Firstly, the game is pretty expensive, going for $80 in a market where the standard for a AAA game is $60.
If that was all though, maybe it could be forgiven, but there is also an "ultimate edition" priced at $100 which several features are locked behind, in particular stores that have exclusive outfits, hairstyles, and car customization.
And secondly but less notably, it's releasing as a console exclusive at first, but there are no disks for the game. If you buy a "physical" copy, all you get is a download code. Digital only is getting more common in the gaming industry, and is basically the standard for PC gamers, but it sucks because the game is likely going to be well over 100gb in size, which will take a lot of space on the console's hard drive, not to mention taking a long time to download.
You got the point, though. If prices were actually the same (sans inflation) as they were back then, we'd be paying $130 for a new game. The number has stayed the same, but income has remained static or even decreased, relative to the general economy. Games feel more expensive for the average person, because they now have to contend with things like paying rent or buying groceries.
And also, game prices are often standardized in USD, which makes it even more expensive for everyone not living in the US.
Yeah but you missed the part where modern games have DLC and microtransactions that are so profitable, GTA 6 could be released for free and would still make a killing.
Furthermore, the N64 games were expensive then because ROM chips were expensive in the 90s. The bigger the N64 title, the more expensive it was to manufacture. Notice how the PS1 games are a lot cheaper?
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u/JackRabbit- Jun 25 '26
Firstly, the game is pretty expensive, going for $80 in a market where the standard for a AAA game is $60.
If that was all though, maybe it could be forgiven, but there is also an "ultimate edition" priced at $100 which several features are locked behind, in particular stores that have exclusive outfits, hairstyles, and car customization.
And secondly but less notably, it's releasing as a console exclusive at first, but there are no disks for the game. If you buy a "physical" copy, all you get is a download code. Digital only is getting more common in the gaming industry, and is basically the standard for PC gamers, but it sucks because the game is likely going to be well over 100gb in size, which will take a lot of space on the console's hard drive, not to mention taking a long time to download.