DIGITISER
  • MAIN PAGE
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Game Reviews
  • FAQ

ARE CONSOLES MORE EXPENSIVE THAN EVER? THE FACTS REVEALED!

24/10/2018

22 Comments

 
Picture
Games and consoles and that, yeah? They cost loads don't they? Yeah, well, they do, and it'd be nice if everything could cost, like, a couple of quid, but what are you gonna do? It is what it is.

Right now, you may be wondering whether games and consoles and that actually cost more today than they used to? What if we were able to adjust the prices of classics games machines and their games by accounting for inflation? Why, if we did that we would learn whether they are more or less expensive than they were back in this thing: the day!

So let us perform this task and put the nonsense to bed. Come on, everyone!

...That was a really weird intro. I don't know if it made sense.

I MIGHT BE GETTING A MIGRAINE.
ATARI 2600 - 1978 - £199
Picture
You may indeed wonder how Atari gained such a foothold, and gave birth to the modern home console industry, when you discover that the Atari 2600 cost the equivalent of £1,085 in today's money.

Admittedly, that's about the same price as a decent-ish laptop, but - through the jaundiced, prejudiced, eyes of 2018 - it's a challenge to wrap your head around spending so much on something which offered such terrible graphics and gameplay, and was probably stuffed full of asbestos.

For context, when the 2600 was released in the UK, the average house price was £13,820, and a packet of smokes would set you back around 58p. In short: you could've bought almost 350 packets of ciggies for the price of an Atari, and smoked yourself to death. 
ATARI 2600 GAMES - £19 to £29.99
Picture
Atari's VCS games cost just under thirty quid, while those from third-party publisher Activision were around £20. Either way, when adjusted for inflation, the games cost between £103 and £164 - an absurd, eye-watering, one of these: amount.

​Do you feel stupid for moaning about the price of modern games now? That's okay. You can't help being this: an idiot. 

Okay. Stop doing this: that.
48K ZX SPECTRUM - 1982 - £175
Picture
Compared to the Atari 2600, Sir Clive Shithole's ZX Spectrum cost the equivalent of £590 (if you went for the high-end 48k version... which everyone eventually had to when they realised most of the games wouldn't work on the 16k edition). That's still a big bulge of money, but - get this down your turtleneck - only slightly more than modern games consoles cost upon release.
COMMODORE 64 - 1982 - £299 
Picture
Next to the Commodore 64, the Spectrum was far more affordable. Sinclair's nearest competitor cost the equivalent of £1,003. That's a high price to pay for that much brown.

​THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID.
SEGA MEGA DRIVE - 1990 - £189 
Picture
My annual salary in 1990 was around £3,800, if I recall. Thus: my purchase of a Mega Drive - at £189, more than half my monthly salary - was deeply irresponsible. In today's money? £408. STANDARD. 
VIRTUA RACING - 1994 - £70 
Picture
The most expensive Mega Drive game ever released, due to its inclusion of the "Sega Virtua Processor" chip, whatever that was, cost £70; that's £132 by modern prices. No game is worth that - least of all Virtua Racing, which I continue to harbour antipathy towards because my former sub-editors always changed it to "Virtual Racing".
PLAYSTATION - 1995 - £299 
Picture
Many felt that £299 - or £546, adjusting for inflation - was a small price to pay for Sony's next generation thrills, which the marketing had suggested would make them cooler and more sexually active. Regardless, the first PlayStation was - again, adjusting for inflation - somewhat more expensive than its successors were. 

That's to be expected given that the only thing the marketing for the PS2, 3 and 4 implied you'd get from them was rubella.
SATURN - 1995 - £399
Picture
If you're looking for reasons why the PlayStation was a massive success while Sega's Saturn flopped like an palsied conger eel, the latter's bloodied launch price is stuffed into Evidence Bag Number One.

In today's money, it would've cost around £729. Which might've been fine had the Saturn been technologically superior to the PlayStation. It wasn't though; it was the games industry equivalent of rocking up to a Formula One race inside one of those wheeled basket things that old women drag around the shops.
NINTENDO 64 - 1997 - £250
Picture
The Nintendo 64 was Nintendo's most expensive console at the time, but when adjusted for inflation, it comes in at approximately £433 - roughly the same as the Super NES, but around twice as much as the NES. What does that demonstrate? Any number of things.
XBOX - 2001 - £300
Picture
Remember how huge and heavy and noisy the Xbox hardware was? It cost the equivalent of £472 - that's less than half the price of the Atari 2600. A bargain for something which weighed more than a giraffe! 
PLAYSTATION 4 - 2013 - £349
Picture
The PlayStation 4 was £380 in today's money when it launched. When glancing back at the cost of many of its predecessors, it was far cheaper than many other systems, suggesting that console manufacturers had finally understood the importance of a competitive price point. Unfortunately, Sony's main rival never got the memo...
XBOX ONE - 2013 - £449
Picture
Stupid Microsoft bundled the stupid Xbox One with that stupid Kinect thing that nobody wanted, and it meant they had to sell the system at the equivalent of £489 in 2018 coins. The consequence of this is that the Xbox One continues to struggle in its battle against the PlayStation 4, like a dinner party guest who has long outstayed his welcome, and has resorted to telling apocryphal tales about a friend of his called Buttery Dave.
22 Comments
John Veness
24/10/2018 10:39:43 am

While I don't doubt the maths... it doesn't *feel* right in my head. When I think of the Speccy being £125/£175, I still think of that as "quite affordable", not "several hundred pounds". Whereas the PS3 launch price of £425 I thought of as excessively high. Strange how we perceive things...

Reply
Mr Biffo
24/10/2018 11:00:13 am

It's weird isn't it? I have the same thing.

Reply
Paul
24/10/2018 11:01:26 am

In 1986, I bought an Acorn Archimedes. It cost then £1089 or there abouts (price included a monitor, as well as some freebie stuff from Beebug).

In today’s money, that’s £3033. That’s more than a new MacBook Pro. But, get this: like most computers from the 1980s, you could take it to bits and upgrade it which, in my mind, made it a smarter investment.

Reply
Grembot
24/10/2018 12:07:00 pm

My school had a single BBC Micro around that time, It was an item of huge mystique and I can only remember one occasion when it was actually switched on. At the time I couldn’t imagine why anyone would want or need a computer or who could afford one. So if you don’t mind, how could you afford one? What were you doing with it in 1986? Do you think dot matrix printer paper and printing was cooler than what we have now?

Reply
Bob Trousers
24/10/2018 12:04:35 pm

There are hours of fun to be had with this! A benchmark that I’ve used in doing this very same thing with friends, when we reminisce over such things and ask ourselves and each other how expensive all of this stuff is compared to old times, is the cost of Super Mario Bros. 2 on the NES. That’s because I clearly remember handing over £40’s worth of cash that was ENTIRELY MINE for it, in 1992 (I think), as a mere whelp. Quite the experience, I can tell you.

I also clearly remember my old man telling me quite sternly that I must not, in any circumstances, tell my nan (to who’s we were on the way at the time) how much it had cost. It felt expensive, for sure, but I wanted it pretty badly (it wasn’t very good, no matter how much I tried to convince myself otherwise).

(drum roll, etc.)… The price, adjusted for inflation, would be a whopping £74.37, according to the BoE inflation doo-whacky, these days.

An easier and more intuitive way of looking at it would be: I haven’t spent £40 on a game in years, maybe not even since that day. It’s just not necessary. If other people want to fill the coffers of the publishers/devs etc. by signing up for pre-orders, hoovering up DLC and whatnot, all the while subsidising the cheaper offerings that the likes of me snap up, well that’s just fine and dandy for me, by Jove!

Reply
MENTALIST
24/10/2018 12:30:51 pm

I had a similar experience with The Legend of Zelda. I remember seeing it in the Index catalogue, and marvelling at what kind of home video game could possibly cost FORTY QUID. The fact that the cartridge was made of PURE GOLD [painted plastic] significantly added to its mystique.

I was well primed for buyers' remorse when I handed over quite so much saved birthday and pocket money for it, in the basement of Littlewoods. But I certainly did not regret it.

Not so keen on paying whatever subscription price it is now, though, to play the same game in easy mode on my Switch.

Reply
BrianC
24/10/2018 12:11:22 pm

I remember how much I dropped for Street Fighter II on the SNES when it came out, around eighty of your British pounds, felt guilty at the time and even more so when I realized I was rubbish at fighting games.

Reply
David Heslop
24/10/2018 12:49:47 pm

I seem to remember the Amiga 500 bundle my parents got me in about 1990 cost somewhere in the region of £500, which as a nine-year-old I thought was a phenomenal amount of money, more money than there was in the world. And, to be fair, as one of those who paid £430 (or whatever it was) for an Xbox One at launch, it still seems like a ridiculous amount of money.

Reply
Mark
24/10/2018 01:01:14 pm

That special reserve ad at the top of the article takes me back I’ve just been reading through every bit of it as I used to in mean machines didn’t they start putting scantily clad ladies in the background at one point .

Reply
Amiga_owner_2148
24/10/2018 02:33:06 pm

WHAT ABOUT THE AMIGA?

Reply
Neptunium
24/10/2018 03:31:46 pm

I have never seen Ice Cube promoting the Saturn. My brain is melting at the thought of it.

Reply
Gaming Mill link
24/10/2018 04:55:08 pm

I remember getting my first computer: an Amstrad CPC464 that my dad bought for me...using the Premium Bonds winnings I won that my Granddad had bought for me as a gift a few years prior

Reply
Mrtankthreat
24/10/2018 06:33:07 pm

I remember the N64 was reduced in price by about 100 quid before it had been out for even a year. Some early adopters who had paid the full price obviously felt a bit miffed and complained to Nintendo and there was a scheme were a certain amount of the moaners were given a free game or controller as compensation.

My mam tried and sent a strongly worded letter but got a reply from A. Fitzgibbons (I remember that because I was a child and thought that was a funny name. I still do.) saying we were too late and the scheme was over.

Reply
Hidden Hobbes
25/10/2018 01:07:20 pm

Yeah, I was one of those moaners, got Mario Kart 64 out of the scheme. Arrived at my door months after I had sent (and completely forgotten about) the letter!

Reply
ScottC
3/11/2018 06:24:12 pm

I complained and got a controller, it was green. Green! But, it was free. £100 for 17-year old self was a lot to feel ripped off by given that I'd saved for 2-3 years for the N64.

Reply
Hidden Hobbes
3/11/2018 08:06:00 pm

Likewise, I saved for ages so I could get mine from Blockbuster on launch. Only found out about the scheme through Anne Robinson and watchdog!

John Black
24/10/2018 06:49:14 pm

PS4 was cheap but that was because it was.......well....cheap. Probably the most under powered console generation in history at launch.

In comparison, I remember when the PS1 was released. Your average gaming PC (barely anyone had a 3d card) was coughing and choking on its own blood just trying to handle flat shaded 3D games using its 486 DX2 66 CPU. Then I saw Wipeout on a PS1 through the window of Dixons or Tandy and that was not only lightning fast and smooth (versus my 7fps PC games) but was amazingly fully textured from top to bottom!

I do remember paying £2.99 for Speccy/C64 games in WH Smith and being blown away when my friend got a Mega Drive and told me the games were £30!

Gone were the days when it was quite normal to have a cardboard box full of 100 odd games with the ability to buy a game or two a week from your paper round!

From then on you got one for your birthday, one for Xmas and that was your lot!

Reply
Andy Leach
24/10/2018 08:45:59 pm

I remember thinking the gamecube was too dear especially with an xbox already under the telly. Then I saw Rogue Squadron on a big telly in Dixons. Got the console. Got the game. Oh, and got the telly too. Not sure what it all cost (Dixons store card, thank you!) but my point is if there's a killer game on release then I always find the money somewhere. Typing that I just remembered... I paid £700 for an imported 3DO. Now that was a mistake!

Reply
Robobob
24/10/2018 08:51:32 pm

I like this: the "world's best personal computer for under £500" quote from speccy Clive: Sinclair.

But what did he have in mind for those who had more than £500 to spend on a personal computer?

Reply
Meatballs-me-branch-me-do
26/10/2018 11:28:57 pm

Didn’t the Darlings also lavish their games with glowing quotes from themselves back in the Ultimate Play The Game days?

Reply
Hamptonoid
26/10/2018 09:14:30 pm

I could be wrong, but wasn't there an option to get your spectrum only part-constructed, for a reduced cost I think you had to solder some of it together or something.

Reply
Chris
27/10/2018 04:00:56 pm

That was definitely a "thing" for the ZX81. You could get it fully constructed for £99 or in kit form for £79, or something. Wouldn't surprise me if the Speccy had a similar option in the early days.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    This section will not be visible in live published website. Below are your current settings:


    Current Number Of Columns are = 2

    Expand Posts Area =

    Gap/Space Between Posts = 12px

    Blog Post Style = card

    Use of custom card colors instead of default colors = 1

    Blog Post Card Background Color = current color

    Blog Post Card Shadow Color = current color

    Blog Post Card Border Color = current color

    Publish the website and visit your blog page to see the results

    Picture
    Support Me on Ko-fi
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    RSS Feed Widget
    Picture

    Picture
    Tweets by @mrbiffo
    Picture
    Follow us on The Facebook

    Picture

    Archives

    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014


    RSS Feed

Picture
This site Copyright Paul Rose 2016 - All images Copyright respective copyright holders
  • MAIN PAGE
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Game Reviews
  • FAQ