy paying full price. It's hardly like 30 quid is an unfair price for something like Hellblade.

Well this year has to be my lowest spend in over a decade and not because I'm broke or I wait for sale I typically buy day one as I'm up to date really in terms of backlog etc.. I bought a PS4 in march and a One X a few weeks ago and I'm still under budget of previous years.

Maybe a sign of me being jaded by games,but also there just doesn't seem to be the volume of AAA games as there used to be or even BBB stuff you might pick up if browsing between AAA releases.

I'd go though a disc a week on Xbox a few years ago and this year I got 6. Digital is a big thing now but I'm still buying AAA on disc there just seems to be fewer and it's really going the way of the film industry in terms of little imagination in IP's and sequels and reboots.

AAA now at this point in time really lean towards multiplayer and retention of playerbase. Which is good in some ways in that you don's see the same level of games with tacked on multiplayer any more, they go all in or don't bother, but at the same time I'm not seeing the same level of games released as we had say 5 years ago.

Indie is definitely the way to go but sometimes you want a slice of full fat pie and not a nibble on a gluten free cracker.

K.O.Kiki

Deleted User wrote: »

Well this year has to be my lowest spend in over a decade and not because I'm broke or I wait for sale I typically buy day one as I'm up to date really in terms of backlog etc.. I bought a PS4 in march and a One X a few weeks ago and I'm still under budget of previous years.

Maybe a sign of me being jaded by games,but also there just doesn't seem to be the volume of AAA games as there used to be or even BBB stuff you might pick up if browsing between AAA releases.

I'd go though a disc a week on Xbox a few years ago and this year I got 6. Digital is a big thing now but I'm still buying AAA on disc there just seems to be fewer and it's really going the way of the film industry in terms of little imagination in IP's and sequels and reboots.

AAA now at this point in time really lean towards multiplayer and retention of playerbase. Which is good in some ways in that you don's see the same level of games with tacked on multiplayer any more, they go all in or don't bother, but at the same time I'm not seeing the same level of games released as we had say 5 years ago.

Indie is definitely the way to go but sometimes you want a slice of full fat pie and not a nibble on a gluten free cracker.

Sell both the Xbone & PS4, buy a Nintendo Switch.
Better AAA releases on the handheld than on both "powerful" consoles put together IMO.

ERG89

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Sell both the Xbone & PS4, buy a Nintendo Switch.
Better AAA exclusives releases on the handheld than on both "powerful" consoles put together IMO.

Fyp

TitianGerm

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Sell both the Xbone & PS4, buy a Nintendo Switch.
Better AAA releases on the handheld than on both "powerful" consoles put together IMO.

Or just buy a Switch to go with your X and PS4 :P

kunst nugget

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

…or being lucky enough to be able to afford new games.

That's probably where I'm coming from mainly. With having a family and the multiple outgoings that entails, I can't ever really justify spending €60-70 on a single game for myself - although I did spend that on 4 games over Black Friday. Plus, the backlog of games I've picked up already means I'm never stuck for something to play.

kunst nugget

kunst nugget wrote: »

I really don't understand people paying full whack for games at launch unless they're mad into their multiplayer games.

I'd never buy a Triple A title on launch as rarely have that much interest in them and as such have no issue holding off, there are a few exceptions Horizon: Zero Dawn I actually pre-ordered on the PSN as I had a couple of days off the weekend it came out and wanted to spend them playing the game. I paid full whack for a few Switch titles this year as let's be honest Nintendo as greedy as hell and won't be lowering the prices anytime soon. The one game that I paid full whack for knowing it would drop massively over the following month was the new Wolfenstein, I loved the last game and wanted to support it. Shame that it has underperformed as while I've yet to play it it's always nice to see a company go all out on a single player title.

I got two great deals on Special Edition collectibles during Black Friday

Collectors Edition Statue for Gears 4 was 35 euro :eek::D
Like that was nearly 200 euros at launch.

Also picked up Hitman Collectors edition for 45 Euros.

Some great deals out there if you can have some patience.

I hardly think it's "cheap" right now.

AAA games cost €60 - €80 depending.

You have indie games charging €20 - €30 for a game that lasts maybe 5 hours.

I rarely buy games new. When I do, it's weeks/months after release and/or only when there's deals on.

Retr0gamer

Only games I buy new are from publishers that I want to support and need my support. Stuff from the likes of Atlus, XSeed and Aksys.

And then there's Nintendo who don't over produce games so they tend to keep their value unless the game bombs.

Anything else I wait 6-12 months. Most games bomb in value after 6 months due to over production and over stocking. Most triple A games aren't good enough to justify a day one purchase so can wait.

Retr0gamer

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Only games I buy new are from publishers that I want to support and need my support. Stuff from the likes of Atlus, XSeed and Aksys.

And then there's Nintendo who don't over produce games so they tend to keep their value unless the game bombs.

Anything else I wait 6-12 months. Most games bomb in value after 6 months due to over production and over stocking. Most triple A games aren't good enough to justify a day one purchase so can wait.

I bought No Man's Sky for €12. Waited about a year or more to buy it. TBH had I waited longer, then it could've potentially dropped down to €5!

Stone Deaf 4evr

Deleted User wrote: »

I hardly think it's "cheap" right now.

AAA games cost €60 - €80 depending.

You have indie games charging €20 - €30 for a game that lasts maybe 5 hours.

I rarely buy games new. When I do, it's weeks/months after release and/or only when there's deals on.

With regards to the cost of Indies, there arent too many that go above 20 euros in fairness, and by and large, I look at the short playtime as more of a blessing than a curse. I dont want or need all of my games to be 40+ hour collect a thons or full of rubbish side missions. Plus, I usually prefer indies to let me experience something different or more pure - examples of this would be oxenfree, superhot, abzu etc.

gimli2112

I don't understand why Wolfenstein 2 did so poorly in sales, it's a great game. An FPS obviously must need a Multiplayer element to compete these days. I'm sure I paid €60 for it and could get it for 1/2 that now.

There's certain games I won't wait for. Spent €100 on Destiny 2 with the season pass. While I'm not playing it at the moment I'll go back to it and have sunk a fair few hours into it already, so no regrets. Something like TLOU2 I'm buying/pre-ordering whatever the price/reviews etc on launch. In general I'm a lot less reckless about purchases but that's only due to quite a large back log and games I'm still playing rather than any sort of maturity.

murphyebass

Finally picked up Gravity Rush 2 as a 2 for €30. Hadn't gotten round to picking it up due to time and other games etc so for €15 if it's anywhere near as good as the original that is a ****in steal of a price.

Have to get through Yooka Laylee first which was the other part of that 2 for €30 deal. That game is not good for my OCD but is gorgeous to look at and a real blast from the past.

I also picked up KOF IV and The Last of Us for €30. Yes I never played the last of us. I will soon, promise.

Then there's Stardew Valley, The Evil Within and Nex Machina that I picked up for next to nothing as well.

Lots of seriously cheap games for Christmas. Thanks Sony.

And I need to finish the Destiny DLC as well I just remembered.

1st world problems

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

I hardly think it's "cheap" right now.

AAA games cost €60 - €80 depending.

You have indie games charging €20 - €30 for a game that lasts maybe 5 hours.

I rarely buy games new. When I do, it's weeks/months after release and/or only when there's deals on.

€20- 30 for 5 hours of entertainment is cheap. I never understood the way gamers equate length of game with value for money, I paid full price for Gone Home and loved all 70 or so minutes of it. I'd happily pay €20 for a really great 2-3 hour game and hate the manner in which all Triple A games now have to be dozens of hours thanks to padding. I'd rather pay €75 for a 12-16 hour experience like Wolfenstein than €30 for a 60 hour slog like Assassins Creed.

kunst nugget

Deleted User wrote: »

Indie is definitely the way to go but sometimes you want a slice of full fat pie and not a nibble on a gluten free cracker.

Do you really view indie games like that?

ERG89

gimli2112 wrote: »

I don't understand why Wolfenstein 2 did so poorly in sales, it's a great game. An FPS obviously must need a Multiplayer element to compete these days. I'm sure I paid €60 for it and could get it for 1/2 that now.

There's certain games I won't wait for. Spent €100 on Destiny 2 with sthe eason pass. While I'm not playing it at the moment I'll go back to it and have sunk a fair few hours into it already, so no regrets. Something like TLOU2 I'm buying/pre-ordering whatever the price/reviews etc on launch. In general I'm a lot less reckless about purchases but that's only due to quite a large back log and games I'm still playing rather than any sort of maturity.

Wolfenstein 2 I held off until sales. I wanted it as I finished The New Order recently
I bought Dishonored 2 last year and by the time I had time to play it 2 months later it was a third of the price I paid
I got burned in previous years buying games in September that I didn't commit time to before they halved in price by the time Black Friday, Cyber Monday....Cyber week comes round. Sony and MS do so many online sales its not hard to find a few games to play for €30. They don't get enough praise for them tbh, Nintendo's are absolute trash in comparison.
Very rare I buy a 3rd party game at launch now; not since Arkham Knight plopped through my letterbox. Nintendo unless its a Mario platformer, Pokemon or Zelda I don't often pay full price tbh.

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] wrote: »

€20- 30 for 5 hours of entertainment is cheap. I never understood the way gamers equate length of game with value for money, I paid full price for Gone Home and loved all 70 or so minutes of it. I'd happily pay €20 for a really great 2-3 hour game and hate the manner in which all Triple A games now have to be dozens of hours thanks to padding. I'd rather pay €75 for a 12-16 hour experience like Wolfenstein than €30 for a 60 hour slog like Assassins Creed.

I firmly believe in cents on the hour. Always have, always will. €20 for a 70-minute game is ridiculous to me.

murphyebass

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I firmly believe in cents on the hour. Always have, always will. €20 for a 70-minute game is ridiculous to me.

I try to live to a euro per hour played rule to stop myself buying games at launch and sitting in a backlog. I pretty much only buy a launch title I know I'll put stupid hours into.

Like...

Destiny 2 - I paid €100 for the full game and all dlc. I'm over 100hrs and counting, so I consider that paid for.

Tekken 7 - I paid €50 and €17 for DLC. I'm currently 70 hours so again if consider that paid for.

Why but games at launch that will definately drop a month or so later.

Wolfenstein is a perfect example. The first flopped sales wise so wait and see how the next one does before buying. It's already plummeting in price.

Same can be said for the likes of Mirrors edge catalyst, etc

TitianGerm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I firmly believe in cents on the hour. Always have, always will. €20 for a 70-minute game is ridiculous to me.

What indie game would you finish in 70 minutes?

Two of my favourite games on Xbox are Ori and The Blind Forest and Cuphead.

I paid €30 (or thereabouts) for them combined and to be honest I easily got my money's worth with interest.

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

I firmly believe in cents on the hour. Always have, always will. €20 for a 70-minute game is ridiculous to me.

What a backward way to look at something. I take it that you never go to the cinema then given that an average ticket €8-12 for 90 minutes is not value for money.

If you equate length of a game with quality then do you see something like say the Assassins Creed series as being better than Uncharted given that the average Assassins Creed game can be 40-80 hours whereas you can clear Uncharted in 12 hours or so.

Retr0gamer

gimli2112 wrote: »

I don't understand why Wolfenstein 2 did so poorly in sales, it's a great game. An FPS obviously must need a Multiplayer element to compete these days. I'm sure I paid €60 for it and could get it for 1/2 that now.

Publisher thought it would sell more. Over produced units which are sitting in a warehouse that they are paying rent for. Units need to be shifted so they don't have to pay rent so they offer massively reduced discounts to traders.

um7y1h83ge06nx

To be fair I used to buy new releases. In the early days of the 360 I was out of college in my first job so I had disposable income and time to play games. Used buy a load of new releases.

Now though life is much busier with a kid. I got caught at one point buying games at release only to play them months or a year later when they were less than half the price. PS Plus and Games with Gold inflate my backlog as well - I don't play every game on those services but enough to increase the backlog.

gimli2112

gimli2112 wrote: »

I don't understand why Wolfenstein 2 did so poorly in sales, it's a great game. An FPS obviously must need a Multiplayer element to compete these days. I'm sure I paid €60 for it and could get it for 1/2 that now.

There's certain games I won't wait for. Spent €100 on Destiny 2 with the season pass. While I'm not playing it at the moment I'll go back to it and have sunk a fair few hours into it already, so no regrets. Something like TLOU2 I'm buying/pre-ordering whatever the price/reviews etc on launch. In general I'm a lot less reckless about purchases but that's only due to quite a large back log and games I'm still playing rather than any sort of maturity.

Did it? It's been in the top 20 charts every week since launch.
Any stats?

gimli2112

No I just meant I was surprised how quickly it came down in price and assumed this was because it hadn't sold but what Retro said made sense.

gimli2112

gimli2112 wrote: »

No I just meant I was surprised how quickly it came down in price and assumed this was because it hadn't sold but what Retro said made sense.

It was placed 4th on launch week beaten only by Mario Odyssey, Fifa & Assassins Creed and that's only physical. Bethesda haven't released any official digital figures.
It sold 110,000 digital sales in it's first three days according to Steam on PC alone.

That's fairly Strong for a Single Player only FPS

Mickeroo

Deleted User wrote: »

I firmly believe in cents on the hour. Always have, always will. €20 for a 70-minute game is ridiculous to me.

Surely quality is a better measurement of value for money?

Mickeroo

Mickeroo wrote: »

Surely quality is a better measurement of value for money?

In many cases these indie games aren't worth the money they're charging - quality or quantity wise.

This is something I suspect I'll never change my mind about. Gone Home is 2 hours long. On release they were charging between €20 - €30. That's ludicrous money. Pretty certain I either got it in a Humble Bundle or else for €10 - €15 on sale and, while it was mildly entertaining, I was delighted at not forking out full price.

kunst nugget

Mickeroo wrote: »

Surely quality is a better measurement of value for money?

Yeah, I'd always try to be as canny as I can possibly be when buying games but I don't think I could ever be as reductive as that.

Robert ninja

When it comes to value for money, is 1 hour of a what the consumer feels is a good game better than 10 hours of an ok game? Or 100 hours of a meh game better than that? Or 10 minutes of an amazing game beter than all of those? And how much of that is from replaying? What really is the 'length' of a game? Single player campaign story from start to credits? How long does it take to complete something like FTL: Faster Than Light, something that's designed to be played over and over? Do you have to purposely play it slow to get the real value of the game?

In the end there's too many variables to consider. It's up the the consumer to decide on their own. I personally typically avoid narrative-focused games that are short if they're around the €20 or more mark. If I wanted a good story telling experience in a short time like that I'd buy a blu ray or something.

That said video games are one of the cheapest hobbies out there which is nice. For 2017 I spent about €200 and got:

• Dying Light
• Arma Cold War Assault
• Neverwinter Nights 2
• Swat 4
• Vanquish
• Tekken 7
• Bayonetta
• Hitman1-3, BM, 2016
• Hyperdimension Neptunia 3 pack
• Cliver Barker's Undying

And entry to a tournament

That's not counting all the games that are free.

Retr0gamer

M!Ck^ wrote: »

It was placed 4th on launch week beaten only by Mario Odyssey, Fifa & Assassins Creed and that's only physical. Bethesda haven't released any official digital figures.
It sold 110,000 digital sales in it's first three days according to Steam on PC alone.

That's fairly Strong for a Single Player only FPS

Sales on games are way down at the moment so it probably under performed and Bethesda over produced.

I think total game sales are up but the issue is there's a lot of games vying for attention and while it sold well I think Bethesda expected it to do better especially after the surprise success of the original and good word of mouth. I doubt the game wasn't profitable though.

murphyebass

kunst nugget wrote: »

Yeah, I'd always try to be as canny as I can possibly be when buying games but I don't think I could ever be as reductive as that.

Personally if I buy a game at launch for €60 I expect to playing 60 hours of that game or more over time. Maybe that's wrong but it's helped me chose games more wisely.

Some people don't mind picking up games at launch to sit in a backlog. I used to do this and by the time I got to the game (if I ever did) it had reduced in price by €10 or €20 or whatever or bottomed out in a sale for **** all.

So these days I'll wait and pick that 20 hour story game when it's €20. Just me.

I get what you're saying but in a day in age where sales are so regular and so generous I really don't see the point in picking up a game at launch unless you intend on playing it day one as your soooooo rediculously overhyped to play it or you know you'll be playing it loads.

Let's be fair about it we all have a backlog to pick through until the new game falls in price.

K.O.Kiki

I bought NieR:Automata for €60, 95% complete in 40hrs.
Game had technical issues.
Still consider it the most amazing game I've played this generation.

Bought Mass Effect Andromeda for ~€65, 99% complete in 100hrs.
Game had technical issues.
Still consider it the most disappointing game I've ever played.

kunst nugget

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

I bought NieR:Automata for €60, 95% complete in 40hrs.
Game had technical issues.
Still consider it the most amazing game I've played this generation.

Bought Mass Effect Andromeda for ~€65, 99% complete in 100hrs.
Game had technical issues.
Still consider it the most disappointing game I've ever played.

How could you put 100 hours into a game you consider most disappointing you've ever played? That seems like being a glutton for punishment.

K.O.Kiki

kunst nugget wrote: »

How could you put 100 hours into a game you consider most disappointing you've ever played? That seems like being a glutton for punishment.

As the game kept dragging on, I eventually realised Andromeda was the game to kill the franchise, so I became determined to do a full playthrough, with every side quest, just to see if there was any semblance of greatness hidden in the muck.
The final mission was decent at least.

I'm just sad we will never see the Quarians again. And that none of my choices in Andromeda will matter in the end :pac:

kunst nugget

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

As the game kept dragging on, I eventually realised Andromeda was the game to kill the franchise, so I became determined to do a full playthrough, with every side quest, just to see if there was any semblance of greatness hidden in the muck.
The final mission was decent at least.

I'm just sad we will never see the Quarians again. And that none of my choices in Andromeda will matter in the end :pac:

What does the last 1% not yet done entail and are you going to try and get that full 100%.

I picked this up for a tenner from Gamestop during the Black Friday sale out of morbid curiosity.

K.O.Kiki

kunst nugget wrote: »

What does the last 1% not yet done entail and are you going to try and get that full 100%.

I picked this up for a tenner from Gamestop during the Black Friday sale out of morbid curiosity.

One of the missions on the first planet glitched out & I could never get back to complete it :mad::pac:
I'm never going back to it tbh

K.O.Kiki

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

I bought NieR:Automata for €60, 95% complete in 40hrs.
Game had technical issues.
Still consider it the most amazing game I've played this generation.

Bought Mass Effect Andromeda for ~€65, 99% complete in 100hrs.
Game had technical issues.
Still consider it the most disappointing game I've ever played.

100 hours into ME:A? My God, man. What kind of monster are you?! :pac:

I played it for maybe about 10 hours and stopped. Couldn't be arsed revisiting it. It's a pity, because I sank probably about 400 hours into the previous 3 games through my initial runthroughs and multiple replays to get different outcomes.

ME:A is probably the perfect example of the publisher getting antsy with the studio and pushing out a game that was months away from being ready.