Thank you. I will have a look at it, maybe they explain why the value of dollars changed so much in so little time. :smiling_face:

Edit: ok, I must be chart data stupid.
I’m in the Consumer Price Index summary after clicking to get the delailing of its contents. It doesn’t seem their investigation includes stats for people’s spending in leisure activities. Their investigation seems more based on living essentials (shelter, food, energy, medical care…). They explain the rise for these matters, but seem to exclude anything extra from the purchasing power (the ability to spend for leisure or not, and a comparison to past datas about it). I’m not very bright about this, am I wrong? :sweat:

image

When I say $50 in 1990 is $120 today, its due to inflation over 34 years. There is quite a few factors to what causes this. And its going to differ depending on which country you are in and what currency you use.

Now where things get weird (and to hopefully get keep the thread on subject) is video game prices did not increase over the last 4 decades. In fact one could argue they got cheaper due to inflation.

In 1990, a $50 video game would take nearly 12 hours of work at minimum wage to purchase. Today a $50 game would take only 7 hours (assuming $7.25/hr wage) at federal minimum wage. Though things get a little weirder since the amount of jobs that actually employ at that wage are actually pretty rare. I don’t know exactly what the average minimum is (as in the lowest wage in an area, not mandated minimums by local jurisdiction), but I’d say its about $12/hr where I live.

So what this means is its easier to buy video games now than it was in 1990. But it also means that the amount of investment returns from making a video game based on its retail price can be lower. For a game like Baldur’s Gate 3 they actually did quite well. Even though the game itself is only $60, they sold so many in volume that I’m certain it was quite the investment.

Super Mario Bros. 3 also did quite well in 1990 (and the years after) being one of the best selling games of all time. But this was tempered by the fact that cartridges at the time were costly to make, being actual hardware being shipped with the game. This is one of the reasons games didn’t really get more expensive. They went to CD/DVD media which could be printed, and then mostly digital media, which just requires Internet access and data storage.

However niche games like Conan Exiles will need to find other monetary means of generating revenue to make up for the fact that they aren’t going to sell several dozen million units a month. And that they are continuing to work on the game.

SMB3 for example spent around 11 months in development. Outside of the remake for the SNES. It never received further updates. So after 1991, any money made on that game was effectively just pure profit. Conan Exiles in contrast has been in active development since 2016. After 8 years, the developers, artists, etc still need to be paid for their time spent on the project.

Whether or not all that justifies the high prices in the bazaar or not is determined by a spreadsheet. Is the profit margin of Crom coin purchases equal or greater than what they expect at their price points and what they require? If the answer is yes. Then there is no reason to change it.

Feedback is actually not entirely relevant to that formula. The reason being is if they are meeting their goals, then that is a constant they know. Logic would say that they could potentially make more money by cutting the prices. The idea is that lower prices means more sales.

But its not a guarantee. People on these forums could say they would buy things if they were lower. Its no guarantee that they will. Its also not a guarantee that those who are buying will actually buy more things rather than be content with the purchases they normally make.

The only assured way to get Funcom to lower prices is to disrupt their margin goals. Or to wait until the item you wish to buy is no longer being purchased at its current price point, and more or less forces them to lower the price to continue earning revenue from it.

I can’t wait for the “lottery” chestes to come forward.
I’m sure these are going to be introduced once there’s more items in the bazaar, and I bet these chests are going to contain unique “from lottery chests only” items.
And that’s the day when real crying is going to start :joy: I bought a chest for $50 but got only generic bazaar crap worth $10 :rofl:

Your math is very accurate, but…

There is an element you are missing.
Disposable income. Compared the 90s, the amount of discretionary income households have has not improved. It’s gotten significantly worse. The economics of housing, food, ect, have done a nasty number on the amount of fun money a household has. The amount of the pay cheque that is devoted to essentials has ballooned.

Mind you, this one does not suggest video games in general as a place to spend limited revenue. However, the idea that something is easier to acquire is just a bit skewed because we aren’t including adjusted cost of living vs average income, ect…
This one is fortunate to be skating by in the tattered remnants of the middle class, but for many, the socio economic ladder has become a slide.

TLDR; yes the price of video games adjusted for inflation has plummeted while the amount of materials and technical requirements have ascended. However, the discretionary income a household has, the buying power average, has also plummeted.

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I wholeheartedly agree with your points @LostBrythunian. The cost of living, wealth transferance, and housing crisis has extracted a heavy toll upon the middle and lower classes.

I would also add some points of my own to counter this analogy. Two problems with that. For one, while I would not mind going back to that year, it is not 1990 anymore. You could make the same specious argument about a whole array of consumer goods. For two, Super Mario brothers was an entire game, NOT some 1 to 6 items.

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Whichever funny buzzwords you may use… it won’t change a simple fact, which is just a cascade of desire:
Thirsty eyes looking upon something -> the mind responds towards in madness -> and the heart is taken over by greed -> attachment unrolls in demand versus rejection.
Regardless of which game company you may quote, they all build on the customers’ greed.
So! - If you can’t overcome the urge of greed, it’s not this or any other company, which might be at fault. Sure they ALL feed and utilize greed, but finally, it’s still every single customer’s decision.

The image I showed took more space in memory than the entire game. It takes quite a bit more effort to make those items than the artwork of an 8bit game. The artists working on Conan Exiles are still working on Conan Exiles (the 1-6 items wouldn’t exist if they didn’t). They have wages that need to be paid. They have time spent in offices and on equipment provided by their employer who wishes to see a profit turned for giving said privilege.

If you wish for them to develop like they did in 1990, then all development on CE and all new art for it would simply cease and what we have is what we’ll have for the next couple of decades while our OS’s still support the game.

You guys are talking about the tolls the lower and middle classes have. And yeah that’s a rub. But sometimes you simply need to accept that luxuries are simply not available to every budget. Video games aren’t (and lets be honest… never were) supported by those in poverty. They’ve always gotten their entertainment from pa-wn shops and flea malls. Now they get access to relatively cheap games, while those with the incomes to provide subsidize the rest with expensive purchases.

If people weren’t buying these items, then this game wouldn’t be supported. The lower class cannot support game development.

Yes, artists have to be paid and new content costs money. No one is disputing that fact. And I personally have long filed that one under the ‘bleeding obvious’ category. It is NOT the fact that they are charging for the items that is being called into question, it is how much they are charging for items. I have provided a thorough comparison to this above in Post no.35. :point_up_2:

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I’m pretty fussy when it comes to Bazaar stuff and check the Funcom live stream before each Age drops, then allocate X amount of money for that particular Age. No topping up, no impulse purchases.

I haven’t purchased any crom coin myself since I don’t see anything in my price range. Ironically I’m in the minority it seems in that aspect, despite my position.

Depending on Games you play… Funcoms prices are ether batshit crazy or below high end.

CoD prices are just insane… Funcom prices are bad…but not CoD bad.

Also, alot of in-game shops over-price since a chunk of player base waits for sales.
You think your getting a discount…but just paying normal price it should be. Anyone who pays normal price is just being ripped off… while they think there being loyal.

I bought Sandstone stuff on sale… I kinda got my worth.
Not counting that?

There abunch of stuff in store that I like. But even on Sale, its over-priced.
I’d have spent 100-150$ by now…but instead. ZERO.

If Funcom wants any of my money at this point… Normal DLC prices would be a Great insert alot of swear words Start.

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Funcom doesn’t set the prices kid. If you can’t afford it you need a job. Anyways you can only blame Tencent for the pricing and if you’d done your research the prices are par for the course for TC.

This is not an incorrect assessment.
It also runs into the problem of the shrinking middle class, most of whom are not upwardly mobile.
This one honestly worries that we are approaching a gaming balloon, where the industry may collapse because the audience no longer can afford the realities of what it costs to pay game teams, with the added cost of paying the c-suite execs in charge.

This one thinks that there may be a better circulation of the prices were adjusted down. The idea of selling 100 items at $10 being significantly better than selling 20 at $20. But that is raw speculation.

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The most solid evidence that the prices aren’t hurting their bottom line is the fact that they are going up, not down.

Well, if people dont buy them, they will lower prices and sell more bundles.

As MarcosC said, the fact that the prices are going up is a sign that items are actually being bought and thus benefit Funcom. Raising prices is a sign of greed.

That’s how Capitalism works.
They’ll raise the prices until the profits are harmed or the competition (mostly inexistent in this case) comes up with better prices. It’s up to each person to mind his own finances. If you think the bazaar is expensive, don’t buy. Protesting will do you no good. Nobody who buys gives a f about it and those are the ones funcom uses to calibrate the prices. You can say, oh I would buy if it was cheaper. That’s bs. You would do one or two purchases and the moment you wanted something else that was out of your budget because of said purchases, you would come here complaining about the prices again. That’s how people work. Funcom knows this.

Ummmm

‘protesting will do you no good’ ‘its capitalsim’ :smiley:

This is the ‘feedback’ forum category.

Its the place where we give our feedback on the game and funcom’s practices.

Why do you waste your time and ours posting here? Or are you just trolling people? :roll_eyes: :wink:

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I am not saying you shouldn’t protest, @Dhalgren . Be my guest!
I’m saying it won’t work.

Correct!

Incorrect!

Every player, no matter the “class”, spends money.
Nothing is certain that a billionaire will spend more money than the “poor” in a game. If this “poor” has any console and play this game, then eventually he will spend just because it’s the only hobby he-she can afford. Gaming, especially on consoles is not an expensive hobby. On pc it’s another story and other dangers too.
So yes, “lower class” is supporting development!

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Initially through the first purchase of the game. Not much after however.

By the way… console gaming is incredibly expensive. Since I started PC gaming in the mid 1990s. I have still spent less on PC than I did on consoles prior. That includes the hardware in both. And I have way more to show for those purchases on PC. At the current rate, its still going to take me around 10-15 years to match the period prior.

You don’t get a console because its cheaper. You get it because its more convenient.

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