One of the biggest complaints in today's consumer market is that the prices of games and hardware are simply too high. We come to this conclusion based on our current financial realities — the standard of living is through the roof, unemployment rates are still crazy, gasoline is too expensive, and so on. We rarely stop to compare the luxury goods of today with the luxury goods of yesterday, because if we did, we would discover that many things we find expensive now may in fact be cheaper than similar goods just a few years ago.
Videogame consoles are one such category of goods that, when adjusted for inflation, have more or less remained level in value, minus some extreme fluctuations here and there. Seven months ago, reddit user Auir2blaze posted a chart that listed most of the major consoles of the past three and a half decades. The Atari 2600, which cost $200 at launch, would go for $796 today. The NES jumps from $200 to $412. And the NeoGeo goes from the already ridiculous $650 to the outrageous $1125.
There are some more modest machines, of course. The Nintendo 64 goes from $200 to $289, the Dreamcast from $200 to $272, and the GameCube from $200 to $259. Compared to the Wii U, PS4, and Xbox One, that's a huge bargain!
Run through the chart below and see for yourself how much your parents were spending on your hobby growing up.
Via: BGR
