who sets these prices?

WeebLife@lemmy.world to Games@lemmy.world – 45 points –

I remember when the ps4 came out, the controllers were $60. Why are they more expensive now?

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Sony ultimately sets the price. They were $60 at launch but most video game accessories and even games now have increased from the standard $60 people got used to to now $65 and $70. I don't have a link but I recall reading that inflation adjusted, gaming has held up very well as there were games back in the N64 era and maybe before that sold for $60-70+.

Only other thought is Sony has moved on to PS5 and they make less of the controllers which in turn makes them more expensive to produce and thus increase in cost to the end consumer. I know Xbox has done a good job making controllers from the Xbox One generation to the current gen all work very easily together. I don't think Sony has done the same thing.

Sony made some significant changes between the PS4 and PS5 controllers. I don't know the details beyond the dynamic resistance triggers, but if you buy a controller board to make your own fightstick, it'll work with everything up through PS4 and then you need an additional daughter-board to make it work with the PS5.

It does seem like these big companies know people will buy their stuff and so they set whatever price they want. Ya, I understand inflation is a big factor but I think complacency in the consumers is a bigger factor.

Because your dollars are worth less than they were 10 years ago.

You've had 31% inflation in that time. $60 then is ~$78 now.

Shame wages haven't increased with this inflation

Almost as if somebody is taking more than their fair share, huh?

Wonder who it could be...

Honestly OP, I'd look into third party controllers. I'm assuming you're gaming on PS, but if you're gaming on PC, 8bitdo makes bang for buck xinput controllers. I got the pro (I think, has paddles round back) and it's held up through Rocket League, Elden Ring, Fifa, and For Honor. No drift issues just yet.

I am actually a PC gamer. I have been wanting to get a ps5 controller for a while now but not willing to pay the price. I have looked at third party controllers like the gulikit King Kong 2 pro. But from what I've seen, most of the controllers are in the Xbox layout (the joysticks are off set) and I prefer the Playstation layout.

The 8bitdo pro 2 is in the PS layout. It also has 2 extra programmable buttons on the back if you're into that

I have the king kong 2 and it's great but some of the buttons can stick and that is a fairly common complaint

Where are you? PS5 controllers are like $70 in the US. That’s not totally absurd.

The US. To me its absurd because the last gen console accessories shouldn't cost that much IMO. But I also don't think the new controllers are worth $70 either.

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They've charged more for differently-colored controllers for a while.

I've seen DualShock and DualSense prices drop by $15-20 USD during holiday sales. Can you hold out until December?

Satan. With energy prices going up, and a whole lot of new faces for the fires, he had to make up the difference somehow.

DualSense is on sale in some (North American) online shops right now. If you're in the United States, Target has them for $50.

These controllers have been the same for 29 years. Given the improvements in manufacturing and material Sciences I'm surprised they aren't $9.99

For some reason I don't seem to recall the touchpad on the bluetooth SNES controller.

Maybe not a touchpad, but I DEFINITELY remember adaptive triggers while playing Super Mario Bros on NES. It made the jumps extra fun. Also the gyro controls on the card game were really neat.

I wish they’d finally add other cool features to controllers since than rather than just the trackpad.