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Author Topic: OMG Games were Expensive Back then  (Read 7096 times)

TheReturnofDMD

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OMG Games were Expensive Back then
« on: July 27, 2006, 04:01:08 AM »
I found this old Sierra press release dated November 22, 1994, a day before my fourth birthday and also the day before KQ7 shipped. Now all was well in the land of Ryan (thats me! ;D) and it was a very nostalgic and sentimental moment before I read this bit:
King's Quest VII will be available for Windows and Macintosh CD platforms. The Windows CD requires a 25 MHz 386 or faster, Super VGA graphics, 4MB RAM, mouse and sound card. For premium performance Sierra recommends a 486 with 8 MB RAM. The game will retail for $79.95 and will be available at software outlets, computer superstores or direct from Sierra at 800/757-7707.

I mean, I love King's Quest just as much as the next guy but that's ridiculous.
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Offline Yonkey

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Re: OMG Games were Expensive Back then
« Reply #1 on: July 27, 2006, 05:58:41 AM »
USD?  Weird... I never paid that much for KQ7. :S
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Offline Deloria

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Re: OMG Games were Expensive Back then
« Reply #2 on: July 27, 2006, 06:00:33 AM »
Yeah, I'm pretty sure my copy was about $20. :P
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Offline Erik

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Re: OMG Games were Expensive Back then
« Reply #3 on: July 27, 2006, 07:40:08 AM »
When you think of it, that's really not much.  Games for the PS3 are expected to come in at around $100 apeice.  :o
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Offline Yonkey

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Re: OMG Games were Expensive Back then
« Reply #4 on: July 27, 2006, 10:55:29 AM »
Yeah but for 1994, that's a bit too expensive. :o Unless that was a some special edition, it seems pretty overpriced.
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Offline Raforever

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Re: OMG Games were Expensive Back then
« Reply #5 on: July 27, 2006, 12:04:12 PM »
I remember my dad buying KQ1-6 (and KQ7's trailer) for USD$20 :P

And considering KQ7 was a gift i have no idea how much it costed :P
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Offline Yonkey

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Re: OMG Games were Expensive Back then
« Reply #6 on: July 27, 2006, 12:30:15 PM »
I believe I paid around $50 CDN, which is like $25-35 USD at the time.  Of course, I got it as soon as it came out, so it was a bit more expensive.  Still not $80 USD expensive though. :P
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Offline oberonqa

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Re: OMG Games were Expensive Back then
« Reply #7 on: August 14, 2006, 12:08:28 AM »
I don't remember paying that much for any computer game at that time.  In fact, I saw King's Quest VI (the floppy version) for sale at Radio Shack when it first came out for $50, which was right before Christmas of 1992.  When my birthday came around (which was in January), I got $50 and rode my bike 5 miles down to that Radio Shack to buy it, despite my parent's warning me it would go down in price.

Sure enough... 2-3 months later, I saw it for sale over at CompUSA for $30... right next to a copy of Quest for Glory II which was marked at $20.  I kick myself in the pants not only for failing to listen to my parents advice, but also for not picking that game up (that was the first and only time I saw Quest for Glory II available on it's own).

As for King's Quest VII.... I got it around the time it came out and paid $60 for it.  In fact, I don't recall seeing any computer game that went for more than $50 that was distributed on floppies.  The only reason KQ7 was $60 was because it was released on CD-ROM and during that time, CD-ROM was the latest craze.  I also paid $60 for the CD-ROM version of Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Past (complete with it's funky-shaped box).

Now console games... that's a different story.  When Street Fighter 2 was released on the SNES, it was going for $80.  When Final Fantasy II was released on the SNES, it also went for $80....
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Offline ThunderChild

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Re: OMG Games were Expensive Back then
« Reply #8 on: August 15, 2006, 06:44:42 AM »
Quote from: TheReturnofDMD on July 27, 2006, 04:01:08 AM
I mean, I love King's Quest just as much as the next guy but that's ridiculous.

It may be ridiculous now, but it was considered "normal" back then. I can recall that older Sierra SCI titles (KQ4, Codename: Iceman, Hero's Quest) were ƒ129,-- (Dutch currency, way before the €) and all 256 colour games (don't know how that engine was called, but games like KQ5, SQ4 and such) were ƒ139,-- for the floppy version and ƒ149,-- for the CD-ROM version, if available. When KQ7 was released, prices dropped considerately and KQ7 was sold here for a 'reasonable' price of ƒ79,--

At that time, I didn't mind that you had to pay "so much" for a game, even if it was released on floppy disk. I find that a lot of those games had a high entertaining value, unlike the games that are released today that are nothing more then a showcase of what an engine can do rather then portraying a 'real game'. Most of those older games has found their way into my DOSbox folder and are played pretty regularly . . .
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Offline Yonkey

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Re: OMG Games were Expensive Back then
« Reply #9 on: August 15, 2006, 07:42:37 AM »
Still, you're buying a video game, not a luxury sedan. XD

Those prices are pretty ridiculous now, and I doubt people found it cheap back then either. :P
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Offline ThunderChild

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Re: OMG Games were Expensive Back then
« Reply #10 on: August 15, 2006, 08:31:21 AM »
Quote from: Yonkey on August 15, 2006, 07:42:37 AM
Those prices are pretty ridiculous now, and I doubt people found it cheap back then either. :P
Most of them were. On several games there was already a discount. I've bought Codename: Iceman for a 'reasonable' price of ƒ89,--

The most expensive game I saw during that time was Strike Commander, which costed about ƒ169,50 (floppy version) and the seporate speechpack was ƒ69,50

I used to work in a computerstore and sold a lot of computer games back then, since no-one else was willing or able to do it ...  ;D  ;D
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Offline Yonkey

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Re: OMG Games were Expensive Back then
« Reply #11 on: August 15, 2006, 08:35:06 AM »
Hehe, well since you have a sales background, you know how important pricing is to retail customers.  I'm not sure what the conversion is to CDN but ƒ149 sounds a little too unreasonable for KQ5.  Cedric and all the dead-ends alone should have resulted in a hefty discount. ;P
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Offline ThunderChild

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Re: OMG Games were Expensive Back then
« Reply #12 on: August 15, 2006, 08:55:38 AM »
Quote from: Yonkey on August 15, 2006, 08:35:06 AM
I'm not sure what the conversion is to CDN but ƒ149 sounds a little too unreasonable for KQ5.
Back then $1 was equal to ƒ2,-- / ƒ2,50


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Cedric and all the dead-ends alone should have resulted in a hefty discount. ;P
Only for the CD-ROM version, only for the CD-ROM version ...  >:( ;)
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It seems totally incredible to me now that everyone spent that evening as though it were just like any other. From the railway station came the sound of shunting trains, ringing and rumbling, softened almost into melody by the distance ...

Offline Baggins

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Re: OMG Games were Expensive Back then
« Reply #13 on: August 15, 2006, 10:06:40 AM »
KQ6 CD was an expensive game... It was made when most people still didn't have CD drives. Many computers at the time did not come with cd-drives, and cd-drives were expensive. The technology was expensive back then. It had a few big name actors as well, which pushed up its production costs.

So because the market for cd-games was more limited, they had to increase the price to compensate, in order to get their money back... However they often offered specials to owners of previous games. For example I got it for $50 preorder special IIRC(I don't remember if I had to send in a copy of a previous game flopplies, or manual with the order or not however). I seem to recall sending in the first disk of KQ5 floppy to get the discount, IIRC.
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Well, ya, King's Quest is on Earth. Daventry is very old city from a long time ago. It's in ruins now and people aren't quite sure exactly where it used to be. There are some archaeologists searching through the ruins, they think they know its Daventry. But its somewhere on Earth."-Roberta Williams http://kingsquest.wikia.com/wiki/File:Daventryisearth.ogg

Offline ThunderChild

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Re: OMG Games were Expensive Back then
« Reply #14 on: August 15, 2006, 11:14:27 AM »
Quote from: Yonkey on August 15, 2006, 10:02:43 AM
To further illustrate this:

-- Bunch of spoilers --

And I'm sure there are more dead-ends as well.  For that reason, I would not price KQ5 that high, I would rather fire the QA team and drop the price. :P

Ehhh, it's been a while since I last played KQ5 ...  :flirt: :flirt:

Quote from: Baggins on August 15, 2006, 10:06:40 AM
However they often offered specials to owners of previous games. For example I got it for $50 preorder special IIRC(I don't remember if I had to send in a copy of a previous game flopplies, or manual with the order or not however). I seem to recall sending in the first disk of KQ5 floppy to get the discount, IIRC.

With a similair 'construction', I was able to get a discount on OS/2 2.0 when that hitted the shelves. All I had to do, was sending in disk 1 of Windows 3.0 and the discount was mine ... ;D ;D
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It seems totally incredible to me now that everyone spent that evening as though it were just like any other. From the railway station came the sound of shunting trains, ringing and rumbling, softened almost into melody by the distance ...

Offline Baggins

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Re: OMG Games were Expensive Back then
« Reply #15 on: August 15, 2006, 12:48:20 PM »
Which was a non-issue since I backed up the floppy I sent in, and later I bought the KQ5 cd versoin, :).
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Well, ya, King's Quest is on Earth. Daventry is very old city from a long time ago. It's in ruins now and people aren't quite sure exactly where it used to be. There are some archaeologists searching through the ruins, they think they know its Daventry. But its somewhere on Earth."-Roberta Williams http://kingsquest.wikia.com/wiki/File:Daventryisearth.ogg

Offline dew7

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Re: OMG Games were Expensive Back then
« Reply #16 on: August 15, 2006, 05:19:48 PM »
Games were expensive back in the day.  I remember Ultima 5 and the magical axe. 

Spoiler (mouse over to reveal):
« Last Edit: August 15, 2006, 05:21:53 PM by dew7 »
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