The shop must have seen him coming from a mile away. All atari cartridges(including pacman) ranged between $10 and $15. You could buy a new Atari 2600 for $44 in 1984.
this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2026
101 points (94.7% liked)
Patient Gamers
20066 readers
63 users here now
A gaming community free from the hype and oversaturation of current releases, catering to gamers who wait at least 12 months after release to play a game. Whether it's price, waiting for bugs/issues to be patched, DLC to be released, don't meet the system requirements, or just haven't had the time to keep up with the latest releases.
Relavent communities: !games@lemmy.world !games@sh.itjust.works !retrogaming@lemmy.world !videogamesuggestions@lemmy.zip !linux_gaming@lemmy.world
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
Sure, post-crash. Those weren't the prices before 1983.
Adjusted for inflation
They make it sound like the listed prices aren't adjusted for inflation, but that when adjusting those prices for inflation that prices today aren't bad. I'm just saying it's worded ambiguously.
That was posted in 2005, when the standard pricing for a AAA console release was $49.99
I remember Battlefield Vietnam and Unreal Tournament 2004 being $39.99 when they first launched on PC.
Agree that the phrasing is a bit odd though, “Adjusted for inflation” should have preceded the prices they were listing.
Old magazine adverts are a fun way to spend an evening.
The original Castle Wolfenstein went for $30 in the second issue of Computer Gaming World from 1982. That would be over $100 in 2026 money.
A single income family with two kids could afford a house in 1982. Adjusting for inflation doesn't mean shit if you don't factor in actual buying power.
This is exactly the point people miss.
A single income family was doing an annual family vacation, buying a house, and owning a car or two.
We’ve moved to the average family being dual income to support kids and little to no family vacations.
Adjusting for inflation is adjusting for buying power.
Inflation is the loss of buying power per unit of currency
Oh, I am willing to wait as long as it takes. What's more, I am ready to take my wishlists into the grave with me. Your move publisher, do you want your $0.99 or not.
TBH, even though I've never paid more than $20 for a game, I'd probably be willing to do so if it's a physical release considering I'll be displaying it somewhere, which's added value that digital games lack.
No more than $20 for digital though. I don't care what the game is or how much money I have, I'm happy to replay my favorite games and wait.
If you're selling for more than $20, you're probably a relatively big publisher anyway, and I don't feel obligated to pay what you're asking, or, in many cases, fund your mismanagement/feed your greed.
It's a good rule.
Physical game purchases can be sold on so there's less worry about dropping full price on a new release. Digital games need to be cheap to justify the permanent purchase though.
to justify the ~~permanent purchase~~ nontransferable lease FIFY
It was gonna be like Eden again for a while, and then the pirates moved in.
First it was just dubbing tapes but when they started to copy that floppy things got completely out of control