Not so much defense, more like "uhh, yeah, things cost money, inflation exists, welcome to the real world", and I can't disagree honestly. People gotta use an inflation calculator on old games.
This meme does have real "too late, I drew you as the soy cuck and myself as the chad!" energy.
They no longer have to make and ship cartridges to distribute them. They just let you download said game. The margins are insanely large. Add in they not longer subsidize consoles and release a new one every few years... yea. also the technology isn't improving that much as we have reached a pretty big limit on screen size etc. No more big innovation to make graphics look perfect- it is just art style now and most of the games reuse what works.
I really want to see what "margin" you are specifically thinking of.
AAA game dev is one of the highest risk industries in the world. Games generate losses constantly. 2023 and 24 saw about 50'000 layoffs across the industry. With 1500 more in 2025.
One of the biggest game publishers in the world is on the brink of shuttering.
So please, be specific. What margins?
Edit: Go figure, the person I responded to mentioned nothing about "margins" and instead claimed "We have better tools, AI and Unreal Engine so games are easy and cheap to make now". What a fucking moron.
Mario Kart World is absolutely not a high risk release.
Mario Kart 8 made about 3 billion dollars on an estimated 100 million dollar budget.
Following your logic Mario Kart World should cost less than the average game, when it's actually more expensive than a riskier game they're releasing (Donkey Kong Banaza). The most recent Mario Kart (Tour) was also free to play.
Wouldn't it be sensible to put the higher price on the sure thing than on the game that seems far riskier? People WILL pay for Mario Kart. They won't pay a higher price for a 3D Donkey Kong.
For people who want it but can't afford or aren't willing to pay the higher price, it is bad. For Nintendo itself, they'll sell fewer copies because of the higher price, but they're likely guessing that they'll maximize profits at the new higher price point despite the decrease in demand.
The reality is that games should be over $100 based on inflation. People should be happy they kept them at the same price for as long as they did. Almost all other products have gone up and up since the 90s.
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u/Avnesya 1d ago edited 1d ago
Is there actually "people" unironically defending em at this point?
Legit asking
edit : typo