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Game costs have been a sizzling matter this yr, and you’ve got most likely heard the identical factor on repeat (and never nearly gaming). Everything is getting dearer.
From Nintendo’s $80 Switch 2 video games, to Xbox making an attempt (and later strolling again) Outer Worlds 2 pricing, it is simple to really feel just like the business is shifting in the direction of a future the place solely essentially the most financially snug get to play new releases at launch.
This year’s top-selling Steam releases weren’t back-to-back AAA blockbusters
My own personal favorite games this year, and those of my friend group, have all been on the budget-friendly side. I wrote earlier this year that I’d be voting with my wallet on rising game prices, and I did just that.
When Game Pass prices skyrocketed, I also shared that, because the titles I’ve enjoyed are mostly of lower value, the subscription over the year isn’t worth it for me anymore.
That all said, that’s my personal anecdotal experience with a year of titles like Expedition 33, Ball x Pit, Blue Prince, and Vampire Survivors (and special shout out to Megabonk) taking up my rotation. Not a $80 game in sight, I even let Diablo 4 slide this year!
Own experience aside, I was bolstered by a recent read over the top-selling Steam games. There are loads of heavy financial institution stability hitters right here, however you will discover a bunch of cheaper titles taking on house within the charts for 2025.
Confusingly, Steam has listed the video games alphabetically reasonably than by income, however reveals the highest earners in a Platinum tier, subsequent in Gold, and subsequent Silver… you get the concept. Here are a number of the prime earners within the Platinum class, together with their launch costs.
- Arc Raiders – $39.99
- Borderlands 4 – $69.99
- Elden Ring Nightreign – $39.99
- Hollow Knight SilkSong – $19.99
- Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered – $49.99
- EA FC26 – $69.99
- Schedule I – $19.99
- Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 – $29.99
- Civilization VII – $69.99
- Battlefield 6 – $69.99
- Monster Hunter Wilds – $69.99
- Dune Awakening – $49.99
There’s a bunch of sub-$50 goodness in that line-up, and the Gold Tier consists of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 ($49.99), Split Fiction ($49.99), and Dispatch ($29.99).
Silver Tier will get much more attention-grabbing with prime income winners R.E.P.O ($9.99), Grounded 2 ($29.99), Escape from Duckov ($17.99), Rematch ($29.99), and PEAK ($7.99) to call a number of.
Many of my very own favorites received a point out within the Bronze tier like Megabonk ($9.99), Cloverpit ($9.99) and Ball X Pit ($14.99).
Many of the highest sellers right here truly hit someplace between $10 and $20, with cheaper video games hitting multi-million gross sales and reaching new heights in 2025. Schedule I, for instance, reported over 8 million copies bought in May of this yr, and PEAK hit 15 million players, as introduced simply final week.
So whereas publishers are attempting to justify $80 value tags, theres loads on the market to play at half the fee and plenty of are doing like me and voting with their wallets.
2025 was additionally the yr of “Friendslop”
I’m deeply sorry to have to introduce this term to my lexicon (and yours, if you haven’t heard it yet), but I only recently noticed the rise of “friendslop” in gaming news. It’s basically a catch-all term for those cheap, janky, and often co-operative games like Lethal Company, R.E.P.O., etc., of which the main appeal is silly, dorky gameplay with your friends rather than groundbreaking graphics or AAA polish.
Most of the games my teenage son and his friends enjoyed this year on PC fall into this category, and many of them ranked among the top revenue on Steam, I’m sure, much to the frustration of many a AAA studio with its multi-million-dollar budget.
Big action epic RPGs still thrived, however, such as Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, so the art of creating fantastic-looking games isn’t totally lost. Mid-priced titles like Clair Obscur, Split Fiction, Dispatch, and Silksong all made waves, too, but neither are they $70-$80 blockbusters.
They were all creative and priced well enough for gamers to feel comfortable taking a chance on them (and I’ve no doubt that a couple of these titles being on Xbox Game Pass helped their virality).
I think the economy will move gamers further away from AAA going forward
Looking toward 2026, my spending habits aren’t changing, and I’m going to carry on being stingy. I just can’t justify blindly dropping $80 on a single game, not when that money could fill my car for the month. There are too many perfectly good games for much, MUCH cheaper. Gaming has to stay a hobby, not a financial burden. If a game isn’t essential for my survival, it’s not getting a pass on a massive price hike. That’s just my reality now.
Wages have crawled to a standstill. The average gamer isn’t buying five or six full-price games a year, let alone paying $80 for them. Valve’s own Steam Replay information reveals that the common Steam person performed solely 4 new video games in 2024 and 2025.
Within the financial downturn is a silver lining, although. Smaller studios are thriving, and distinctive concepts are breaking by means of into the gaming charts. The business is altering, whether or not the AAA giants prefer it or not. We aren’t simply enjoying cheaper video games as a result of we’ve got to; we’re enjoying them as a result of, proper now, that’s the place the true innovation (and the true enjoyable) is going on.
Is the $80 recreation a lifeless finish? How a lot are you keen to pay? Let me know within the feedback and vote within the ballot!
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