Why to focus on the minimum? A minimum is nothing anyone could buy any luxury goods with... they can barely survive... nothing else.

The "rich", you would be surprised, do not enjoy to pay a lot... they may value their coins even more than the poor ones... probably the reason they are "rich" in the first place.

The ultimate factor is simply "how much is someone willing to pay", which can fluctuate dependable on the country but it is NOT necessarily bound to a income-level", rather on "the will to pay a lot... or simply lesser, as a huge mass"; this is not the same... but it might look the same.

There are some billionaires that will never pay more than 30 coins and some poor ones willing to hand over their very last bucks... even if it means to sacrifice their meal or even their kidney for it... because humans most likely act in a way that they put some value into something else, and the thing we are putting value into it is very different... even without any link to the current income level. Sure, in a "good environment... a rather healthy economy" people are willing to spend more for luxury goods in general, but this is just one of many more factors playing a role.

Let me make a easy example: How much is a person, per head, "paying" for their car every year? How much are they paying for gaming in average per head in a country like South Africa (because people said, in Africa sales do barely work) Okay...? Yeah, its much... much... much lesser... so the income is not the main issue... its the will to pay, the "value" someone is putting into something else... this is the "main motivation driving humans".

How much more money vs. me do you think some of my relatives got? 10x? 100x? Nah... its more like 1000x the coins i own... but are they buying a expensive computer or any game at all? Of course not... but even if they may have interest into games... they may not put enough of value into it for "getting something that expensive"... a over aged notebook and the cheapest Steam game will be "good enough"... because of the "value" they put into it... which is way lower... there is simply never the same level of interest nor competence.

There is no direct link to the wealth if we consider the price someone is willing to pay, however... obviously. if a certain market is as good as totally broken... the chance of finding someone willing to "sacrifice" their coins is near zero. Not even because no one could afford it but they simply will spend the coins on the "more important matter", for example a car or a meal.

Of course i could be different... i could feel like "i value this supreme PC so crazy much"... lets just forget about this huge car... lets not even buy a car so i can get the very best PC"... but how many humans are acting like this? Clearly a minority... because of the way of "how we value goods". And of course, culture in general is playing a huge role too... dependable on "social standing"... related to a certain good... it will more likely to become valued by the mass... or simply rather not.

There is even a gender divide, which can be complicated explaining the factors involved, but in general males dominate "tech stuff" while women dominate "social stuff".

Cross-posted from my post on another thread because I don't do the calculations much and it is more pertinent to this topic. And JPY is a relatively stable currency when compared to TRY/ARS/ZAR. Although Steam is rowing the other way removing the Turkish/Argentinian currencies.

Resurrecting this thread because it's still relevant with respect to regional pricing, and also a lot of games are going on sale with a worse discount than before, and a worse discount than Steam.

Apparently inflation is a thing that affects games, even older games, but a lot of games have received reduced discounts on GOG while the discounts have been consistent on Steam.

Regional pricing differences + inferior discounts means that GOG is not really that attractive for buying games in many countries. Regional pricing is a controversial topic, I get it, but inferior discounts on top of that mean that GOG will restrict its customer base to Europe and North America only.

Inflation probably has something to do with it, but who can say for sure?

What's certain is that rights holders are relatively free to offer their games at a price they see fit. Just because a game once cost €1/$1/... at a super-duper discount doesn't mean they're obligated to do so now. Such rock-bottom price offers also serve to get games talked about and, if possible, generate large quantities in a short time, thus improving quarterly figures, for example. After such promotions, the price can easily rise several times over, which is quickly achieved with such small amounts as €1/$1/...

And yes, GOG can also influence prices to some extent by pricing different prices than its competitors, after consulting with the rights holders. Maybe because the rights holder wants it that way, maybe because GOG expects additional revenue from it, or maybe because they believe their version of the product or the associated service is better (and costs a certain amount).

But we, as customers, have the greatest leverage against this. By voting with our wallets and simply practicing abstinence. Here at GOG, you'll find quite a few core customers who are willing to invest a few more bucks to meet their DRM-free demands and believe in a store that, despite all its flaws, is one of the few bastions against DRM.

And I personally count myself among them. I don't give a damn if I can get the game for a few euros cheaper elsewhere. Such comparisons are purely subjective anyway, because everyone has a different opinion. Next, someone will come along and complain that games cost 50 times more at release than they do 10 years later in the winter sale. Or why anyone even buys when XY is giving away their games for free.

Fortunately, many gamers still think differently about it and are willing to pay a decent price for it, according to their means, and not let themselves be chained down by DRM, microtransactions, pay2win, affordable loot boxes, and so on and so forth.

Thank you for the reasoned reply.

I'm happy to pay a small premium for DRM-free although for some countries it is not a small premium for the reasons listed previously.

Price-disparity for games which are not DRMed is not as easy to hand-wave away.

Way less stable than CHF, yet they still get way cheaper prices.

Staple Foods are more expensive and they are basic features to live a decent life.

Videogames are something you can control if you need to put priorities in your life. But honestly I have never seen such low prices in videogames for years, excepting AAA day one releases. Wait a year or some months and it is done.

No, videogames as well as many other goods are valued very differently by many humans and even certain nations. In specific situations some humans may perhaps rather eat some lesser noodles in order for being able to afford a certain game. It comes down to how a human is valuing it, not "if it is actually essential for life". There are so many people taking drugs all days... even willing to pay a huge amount of money for it. Are those drugs essential? Not in common terms or not according to the medicine... yet... those humans may consider it "essential for themself" and even if they got in mind "it is expensive crap"... they may still buy it.

As well reason why Nihon Falcom fans may pay so hard for a game and the same game over and over... because they just put way to much value into it. Some drug-addicts they will fail to understand its "addiction", but yes, humans are kinda addicted to different thing, even the stuff they simply love.

If you only buy classics on sales prices... yes. Not as a core gamer buying many "fresh releases".
So it totally depends on the individual situation.

As well NOT for those playing live service games with a lot of microtransactions or those who are deeply into gacha-games and willing to pay lot of coins.

Of course, "staple food" only. Dependable on food those costs can grow toward insane levels... but the same can be said for a core gamer or someone addicted to a certain game in a specific category related to microtransactions.