The Real Cost of Video Games.

Most people shouldn't be thinking about what games to buy. If you are one of those people, share this with someone who does think about what games to buy so they can recommend good games for you. For everyone else, continue on.

These days when I have to consider how much a game costs, I also consider the toll on my mind of not having all the content. I find that if I buy everything a game will ever have instead of buying base game or waiting till the game is EOL, I won't have to worry about being asked for more. Games are an oasis and aren't something that I should be encroached on by monetization. 

When I look at how much a game costs, I consider the price of getting everything. This includes not just DLC, but also getting everything that can be bought with real money now and the estimated future. I might also consider factors like platform, DRM, and medium due to the ownership crisis of digital and physical media, especially for consoles. (Long story short, we don't even own physical games anymore.) Another factor to consider is how much time the game expects of you to get everything or satisfy you. Some games can have limited events that make you waste time playing them during a holiday, the commitment costs do count towards the price. The goal is to make sure that when you pay the costs, you know that no one will ask more of you and you can just enjoy the game. People who say "triple A gaming is dead" are people who are tired of being asked for so much, but this train of thought only reveals those problems when they exist. This means that you can still filter game through to test the notions that people have of the games. Don't forget game's that add content like cosmetics to pay for the content you get for free can be put into their own pricing. Use your own judgement for these as they can be done very differently  and different people have different opinions on if games fall into this place and how much they weight.

When I considered games this way, I found out what I think are the costs of various types of game.

• Most if not all live service games are priceless. You would need to own the rights to the game to have it. Don't expect to have the game or be satisfied, even if you pay.
• Games with on-going DLC content might never end. Wait till the game's content run is confirmed to have ended or that they won't make a revised version.
  
• Games that list non-limited content to pay for free live service content are nice, but don't forget that they can still change course or have limiteds that ask for your time.
• Games that are one time payment for everything are the game that I wish we had more of.
• Free games really show how much devs are up selling their games or show that games don't need to be premium to be fun.
  
• Christmas limiteds deserve their own place in hell for wanting me to play their game during the holidays instead of hanging out with family. Wish more games could let us get them out of season.
  

This method of determining the real price isn't perfect due to devs being able to make new paid content whenever, but it brings the true costs of games to light for the most part making comparing them for costs much safer. I suggest people take the bits they like, and adopt them into their decision making on game purchases. I am annoyed that I had to make this system at all, but I find it really important so that I can find good games. Thanks for reading!