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Xbox first party titles expected to hit $80 USD this holiday; Game Pass pricing currently unchanged.
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Weren’t consoles supposed to be the cheaper, more convenient option?
They were until an orange bitch started a trade war. Now everything is going to be too expensive, consoles and PCs alike.
To be fair, the trade war was going on long before trump enacted tariffs.
If you ever saw someone spreading FUD about Huawei or Tiktok, it’s because they’re peddling rhetoric put there by our rulers to stoke the fires.
I mean, barring Nintendo, they still are and will continue to be as long as you don’t need to have games on day one. I very rarely spend more than $20 on Xbox games. Most AAA games go on sale within the first few months. $70 Ubisoft titles will literally be $15 a month after release, not that Ubisoft makes much worth buying these days but it was just an example. The digital storefronts (again, not Nintendo) have sales constantly, you just need a little impulse control.
PC Linux Sales
I didnt know Linux manufactured solid controllers. Can you link me one? /s
Like for real: Xbox Controllers are actually good.
Wish I could agree, but the consistently broken bumpers really irritate me.
I have gone through probably 20ish Xbox controllers, the 360 controllers were the most durable (except the stick rubber bit) whereas the core and series controllers and even my elite 2 controllers have all had the bumpers break or otherwise stop functioning.
I replaces the bumpers several times manually, then with the elite 2 they changed the design but now it breaks at the actual button instead of the flimsy plastic piece like on the core/series controllers.
Luckily putting some ISO on the button and throughly cleaning it along with sticking a small piece of paper near the actuator seems to have fixed it for several months.
I would love a solid controller with Xbox style layout (particularly the thumbsticks) replaceable sticks and 4 back paddles. I think the Playstation TouchPad would also be a welcome addition for PC navigation or steam input mapping.
20 controllers bro you have a problem and it’s not the controllers. My original Xbox 360 controllers from 2006 still work. My original Xbox one controller still works. My series x launch controller from 2020 still works. And I play dark souls. You have some other issues to sort out.
I blame Skyrim/Fallout and Dark Souls/ER, so much bumper pressing in those games.
I also use them A LOT, even being a PC gamer lol if it supports controller, that’s how I’m playing it.
I do think where I comfortably press it probably has to do with it.
If you think I’m like throwing them around or doing crazy stuff like that, I don’t haha.
Edit: If you look online, it’s very common for the bumpers to fail
You’ve probably tried this but in case you haven’t: try putting isopropyl alcohol in the gaps around the bumpers, it can clean the contacts and make the bumpers work again.
But yeah I’ve also has a ton of first party xbox controllers fail on me, although usually its the left stick or right trigger (I mostly play rocket league which abuses both) and was mostly the xbox one controllers so I’ve switched to more durable 3rd party controllers.
Ha yeah, that’s how I got the elites functional again, took it apart and did it directly at the button, so far so good after several months.
The Xbox one/core controllers though it was usually part of the thin plastic bit that connects the bumpers (it’s all one piece for some reason…)
So are the vastly more affordable 8BitDo controllers!
8bitdo controllers are fucking amazing.
It’s all I use now. They are so good.
Fact. Thats all I use now. Just ordered another one today lol
Playstation controllers have more features though, and arguably better Linux support.
Said features are mostly gimmicks, and quite frankly the symmetrical stick placement is uncomfortable and outdated by nearly 20 years. Even my $40 8bitdo controller I use for my Switch feels more premium than a $80 PS5 controller. In every other case be it PC, android, or Xbox I am going with the Xbox controller.
and quite frankly the symmetrical stick placement is uncomfortable and outdated by nearly 20 years
sorry but I have to disagree, it’s so much more comfortable than the mismatched sticks other controllers have
fuck Sony BTW, they patented said symmetrical stick placement and the world is worse off because of this
I prefer the symmetrical sticks, calling it outdated is just cult of inevitable progress vibes. Also the touchpad is hardly a gimmick when we’re talking about PC as a gaming platform. If anything a touchpad should become standard on all controllers.
My biggest complaints with the dualsense controller is that the shape of it starts to feel uncomfortable after long game sessions, the ds4 was better. Also the dpad sucks.
Idk, gyro aiming is pretty sweet.
I’m also not a fan of the symmetrical sticks, but it doesn’t bother me a ton, and having gyro aiming as an option is a big value add. I definitely don’t pay full price though, I’ll only pick it up on sale.
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It’s strange really. You can buy 4 extremely good indie games for the price of one game. And that’s at a 20 each.
And with steam sales and sharing…valve is fun.
Trying to raise the “standard” price to $80 will have very nice ripple effects of more pricing diversity, where each game will really consider what it’s actually worth, which we haven’t had for a long time. Even now we’re getting first-party Microsoft titles releasing at $20, $30, and $50.
I think all it will do is raise the ceiling of what publishers are willing to price games at. If they think they can get away with it, they’ll charge $80 instead of $70, with the rest being $70 and less just like it already is now.
How much is Factorio worth though, everything?
The amount of time I’ve put in it could have cost me $200 and it would still be one of the best $/hr games I have
I bought it long before the steam release, back when multiplayer was in experimental. So glad that there are 1000s of hours that were never tracked so I don’t need to see those.
If they charged according to value no one on Earth could afford to buy it
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Steam doesn’t advertise at the scale of Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. It won’t have a ripple effect because it won’t change the degree to which artificial hype drives people towards the “Buy” button.
Steam doesn’t need to. It’s got the steam sale and a hundred million people to share memes of “sale so good spent all my money no time to play all the games I bought in such massive sale”
You don’t need to promote if everyone else does it for you lol.
A lot of games priced at $70 right now are having a rough go of it, so charging more on top of that isn’t going to help, but there are the likes of South of Midnight and Clair Obscur launching at $50. If your game isn’t as hot of a commodity as Mario Kart, you’re probably going to try to lure people in with a lower price.
there are the likes of South of Midnight and Clair Obscur launching at $50.
Beautiful games, both. But again, they aren’t having the full court press of advertising like a new Call of Duty or Final Fantasy or Diablo would.
That’s the real cost savings. You don’t need to change $80+ for a game if you aren’t focused entirely on presale figures to justify your studio’s budget.
Incidentally, you also get to focus on a better game. Balatro didn’t need wall to wall subway ads in New York to end up on everyone’s phones.
you dont own those games brotherman
Not ALL steam games have DRM. Yes, you should buy from GOG whenever you can, but if you use Linux like me, GOG doesn’t give a shit. It can be hard to decide, support DRM free games and proper ownership with GOG, or expanding compatibility with Linux and improve it in general. If its cheaper on steam cause of a sale or something, I’ll buy on steam, then years later like with DOOM 2016 for example, I’ll buy it when it hits like 4 bucks on gog. That way, I have acces to an offline installer, and I show support and interest to valve for investing in proton.
Another option is to buy through Heroic Games Launcher. Heroic gets a cut, and GOG sees what they’d have to do to earn your entire dollar.
thanks for spreading the word
looks like the solution i needed for all the smaller more useless launchers. wich it included connectability to ea/ubi/battleNet’s launchers too
Xbox for example seems more solid to me as a gamerscore addict for example. Steam obviously the main standard you wouldnt want to compress
What? You can buy gog games through heroic?
Yeah, it just launches a web browser in the client, but behind the scenes, it’s using a referral code in partnership with GOG to make sure they get a cut. So you can support DRM-free and Linux gaming support at the same time.
Oh shit I had no idea. If I didn’t buy so many on my phone I’d be doing this. Next time I’m buying gog on my deck, it’s through heroic.
Completely forgot about that, I do really like the Heroic Launcher.
Your not wrong. If it weren’t for steam being absolutely stellar than I wouldn’t be buying games from them. I would try to go through gog. But with their work on proton alone I personally give them a pass.
I’d almost argue the same with modern consoles with all the crappy digital bullshit and planned obsolescence
To run the games i wanna play would require a pc worth 3 ps5s
Edit: people here don’t like facts, but where I live a pc that matches a ps5 is around $1500+ it you’re lucky. Yes your pc is better than my ps5 in the same way that your Ferrari is better than my Honda. But I like Hondas.
You can also tweak the graphics settings and get a budget PC.
Again, no. Why not just get a ps2? I want current gen games and I know that for this to be comparative on pc it costs nearly triple
I’m playing current Gen games on my steam deck and my 2019 PC build…
You can play other games, there is so much to choose from just drop the expensive ones.
Again no, that’s not my taste. I’m just saying steam doesn’t work for most people. The convenience of a console alone is always gonna keep me. To know i can buy a game 5 years after the console is released and it’ll run. PC gaming is superior, but it costs way more and takes way more work. Im it’s not convenient for casual people like me, especially since I want to sit on my couch with a controller and not have to interact with a computer
If you can afford the cost of console game prices, more power to you. They’re pricing me out and I know I’ll have no choice but to switch to PC in the future if I want to be able to keep playing games.
Steam doesn’t work for most people? You sure about that? It has 132 Million active users, that’s nearly double the number of PS 5s that have been sold!
Very odd comparison, you need to buy a ps5 to be a ps5 user, you don’t need to buy anything to be a steam user, you just need to sign up and you’re considered a user.
Very odd comparison…
Not really. There are more people using Steam than own a PS5 or Xbox X. So in what reality does Steam “not work for most people”?
you just need to sign up and you’re considered a user.
You’ll note that I used Steam’s ACTIVE user statistic. That’s not people who just “signed up”, those are people playing games on Steam.
Steam works just fine for most people.
*laugh sitting on the couch playing PC games off steam using a tv to display and a wireless controller
What are you even talking about …enjoy paying more for less, and paying monthly to play games while also being locked to whatever terms they decide all willy nilly.
As we are all switching from Windows to Linux, I’m actually surprised Microsoft is doing this. I guess they really don’t want to be competitive in the consumer market anymore. I guess they are making enough money through military contracts now that they don’t need to cater to us.
We all? I mean, I have, but we represent single digit percentages of the market, which is why they keep shoving more bullshit into Windows that no one wants, because hardly anyone leaves Windows. The most that this affects Linux gamers is if you like their controllers or individual games that they publish, but that would be the same as on Windows as well.
We all, all of me. I don’t have to care about what others are buying, because Steam and Linux is an amazing gaming experience and they’re the ones missing out. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Truth. I swapped my laptop to linux a couple weeks ago, and then my ROG Ally, and next I’m putting linux on my gaming desktop. Just trying to decide on a distro for that one.
On my laptop I switched from Debian to Fedora and that had a distinct impact on gaming performance, though I think it had more to do with how I had it set up previously. For instance I used full disk encryption for Debian, but skipped that on Fedora, because it does seem to impact games noticeably.
But it also might be because Fedora is more bleeding edge, so the OS itself might actually play a role here.
On my desktop I’ve been running Bazzite and that’s been pretty great so far.
I have fedora on my laptop, and it seems to game fine. I do have full disk encryption on. Maybe if I turn that off I’ll get even better performance? I have Bazzite on the ROG ally and that is doing really good. I’m thinking about putting fedora on the desktop
But your entire point was based on the idea that people are switching to Linux in droves…
That was somebody else’s point. I just chimed in with my own take. :D
Haha my bad! I’m usually good at looking for usernames, but I definitely didn’t look this time. Carry on, my bad
I still use my Xbox One to play some Battlefield games. But I’m never buying a new console ever again. Fuck Microsfot. Fuck Sony. And you know what Nintendo fuck you too. Price gouging, greedy fucks the lot of them. PC+emulators is now the way to go, fuck all these greedy companies.
Unfortunately greed is rampant in the PC market, too.
Wait till you find out about Nvidia and AMD
Microsoft may as well just cancel their whole Xbox hardware business. Xbox Series is a secondary market for Microsoft games after PlayStation and any console successor they release is going to limp to the starting line. At least the XSX had hype from the Bethesda acquisition and previous Obsidian/Inxile/etc acquisitions
Really we all need a Steam Deck 2 and a stronger Valve produced Strix Halo mini-PC
It’s looking like the Xbox will stick around as a cheap entry point into Game Pass and the games that Microsoft publishes themselves. Yes, I know, it’s not as cheap as it used to be, but still fairly capable for a game machine at that price. The Steam mini PC is likely on its way. A couple of months back, there were leaks of the new Steam controller that leaked on their way to be mass produced after finalizing the design, so they’d probably accompany the living room machine. In the meantime, I have a mini PC running Bazzite that’s been awesome, but with tariffs in the US, you won’t be able to get the same performance per dollar that I got.
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And the amount of money I spend on Xbox consoles, controllers, and games will be unchanged this year.
if anyone was looking for a good time to switch to PC, it’s now. some stuff will be harder but you’ll have steam sales and control over your own device (more than a console anyway, if your running windows you’ll still have to put up with Microsoft).
Yeah, I’ve been an xnbox user since 360 but I don’t think I’ll stick with another console.
I’ve been looking at handheld PC`s…
personally I prefer a laptop over a handheld but those should work decent too
if your running windows you’ll still have to put up with Microsoft
Luckily, there is another choice. Linux runs pretty smooth and has gotten much simpler to use over the years.
that’s what I was implying I switched back in August
All hail Proton!
I have Win11 at work and its frustrating as hell. Definitely switching over to linux when I decide to buy a new pc
Plus steam deck is pretty solid.
Well, that settles it. $80 games is going to be the new standard and Sony will quickly trail along. Oh well, nothing much has changed for patient gamers.
$80 on release day. $60 a month later. $40 a year later. $20 a year after that.
What you’re paying for isn’t the game, its the hype. An enormous component of a modern AAA game’s budget is just advertising. That’s what your $80 is going towards. You’re paying to have people tell you to buy it.
Even assuming you don’t feel like pirating… Just be patient, play something that came out a few years ago, wait for the next Steam Sale, and own the game for pennies on the dollar.
I agree with the first paragraph, not the ones after
https://mainleaf.com/how-much-does-it-cost-to-market-a-video-game/#elementor-toc__heading-anchor-0
As a rule of thumb, you’re looking at 25-50% of a AAA game’s budget going to advertising. So a $40 game becomes an $80 game in large part because the publisher is putting out $10Ms-$100Ms just to raise name recognition and build hype.
Except that if no advertising is done, the game’s sales are probably a lot lower (which is why they do it). If the game doesn’t do well initially, it’s less likely that you’ll find it years later as well
An enormous component of anything is advertising, I don’t see your point.
Oh well, nothing much has changed for patient gamers.
Aye. I wait until games are finished before torrenting them.
Feels good being off the consumer bandwagon. Games are coming out faster than I can beat the ones that came out years ago. I have enough digital entertainment for the rest of my life without ever having to spend a dime.
Yeah, buy most games at half price or less, fully patched up and with all the DLCs. Such a joy!
Thank you so fucking much Nintendo for upping the standard and the everyone else falling in line because consoomers didn’t scoff at all and sold out pre-orders
Valve hasn’t gotten the memo yet. Someone email them again?
No no no no someone stop them !
I think it was actually publishers like EA, Ubisoft, Blizzard, and Activision that started the price increase. For big titles they started raising them to $70 a year or two ago, then to 80. I think I remember Diablo 4 launching for $80, or so.
I only know this because I refuse to buy from these publishers.
Like Nvidia video cards did during the pandemic…
Game Pass pricing currently unchanged.
That is because the job of Game Pass isn’t to make money, it is to funnel customers into subscription services and destroy the idea that people buy games from artists.
Game Pass either succeeds and destroys the gaming industry like spotify did to music or Microsoft will abandon Game Pass.
Yeah, subscriptions are trash. Will be glad to see it go when it finally does.
Correction: It is to make money, but the goal is to get people to subscribe now then jack up the prices once people start relying on it.
It’s already happened and will happen again.
It’s a long con.
it’s bog standard capitalist formula. always has been.
It’s happening across the board at every industry.
Rather than try to appeal to a larger audience, they’ve found it’s more profitable to take greater advantage of an ever-shrinking pool of saps.
Mark my words, they legitimately don’t want the business of people with standards or self-respect. They want to cultivate communities where the only participants are Stockholm Syndrome victims and their abusers.
“Artists” lol.
The ratio is 100:1 (1 being an actual artist or a studio still enacting on this believe)People never bought music from artists.
They bought it from record labels.
Whenever you see an artist complain they had a million streams and made twenty dollars, it’s not Spotify that’s keeping it all.
Renting games and music seems like a bad idea to me, but I am in the minority. Buy a new album once a month for $8, after a year I have 12 albums. Pay that to spotify and I have nothing.
Gamepass is priced more aggressively at $12/mo, but I assume it’s a loss so they can eventually raise prices. Even so, if I buy a new somewhat discounted game for $36 every three months, after a year I have four games. With gamepass, I’m pretty sure I end up with nothing.
But I don’t think humans are known for long term thinking.
GamePass used to be such a good value, but it’s gotten so overpriced. I’d rather keep the money and spend it on a few games a year I get to keep. Plus, not being available on Linux and/or Steam Deck makes it easier to ignore. Never going back to Windows.
They’ve already plateaued and basically admitted to it. It’s a large revenue stream that’s not as large as they thought it would be, so now they’re going to coast with it and rely on just being a massive publisher instead.
The last three games I paid for were Minecraft, Factorio and Dwarf Fortress (pre-Kitfox).
I haven’t needed a new one since that.
Thank you Microsoft, for taking pressure off Nintendo. 😛
The difference is: Microsoft and Sony 1st party titles go on sale and eventually come down in price over time.
Nintendo first party titles are always full price, even for 5 year old games.
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That’s fair… But the point I was more trying to make is that Breath of the Wild, an 8 year old game that has a sequel out, is currently full price. It went on sale earlier this year for 40% off.
40% off a $70, 8 year old game is very different than 40% off an 8 year old game that was selling at $40-$50 without a sale.
Yup. The reality, while shitty, Microsoft still publishes games on multiple platforms (2 at minimum - PC and xbox). On PC, the games are sold on multiple storefronts with varying discounts and sales. Oblivion remastered just launched with a 17% discount on another store on PC for example.
Nintendo has a complete monopoly on the platform they publish for and completely control the prices.
For me, all these price increases are doing is moving me more towards PC. And to a larger degree off AAA titles all together.
Every game that has a physical release (and even some that don’t) does get sold by other retailers, and those retailers do regularly have sales.
Even, yes, for first party Nintendo games.
