The Price of Gaming

With more Red Dead Redemption DLC being announced, and 3 of the 4 already priced, I was reminded earlier today about how expensive gaming is these days. Assuming you paid full price for RDR at launch and didn't take advantage of a pre-order offer which effectively lowered the price (such as how Amazon offered $20 off your next purchase), then you paid $60. Add in three $10 DLC and suddenly the amount you've paid for one game is $90. Pretty steep.

In mainstream gaming, one of the pricier consoles was the N64, which came out in 1996. The games themselves were priced higher than PS1 games because cartridges are more expensive to make than CD's. Some games were expensive even by today's standards. I specifically remember seeing games priced between $60 and $70. Games like Legend of Zelda broke that ceiling and went as high as $80. Of course, $80 spent in 1996 is more than $80 spent today because of inflation. So gaming was quite expensive.

But now it seems like we're returning to the old days of expensive gaming after a great run of high quality, more affordable gaming. Whereas you would spend $50 on a new PS1 or PS2 game, play it, and then resell it, now you pay for the game upfront, buy DLC, then resell the game. But any money spent on DLC is lost forever. You can't resell it. You can't let friends borrow it. And unless you plan on keeping that particular game forever, you can count on the DLC becoming a sunk cost at some point.

By now you're thinking, "But if I like a game, I don't mind paying a little more money to get even more out of a quality game." That's very true. And I myself don't complain when I eat a nice restaurant with good friends. That money is gone forever too. I can't resell my food after I've eaten it. It was all about the enjoyment of the experience.

But come on Rockstar. Zombies in Red Dead Redemption? Come on.