What makes traditional games so much more expensive than video games?

what makes traditional games so much more expensive than video games?

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I'm not sure you are aware how much vidya costs those days

gotta learn the rules gotta travel to a location to play the game gotta get people to play it with

>average video game offers approx. 100 hrs of playtime before repetitiveness occurs, costs 60 bucks.
>D&D core set offers potentially unlimited playtime before repetitiveness occurs, but, on my experience, I ran about 1.5-2k hours of campaigns before i bought a supplement book during 3.5e, all for 180 bucks.
there is a huge discrepancy between the two, though TCG games may fall more closely under that stereotype, as once you have the best decks bought and learned, you only run them one way basically. Mini games like WH40k do get expensive too, but fall under the same book as TTRPG games for replay-ability.

you need friends for it

>traditional games
>more expensive than video games
you what
It's only as expensive as you make it. You can start with literally just a pdf on a laptop/tablet and a dice rolling app. Core rulebooks aren't more expensive than a single vidya, a set of dice is fucking nothing, and you get practically infinite mileage out of them, too. And you don't need a PC/console to play them on, either.
OP statement is clearly pulled out of the ass and a bait.

Vidya costs a lot more to develop than tg. It's just that with the approx. 0 dollars it costs to distribute, you can spread that cost over a lot more customers.

Generally not a significant price difference, but...
-Cost of manufacturing and distribution of printed/manufactured materials VS digital distribution
-Economies of scale

You would think that computer games and video games would be more expensive because of the computer programming, but the price of games has been more or less stagnant since the 90s, if not longer, while the cost of tabletop gaming tends to match inflation rates.

Video games often don't need a second player, and the instances where they do, anywhere in the world will do you. Tabletop games almost inherently require having a flesh-and-blood players in the same room with you, the exception being those supported by electronic media like IRC or Roll20. Because of this, even the smallest launch titles of vidya are at least comparable to mid-line tabletop games in player base.

There are also two types of cost to consider when making any sort of product; fixed costs, and variable costs. Fixed costs, like writing the book or programming the game, aren't going to change no matter how many copies you sell. Variable costs are the cost per unit that you make, and often go down even further when made in bulk.

In the days of Steam and GoG, the fixed costs are decently high, but the variable costs are next to none save for the percentage take that the distributor gets. For tabletop, you've got the costs of printing, the costs of miniatures manufacture, the costs of boxes, costs for shipping, costs for storage, so on and forth. Hell, in the early 2010s, there was a jump in the price of tin which caused a jump in the cost of pewter minis by 20%-50%

So this is why some books cost as much as a video game. Indirectly, why Twilight Imperium, for example, costs significantly more than a box of Scrabble.

Fuck off, /v/ermin.

>what makes traditional games so much more expensive than video games?
It is perfectly fair, fine, and valid that the GM has control of the plot, npcs, and setting as well as being the arbiter of the rules, even if you take issue with it personally and prefer video games.

I don't think the marketing budget for traditional games costs more than the development budget for traditional games.

I dunno OP, you tell me.
>New to Vidya
>$200 console
>$30 controller
>$60 game
>$40 in total DLC
>New to TTRPG
>$40 D&D 5e Player's Handbook
>$40 D&D 5e DM's handbook
>$30 D&D 5e Monster Manual
>$10 box of dice
>$3 pencil
>$5 stack of paper
OR
>$15 AD&D DM's Guide
>$10 AD&D's Player's Handbook
>$18 AD&D Monster Manual

FATE Core £12 new from Amazon (rules and supplements are free online anyway but I'm assuming you don't want to play from a screen)
Fudge dice £13 Amazon (or get £1 for a few dice and convert those, or phone for free)
Paper and pencil £2

>what makes traditional games so much more expensive than video games?
They're both free?

Hardback books and full color pages are expensive

...also, games don't last as long if you scream faggots at their faces every 3 sec

op here. this puts things in perspective for me.

how do you guys find people to play these games with if your friends aren't interested in this type of stuff? do y'all mostly play at card shops?

You can play tabletop if youre literally broke.

Print out or copy a PDF, use an online RNG for rolls.

I was lucky to have friends with nerdy interests that aren't total autists. Game shops and card shops are a mixed bag and it really is just better to play with friends. Just pester 2 or 3 of them into playing with you, run a short and self-contained story, and they might actually like it.

Where the fuck do you live that a pencil costs 3 dollars?

Damn I wish I was American and a new generation console were 200$

This. Seriously.

Cost of good board game: $100-200 for a complex one that will last for a long time.

Cost of TTRPGs: $20 off brand, $150 on brand for literally everything

Cost of AAA video game: $60 base plus $60 DLC expansions plus loot boxes and cosmetics and whatever else.

Indies are directly comparable in price for TTRPGs because books are cheap, and board games cost a ton because they are expensive to get to the customer and demand is low. Meanwhile video games demand is extremely high and he costs are relatively middling but the publishing corporate structure means massive price inflation and public trading means more inflation because of shareholders.

Pencils, sorry, should have clarified. I can pick up a pack of 20 for like 3 dollars.
Also should have clarified, these are the prices I personally paid for all the items listed. I recently bought a PS4 for $200. Besides, Nintendo is the only one really on the next-gen right now.

To further explain, TTRPGs are even cheaper since most companies put out PDFs of their books now, which are ridiculously easy to pirate. But, seeing as I DM AD&D, I'm a traditionalist, and prefer a physical book. Though I regret buying the 5e stuff, the books aren't that much fun to read.

You don't, basically. I talk to my friends/FLGS buddies first, and if they like a particular system or setting, I buy the books for it so we can play. I wouldn't buy any RPG if I didn't already have a group interested in it.

Remember you can pirate books, too, if you're so inclined you can completely skip over the cost of the rulebook.

I've bought Kingdom Death Monster and all the older expansions associated that I could. I spent more money on the computer I'm typing this post from.

Well that fixed price for videa gets wierd. In equalibrium, without any regulation, videa should cost nothing or very nearly nothing. It is just information, and making a duplicate is basically costless. Though to be fair, TGs that can be didgitalized (table top simulator, pdfs, ect.) Have a similar cost problem. Their prices are entirely dependent on social contracts and governmental regulation.

There's also decent Free-2-Play games. For example, pokémon tabletop adventures cannot charge you anything because that would mean an instant lawsuit.

Books and wild encounter generator here

pokemontabletopadventures.com/index.php

> how do you guys find people to play these games with if your friends aren't interested in this type of stuff?

I found new friends.

>It is just information, and making a duplicate is basically costless.
I don't think you understand. Creating the original costs a shitload of money. That's the fixed cost.

Yes, creating a copy costs almost nothing but that does not mean that it should be free. They obviously need to cover the costs of creating the original or they aren't going to do it anymore.