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[820.18 --> 823.10] What was the release price of StarCraft 1?
[823.30 --> 824.14] Like, Paul, do you remember?
[825.14 --> 828.06] StarCraft 1, I believe, was probably $40.
[828.06 --> 832.98] That's when I think the most you could charge for a PC game,
[833.08 --> 834.60] even a AAA title, was $40.
[835.80 --> 840.94] It might have been as low as $30, but I'm going to go with $40.
[842.04 --> 846.86] Because I seem to remember buying games like cartridge games back on SNES,
[847.34 --> 851.56] like pretty old games for $50 and sometimes even more.
[851.70 --> 854.56] Like, what did Final Fantasy VI cost at launch?
[854.56 --> 858.08] $6 I didn't play, but $7 was $50, definitely.
[858.62 --> 866.16] Okay, so if in 1994, so we're talking 20 years ago, I think was around the time Final Fantasy VI came out.
[866.50 --> 871.44] If we're talking 20 years ago, something was $50, should it be $60 today?
[871.54 --> 873.08] I mean, let's find an inflation calculator.
[873.22 --> 875.12] Guys, I want you to start blitzing at me with this.
[875.48 --> 878.90] Is $90 completely unreasonable?
[878.90 --> 884.88] If you can get a slightly reduced experience for $60 when we factor in inflation.
[885.72 --> 891.96] You think the increased price might be reasonable due to the better game fidelity, increased mechanics?
[892.66 --> 897.86] Maybe not better game fidelity, because I think that opens up a whole can of worms.
[897.86 --> 905.16] But I would say the increased cost of making a game and the increase in general inflation.
[905.28 --> 906.36] You might need to go get that.
[906.58 --> 907.84] Kyle's here. One second.
[908.40 --> 913.32] All right, so I'm going to use an inflation calculator here.
[913.40 --> 916.86] I'm going to go 1994, something that cost $50.
[917.84 --> 919.28] And we're going to calculate it.
[919.28 --> 924.32] So apparently, according to at least the Bank of Canada inflation calculator here,
[924.64 --> 928.30] something that was $50 in 1994 should be $73.22.
[928.76 --> 932.96] And then when we factor in how much more a game costs to make these days,
[933.18 --> 936.02] is it unreasonable for them to ask for $90 for it?
[936.74 --> 938.94] All right, let's start going to the Twitter boards here,
[939.00 --> 941.50] because I'm very interested to hear what you guys have to say.
[942.76 --> 943.76] What a warm welcome.
[944.98 --> 945.72] Hey, everyone.
[946.32 --> 949.18] You're actually not live right now.
[949.28 --> 952.56] Kyle, but he has no headset on, so he doesn't know these things.
[952.98 --> 954.20] All right, I'm trying to reload here.
[955.24 --> 957.40] All right, Alan Hinkson says,
[957.50 --> 960.16] That's the last straw. I'm boycotting you, PSoft.
[960.42 --> 964.28] PC games should never be locked at 30 FPS, and $90 is ridiculous.
[965.04 --> 965.82] Owen says,
[965.92 --> 969.50] I paid $89.99 for Warcraft 3 in 2000,
[969.68 --> 972.20] and some SNES games were $79.99.
[973.46 --> 973.90] All right.
[973.90 --> 975.18] Are you like special edition versions?
[975.62 --> 976.36] Frank says,
[976.46 --> 978.94] Yeah, I didn't think Warcraft 3 was that expensive.
[978.94 --> 982.72] I think I paid $60 for it, but then I got like a French...
[982.72 --> 986.68] I think it was the battle chest that had like all the versions together that they released.
[986.82 --> 994.12] Yeah, but then if you treat an expansion pack like DLC, which it basically is,
[994.18 --> 996.14] I mean, that's pretty much exactly the same concept,
[996.84 --> 1003.94] then maybe $90 for a game and a couple expansion packs is equivalent to $90 plus a couple of DLCs.
[1003.94 --> 1004.96] No? Maybe?
[1005.60 --> 1013.04] But in the past, I think they would have gone the route with the game they release at launch is pretty much what they've worked on up till then,
[1013.16 --> 1015.66] and then they work on like more stuff.
[1015.78 --> 1017.50] So if this stuff's already available,
[1017.76 --> 1021.06] then maybe it should have just been integrated into the game from the get-go,
[1021.44 --> 1025.62] rather than trying to immediately have like an upsell for people.
[1025.62 --> 1029.46] So if they kept it secret for you, then you would feel better about it?
[1029.54 --> 1035.62] Like if they kind of like kept it on a thumb drive somewhere so that no one knew about it,
[1035.66 --> 1038.90] and then brought it out two weeks after the game comes out, then it's okay?
[1039.26 --> 1039.40] Yes.
[1039.40 --> 1041.24] I mean, I don't really see the difference personally.
[1041.24 --> 1044.66] I mean, you run a business.
[1044.84 --> 1046.98] Do you tell everything about your business publicly?
[1047.28 --> 1051.32] I mean, even though it is sort of an ignorance is bliss kind of thing,
[1051.58 --> 1053.18] there is something to be said.
[1053.28 --> 1057.96] If they hadn't talked about this and maybe had given it even two weeks or a month,
[1058.44 --> 1059.58] then maybe they could have done it.
[1059.64 --> 1061.50] But the reason they're probably talking about it now
[1061.50 --> 1066.56] is because they want to have this stuff in time for the holiday season, Q4, all that good stuff.
[1066.72 --> 1067.82] So that's basically it.
[1067.82 --> 1071.34] They're just capitalizing on the hype train because, let's face it,
[1071.62 --> 1076.26] more people are going to buy deluxe editions and extra DLC
[1076.26 --> 1082.34] when the game is all over every internet banner everywhere and in everyone's face
[1082.34 --> 1087.28] versus if they wait three to four weeks and try to get that $30 upsell at that point.
[1087.84 --> 1090.26] So, yeah, I guess I see why they're doing it,
[1090.32 --> 1093.86] but I can also see why it's kind of lame.
[1093.86 --> 1098.10] I mean, hardware makers, we see this kind of thing all the time.
[1098.20 --> 1103.74] It's not like NVIDIA is not already working on GTX 1080 and 1180.
[1104.38 --> 1105.98] They're already working on them,
[1106.08 --> 1108.48] but they're not going to tell us about all that crap now
[1108.48 --> 1110.36] because they still want to sell us some 980s
[1110.36 --> 1113.22] and they still want us to feel somewhat okay about buying 980s
[1113.22 --> 1115.60] when there's something that much better coming down the pipe.
[1115.60 --> 1119.06] So you think they could just be decent?
[1119.28 --> 1122.32] It would be more decent of them to just not tell us then.
[1123.52 --> 1127.98] I think people wouldn't be having this argument over whether or not
[1127.98 --> 1132.24] it's a thing to be done for a large video game maker.
[1132.78 --> 1139.06] I mean, Assassin's Creed is huge, so obviously it's extremely profitable.
[1139.06 --> 1143.72] I think the point at which people start to get upset
[1143.72 --> 1146.56] is the point at which they feel that the decision is being made
[1146.56 --> 1149.30] much, much more for the monetary reasons
[1149.30 --> 1153.52] than it is for giving gamers the best time they could have
[1153.52 --> 1155.74] or the most amount of content that they could give them.
[1156.00 --> 1156.28] Right.
[1156.82 --> 1159.56] All right, let's go through some tweets here.
[1159.72 --> 1160.78] Welcome to the show, Kyle.
[1161.40 --> 1161.78] Thank you.
[1162.04 --> 1162.88] Hello. Sorry I'm late.
[1163.68 --> 1164.16] All right.
[1164.42 --> 1166.84] We're getting some pretty good tweets from people here.