The average has barely changed, but the median suggests a rise in cheap games
FlashMobOfOne
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223d

My rule is I’m only willing to pay a dollar for every expected hour of play, so you can imagine I buy few things at full price.

The last two games I paid full price for were Elden Ring and Mandragora. I am far more likely to pay full price for an indie title that I’m excited about than anything else, because as an artist myself, I fully understand the impact of a pre-purchase on an indie studio.

@[email protected]
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823d

I would also generally consider £1/hour of gameplay to be pretty terrible value tbh. Truly good games are more like £0.10/hour or less

FlashMobOfOne
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23d

That’s fine. I don’t agree with you.

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723d

If you only look at $/hr, there are some 70 hr games which milk your time and should have been shorter, like Assassin’s Creed, and then there are short, story rich games, like Outer Wilds, which are absolutely worth it even at more than a dollar an hour.

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123d

Prefer games like Factorio or Rimworld that you can get many 100s of hours from.

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323d

People spend like $20 to watch a 2 hour movie, $1/hr isn’t that unreasonable

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223d

To you perhaps. Cinema is less than half that cost here and even then I go less than once a year because I don’t really feel like most films that come out are worth bothering to see given the combined effort and cost.

Agent_Karyo
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423d

Not to mention that not all gaming hours are equally fungible.

There can be shorter narrative games where a given hour is worth more (to me), so the higher per hour cost is justified.

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323d

Agree 100%. Played Dispatch last week and had a blast. Very short, but worth the money imo

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23d

2 hour movies are also competing with streaming services like Netflix where people can see many more hours of TV shows and movies for less. Some just stick to youtube which requires no money and has some free movies there too.

Its like how people can drop hundreds and thousands of hours on f2p games without spending any money. $/hr valuation is outdated.

To be convinced to spend, consumer has to be convinced what a game is offering is unique to other cheaper and sometimes free alternatives. $/hr is something they will have a hard time competing with.

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122d

I don’t strictly adhere to it or anything, but I think it’s a good reminder sometimes when I balk at the price of a new game that I’m liable to spend hundreds of hours playing.

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122d

Yeah. Only reason I mention hours not being so important is because I’ve bought many games that are 5-10 hour experiences because I found the aspects like the atmosphere, story, or gameplay very compelling.

On a per hour basis The Finals has been the clear winner for me past 2 years its been out dropping over a hundred hours a year with no money spent. And enjoying more than paid multiplayer games.

@[email protected]
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122d

That’s generally how I follow it also. Though I add the stipulation that they’re enjoyable hours, and it’s not hardline. I know not every game can be measured that way. If it’s a particular genre or series, l might take the dive anyway. For indies, it goes even further than that. Some I track for years before release, so I pre-order as soon as it becomes available, just to support as much as I can. So $/hr is a good baseline, but it’s deeper than that.

@[email protected]
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223d

I like some of the early access development styles used in things like Enshrouded and Satisfactory, so mostly ive been spending on games like that. I like the idea of collaborating with a player base to create a game together I think.

FlashMobOfOne
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123d

Oh definitely. I’ve enjoyed the experience of helping devs mold a title into something better in exchange for a lower price.

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23d

I like your dollar an hour rule though, I might use that in the future. Its funny though, my most played game was free and I have 2000+ hours in it!

Edit: I forgot rocket league was 30$ originally! Still a good deal!

FlashMobOfOne
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123d

Yeah, the games I’ve spent very little on I’ve put a ton of time into, like Vampire Survivors, Noita, and Dungeon Defenders.

@[email protected]
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123d

I’m totally ok paying $30 for a ten hr game, I appreciate shorter games. But if it’s boring or unfun for a whole hour in, I’m getting a refund.

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423d

It all depends on what you’re looking for. I’ve put hundreds of hours into games and gotten way less than $1/hr, and I’ve also had a great experience paying significantly more.

So I don’t see games in terms of $/hr, especially these days when I’m more limited by time than money. Instead, I look for unique experiences with cost being a much lower factor. Generally speaking, I spend much less than $1/hr since I buy a lot of older games, but I’ve spent far more ($5-10/hr) on particularly interesting games.

But yeah, generally speaking, I’m willing to pay more for indies than AAA titles because indie games are more likely to offer that unique experience.

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