As anybody that even vaguely follows games will know then most computer games cost money. How much money they cost can vary quite dramatically, even from person to person. For the industry is a very important topic as you will want to get the most money for your product, and different people have different "pain points" and understanding those will potentially see you make a lot more money than you otherwise might have.
This is part of a series on GBAtemp where we discuss things to do with game design, aspects of play and other industry concepts. Today is Noctosphere's guest entry in the series.

Counting things like expansions, dlc, virtual currency, monthly payments, etc then what is the game you invested the most in?

Personally, I invested a lot in The Sims 3 and The Sims 4.
In total I invested over 400$ in the sims 4 over the years
I calculated, it's about 10$/month, which I think isn't that bad.

Previously we discussed times where people said gameplay styles would not work for a platform

Spoiler: earlier editions

the value of online play., emulation vs hardware, a favoured game style that might have become less common in recent times, skills one might have learned or honed because of a game, games on the PS4 and Xbone that will stand the test of time, games that got better after launch, cancelled games and shuttered devs, and story canon in games.

Also under discussion are times you might have purchased a console for a single game, a large collection or peripherals or upgraded your PC again just for that one game. You might also want to compare it to games other than computer games, the obvious first start for many being collectible card games such as Magic the Gathering, YuGiOh and the Pokemon card game. Similarly have you waited for something to go on sale, hit the second hand market, get released as a gold/game of the year edition or something along those lines? Tiered pricing in games is also sort of on the way out, do you have any thoughts there?

 

[Noctosphere]

Pokemon Go, I spend 40$ every 2 weeks on it and thus far most likely spent several hundred dollars on the game.

At least, when you play it, you go outside, you take walks...
So, it's good investment I'd say

 

[comput3rus3r]

Dota 2 by far.

 

[Catsinabucket]

Sims 2 and 3 above all.
I'm still waiting for most of the Sims 3 packs to come down in price, even pre-owned is still expensive

 

[Eddypikachu]

I spent a lot of money on phantasy star online episode 1 and 2 for the nintendo gamecube, I spent $60 for the game, $45 for the broadband adapter and $100 for the gamecube keyboard controller, as well as like $15 worth of ethernet cables so that the ethernet cable reaches into my room

 

[Deleted User]

Probably Black Ops II, had all map packs at £11 a piece and all of the £1.79 camos.
It was worthwhile as me and my friends grinded the shit out of that game.

 

[RedoLane]

Well, after I finished my army service, I used all the money I was granted from my service to buy a Wii U.
……..yeeeaahh…..

jokes aside, I used to spend money easily on Rusty Hearts. no regrets.

 

[oji]

I never bought any subscription, avoid pay-to-win stuff, don't buy any title more than once, I'm rarely invest into DLCs & prefer to wait until decent discounts excluding some tempting titles, so the most sum I spent on any game is its retail price plus DLC.

 

[Costello]

what a nicely written thread, Noctosphere, I didn't know you could spell

 

[wurstpistole]

World of Warcraft, subscription cost wise

 

[Jayenkai]

The price I pay to start a game is the price I pay in total.
Other than Crossy Road, where I did indeed buy a number of "outfits", simply because I happen to appreciate the developers, and think it's an extremely well crafted game.

But on the other hand, I dread to think how much money I’ve thrown into KORG Gadget on iOS. True, it's not a game, but it is a shocking example of "just another IAP" that spirals out of control.
A £10 Gadget here, and some £5 instrument packs there, and a couple of £50 accompanying apps...
Yeah, that adds up..

 

[Lazyboss]

Final Fantasy XIV and Final Fantasy XI
Only God knows how much I spent on those games for years.

Mobile games? I never heard of them.

 

[DKB]

Brave Frontier.

 

[Amost]

To this day... probably Persona 5.
When it came out in Japan, I bought the Limited edition and shipped it to Italy.
When the Western release came out, I was in Japan so...
So I bought the limited version and shipped it to Japan.
Plus, since I wanted to have the game always on my PS4, I also bought the digital version.
Oh and on my way back I didn't have space left in my luggage so I shipped the game back to Italy through post.

So yeah, speaking of single game this one.
I really like the game.

Speaking of game series instead, The Legend of Zelda.

 

[Skeet1983]

For me, it probably would be GTA 5. I bought the game twice, one on Steam, other Physical multi DVD one. At the time, I was using an early build of Windows 10 and the game would crash on launch constantly. Thinking something was wrong with Steam version, I bought the physical multi DVD one. Same issue happened, crash upon launch. I later found out that the issue was something with Windows 10, and with further updates of 10, Steam version of game works fine now

 

[Stephano]

On Dark Souls 2, I spent a total of $120. On Dark Souls 3, I spent a total of $160....
I will never spend more than $60 on a game ever again.

 

[l13f4k3]

i would say jet set radio saga, i have every version of the game (pal/usa/jap) on every platform it has been launched (pc/ios/android/xbox/dreamcast/gba). i´m still waiting for a sequel :C

 

[guisadop]

For me it's either
-WoW: the subscription fee alone would amount to a couple hundred dollars; or
-Pokémon: I got to the point where I paid the equivalent of 80 US dollars for a sealed copy of Pokémon Platinum. Probably already spent some 300 or 400 dollars in all my games together, double that if you count the card game.
I don't usually spend much money in a single franchise, though. I probably spent much more in my other games (combined) than in these two.

 

[Blue]

I've spent a few hundred on a Minecraft server's donation store. But then again, I made that money easily by running (still am) my own Minecraft server.

 

[thekarter104]

This just proves how dominant the in-app/in-game purchases market is.
It's a goldmine for developers because people keep buying in-game stuff anyway.

You think you just buy like $5 for some in-game coins, but add all those microtransactions over the weeks and you might realize how much you've spent on the game when you think about it.

Tbh I'm against in-game purchase system simply because of people that are unaware of microtransactions (because they think, ah, it's just $3 *Happens everyday and adds up*), they pay a lot of money, and sometimes they have no idea how much they've actually spent in total.
The other reason why I'm against in-game purchases is the way of some developers may think: "Hahaha, people keep buying our in-game coins anyway. Let's not work on the game anymore and just let us be lazy mwhahaha!." So they're LITERALLY making money while sleeping and doing nothing all day.

I rather watch like 30 ads and waste my time by actually watching them, than actually paying for the in-game stuff.

Back on topic: The most I've ever spent is the $5 remaining on my 3DS eShop account for Pokemon Rumble crystals.

 

[Bu2d85]

I’ve bought minecraft for almost every platform, but my biggest and dumbest expense has to be my Xbox live Gold subscription.

My Xbox 360 broke 5 Year’s and I keep paying for it because “I might get another Xbox in the future”.

Actually, I forget I have it until it auto pays, at which point I go to cancel it but it says the subscription is good for another year (since I just paid for it) so I wait to cacel right before it expires. Of course I forget and then get charged for another year.

The greatest scam ever, except for the elderly that are still paying for AOL.

How many of you are about to google AOL?