“Aren’t games too expensive? Most of them are around 7,000 yen. I was surprised to see that a game I didn’t know much about was priced at 9,500 yen.” A post expressing surprise at the prices of recent video games has been posted on a major Q&A site, sparking a stir. The discussion began with a simple question: “Why are titles I’ve never heard of so expensive?” and then developed into a more fundamental question: what is the value of entertainment in modern times? There are differing opinions on the appropriateness of prices in entertainment. Looking at the responses we received, many of you pointed out that historically, game prices have been falling compared to the past. Several people commented, “During the Super Famicom era, a new copy cost over 10,000 yen,” and “Expensive software has been around that price since the Famicom era.” Furthermore, taking into account rising prices, some users seem to believe that the actual price has fallen significantly. On the other hand, there are many people who feel that current game prices are “high.” Some respondents pointed out that “now that free-to-play smartphone games have become the norm, the prices of consumer games certainly seem high,” and some sympathized with the questioner’s point about “high pricing for lesser-known games.” However, some analysts have suggested that it is actually “cheap” in terms of the amount of time you can spend playing. The specific calculation given was that “if you play a 7,000 yen game for 100 hours, it will cost 70 yen per hour,” and it was presented that compared to watching a movie at a cinema (2,000 yen per viewing, about 1.5 hours), it is highly cost-effective as entertainment. It was also pointed out that the appropriateness of the price varies greatly depending on the content and volume of the game. For example, in a large-scale open-world game like “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom,” the main story alone can take more than 50 hours, and if you include the additional gameplay elements, you can play for hundreds of hours. Some have said it’s difficult to compare such titles with smaller games that take around 10 hours to complete at the same price. From a software development perspective, some analysts have suggested that it is “even too cheap.” “The credits for modern games are very long, and there are a huge number of people involved in the development. It has been pointed out that the game was created over several years by a variety of experts in music, graphics, programming, and scenario writing. There are also voices saying, “Even free-to-play social games can cost hundreds of millions of yen to develop.” Considering the scale and costs of development, some have suggested that a price range of around 7,000 to 9,000 yen is somewhat reasonable. However, it’s important to remember that the value you get from each game varies greatly. For example, Minecraft can be enjoyed for thousands of hours thanks to its free creativity and limitless ways to play, while a highly polished remake such as the HD-2D version of Dragon Quest III, although it may only take a few dozen hours to complete, offers a new experience that combines nostalgia with the latest technology. The price of a game cannot be measured simply in terms of “high” or “low,” and it seems necessary to look at the overall quality and quantity of the experience. (Omitted) See the source for the full text.
There are people out there who have spent 10+ years on social games that they have no intention of paying for, so there’s no way to know other people’s values.
I don’t spend a single yen on smartphone games. But the games these days are so long and long that they go on sale anyway, so I end up waiting for them.
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