I was inspired to write this letter after reading about the reader complaining that Far Cry 5 was more expensive than normal for a new game. I’m not sure if it is, it’s not a series I’ve ever enjoyed, but it got me thinking of the obvious advice: just wait a couple of months and buy it at a third of the price. Is it just me though or is that a bit crazy?

I mean, we’re talking about a £50 piece of entertainment that most people will get dozens of hours of entertainment out of and has taken anything up to five years to make and it’ll probably lose a third of its value in at least three months. (Could be longer if the game is super popular, I’m not really sure how well Far Cry sells.)

And then I thought of the other solution: wait for the sales. There’s bound to be another one along in a few weeks, if there’s not one going on already. The end result of this intense thinking session (I was in the bath) is that I realised what a mess video game pricing is. Nothing keeps it’s value for more than a few months and games can be half price or less within a year. And yet the most popular game of all at the moment is completely free.

In my view games should start off as half the price they are now and stay that way. No need for constant sales and waiting around. It’d also be much more honest because I assume the only reason they don’t do it already is profit off the saps that don’t realise how things work, which hardly seems fair. Or why not go the whole hog and make the games free? If it works for Fortnite, which seems to have completely avoid all the loot box complaints, then why can’t it work for everyone?

TL;DR Games are too expensive, they should be cheaper.

Soldat