Rising video game prices in Poland

[Dr Skeleton]

I don't remember the last time I've paid more than ~100 PLN for a game, it might have been before Steam, and usually I pay a lot less. I rarely buy games at release though, everything is always discounted nowadays, I haven't even played some of the games I bought before everything goes -50% or more on every sale. Compared to the 90s games are cheap as dirt. Age of Empires 1 was something like 240 PLN for many years, most PC games were around ~159 PLN and never got discounted until they were put into a localized "classics" series in the 2000s. For comparison the average monthly salary in 1997 was 1000 PLN.

 

[karoliner]

Will Poland ever stop being exploited?

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

Guys, do you remember TopWare and their ~50 PLN policy? These games were great and with the price only a little bit higher than pirates.

 

[Zlaja]

Considering how much 'polish this polish that' talk we end up with in every other thread, perhaps we should consider some sort of ethnic quota in order to solve our polish overrepresentation problem?

For the sake of diversity, of course.

 

[urmom]

Poland should spend 2% GDP on games if they want to stay in NATO. This is according to US President Drumpf.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I don't know what shit costs in potato land but games in the US have been $60 forever, despite inflation and rising development costs. I think their price isn't the real issue, the real issue is the middle-class is on life support and the compensation for that is cheaper imported good, but games cost the same as they always did, so they seem more expensive. Same with movies.

Forgot to reply to this.
(most) Games weren't always $60, no idea where this idea came from, I suspect the video game industry is using it as a basis for raising prices again.
Baldur's Gate was $40 at release
https://web.archive.org/web/19981203015035/http://www.ebworld.com/
age of empires 2 was $40
https://web.archive.org/web/19991018201027/http://www.ebworld.com/ebx/default.asp
unreal tournament for $35(a month before it released)
https://web.archive.org/web/19991128184608/http://www.ebworld.com/ebx/default.asp

 

[Citizen]

I had to pull some strings because Maxie removed me from the steam friendlist yet again

Sorry to all the other poles out there for the inconvenience, but this snowflake needs to be taught a lesson

 

[TemplarGR]

Forgot to reply to this.
(most) Games weren't always $60, no idea where this idea came from, I suspect the video game industry is using it as a basis for raising prices again.
Baldur's Gate was $40 at release
https://web.archive.org/web/19981203015035/http://www.ebworld.com/
age of empires 2 was $40
https://web.archive.org/web/19991018201027/http://www.ebworld.com/ebx/default.asp
unreal tournament for $35(a month before it released)
https://web.archive.org/web/19991128184608/http://www.ebworld.com/ebx/default.asp

Console games have always been 60$, PC games lower. Initially the reasoning was cartridge costs, then "console licencing costs" as opposed to PC, then there is no reasoning at all, they just say 60$ is the right price because it has always been like this.

 

[Hellraiser]

rusty_shackleford back when paper gaming mags were a thing I read, I remember reading the news that warcraft 3 was going to be 60 dollah a big thing and supposedly a first for a PC game back in the day. Blizzard started the decline it seems. Also I think PC Gamer mentioned on its website this week something new was gonna be 70 dollah, forgot what.

I never met a single person earning more than ~5000 PLN gross in Poland, but ok. Keep in mind, 5000 PLN gross will give you 3600 PLN net ($900 USD). Those statistics are complete bollocks, vast majority of people earn between 3000 and 3500 PLN gross in the cities and 2600-3000 PLN gross in the countryside.

Pretty much this except for the first sentence. Apart from managers and executives 5k gross or more is usually paid in specialized fields, so it is a very binary situation where either you know multiple people or nobody at all depending on your field.

Also the wage taboo in Poland is idiotic and only benefits employers.

BTW I wouldn't call the joints where you can get a decent meal (not burger, kebab, pancake, fast pasta etc.) for 20 PLN a good restaurant. Restaurant pricing starts at 30. Anything with lower prices is usually a bar mleczny or canteen and not really a proper restaurant, which for the purpose of the discussion was used by AwesomeButton as an example of an occasional luxury expense comparable to buying vidya. Canteens need to be economic to fit into the daily necessary expenses budget since you usually use them on a daily basis.

 

[PrettyDeadman]

Quit bitching. You are getting it cheaper than the standard price.

If getting games cheaper by 25% comes with earning 1/3 of what Germans on average do, then I'll take full-priced games and their salaries, thanks.

The solution is pretty simple. Zloty printer goes brrrrr while prices remain the same. Let the 1%er cry about muh luxury videogames while working class polish citizens get to buy all the games they want.

 

[TemplarGR]

Potato people shouldn't waste time to play vidya gamez, they have potatoes to grow.

 

[Mikeal]

Lol nigga just don't buy it.

 

[DalekFlay]

I don't know what shit costs in potato land but games in the US have been $60 forever, despite inflation and rising development costs. I think their price isn't the real issue, the real issue is the middle-class is on life support and the compensation for that is cheaper imported good, but games cost the same as they always did, so they seem more expensive. Same with movies.

Forgot to reply to this.
(most) Games weren't always $60, no idea where this idea came from, I suspect the video game industry is using it as a basis for raising prices again.

FMV games were much higher, as were big cart games on the consoles (Final Fantasy, Shadowrun, etc.). I paid $70 for Shadowrun, with my report card allowance bonus. Monkey Island says within the game itself it was $50. I don't remember big releases being $40 very often personally, but you're not wrong there was variance. But $50 was the average, and then $60 the average, despite decades of inflation and much, much higher development costs. Games in general are not too expensive, they're just not worth the money half the time because of their individual lack of value.

 

[Humanophage]

Russia is rather nice when it comes to free or cheap intellectual and cultural pastimes. Games are generally easily accessible for free, so I only buy them when they are seriously cheap (under $8, better if under $5) and I think the developer deserves it. If I recall correctly, in 1999-2001 a pirated CD that you could buy in a shop would ordinarily cost 90 RUB, which was 3 USD, so e.g. Planescape: Torment which fit on 4 CDs would cost 12 USD or maybe a little less.

It's similarly good for other things like music, audiobooks, books, films, etc. Services like VK have a much wider selection of music than e.g. Youtube or Spotify because there is less censorship and it's easier to upload tracks. Sadly, you can't access some audio if you have a foreign IP and they do censor some local artists, though nothing on the scale of Youtube. The selection of Russian audiobooks on free services is very wide and comparable to English audibooks at Audible, but often with more interesting early 20th century first sources instead of 5 variations of very short introductions. It's also very professional in quality and done by top actors instead of the Librivox style where they use 20 different people but all of them with speech impediments and awful mics. The selection on torrents beats Audible. Books are generally available for free on the internet, but the paper books were cheap, including hardbacks - they've grown a bit pricier now although it depends on the type of book (e.g., hardback classics are cheap). Then there are the free streamable films in high quality. Museums and theatre are also very cheap, albeit rarely free.

This is certainly very sweet not just because it saves money, but because it removes any impediment to improve your cultural development and tastes except your poor willpower or hopeless philistinism.