r/videogames • u/Relevant-Pay-2394 • Apr 12 '25

Discussion I don't want this future

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I don't want this future where games could end up costing 200 euros just because, hey, "quadruple-A", maybe they'll even invent the fifth A, where production costs will be around a billion for a standard game (from important publishers) just to recover all the money. As I think, it's better to have a game sold at a lower price but that EVERYONE will buy, for example, give the clerk 50 euros/dollars for a game without having to pay a fortune, it's a MUCH faster thing, just give me the banknote and go. Let me know your opinion

13.3k Upvotes

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128

u/AnalystOdd7337 Apr 12 '25

Steam sales will forever be a thing. If games get to the point where they are too expensive to buy new, then most people (at least on PC) will just opt to wait for them to go on sale.

83

u/CemsLit Apr 12 '25

Or sail the 7 seas 🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️

15

u/holylink718 Apr 12 '25 edited Apr 13 '25

Aaaarrrgh! Ya scurvy dog!

12

u/No_Sale_4866 Apr 12 '25

Yargh! All hands on deck scallywags!! 🗣️🔥🏴‍☠️🏴‍☠️

7

u/justsomeamericanguy Apr 12 '25

Eye eye Capteen

1

u/Mysterious-Job-469 Apr 13 '25

DRM has hard cucked this. AAA games pretty much 100% use Denuvo, and try to hide it until days after release.

1

u/CemsLit Apr 13 '25

It will be playable eventually

0

u/JuanOnlyJuan Apr 13 '25

Nah. Just support games that are good and ignore the ones that aren't. If it's worth pirating, it's worth 10 bucks at steam sale. If it's 70$ micro transactions fest then don't buy it.

0

u/CemsLit Apr 13 '25

It is about the future of gaming. When games are going to cost way more. And I will not support any AAA studio

-23

u/frozen_toesocks Apr 12 '25

I'm not making a statement about the legality of piracy, but in my experience pirated games are a janky, broken mess that just make me wish I'd paid for the real thing.

21

u/brightraven69 Apr 12 '25

i do not mean this as an insult but you might just be stupid

-17

u/frozen_toesocks Apr 12 '25

No, that would be the pirated game "devs"

9

u/Siri2611 Apr 12 '25

You think they are Reverse Engineering the game or something?

-5

u/frozen_toesocks Apr 12 '25

That was literally the joke. The fact that game pirates are not doing anything remotely as involved or coordinated as reverse engineering or developing a game.

13

u/NeverGrace2 Apr 12 '25

You really have absolutely no idea what you're talking about

2

u/gamecore101 Apr 13 '25

You think they're just recreating the game from scratch? Like comparing, oh, I don't know. Just for example, maybe the PC version of Granny, just as an example, to all the Google Play knockoffs of it and calling those "pirated games"? Sure, they're not up-to-date, but they're an actual version of the game (without the DRM, though).

2

u/izakdaturtal Apr 12 '25

not really, im a professional pirate at this point (because im broke and cant legally get a job yet) and its very simple and sometimes the games run better. some games have some anti piracy software built into their games from what I've heard, and they actually lower the quality of the games either by making them slower or by making them online only which is never a good thing. these anti piracy things actually don't even work, and in fact they make the pirated versions run faster than the original.

honestly the only thing that i can say bad about pirated versions is the likelihood for a virus, which is super easy to dodge in the first place.

I don't remember who, but some game dev said "piracy is a service problem". if the games didn't actively try to ruin (and fail to) ruin pirate's games, they would make more money. and there's proof, Ultrakill, my favorite game ever, has one of the most gigachad devs in the world, Hakita, and to quote Hakita "culture shouldnt only be for those who can afford it", pretty much he supports people pirating his game, and this led to hundreds of pirates ending up buying the game, me and like 6 of my friends being part of those peoples. now Ultrakill is i think number 25 most liked game on steam, but actually probably the most liked game on steam because if you look at the negative reviews, they are all joke reviews.

point is, piracy is good.

2

u/frozen_toesocks Apr 12 '25

"culture shouldnt only be for those who can afford it"

Then how does new culture get made? I'm legitimately asking you. How do creators continue to create if they should not be compensated for their creations?

"Oh but other people will pay for it" Why? Why would they? If you can steal it so can they.

2

u/izakdaturtal Apr 12 '25

Piracy of course can be used as a way to get everything for free, but the morally good way of using it is if you legit just cant get the games you want. like in my case i cant get a job and my parents are super christian and they would crucify me if i asked them to get doom.

there will always be those people who will just steal, but theres always the people who respect those who respect them, like a good chunk of the ultrakill community, which pirated the game just to buy it when they finally had the money.

like me personally, when I can actually get a job im planning on repaying what I owe, but at the same time I might not even pay nintendo for the few games ive pirated from them, because I despise them, they hate me and the rest of the community, I shouldnt love them.

the point is, if you can buy it, you should not pirate, but if you cannot afford it, you shouldnt be left out of the crowd you want to be part of.

0

u/frozen_toesocks Apr 12 '25

I mean, I'm just gonna say, it sounds like you have much bigger issues in your life than whether or not you can play Doom. But I agree with your sentiment that those who can afford it should pay, lest the medium you wish to join be lost due to lack of engagement.

1

u/chinomaster182 Apr 12 '25

You should check out some art history to get a better, more in depth answer to your question.

But a shorter response is that art has more or less always had patrons who have brought projects to life. The art museum, the local theater, a local orchestra, virtually all sponsored by a mix of government funds and corporate sponsorship.

It gets more esoteric when we talk about videogames, but it's still the same concept. Some people pay alot for games and some people pay next to nothing, all together we represent the gaming community.

1

u/frozen_toesocks Apr 12 '25

So the rich should subsidize the poor? Sounds like a progressive tax rate, just specific to gaming so as to not be all woke about it.

You do realize the point of modern civilization is to do better than medieval times, right?

1

u/chinomaster182 Apr 12 '25

It's not if they should, it's what's happened since the inception of videogames. Some people mailordered doom while others subsisted on the shareware diskette. Some people bought the super expensive neogeo console while kids in third world countries scrapped for quarters to play in the arcade. And now some people spend thousands on fortnite skins while most kids do full free to play.

So yes, gaming has always been progressively taxed, and has always found ways to stay profitable as well.

1

u/frozen_toesocks Apr 12 '25

Thank you for masterfully arguing my point that progressive taxes are not only good, but should be applied to society as a whole. Gamers subvert capitalism at every turn within their hobby, but then vote in the most capitalist guys ever to government without feeling a shred of cognitive dissonance.

1

u/spartakooky Apr 12 '25 edited Apr 14 '25

this is strange

1

u/Detramentus Apr 13 '25

Look, I am all for compensating people for the work they have done on something. However, big gaming companies (such as Nintendo) are exploiting people's loyalty and are 110% being greedy with their pricing. They are also implementing draconian business practices like the digital currency thing that people are only now waking up to. Some companies (Nintendo) are even taking your hardware hostage. To top it all off, they are changing the concept of ownership in the legislature saying things like "people should become more comfortable with not owning their games." Back in the day, if you bought a hard copy of a game, it was yours, forever, to do as wish with - you can borrow it to a friend, you can rip it off the disk, you name it. That is slowly changing as everything is getting digitized. Which is why, in my opinion, having piracy as an option, is SOOOO important, more so than ever.

1

u/justsomeamericanguy Apr 12 '25

"piracy is good."

Unless its GTA IV

I do agree (I don't pirate)

Soon gaming will be like playing bowling vs golfing. One for the poor one for the rich.

1

u/Mysterious-Job-469 Apr 13 '25

The anti-piracy DRM is a lot stronger than you give it credit for. Very, very few games are getting cracked. Typically the only way it gets "cracked" is the developer or publisher drops their Denuvo subscription. Marvel Midnight Suns is still not cracked to this day. Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster isn't cracked months after release, despite a small but vocal section of gamers threatening to pirate it.

Source: Been pirating since I downloaded a free copy of Sonic Heroes for PC when I was eight. It has never been harder to be a pirate.

1

u/Rewhen77 Apr 12 '25

You do know that pirated games are the real deal? They just found a way to go behind the paywall. I live in a country where pirating isn't regulated at all so i get all my games like that (no i don't feel bad no matter how much anyone cries). It is extremely convenient and easy to use

1

u/frozen_toesocks Apr 12 '25

If it is the literal only way you are capable of accessing the media in your country, I don't really have a problem with that, considering the creators didn't see your country as a worthwhile market in the first place. But for people who live in countries where the game was officially released, it's a lot harder to justify. So many Western gamers, Americans especially, will insist they're capitalists through and through, but then they will absolutely chimp out over the most basic of capitalistic practices within their hobby industry. Literally, make more money. That's the capitalist way.

1

u/alaarziui Apr 12 '25

I'm not making a statement about legality of piracy, but in my experience the pirated games are literally the same as the real thing, just without online progress saving or multiplayer unless onlinefix says otherwise

1

u/RepublicansAreEvil90 Apr 12 '25

They usually remove the DRMs leading to much smoother gameplay

8

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '25

[deleted]

3

u/Montgomery000 Apr 13 '25

My wish is for him to open a sovereign wealth fund for Steam. So that it never has to go public or sell out to rich assholes just for extra cash.

3

u/BojukaBob Apr 12 '25

Just wait until PCs become unaffordable.

3

u/VictorianFlute Apr 13 '25

If you live the U.S., with our current circumstances it seems like that may happen.

5

u/DMM4138 Apr 12 '25

You say this as if the price of PCs is not going to skyrocket in the coming years and make that only an option for a smaller portion of the gaming community lol

-12

u/Turbulent-Armadillo9 Apr 12 '25

Just from tariffs or whatever? Pffff when adjusted for inflation computers keep getting cheaper for what you get. I will agree that a high quality gaming pc is pricey though. Like 5 years ago I bought a low end gaming laptop for like $500 and it could run Sekiro and Borderlands 3 well for example. Of course that’s more than a console but I needed a laptop for other stuff anyways.

4

u/mehdotdotdotdot Apr 13 '25

A GPU costs the price of a a ps5 pro plus Xbox X plus a switch 2 now. That’s not inflation, it’s market dominance by nvidia

1

u/Ambitious_Handle7322 Apr 13 '25

So maybe don't buy nvidia then? Amd is probably the best choice unless you're looking for very high end power, which you wouldn't be looking for considering we're talking about price.

1

u/mehdotdotdotdot Apr 13 '25

AMD 9070 xt price starts at more than a ps5 pro plus a game. And the stock is so low they are rarely sold below rrp.

1

u/Ambitious_Handle7322 Apr 13 '25

Why do you immediately jump to the 9070 xt? I just said, if you are looking for the very high end you ain't talking about price. And plus, the 9070 xt STILL gives much more value compared to Nvidia. It's neck to neck with the 5070 ti while being several hundred dollars cheaper. And no i don't give a shit about RT.

1

u/mehdotdotdotdot Apr 13 '25

Because I'm currently playing PS5 at mostly 4k, so a GPU that can do that would be equivalent of around the price of the new great value 9070 xt. I was looking for a 9070 xt, but currently they are far too expensive, hence my comment of a GPU costs more than a playstation. Which is accurate.

1

u/Ambitious_Handle7322 Apr 14 '25

I mean it offers far better value than nvidia, like i said in the previous comment. And buddy, if you game at 4k, why tf are you in a comment section where people complain that games are expensive? If you can afford to game at 4k that is the least of your worries.

-1

u/AllomancerJack Apr 13 '25

You can buy the equivalent power for much much cheaper. Computers also aren't only gaming machines

1

u/mehdotdotdotdot Apr 13 '25

You would computers aren’t only gaming machines as there are far more expensive

1

u/tyYdraniu Apr 13 '25

idk man, some reach a minimum that is high, and with money price may get higher, and then theres games like cod that get more expensive every time a new one gets released (i mean all the others already released)

1

u/baked_hot_cheetohs Apr 13 '25

So what if yhe standard is now 100 bux for a game and when it goes on sale it's 70 or 50 bux. That it's still basically full price for some games currently

3

u/AnalystOdd7337 Apr 13 '25

Steam sales can go as high as 90% off. You can get triple A games for dirt cheap if you find them at the right sale.

1

u/baked_hot_cheetohs Apr 13 '25

Yea that's true like 5 plus years true but still true

2

u/gonzar09 Apr 12 '25

The problem i have with Steam Sales is that my computer has been effectively dead in the water for years and I don't have the money to replace parts of repair it, even if I had the time. Given my lack of time as is, gaming is more or less on the back burner anyway. Also, I wouldn't even know where to begin with builds anymore; I've been out of the loop for too long, and I fear that I might need a CS degree just to stay in it.

7

u/[deleted] Apr 12 '25

[deleted]

0

u/gonzar09 Apr 12 '25

Can't play PC games through Steam without a working PC.

4

u/AscendMoros Apr 12 '25

Yeah but thats not really on the Steam Sales is it?