Chart the changing cost of games?

[Jay]

the Atari 2600 advert in there shows "Cartridges from ?18.95" so at the time pretty pricey.

Pretty sure that in its early days, Atari 2600 games cost 30-40 quid.

EDIT: Just found this: http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic...ri-2600-games/

In the Uk games such as Pacman, Berzerk etc all cost ?29.99 while games such as Slot Racers and Video Oylimpics cost ?18.99. Funny enough Activision games came in at only ?24.99 including titles such as Pitfall and Star Master. After 1984 prices plumeted to between ?10 and ?5 for titles and red release Atari games (which could only be found in certain shops) usually sold for ?10 each although rare exceptions such as Dark Chambers and Radar Lock went for ?12.99

[buster_broon]

I paid ?9.99 for outrun C64 from WHsmiths, it did come with an audio cassette of the 3 tracks

And I'm sure star raiders Atari2600 was ?24.99 but it came with a special pad thingy to help you play - was trying to be a serious contender to Elite on the BBC model B/Acorn Electron but fell short by a great distance

God I feel old talking about some of those consoles, bloody 40 in November

[Jay]

I paid ?9.99 for outrun C64 from WHsmiths, it did come with an audio cassette of the 3 tracks

And I'm sure star raiders Atari2600 was ?24.99 but it came with a special pad thingy to help you play - was trying to be a serious contender to Elite on the BBC model B/Acorn Electron but fell short by a great distance

God I feel old talking about some of those consoles, bloody 40 in November

Nooooo. Star Raiders preceded Elite by a good five years.

[buster_broon]

not on the Atari2600 it didnt im sure, i know it was out before on another ATARI system

anyway it was poor in comparison - old yin

[Jay]

Star Raiders came out on the 2600 in 1979.

Oh hang on. Hmmm. According to wikipedia, it came out on their 8-bit computer range in 1979 and the 2600 in 1982. Still pre-dates Elite though.

I really enjoyed Star Raiders at the time. Seemed really cutting edge

[buster_broon]

What's two years when your saving paper run money to buy the games at ?5 a week, probably ?100 now for paperboys

[Robster]

Interesting thread considering the other thread in headlines just now about 2nd hand sales, the cost of the actual media(d/l dvd) nowadays is so cheap it cant be used as a reason for high prices.

Nice little ploy back in the day for the 'new' technology and it just seems to have stuck, I remember paying ?65 for SFII on the snes.

Are carts more expensive than dl dvds to produce..?

[Robster]

What's two years when your saving paper run money to buy the games at ?5 a week, probably ?100 now for paperboys

Surely not

If it is I might start a paper run ...

[teddymeow]

I recall PS1 games being ?30 on release.

Ps1 games for ?30?! Tekken, Ridge &'WipEout were all ?44.99 at launch. I remember working atnGAME when Ridge 4 came out and everybody was ecstatic that PS1 games HAD dropped to,?30 as Virgin Megastore had advertised that's what they'd sell them at from now on.

[buster_broon]

lol im sure im wrong but children these days and much more savvier when it comes to money

and i guess a caramac costs more than 10p

[nakamura]

Ps1 games for ?30?! Tekken, Ridge &'WipEout were all ?44.99 at launch. I remember working atnGAME when Ridge 4 came out and everybody was ecstatic that PS1 games HAD dropped to,?30 as Virgin Megastore had advertised that's what they'd sell them at from now on.

Sony games were often ?34.99 on release. Things like Rapid Racer, Porsche Challenge, Total NBA and stuff like that.

[EvilBoris]

Caramacs were always super expensive. Still are.

I had a preowned copy of Blood Omen on ps1, bought in 1998 for ?44.99

[buster_broon]

Caramacs were always super expensive. Still are.

I had a preowned copy of Blood Omen on ps1, bought in 1998 for ?44.99

thought Texan's were expensive

bought a Samurai Shodown on the day of release from dream machines 2 for around ?175 - lucky if you get ?20 for it nowadays

[bwi]

To my fuzzy memory.

Spectrum games cost me about ?5 usually (Large box ultimates went to 9.99 first along with the Hobbit being either 9.99 or 14.99 but came with the book (still have it)). But by the end of spectrum life nearly all were 9.99

16 bit megadrive/Snes were usually ?45+ as i was importing as well as pal games

32 bit Saturn and PS were ?40-45 on launch

Dreamcast were ?40 on launch as i got powerstone and Ready2Rumble plus memcard for ?300. But i remember simplygames doing stupid low price preorders for about ?23ish (i got samba de amigo for ?30something on preorder)

Pretty much been ?40 or just below since, but you don't seem to get a full game anymore so they can nail you for another ?15 in DLC

[Profit]

Keep in mind a ?5 game from 1985 is the equiv. of ?10-?15 now, and a ?40 game from 1995 is ?60-70. I still have the receipt for Wing Commander 3 from 1994 ?70 then, now ?110-130. Games are cheaper than ever now across all ranges.

(http://www.measuringworth.com)