Gamer entitlement and the devaluation of the games industry: a rant

Wow, the entitlement of some gamers really has got out of control, hasn’t it?

Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve had people saying they are quitting PlayStation because they are not getting games for free on day one. Or saying that, despite getting 24 hours of entertainment that they thoroughly enjoyed, at the cost of less than £3 an hour, if there was a way they could get a full refund they definitely would.

It’s just absurd and is actually pretty dangerous for the future of the hobby. Microsoft isn’t winning by producing good games, I mean it’s not winning full stop, but what it is doing is devaluing games so much in the eyes of some that the costs involved will just be unsustainable with this mindset. This is exactly how crashes happen. Maybe that is their mid-term strategy, just bankrupt everyone else.

There is just so much wrong with this entitlement from gamers I’m not sure where to start. How about that most games were £40 in the 16-bit era at the start of the 90s, and until recently still were. Inflation has doubled prices in that time. Street Fighter 2’s RRP was £60 in 1994, that would be £120 now! Viewed historically, you’re already getting a bargain, even at full price, despite production costs rising exponentially.

Of course, nobody is forcing you to buy a game at full price on launch day. You know it will quickly come down in price with just a modicum of patience, maybe even be given out for free on PS Plus in a couple of years (yes, it is possible to actually wait for something you want but can’t initially afford).

These single-player games are also not ones where you are socially forced into buying because all your mates are online playing. Numerous people have also pointed out physical copies can be traded in to recoup most of the cost. Some people just have zero willpower. Games are ultimately a luxury purchase. You are not entitled to have any and all games you want for free, especially on launch day. Just imagine that for practically any other product.

But there are lots of games available for free or free-ish already, even ignoring Game Pass. Epic give away one to two every week. If you have a PS Plus sub you are getting a few every month. Nintendo Switch Online has loads of older titles. These may not always be classics, but a lot are more than worthy of your time and can fill the gaps while the new releases come down in price. There are so many available I have no idea how people don’t have huge backlogs that mean they never need something on day one.

The cost of living crisis is genuinely horrific to a lot of families, with kids going unfed and freezing, yet some people instead use it to complain that they can’t have every game they want to play on launch day for free. I find that quite revolting.

Look, we all need the idiots who buy full price on day one as it subsidises the rest of us. But it is your choice to do that. You know the price quickly comes down. You are not a victim. It is not symptomatic of a wider issue with game design, it is purely a reflection of your own purchasing habits, patience, and entitlement. You’re behaving like spoilt little toddlers who don’t understand why you can’t have everything you want.

By Ernie

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