A Dollar for your Time
A common video game purchasing practice is the idea that a game should cost about a dollar for about an hour of your time. A game that costs $40 should get you about 40 hours, $20 should get about 20 hours and on and on. This kind of thinking has poisoned gaming and gaming prices.
When I first got into PC gaming I got the free to play game Warframe. I now have 400 hours poured into it. It’s a game I’ll pick up for a week or two then drop again. A year ago I bought a game called Assemble With Care. I spent $7.99 on it and only got 30 minutes out of it. I played through it only once, but I still enjoyed it. Under Steam’s refund policy I could have returned the game and gotten my money back but I just kept it. I got so much less than seven hours but I still felt like I made a good purchase. I have had similar experiences with other games. There are games I’ve bought with less than a dollar that I’ve poured dozens of hours into and games I’ve bought for $40 that I’ve barely touched.
At this point I firmly believe the dollar and hour idea is entirely personal and can’t really be equally applied. That idea applies to some games and doesn’t apply to others. Some games aren’t meant to have replay value but people will replay them because they enjoyed it so much. Some games do have replay value but will only be played once. The dollar/hour ratio falls flat and doesn’t work for everyone equally.
The reason I say this mind set has poisoned gaming is because of the AAA publishers and recent game design practices. For readers unaware the AAA publishers are the big boys, the multimillion dollar headliners. They believe that because they are charging now $70 for a game it must be filled to the gills with the most inane, bullshit content available. The games are becoming more bloated with repetitive side quests, filler content, and dragged out storytelling to make sure gamers get more than 70 hours in. Some infamous examples like Shadow of War and Assassin’s Creed Origins slowed down the progress of players till they spent real world dollars on micro transactions (think of in app purchases but for a full game and not a phone one) or poured several more hours of repetitive grinding into the game. These companies are milking their customers for even more money and more time. If someone takes 62 hours to finish a $60 game they might believe they got a good game despite the fact those 62 hours were artificially inflated.
Side Note: For any readers that don’t play video games the hour totals I’m talking about may sound absurd and unrealistic, but I can assure you they are not. Some enthusiasts pour thousands of hours into games they enjoy.
There is some further issues in graphics and mechanics. Red Dead Redemption 2 had “thermodynamically accurate horse testicles” or horse balls that shrink and droop realistically with the temperature this feature adds nothing and is purely a detail things that players will probably never notice. Many other games will tack on crafting systems, mini games, and other side content to make their games feel more “full.” These systems are generally terrible.
Some newer AAA games like the contentious Hogwarts Legacy and Zelda: Tears of a Kingdom are jacking up the price, from $60 to $70. Proponents will argue that games now require more manpower and effort to produce. Games take several years and thousands of hours to produce and the increasing cost is reflecting that. But that $70 is going into recycled systems, repetitive combat seen in a dozen other games, boring uninspired open worlds, and filler content to get to that 70 hour mark. Forspoken was a game that was recently released under the $70 price tag. After a short period the price was dropped to $60. The developer or publisher realized that their game was not worth the original price and quickly dropped it.
The last game I paid a full $60 dollars for was the popular Elden Ring. I’m about 170 hours in and I’m no where near the end of that game. I have multiple play throughs going and I fully intend to get any downloadable extra content that the developers put out. I’m happy with my purchase. I’m not in the habit of paying full price for things. I almost always wait for a sale especially if the game costs over $40.
At the ends it’s up to the consumer to decide value. It’s their subjective choice whether a game was a worthwhile purchase or not. My goal is simply to try and brutally smother the hour per dollar ratio I and many other gamers held with their wallets.
- My name is Michael Vincent Hawthorn and I write the articles on Midnight Variety Hour. I write about entertainment, news, politics and anything else I have strong opinions on.
