Memes

Also have to agree, that 1. Inflation wise, to a degree video games seem almost untouched by inflation. Which IMO is symptomatic of the real problem. The average person's budget for luxury items, is if anything going down. Hence why in spite of inflation resulting in everything else going out. game prices have been steadilly launching in the 50-$60 price range since the NES. Even with massively increasing team sizes etc...

Personally I'd be happy for luxury items to be spiraling upward at a steady rate, while housing/transportation/necesities all lock with wages.

IMO I think that's basically what kills the luxury goods/entertainment industries. Is that AAA games cost way more, take far larger teams than ever before, but at the end of the day, they need to sell them to the same masses, that have if anything less disposable income than they did in the days that AAA games were made by a team of ~10.

So yes in my opinion in short, I don't consider the idea that video games jumping up in price, at a rate that's insanely low compared to inflation. After 25 years, a video game goes up from $50-$80 (and it can be noted that in that time team sizes have multiplied tenfold), meanwhile in 2 years a shitty one bedroom apartment in a small city's rent goes from 600 to 900, while they are cutting the staff etc...

Nintendo used to have Nintendo Selects where the price of a game would be significantly reduced after hitting sales benchmarks, usually $20 when the original game was $50. During the whole run of the Nintendo Switch, no games were given this discount. So on top of charging more for game, they remain charging more for longer, or indefinitely. Breath of the Wild, a launch title for the switch from 2017 is still $59.99 on the eShop today. After Iwata passed away, Nintendo went from making games for everyone to making games for their shareholders.

Switch games are a commodity, commodity production and how prices are formed and change over time has been studied and documented for centuries.