Prices of Entertainment compared

[Brian Boru]

Read an article on concert prices, decided on quick n dirty check of other sister industries. Huge variation—often factor of 10—between cheapest & dearest, so large grain of salt for below 'averages' or 'medians'. All I did was ask Copilot and stick a finger in the air with the resulting ranges—but please, don't feel you must reciprocate.

Single purchase
Book Hardback £20-$28
Movie ticket $12
Music album $15
Music concert £100-$131
NFL ticket $377
Premiership ticket £30
Top 14 ticket €30

Sub for year
Game Pass $144
PS Plus $120
Audible $96
Netflix $186
Spotify $144
NFL Season $500
Prem' Season £578
Top 14 Season €300

NFL is American football;
Premiership is English football;
Top 14 is French rugby.

How do you feel this all compares to big games @ $60-70?

Probably best to omit MTX, DLC etc as the sister industries also have multiple streams of revenue—eg Man Utd's ticket sales are ~⅕ of total revenue.

 

[Zloth]

The book costs half that if you buy an e-book, which you'll be doing with the video game. Great entertainment, super-cheap.

Sports tickets are just stupid at this point. You're better off buying a whole new TV to watch the game than buying a ticket.

 

[Colif]

Music concert £100-$131

That range seems too small. is that before or after scalpers? Price is way higher if its a big act and people are willing to pay stupid amounts to see them.

Concert prices are stupid. Given how many artists don't play live anymore, its cheaper to stay at home and watch Youtube or listen to their albums. Especially if you want to go see The Eagles... I have some news for you

You are paying to see them on stage... actually singing? Not so much.

Music album $15

people still buy albums? Majority released now are collectors versions since everyone else just gets them on streaming services. So they can cost more than 15, depends on which version you buy. Some I buy from also release Vinyl and cassette versions.

 

[Brian Boru]

That range seems too small

Oh my bad, I didn't bring a couple of links thru from my notes—OP edited or see here. But that's not a range, it's an average for UK and USA across all such events.

Price is way higher if its a big act and people are willing to pay stupid amounts

Right, as said:

Huge variation—often factor of 10—between cheapest & dearest

Sports tickets are just stupid

NFL single tickets are clearly intended to encourage season ticket sales, but yeah all seasons are steep—that's maybe 5 to 8 full-priced games for the same.

Concert prices are stupid

Those artists which go with 'dynamic pricing' are really shoving it up their fans—you could say the chit has hit the fans.

 

[Colif]

If you’ve logged onto Ticketmaster over the last couple of years, you’ll know the cost of live music has soared.

Sees problem. Monopoly

Dynamic pricing is more likely promoters. I also think they might be behind the wanting acts to mime, as then every show is perfect.

 

[Pifanjr]

As far as I can see Game Pass is $12 a month, so $144 a year (not counting the $1 trial month).

My library is €87 a year for unlimited access, but I understand that in the US most libraries are free?

All in all I don't think $60-70 is that bad considering how many days of entertainment you get out of a game.

 

[Colif]

I could look at my credit card to see what my monthly charges are

Per Year
Tidal $122
Microsoft Game Pass $131.40
Microsoft 365 $109
Youtube Premium - $204 (thats price I pay for no ads on Youtube)

think that is about it. I didn't actually look on card, just went from memory and what shows on web

Scalpers are trying to sell PS5 Pro Anniversary Editions on Amazon BEFORE you can even pre order them. So I wonder how many are just pictures, or empty boxes. No way I buy one off some sites.
Glad I don't want one. Haven't they learned from 2020? Limited supply items get scalped.

 

[Flixer]

Read an article on concert prices, decided on quick n dirty check of other sister industries. Huge variation—often factor of 10—between cheapest & dearest, so large grain of salt for below 'averages' or 'medians'. All I did was ask Copilot and stick a finger in the air with the resulting ranges—but please, don't feel you must reciprocate.

Single purchase
Book Hardback £20-$28
Movie ticket $12
Music album $15
Music concert £100-$131
NFL ticket $377
Premiership ticket £30
Top 14 ticket €30

Sub for year
Game Pass $120
PS Plus $120
Audible $96
Netflix $186
Spotify $144
NFL Season $500
Prem' Season £578
Top 14 Season €300

NFL is American football;
Premiership is English football;
Top 14 is French rugby.

How do you feel this all compares to big games @ $60-70?

Probably best to omit MTX, DLC etc as the sister industries also have multiple streams of revenue—eg Man Utd's ticket sales are ~⅕ of total revenue.

Honestly 60-70$ is too much for a game imo comparing to what else I can do with that 60$, hearing some stuff about GTA 6 being 100 or 150 which is mind-blowing.
maybe it's just me since I live in a different country and currency difference is crazy, but a lot of developers now have regional prices which is nice

 

[Colif]

i can't find anything solid on GTA6 pricing. Could be base game is 70 and like many other games, they have deluxe and collectors editions. Which would cost more. I think like with GTA 5 the console versions are releassed first, so we will have to wait and see how much PC versions cost.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

As far as I can see Game Pass is $12 a month, so $144 a year (not counting the $1 trial month).

My library is €87 a year for unlimited access, but I understand that in the US most libraries are free?

All in all I don't think $60-70 is that bad considering how many days of entertainment you get out of a game.

Libraries are free in Finland and the UK, not sure about the rest of Europe, seems its a mix from a quick search. Sucks to pay for a library! I always assumed they were free all over the world.

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How do you feel this all compares to big games @ $60-70?

I go up and down on it. Prices for games have basically gone down over time in real terms over time, but it does still seem a lot to drop a full 70 on a brand new game.

Fact is you dont need to do that anyway as 95% of games will be 50% off within a year or two. You pay the premium if you are willing and able, otherwise just wait a bit and play something older in your price range. With Epic and a PC you can dine for free, or you can grab a lot of really good games for less than 10 each whenever theres a sale on any store, and a lot of those games have as many hours as the new hotness anyway.

 

[Brian Boru]

Game Pass is $12 a month

Oh it's dearer for PC, missed that—OP edited, thanks

 

[Rolfil]

Books can be anything from £0.99 to £6.99 if you buy the Kindle Versions. I think on average the ones I've bought this year are about £3.99

I had PC Games Pass last year for about 3 months and got my money's worth out of it. I'd probably do the same when Forza Horizon 6 comes out.

There are plenty of games that don't come to games pass though so you end up buying them anyway or having to buy the expansion even though the bass game is on games pass.

Almost all of the music I listen to is via Spotify, just streamed. I'm not sure I've actually bought any music in the past couple of years. That might be because I'm old and most of the new music just sound's terrible to me.

I don't even have a TV license anymore as I just use the free streaming services, even though I need to watch ads. This is partially to do with me hating what I consider to be very biased BBC reporting.

Overall I think I've spent so far £240 on both books and games this year, split about 50/50. This might go up a bit as both Mechwarrior Clans and the Diablo 4 expansion are released next month...

 

[Colif]

Almost all of the music I listen to is via Spotify, just streamed. I'm not sure I've actually bought any music in the past couple of years. That might be because I'm old and most of the new music just sound's terrible to me.

its only this year I haven't bought any music. Mainly as I was slow to finding streaming. Some artists still sell physical copies
I should have realised it had all changed when I started seeing onboxing videos of Music, and wondering why it deserves a video

 

[Flixer]

Libraries are free in Finland and the UK, not sure about the rest of Europe, seems its a mix from a quick search. Sucks to pay for a library! I always assumed they were free all over the world.

what does "Libraries" mean may i ask? what are you referring to

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Ask away, public library, where you can borrow books.

 

[Colif]

Not all books are so cheap.

I thought I had more photos of collector edition CD. Not right time to go looking when its 4.00am
here is one I found:

most of them just include art

 

[Flixer]

Ask away, public library, where you can borrow books.

ohh yea those are also free where i live (that if you found one lol)

 

[Frindis]

Hardback books are more expensive in Norway (x2 for a new book), but we also have free library selections. Most of my rented books come from taking pictures of the different rows of books news and picking the one I like or having the local library order a specific book from another library. We also have multiple sites where you can rent movies, games and music with the library card, so all in all there is not really much need for Netflix or similar if you do not want to see the latest stuff.

56 USD is the sweet spot for me when buying standard AAA games, but then the company also has to deliver something unique and not the same garble or that price would not be worth it by a long shot.

 

[Colif]

2015 I started to need to use glasses to read anything, and the author I had been reading most of my life until then died. So I haven't really read a book now in 9 years. Right now I probably need a new eye test as I feel I can't see as well as 2 years ago. We have local libraries and I think I am still a member, so I could borrow something but its a long time since I visited one.

I did a library course, I saw the writing on the wall. Digital books. No need for a physical building, only if its a special purpose library with an actual collection.

 

[Pifanjr]

56 USD is the sweet spot for me when buying standard AAA games, but then the company also has to deliver something unique and not the same garble or that price would not be worth it by a long shot.

I think that should go without saying. I would only pay full price for a game if I was convinced it was going to be worth that price, which means it would need to be an exceptional experience.

Personally, I have so many games on my backlog that I can't imagine a new game being able to compete to such a level it would be worth paying full price for. Mostly because I mostly play single-player games where it doesn't really matter when I play them.

My wife on the other hand mostly plays multiplayer games and will buy games for full price so she can play them with her friends. She has, for example, spend quite a lot on World of Warcraft between expansions, subscriptions and some microtransactions, but she has also played over 2000 hours on her main character (and she has a whole bunch more).

 

[neogunhero]

It’s so hard to put a value on things like games, music, movies/shows, books etc. When I say “value” I am referring to how much personal enjoyment you got out of the piece of media, and if you feel the price you paid to experience it was worth the cost.

When it comes to games you never know how long you are going to play it prior to buying it. A game may offer 1000s of hours worth of gameplay, but you may only play a few hours before deciding you don’t want to continue. You may buy a movie that is the best ever and is critically acclaimed, but after one watch you may decide it’s not for you. An album could release to high praise from fans and critics, but you may not be a fan of it.

I’ve talked about this before, but my judgement scale on if I got a good value when buying a game is to compare price to how many hours I put into it. Generally, not always, but if I can get at minimum 30 minutes worth of gameplay out of every $1 I spend, then I’m satisfied with my purchase. It may raise based on how expensive a game is though. Based off that scale, a $70 game should get me at least 35 hours worth of enjoyment. To me though, that seems a bit low. If I’m dropping $70 full price on a brand new game, I’m hoping to play it for longer than 35 hours. This is why to me it’s so hard to put value on media and how much you spend to experience it. Maybe it’s all subjective. Some people pay thousands of dollars to go see a 2 hour concert and they feel satisfied with their purchase.

 

[Colif]

It’s so hard to put a value on things like games, music, movies/shows, books etc. When I say “value” I am referring to how much personal enjoyment you got out of the piece of media, and if you feel the price you paid to experience it was worth the cost.

Cost doesn't equal value. This thread is about how much you pay before you know if you will get any value. The initial cost.

Value is an unknown until you have it. It is subjective. You can use it to determine if cost is worth it but you don't know for sure until you try.

It is much easier to figure out now with internet than before. So many blind purchases. Hard to know if you still be listening to album that week, let alone years later. Now if you wanted to buy music, you could choose a streaming service that lets you buy the albums at any stage... so listen before buying. Shame games companies don't offer that.

 

[Brian Boru]

Price. Cost. Value.

All different, sometimes hugely so.

Price = the $70 you front up for a game.

Cost = $770 as it also includes the $700 for the GPU upgrade necessary to get your desired experience. You can of course apportion this to the cost of future games.

Value is the big variable and depends on your experience with the game. $100/month is ridiculously good value for electricity, but is likely to be very poor value for a gaming or other entertainment sub.

Opportunity Cost is another thing to consider—it's what else you could have done with the resources …time, money, energy… you invested.

 

[Colif]

Cost = $770 as it also includes the $700 for the GPU upgrade necessary to get your desired experience. You can of course apportion this to the cost of future games.

I would have looked at the GPU before paying Price for the game. Its too late once you have game to realise you can't play it. That cost might be too steep. Do you accidentally buy a VR game and then buy a VR Headset? Same situation. Buyer beware indeed.

I prefer Opportunity prices and getting discounts on the purchase. I was lucky to buy something recently with a 20% discount. That saves me money to buy other things. A few things I have bought only because they were on special.

Discounts aren't always worth taking. Do you lose more taking the discount and paying early? My boss in a job I had once worked out that we earned more in interest paying on time instead of taking an early discount. It does depend on the rate offered.

 

[Brian Boru]

Discounts aren't always worth taking.

So true. A large chunk of my game library is from buying at great prices, but they've sat there unplayed since. Those were in the days when I was more flush, and liked to support good devs—maybe some value in that, just not to me