It’s honestly kinda crazy how long some games spend in development. The Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy is a perfect example of something that should’ve been quick but ended up being so bloated and took forever to make.
FF7Remake was announced in 2015, got stuck in development hell for a bit, released 2020. The sequel released 2024. The third one still hasn’t been teased yet. How many people are attached to a franchise if it takes 10 years to get the full story? I loved the first remake but dropped the second one, I just didn’t care about the story as much as I did ~5 years ago.
Street Fighter II was $80, and then they asked you to buy the game again for each updated revision.
The real difference between then and now is that when games were on cartridges, every game was expensive. No exceptions. Now, the real reason why paying $70 for the latest AAA feels like a ripoff is because sitting right next to it is Balatro for $15 and Marvel Rivals for free.
Triple AAA titles that are now 75% off or lower with complete editions from a couple of years ago is also what new AAA titles are competing against.