by Timothy Abbott

Created on: October 06, 2008   Last Updated: March 12, 2012

As much as I hate to admit it, yes, game consoles are too expensive. However, I am referring to when they are first released and not the price points that they become within a couple of years after that initial release.

Game consoles have always been expensive since the early 1990's with the Super Nintendo System running $200 at launch. The original Sony PlayStation was $299 in 1995. In 1999, I had put aside money to buy the Sega Dreamcast in September of that year for the price of $200 and that didn't even include a game or a memory card that was required to even play a game.

Sony then released the PlayStation 2 in October of 2000 at $299. I recall friends and critics scoffing at the price because it was just outrageous at the time. What made the system more pricey was the built in DVD player and even at that time, DVD players were still pricey. I November 2001, Microsoft released the Xbox for $299 only to cut the price in May 2002 to $200. Normally a system gets a $50 price drop after six months of being released. I felt robbed since I had waited in line on launch at 1am.

It is well known that these companies like Sony and Microsoft are losing a chunk of money each time a system is sold (up to $200). These comapnies are hoping to make their money back in games that are published in house like Halo, God of War etc.

Imagine how much the public would be charged if the companies wanted to actually make a profit on the system sales. I know that I'm justifying these prices but I still say that these consoles are too expensive. There are other ways to make them affordable such as doing away withe the built in DVD player or take away the backwards compatibility (this allows you to play a PlayStation One game on the PlayStation 3).

When Sony launched the PlayStation 3 (PS3) in November 17, 2006 the price was $599. A person would be paying nearly $1000 for the system, a couple of games and another controller. People jeered the price while fanboys lined up with credit cards in hand. I, for one, camped out for three days and nights at my local Best Buy to get my hands on one. At that point, the Blu Ray format was still new and fighting against the now defunct HD-DVD format. Regular Blu Ray players were costing more at that point and the PS3 was offering the top of the line Blu Ray and the next gen game system.

I still say that there should be two price sku's, one with the Blu Ray player and one without. Sony has already offered PS3 systems with or without backwards compatibility and usually makes a $100 price difference.

In my humble opinion, Nintendo has kept the price points on their systems, Gamecube at $200 and Wii at $249, at reasonable rates. I know that in this economy, they are still expensive but imagine if they were made with DVD or Blu Ray players.

The bottom line is that there are people willing to pay for these systems, either right away or down the road. It's the manufactures that are playing the consumer.

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