The Most Expensive Video Games to Purchase — Statistics and Top Games in 2024

Today, gaming is much more than just a niche hobby, and these statistics on the most expensive video games to purchase prove it. In recent years, the gaming industry has seen exponential growth and development.

Video games have become a massive storytelling medium, blending captivating narratives with the latest tech features and attracting a growing player base from all walks of life. These advancements, however, come at a cost for the producers and players buying the games.

One of the main drivers of the price increases is the introduction of downloadable content (DLC). We’ll go over this and several other factors behind the recent price bumps in gaming.

Keep reading to discover the priciest games in 2024, the most expensive collector’s editions of all time, and what the gamer community thinks about these growing prices.

Factors Impacting Game Prices

The final price of a video game depends on a myriad of factors. Here are all the costly steps that publishers must account for, from production to promotion:

Production Costs

Modern games, especially AAA games, take years of work and millions of dollars to create.

For example, some games scheduled for release in 2024–2025 have budgets of over $200 million, according to a CMA report following Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard (the biggest acquisition in gaming history).

According to the same source, some games, like Call of Duty and GTA 6, have development budgets exceeding $250 million.

That’s a massive increase, considering that AAA game budgets rarely exceeded $50-$150 million just five years ago. It’s no surprise that developers are bumping the prices of new games to account for these growing costs.

Licensing & IP

Many games today are based on big franchises, such as movies, graphic novels, or sports leagues like the NCAA.

Getting the legal rights to these franchises means paying large licensing fees. For instance, the Swedish developer Embracer Group paid $395 million to acquire the licensing rights to the Lord of the Rings (LOTR) franchise.

In turn, developers have to transfer these extra costs to the game’s final price to account for this additional expense and maintain profits.

Platform-Specific Pricing

Video games must be optimized for different platforms, such as PCs or consoles. Naturally, this fine-tuning process takes extra time and development costs and impacts the final price. This is readily apparent in the case of new console releases.

For example, games made for newer consoles are more expensive, as you can see in this chart.

Moreover, console games overall are generally more expensive than PC games because of additional licensing fees paid to Sony, Nintendo, and other console manufacturers.

However, consoles may sometimes offer subscription passes, which helps offset these costs and reduce the final game price.

Marketing & Promotion

Good marketing is integral to the success of any product, and video games are no exception. Marketing is very costly, though. The marketing for Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V) reportedly cost over $109 million, for example.

According to the CMA, many recent releases required launch marketing campaigns costing around $54.7 million. One developer reported marketing costs of $310 million for a major AAA game.

Publishers are also spending more on influencer marketing. Today, popular influencers are one of the most popular marketing strategies for new game releases, with influencers charging up to $10,000 per promotional video or post.

Consumer Demand

With gaming becoming more popular (and with games getting better and better), more consumers are eagerly anticipating the newest releases.

This increased demand can drive up the prices, as developers know consumers would pay a premium.

This is more true now than ever before. After all, consumer spending has been rising since 2013 and reached a new record high last year.

In the UK alone, gamers spent nearly $4 billion in 2023, almost 20% more than the previous year and roughly 60% more than before the 2019 pandemic. The trend of increased video game spending is similar in other countries, including the US.

Special Editions & Collectibles

Developers often release special “limited edition” games as a marketing tactic to drum up interest. These editions are usually the more expensive option as they contain bonus features unavailable in the regular edition.

Some gamers even see these special editions as an investment. As you can see above, such games typically become more valuable with time or lose less value than regular editions.

DLCs

Downloadable content (DLC) is becoming increasingly common in video games. In fact, it will be the third-most-popular gaming business model in 2024, after digital premium games and free-to-downloads.

DLCs and expansion packs’ main purpose, besides monetization, is to enhance the game with additional content.

Some DLCs have a large portion of content hidden behind a paywall, which significantly enhances the gaming experience but comes at an additional cost to players.

A great example is Witcher III: Wild Hunt. Its expansion pack, Blood and Wine, is considered one of the best DLCs of all time.

Despite its fantastic reputation, you’ll be surprised to learn it’s nowhere near the most expensive DLCs of all time. In fact, Blood and Wine only cost $20.

On the other hand, some DLCs can significantly increase the game’s overall price, racking up a very high bill for the gamer.

For instance, players in games like The Sims 4 pay around $1,200 for their DLCs. And FIFA reportedly made $1.6 billion in DLC revenue in FY 2021.

Moreover, as you can see in the graph above, some DLCs can even stack up to $60,000 or more.

In fact, one of the most expensive DLCs of all time is worth $6 million. We’re talking about Entropia Universe’s huge assets package, which featured countless in-game items that players could buy with the game’s currency.

While nobody bought the full $6 million worth of items, the largest recorded transaction was worth $635,000.

Finally, the Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War DLCs are virtually incalculable, given the huge amount of bundles on offer.

Most Expensive Games to Buy & Play in 2024

Star Citizen is the most expensive game ever made, with production costs exceeding $630 million as of 2024.

The game isn’t even out yet, but it has already generated significant buzz. So, it’s possible that when it does hit the market, it’ll be one of the most expensive games to buy of all time.

Until then, let’s take a look at the most expensive games you can buy and play right now.

Steam Games

Steam is the largest platform for PC games today, offering over 73,000 titles. With so many options available, there’s a lot of room for price variations, as you can imagine.

The most expensive game on Steam today is Spooky Men, an indie horror game released in 2023. Early access to the game via Steam costs a shocking $1 million.

This audacious price tag appears to be a marketing tactic and a successful one at that. It’ll be interesting to see the game’s price after the early access phase.

Other expensive Steam games are nowhere near that exorbitant, but they aren’t cheap, either. Here’s an overview of the most expensive Steam games today.

PlayStation Games

Although the PS5 is a relatively new console, it already has special collectors’ editions, which cost a pretty penny. Moreover, many PS5 games offer very advanced verses and graphics that require high development budgets, which also increases the costs paid by the players.

That’s not to say that PS4 games are cheap. Although it’s not the newest console, it remains widely popular, with a significant library of games. Thanks to the popularity of online shopping, some PS4 games are already becoming rare and thus more expensive.

Here’s our overview of the rarest and most expensive games for PS4 and PS5. The prices outlined are for game editions that haven’t been used or opened.

The anniversary edition of Final Fantasy 1–6 costs almost $1,000, making it the most expensive PS4 game now.

As for Poop Slinger, it’s a very rare game, which only sold 84 copies. There’s not a lot of this game to go around, so the price is quite high. Should someone wish to engage with this very niche and self-explanatory title on PS4, they’ll have to pay $976 to any of the 84 lucky owners.

As for PS5, the collector’s edition of Baldur’s Gate 3, which contains a lot of swag in addition to the game, can go for $1,147. Baldur’s Game 3 is widely considered one of the best games of all time and the most expensive PS5 game to play.

The Elder Ring Premium Collector’s Edition, released in 2022, is the second-most-expensive PS5 game and costs $1,074.

Most Expensive Collectors’ Edition Games of All Time

Some special editions of video games have sold for a lot more than the regular editions. Here are the most notable examples.

The Super Mario franchise games make up the lion’s share of the most expensive collectors’ editions ever sold.

An unopened copy of the 1985 edition of Super Mario Bros for Nintendo went for $2 million at a 2021 auction, becoming the most expensive video game ever sold.

The Super Mario 64 N64 from 1996 comes in second. It was one of the first-ever 3D games, and a copy sold for $1.5 million.

Last but not least, the 1984 game Tetris, signed by its maker Alexey Pajitnov and one of the most important pieces of gaming history, sold for $1 million in 2011.

Consumer Attitudes Towards Expensive Games

We know for a fact that new video games are more expensive, and it seems players are willing to pay more for better graphics and game mechanics. But is everyone happy with the new pricing trends in gaming? Let’s find out.

Gamer Spending Insights

Consumers are spending more as video games become more sophisticated. However, a 2022 YouGov report found that only 9% of global consumers are actually paying attention to video game prices.

Interestingly, 18–24-year-olds make up the largest share of price-conscious gamers (17%), and the share of price-conscious consumers seems to decrease linearly with age. Only 3% of price-conscious consumers were in the 55+ age group.

But it’s not just the software itself that gamers spend on. In fact, the games themselves might not even be the biggest expense.

Taking the US as an example, we can see the lion’s share of gaming expenditure actually goes into hardware. After all, games are getting more advanced by the year, so system requirements have to keep up.

However, the software gaming segment in the US is picking up, having reached a peak average expenditure of $17 per household in 2022.

Total spending on in-game content like DLCs is also up in the US, having gone from $47.5 billion to $48 billion between 2022 and 2023. It’s a small increase, but it suggests recovery after the segment shrank from its $51.69 billion peak in 2021.

Future Trends in Video Game Pricing

Everything is indeed getting more expensive, and video games are no exception. However, there’s more to video game price increases than meets the eye.

Let’s go over the possible future trends of video game pricing—both positive and negative.

Technological Advancements

VR is an emerging technology rapidly gaining traction in gaming. Many of the games on our list, such as W.H.A.L.E., have a VR component. However, this traction means higher costs for gamers.

VR hardware is costly, and the average price could reach almost $420 by 2029. Moreover, VR games require specialized developer expertise, which means higher production costs.

Such costs might make consumers hesitant to purchase a set, even if they’re early adopters. Because of this, we expect an increase in subscription pricing models.

Subscription Models

Subscription models let players access a library of video games for a monthly or annual fee. PlayStation Plus is one such provider, and they have over 47 million subscribers already.

This popularity is largely due to lower upfront costs. This increased accessibility makes subscription models a huge potential market driver.

With more consumers embracing subscription services, fewer will be interested in purchasing individual games. This can lead to interesting competitive strategies for developers and even brand-new bundled services.

Higher Costs for Limited/Premium Editions

It’s impressive how expensive certain limited game editions can be. While few of us are likely to go hunting for Poop Slinger any time soon, many avid collectors would pay top dollar to add the rarest games to their libraries.

Releases like Baldur’s Gate 3 Collector’s Edition, which contained a lot of swag like Magic: The Gathering Cards and figurines, are a testament to how companies are responding to gamers seeking unique and deluxe experiences.

Although the “Limited Edition” label is often a marketing ploy, it’s an effective one. All these editions contain exclusive content, such as DLCs, so players are really getting something more for the added money.

More DLCs and IAPs

We mentioned how DLCs can increase a video game’s cumulative costs. Game developers often use them in promotions as additional revenue streams, and we’re convinced that this trend will continue.

Given the sky-high production budgets that are so commonplace today, the DLCs and IAPs strategy is a solid way to boost the cash flow.

IAPs are very common in free-to-play MMORPG games today, and they often consist of cosmetic enhancements or in-game currency to unlock new achievements.

They’ve long been a successful revenue stream for gaming companies, and there’s no reason to think they’ll go away. For example, Fire Emblem Heroes made Nintendo over $826 million in IAPs alone in 2023.

Concluding Thoughts

Video games are no longer a niche hobby. More and more people are engaging in games of all sorts, ranging from MMOs and action RPGs to shooters and simulation games. This growing popularity is a key market driver.

As the demand for video games grows, new releases are becoming more elaborate and thus more resource-intensive to produce. Only five years ago, an AAA game would cost developers $100 million. In 2024, some games will need budgets of over $250 million.

It’s no surprise that video games are getting more expensive, with many additional factors coming into play besides developer budget. But the latest innovations are not cheap, and not every consumer is prepared to pay $1 million for Spooky Men.

What do you think of our roundup of the most expensive games to purchase statistics? Did you find it useful? Let us know your thoughts!

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