The Joys of Inflation

You hear a great deal of concern about $60 games and how our hobby is becoming too expensive for too little value, so I thought this information might be of interest.

The average 1996 PS1 game would cost you $50, which in 2011 dollars would be $69.

1996 minimum wage was $4.75 which means it would take you roughly 14 hours or work w/o taxes taken out to buy a single PS1 title.

A 2011 average 360/PS3 title is $60 which would be about $43 in 1996---a real steal for a game of that time considering a PS1 title was $50 and a N64 game would be possibly $60.

2009 minimum wage is $7.25 which means it takes roughly 8-9 hours to earn one 360/PS3 game w/o taxes taken into consideration.

That's 5-6 hours less than your 1996 ancestors! So rejoice 2011 gamers, your hobby is significantly cheaper than it was when we were younger and don't get me started on how much it cost to be an Atari gamer.

---Facts courtesy of Consumer Price Index/U.S. Department of Labor