The cost of games in 1996!

[Harrison]

There is a lot of talk at the moment about games publishers deciding to start charging £70 for new games releases. It is a lot of money, but take a look at this advert from 1996 and how much video games were back then. It puts the cost of games now into perspective. Especially when you account for inflation.

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[Harrison]

I just put the £74.99 cost of some of those games into an inflation calculator, and the equivalent price today would be £180. For 1 game! :o

[Demon Cleaner]

I just put the £74.99 cost of some of those games into an inflation calculator, and the equivalent price today would be £180. For 1 game! :o
That's quite a price :o I know that old times the games were more expensive, but luckily we had C64 and Amiga so we didn't really have to buy our games :) Consoles were obviously another story, but my first ever console was the PSX which I even bought late after release when pirating was already flourishing.

[J T]

The console itself seems reasonably priced though. But yeah, inflation adjusted it seems crazy.

An addition, these days, there are so many discounts and online sales (not to mention gamepass or PS plus type affairs) which can make gaming cheaper but full price feel expensive.

I suppose as well, these days there are so many more little drains on my account than in the past, so it can feel like games are expensive but that's because I've already spent a lot on other entertainments. Back in the nineties, it was utilities, internet/phone bill and maybe a Sky subscription. But now, I also spend on Spotify, Netflix, Disney, Amazon Prime, PS Plus etc etc