[OC] Game Console Launch Prices in 2024 US Dollars Since 1984
September 14, 2024
[OC] Game Console Launch Prices in 2024 US Dollars Since 1984
Posted by rppohqixortwphu
28 comments
Source: Wikipedia. All the launch prices are publicly available.
Tool: Google Sheets
Inflation has really killed console prices
Nintendo holding down most of the affordable consoles throughout console history.
Would be nice to see handhelds in its own graph to see trends there between Gameboy, DS, Switch, PSP, Vita, GameGear, Neo Geo Pocket, Steam Deck, etc.
Edit: Everyone’s comments about game value (software price) not dropping is fair to bring up, but I think to counter, it’s also fair to point out that Nintendo tends to not increase the price of their consoles either. The costs of materials and inflation over the past 7-8 years is more than enough reason for Nintendo to have increased the price of the Switch if they wanted to, but they’ve held it at $300 all these years, when even by the metrics of this chart, the launch price is over $400. Nintendo doesn’t get everything right, but I’d argue one of the reasons they’ve been so dominant in the console market all these years is understanding that in order to be the family console, you can’t price families out.
People who do these types of charts don’t understand the concept of value proposition, and think they were smart because they “adjusted for inflation”.
People really post generic Excel or sheets charts and call them beautiful
Philips CDi not shown. It’s number one.
What was up with the PS3 being so expensive compared to the other models? Was it the whole new introduction of Blu-ray tech and disks that they used design for this model?
~~Edit: According to Wikipedia, it’s introductory price was actually $499 for the 20g model and $599 for the 60g model. Where did Op get $935 from?~~
Interesting stat. It might be worth investigating how much each of these are worth today in the second-hand market.
And maybe comparing the price of consoles with average prices of games.
can you color the bars by brand?
Were I to display this data, I think I would look at a scatter plot with the x-axis as time. One could also color the markers by brand. It would be interesting to see the time trend overlaid with manufacturer in constant dollar terms.
Why is the Series S grouped with the X? It would be by far the cheapest console ever launched if it wasn’t
Playstation 3, on release, was so expensive that my well off parents wouldnt buy it for me so I had to sell my stuff behind their back and save my allowances for some weeks to accumulate enough cash. this was the first time I was told no mind you.
I’d like to think my “hustle” during those times was instrumental to who I am today and I thank my parents for not saying yes to everything lol
Interesting how there’s almost no correlation between price and commercial success if you break this down into thirds. You got the Xbox 360 and PS1 in the top third, PS2 in the middle third, and the Wii in the bottom third. There’s failures scattered throughout.
What about in Euro/GBP?
I feel the biggest kick in the balls with the PS5pro is the total lack of value for non-us consumers. In the UK right now I can buy a 7800x3d for £370 which is $485 dollars, in the US once you include sales tax I could get on for $465 dollars, pretty similar, 3-4% more.
Or I can buy a PS5pro in the UK for £699 which is $915 vs $770 in the US which is close to 20% more, AMD components inside, same type of product, both international global companies. Just pure greed from Sony, well they can get fucked
Where’s my virtual boy and Sega cd at? I still have neck pains from that damn thing.
Nintendo GameCube>>>
Dreamcast deserved to do so much better. 😭
This would be good ordered by release date, to show change over time
Nowadays game prices, online subscription costs should be factored on.
People are spending way more now if you add on those additional costs. PS plus member ships add 130$ a year alone.
My dad once randomly received 5 PS3s because some random person signed him up as a ‘friend’ in a ‘friendship lottery’. What fucking lottery gives the same console 5 times to a person who is not participating. Anyway this is the story of how I got to have 5 PS3s as a 15 year old, and why me and my buddies were suddenly forced to move away from PC gaming. Also we got kinda bored of it after a few months and mostly went back to PC, only thing I really played on the PS3 was Skyrim. However, for its time the PS3 was mad, with blu-ray and everything included. At the time it was the cheapest blu-ray player on the market.
Big up Nintendo. All my homies love Nintendo.
Friend of mine in high school had a Neo Geo. Seems like the cartridges were a couple hundred, he had a pile of them. Not gonna lie though, it was cool as hell to have an arcade system in the living room back then. Were a lot of good games too
Crazy how the Dreamcast was actually a ‘bargain’ compared to the rest, despite objections to its initial price at the time
It would be nice if it has seperated chart that including Inflation too. NES launched in 2024 would be $1000 if included Inflation.
Edit: This comment is stupid, they’re already inline with inflation.
Pretty sure GameCube launched at $250. Inflation is wild.
Philips CDI should also be there
Launched in 1998 for $1000, which is just north of $2200 in today’s money
This just confirms what we already knew.
That GameCube, Dreamcast, Wii and N64 were the best consoles.
28 comments
Source: Wikipedia. All the launch prices are publicly available.
Tool: Google Sheets
Inflation has really killed console prices
Nintendo holding down most of the affordable consoles throughout console history.
Would be nice to see handhelds in its own graph to see trends there between Gameboy, DS, Switch, PSP, Vita, GameGear, Neo Geo Pocket, Steam Deck, etc.
Edit: Everyone’s comments about game value (software price) not dropping is fair to bring up, but I think to counter, it’s also fair to point out that Nintendo tends to not increase the price of their consoles either. The costs of materials and inflation over the past 7-8 years is more than enough reason for Nintendo to have increased the price of the Switch if they wanted to, but they’ve held it at $300 all these years, when even by the metrics of this chart, the launch price is over $400. Nintendo doesn’t get everything right, but I’d argue one of the reasons they’ve been so dominant in the console market all these years is understanding that in order to be the family console, you can’t price families out.
People who do these types of charts don’t understand the concept of value proposition, and think they were smart because they “adjusted for inflation”.
People really post generic Excel or sheets charts and call them beautiful
Philips CDi not shown. It’s number one.
What was up with the PS3 being so expensive compared to the other models? Was it the whole new introduction of Blu-ray tech and disks that they used design for this model?
~~Edit: According to Wikipedia, it’s introductory price was actually $499 for the 20g model and $599 for the 60g model. Where did Op get $935 from?~~
Interesting stat. It might be worth investigating how much each of these are worth today in the second-hand market.
And maybe comparing the price of consoles with average prices of games.
can you color the bars by brand?
Were I to display this data, I think I would look at a scatter plot with the x-axis as time. One could also color the markers by brand. It would be interesting to see the time trend overlaid with manufacturer in constant dollar terms.
Why is the Series S grouped with the X? It would be by far the cheapest console ever launched if it wasn’t
Playstation 3, on release, was so expensive that my well off parents wouldnt buy it for me so I had to sell my stuff behind their back and save my allowances for some weeks to accumulate enough cash. this was the first time I was told no mind you.
I’d like to think my “hustle” during those times was instrumental to who I am today and I thank my parents for not saying yes to everything lol
Interesting how there’s almost no correlation between price and commercial success if you break this down into thirds. You got the Xbox 360 and PS1 in the top third, PS2 in the middle third, and the Wii in the bottom third. There’s failures scattered throughout.
What about in Euro/GBP?
I feel the biggest kick in the balls with the PS5pro is the total lack of value for non-us consumers. In the UK right now I can buy a 7800x3d for £370 which is $485 dollars, in the US once you include sales tax I could get on for $465 dollars, pretty similar, 3-4% more.
Or I can buy a PS5pro in the UK for £699 which is $915 vs $770 in the US which is close to 20% more, AMD components inside, same type of product, both international global companies. Just pure greed from Sony, well they can get fucked
Where’s my virtual boy and Sega cd at? I still have neck pains from that damn thing.
Nintendo GameCube>>>
Dreamcast deserved to do so much better. 😭
This would be good ordered by release date, to show change over time
Nowadays game prices, online subscription costs should be factored on.
People are spending way more now if you add on those additional costs. PS plus member ships add 130$ a year alone.
My dad once randomly received 5 PS3s because some random person signed him up as a ‘friend’ in a ‘friendship lottery’. What fucking lottery gives the same console 5 times to a person who is not participating. Anyway this is the story of how I got to have 5 PS3s as a 15 year old, and why me and my buddies were suddenly forced to move away from PC gaming. Also we got kinda bored of it after a few months and mostly went back to PC, only thing I really played on the PS3 was Skyrim. However, for its time the PS3 was mad, with blu-ray and everything included. At the time it was the cheapest blu-ray player on the market.
Big up Nintendo. All my homies love Nintendo.
Friend of mine in high school had a Neo Geo. Seems like the cartridges were a couple hundred, he had a pile of them. Not gonna lie though, it was cool as hell to have an arcade system in the living room back then. Were a lot of good games too
Crazy how the Dreamcast was actually a ‘bargain’ compared to the rest, despite objections to its initial price at the time
It would be nice if it has seperated chart that including Inflation too. NES launched in 2024 would be $1000 if included Inflation.
Edit: This comment is stupid, they’re already inline with inflation.
Pretty sure GameCube launched at $250. Inflation is wild.
Philips CDI should also be there
Launched in 1998 for $1000, which is just north of $2200 in today’s money
This just confirms what we already knew.
That GameCube, Dreamcast, Wii and N64 were the best consoles.
Are the prices inflation adjusted?