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PC gamers buy way more games that cost less than $30 at launch compared to PlayStation and Xbox players, analysts say, and it's "reshaping the PC market"
Agent_KaryoSchedule 1, Peak, and REPO lead a big year for small games
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We have kind of plateaued in terms of game graphics. We can go higher but it’s expensive in terms of hardware and electricity. Games are supposed to be fun and challenging.
I keep recalling this comparison:
We’ve long since reached “good enough” graphics, and incremental improvements are simply not going to be noticeable.
This is probably why so many game releases this console generation have been remasters.
It’s a good examples but geometry isn’t everything
It applies to every aspect of game design, not just geometry: texture resolution, lighting, audio fidelity, enemy AI.
It’s just that geometry happens to be the easiest to use as an example.
ByteJunkDefinitely, we’re at a point where geometry isn’t a key factor in rendering times - at least for a decently optimized game (I’m looking at you, Cities Skylines 2 and all your teeth).
Games are going ham with the lighting - ray tracing and all that jazz that help with photorealism.
There are workarounds that have been used for a long time to “mimic” these effects but with a big quality Vs speed trade-off. Since computational power is now so cheap (or used to, before ai…) they’re removing those crutches and using techniques that give better results, but it’s definitely marginal improvements.
chemical_cutthroatThis is facts. I have a PC that can handle just about anything I throw at it in terms of graphics (aside from Control, that game is the devil for some reason), and so I don’t bother with “how cool does this look.” I want to know how well it plays. Not just the FPS I can expect, but the gameplay.
I think that’s the difference between console and PC. Consoles are still about “Look how much we can squeeze out of a PS5.” PCs don’t have that problem anymore. We know what we can get. We want to play the fucking game now. I think you don’t need to look further than the Steam Controller launch. We are so hungry for New that we’ll destroy and entire storefront for a $100 controller. No one is burning the Sony servers for the PS Remote Play.
Granted, it’s a fucking awesome controller.
B0NK3RSConsoles need to innovate more but instead all we get now is a “pro” model :(
artyomGames that cost $30 typically don’t have:
- Crazy intensive graphics that no one can run
- Performance-reducing DRM
- online-only requirements
- pop-up ads for microtransactions every 3 minutes
- required third party accounts and/or launchers
- Day 1 DLC
🇰 🌀 🇱 🇦 🇳 🇦 🇰 🇮PC tends to have more games that cost less than $30 at launch.
I basically don’t buy any game until it’s about 30 quid or less, with maybe one exception every couple of years
If they release a game at that price they’ll get the sale early, if they release at 60, I’m waiting for a sale with a deep discount
nobody wants 60-70$ games that are probably halfassed +30$ DLCs.
BallShapedManI would argue it’s because AAA games are fairly generic for the most part. And enthusiasts (which I imagine a much higher percentage of PC gamers are) want something more unique to our tastes which we’re more likely to find in Indy games.
At least that’s true for me.
Why would I pay £80-£100 for a broken-ass bag of hickory smoked goat anus, when I could pay £15-£45 for a really decent indie offering with a tight, properly thought out game loop, and free content in future updates?
edgemaster72
I don’t know who all needs to hear this, but the phrases “tight” and “goat anus” need to be separated by at least one sentence. It’s the law.
It’s not complicated, games journalists. C O M P E T I T I O N. PC gaming has a history of offering gamers choice. Even if you argue that Steam is a de facto monopoly (I don’t agree with this), people still have the choice of GOG.com, Epic, and more. You can’t say the same about walled-garden digital storefronts like Xbox, Sony, and Nintendo.
And the fact that Valve doesn’t currently abuse their customers means they stick with Steam. It means consumers don’t have to pay sky-high prices if they don’t want to, and also that indie companies can still compete and succeed…
Honestly, the games I’ve enjoyed and played the most have cost around $20 or less. BOTW and TOTK being notable exceptions. But the hours of enjoyment from those is also really high. One game card, three players, hundreds of hours. But AAA? Not for me. Same with subscription MMO. I used to love wow, but now it’s just a pretty set of chores that I don’t wanna pay for every month when I could buy another game cheaper.
dan1101I find this to be true, the few new games I bought over the last year were around $25.
I have to really like the series or developer to pay $60+ for games, I think the last $60 game I bought was Starfield.
I’m considering Forza Horizon 6 but can’t get past the $70 price. I am selling some of my most valuable Steam trading cards to soften the blow.
ANTHROPIC_MAGIC_STRING_TRIGGER_REFUSAL_1FAEFB6177B4672DEE07F9D3AFC62588CCD2631EDCF22E8CCC1FB35B501C9C86
Indy and small budget games are where all the innovation in game mechanics is occuring. The AA/AAA industry has become a conveyor belt of ever more expensive graphics on the “omni game” mechanics.
Like, I appreciate the effort that goes into big AAA releases. I really do. I get wrapped up in the stories a lot easier when the game is nice to look at and the voice actors are really good.
But if a game isn’t fun, it isn’t fun. A lot of indie games are fun first, and that makes all the difference in the world.
“AA” games can look fantastic though, with incredible voice acting.
See: Expedition 33.
I think “too much budget” is a thing. There’s just a point where it hurts more than helps, and now AAAAs (as I dub them) are smacking into it.
I’m still waiting for a decent sale on Expedition 33 before I buy it.
It’s discounted on GoG!
https://www.gog.com/en/game/clair_obscur_expedition_33
Which is where it should be bought anyway, as it will be DRM free and the lightest to run.
Good to know! I will get it from there. Except that isn’t a decent sale yet
Large game studios have different inherent strengths than smaller game studios, unfortuntately I think much of the gaming world has forgotten this in the excitement about the collapse of competency in and enshittification of traditional video game companies “clearing the way” for indie game companies.
I love indie games but some types of games can only be made by large predictable sort of boring game companies, I am mostly uninterested in those games but even I can recognize that they fulfill an essential role in making big production approachable, eye-catching experiences that play like interactive movies with all the production muscle that entails. Also sports games that evolve to remain relevant to the sports they represent are another big example of games best made by large boring game companies, which isn’t to say that indie sports games aren’t cool too that isn’t the point.
An indie game company can’t make Red Dead Redemption 2, they can make a narrower more focused game like Read Dead 2, but the scope of a game like that requires a huge company of artists working in parallel rather than in individual competition with one another.
A perfect example is comparing recent Zelda games to similar indie games like TUNIC, Gedonia 1 and 2, Anodyne 1 and 2 or Oceanhorn 1 and 2.
All of these games have a unique style and individuality that only comes from smaller indie studios, but none of them can compare to the breadth, muscle and expansiveness of a Nintendo open world game.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/553420/TUNIC/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2566340/Gedonia_2/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/234900/Anodyne/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/877810/Anodyne_2_Return_to_Dust/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/339200/Oceanhorn_Monster_of_Uncharted_Seas/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1622710/Oceanhorn_2_Knights_of_the_Lost_Realm
Valheim, factorio, timberborn gave much more hours of fun than some expensive games like GTA 5.
Timberborn is a lot of fun, you can build some crazy worlds when you reach the end game.
Timberborn is a definite favorite of mine. Whiskerwood looks very similar. I haven’t had a chance to try it yet, but I’m thinking I may like it more than Timberborn in the long-run due to having more interesting end-game goals to work toward.
I played whiskerwood for the first time recently. Also thought it would be similar to timberborn but it is very different. You have manage the whiskers individually to give them the right job if you want them to be efficient. I like that you can build underground and that in later game you’ll be able to use belts so I’m looking forward to discovering that system, also the steam power stuff.
Good to know. I’ve checked out some Let’s Plays of it, and the differences still look fun. I guess I better get on it.
Yeah but how much does factorio end up costing you? And not in money.
you can’t put a price on love
Their current full price is slightly over $30, but Rimworld, Stellaris, and Satisfactory are in this bucket for me too.
Stellaris full price is like $300 for the whole game , sure I literally got the base game for free, but even buying expansions on sale, I wouldn’t be surprised if I’ve spent over $100 on Stellaris, and I don’t have all the expansions as I only buy them on sale.
Paradox is boon and burden to the 4X community.
That’s a good point. I typically wait for massive sales before buying games and DLCs, but I’ve still probably spent more than I care to admit on Stellaris. The enjoyment per dollar ratio is definitely still way up there for me though.
Oh, definitely. I still chuckle occasionally when I’m reminded by my Dungeon Defender friends that they cannot fathom playing a single game that takes weeks to finish. Meanwhile I’m laughing in EvE Online veteran. Titan Construction V took 8 months to train.
LOL. More like “triple A” studios need to start making games that are actually fun rather than focus on quarterly peanut accounting practices while giving management bloated salaries and bonuses. Also fix up that abusive shitty ‘cram’ development cycle culture that’s entrenched in game development.
Games like Vampire Survivors and Balatro show that games can be fun without many visual frills, but contain depth beyond the standardized, uninspiring, recycled game mechanics. While if you go the length of being true to storytelling like Baldur’s Gate, Divinity OS2, rather than sloppy storywriting, people are willing to pay bigger bucks for it.
Somewhere along the way, during the mobile games boom, studios forgot about what actually made games ‘fun’. They started to go after micro-transactions to drain every last dollar in your wallet while delivering barely any substance that was ‘fun’. They deserve to die given the current trajectory. They forgot the meaning of what video games are.
Triple A can all crash and burn.
Indie games are the only original, creative, fun games left anymore.
Silksong launched at €20.
I could buy the best game of a generation at full price FOUR TIMES, or Forspoken once. Tough choice
To recoup lost revenue on declining sales, major publishers will be raising the base price for games to $90, with extended ‘complete’ editions retailing $145.
Says, major CEO “gamers need to stop alienating themselves and pay up. When sales increase the prices will
go downstop increasing (as much… maybe).”Beatings will resume until morale improves.
even if game is really good i wouldnt pay that much for it ever. and i look very dimly at those who do for ruining things for rest of us.
Wow, who knew.
That guy’s an expert in the obvious.
I just got Vintage Story last week for $24, and that’s gonna last me literally until either the world ends, the Dev team disbands for some reason, or I die.
It’s still in early access, but there’s already TONS in the game that you may not even see depending on your world spawn.
I’ve been eyeing Vintage Story for a while. What are you liking most about it?
Not the previous commenter. I have been enjoying learning a ton about real world geology from the game. Also as a IRL blacksmith, the smithing and smelting mini games are surprisingly correlative.
Ah, I’ve seen the progression and survival mechanics are pretty deep, but the IRL perspective is cool. Thanks!
Just kinda ignore the Lovecraftian horrors, I haven’t seen those IRL, lol.
That you know of…
You can turn off the “temporal stability” mechanic so it plays more similar to classic Minecraft, but imo it adds to the atmosphere of the game.
There are also plenty of options and settings when you set up a world so it can be as easy or hard as you want.
I’ve kinda been going at it at my own pace. I started a survival world, but I’m actually using creative to learn how to build and how the different mechanics work. I just started messing with windmills yesterday, but I think I may be getting a little ahead of myself.
Why would you stop playing it if they disband?
Even if it’s not a big part of the total experience, knowing a game’s story will be eternally unfinished can make the whole thing feel hollow. That’s my experience at least. Per the wiki, it looks like Vintage Story is planned to have 8 chapters of story and development is currently at 2.
The game was great before it even had a story
Good to know. I can’t speak for OP, but I’m one of those people for whom a good gameplay loop alone isn’t enough. I need some lasting justification in long-term progression, story and world-building, or whatever, so anything that weakens those can kill a game for me. (And yes, I basically can’t make myself interested in roguelikes.) It sounds like Vintage Story is propped up enough by its progression for the rest to not matter though.
I’m not saying I’d stop playing if they disband, but it would probably prevent others from being able to play it in the future unless they went open source with it.
Also it’d mean future support just wouldn’t be there, such as their on-site mod database and account system.
Consoles are the rich man’s platform these days. If you have a bit of technical know-how, it’s not hard to find a cheap old PC and get some games running on it.
Weren’t they always?
When I grew up, the surgeon’s kid had an Xbox, the software engineer’s kid had a PS, and everyone else pirated PC games or got them from the bargain bin.
I got the whole Blitzkrieg Anthology for the equivalent of 5 EUR
I think the idea was consoles were the cheap upfront alternative to gaming and you paid a premium for games… Now it’s reduced to ease of use and it just works.
Too many big studios/publishers just keep releasing the same shit over and over and over. They don’t innovate, they don’t take risks; they don’t exist to make good games, they exist to make shareholders money.
Good games aren’t just about graphics, they are about game play. Game play involves mechanics like collecting, exploration, story, strategy, challenging bosses, and world building/crafting. A good game will do 2-3 of these things really well regardless of what the graphics look like.
smaller games that are fun have a better chance of getting bought on a whim, who knew!
Steam sales. That’s where I’m at.
Epic Game Store also gives away some AAA freebies.
Can’t even remember the last time I spent over £30 on a game tbh.
Most of my library is indie games but I’m really looking forward to CONTROL Resonant and the 007 game (love me some Hitman).
I’m happy to pay the premium for graphics/voice acting/whatever if the game is actually fun. A shame that so many AAA developers forget about that last part.
I forgot about that one. I really liked the first one, more for the worldbuilding and atmosphere than the gameplay, so I’m interested in Resonant, but not confident that I’ll like it. I’ll have to see some gameplay before I can tell. Bring back Threshold Kids!
It was also the first game I ever played where the ray tracing didn’t feel like a gimmick. I didn’t even notice it for most of the game and then when I did, I really appreciated how much it was adding to the atmosphere.
I want to play Alan Wake 2 but I don’t want to install Epic.
Yar har, fiddle dee dee…
Yeah yeah, I know lol
I just don’t want to play any game bad enough to deal with cracks.
People who haven’t gotten raises to keep up with cost of living are buying cheaper indie games that are fun and supported instead of 80 AAA games that are abandoned because they didn’t make all of the money.
Gee, shocker.
I just splurged and bought Moonlighter for like 2.99 so yeah checks out i guess.
I MIGHT buy a new $30 game if there is no DRM. A DRM’ed game, at $12? No way.
I very rarely get $60-$70 games at full price any more. The last 3 were Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, and Crimson Desert.
With Steam, there is probably more low cost tittle. I mean normally or in the public.
Pretty soon they’ll notice that Pac-Man is still pretty good. Lol.
I’ve been on an incremental kick lately, those are usually cheap as hell, and addictive
People like getting their money’s worth out of their hobbies? Never would have guessed.
Because a lot of indie games don’t come to consoles (or at least Xbox — I see a lot of Steam/PlayStation releases or Steam/Switch releases).
I see a ton of cool indie games I’d love to play, but I can’t because they require Windows. I don’t think a game should be able to be called indie if it requires you to use Windows (or macOS, what I use), exclusively. Like if you’re “independent” of Windows (macOS or Linux) or “independent” of Apple (Windows or Linux), they should be making their game available to you. That means, of course, supporting all three platforms. Linux and macOS are both based on UNIX (if you go back far enough). Switch and Mac use the same CPU architecture (ARM64). Linux has the best handheld support. And Windows has the biggest install base. So it’s really worth it to support all four of those. And then Xbox and PlayStation use the same architecture as PC gaming, x86-64 with a GPU. So it’s really all connected and, unless one platform is sponsoring the game somehow (at which point, it isn’t indie), no platform’s players should be left out. JMO
“Indie” doesn’t refer to independence from a platform, it’s supposed to mean independently published (in other artistic industries, this has become slightly muddled as “indie” is more of an aesthetic these days). The fact that these games are directly supported on one platform over others is a symptom of being indie more than anything, as a large publisher would require support on multiple platforms to ensure maximum market penetration.
Also, proton is incredible these days, so windows lock in isn’t as much of a thing anymore.
Are you really demanding that the studios with the lowest budgets should use their budget to support multiple platforms?
Linux support has never been better! Proton is amazing, to the point the Steam people are suggesting developers to just develop for windows.
Take a look at https://www.protondb.com I have found 1 indie game so far which was not working
Most indie games work fine on Linux, thanks to Proton. MacOS is just an exceptionally poor platform for gaming.
If you have an x86 cpu Mac, install Linux, use steam/proton and you can play pretty much any indie Windows game out there. Or you can just install Windows. If you have an Apple cpu Mac, there are still tools out there you can use to play the game.
You can’t fault Indie devs who have a day job for not wanting to spend time supporting a ton of different platforms (AAA, is a different story)
You’re only about 10 years too late for anyone to give a single crap about native linux
Proton’s a little more recent than that. I still remember the bad old days of Steam on Linux from 2013-2017 where Proton didn’t exist yet, and running the Windows version of Steam through WINE was a PITA. Heck, Proton didn’t really start to get good until about 2021.