Most Expensive Game - Does It Count?

[DarkTone 918]

I just watched a video online of a guy purchasing (what he calls) the most expensive game ever.

He ended up buying a game on steam, but the money comes from the DLC. He purchased just over $8K worth of DLC for the thing! I guess it counts to certain people, but what about you? Would you say that was fair? I know some collectors would say it should be a whole game not just DLC, or it's not physical, but I'm curious to hear what you think.

[Sign Collector Guy 334]

Link to video? First thought is this is cray. Totally cray!

[DefaultGen 4,935]

Maybe the most expensive game on Steam? Maybe Train Simulator? But with free-to-play economies, the idea of the most expensive digital game is kind of turned on its head. Is buying digital items really different from buying digital trains? In Runescape 3 there's a player who spend $62,000 on microtransactions for one account, and that's just a game I know because I like it, not some kind of record. In China, where microtransactions are a way of life, there must be some SERIOUS big spenders too.

There's also games like Flight Simulator X, where if you add up all the DLC it would easily be $10,000s. A single premium add-on plane (not just the kind of DLC on Steam) can cost $100+. And there's aircraft, scenery, utilities, sound packs, scenarios... People into flight sim are big, big spenders.

[DarkTone 918]

13 minutes ago, Sign Collector Guy said:

Link to video? First thought is this is cray. Totally cray!

I was thinking of adding the link. I didn't want any hate thrown onto the vid. If ok with Mods I can still add it.

 

[BortLicensePlate 648]

No I dont think DLC would count. Couldn't you just keep spending money indefinitely if you were so inclined? Then it just becomes whoever is dumb enough to spend the most

[RH 4,440]

I.... don't think that's true, even if you mean within context of purchases direct from the a game shop, and obviously not counting collectibles.

Before I got into game collecting back in 2016, I use to play a few gatchas, including the Fire Emblem game by Nintendo.  People would drop some insane amounts of money, every month, just to stay at the top of the global rankings.

In fact, regarding Fire Emblem, I started playing from day 1.  Shortly after, when multiplayer was turned on, I did the math on some of the top-tier players.  Those guys likely dropped $5,000-8,000 just to have multiple copies of the best characters, maxed out inventory slots, etc.  The thing is, with gatchas, there are updates from every week to every month and if you want to stay on the top of the hill, you have to have the resources to stay up there.  For the life of me, I could never figure out who these people were until I actually paid attention to the Twitch scene.  There are people out there making insane amounts of money, just playing games and having 1,000 people watch them at a time, and those people drop $5-10 ever now and then because ???? I have no clue!

Anyway, I'm sure you guys are more than aware of how Twitch or YouTube streaming work, but back in 2015, that was my introduction.  I have no doubt that across the globe, for the most played games, there are probably very popular streamers out there dropping maybe upwards of $25k/mo just to stay at the top of those pay-to-play leader boards, but they aren't burning mommy-and-daddy's money. They have that much income coming in from sponsors and streamers "paying for their donuts!"

[ThePhleo 2,036]

From a collectors point of view, it absolutely doesn’t count.

When you buy a digital game or even just DLC you do not own the game in any way. What you’re paying for is the permission to play the game, and download it onto your hardware.

I think Steam allows your children to inherit your account, but last I checked, you technically can’t even sell your account. So if you don’t have the legal right to sell your account (which holds the licenses) then you have nothing to show for it.

Think of it like paying for cable. You don’t own the content on the screen. You’re just paying to watch it.

[Nesmaster 399]

The only example that sticks with me is the gold plane in GTA V that costs ~$100 without any discounts on the shark cards or plane. I'll never pay for in-game currency.

Edited December 30, 2019 by Nesmaster

[OptOut 8,435]

4 hours ago, RH said:

I have no doubt that across the globe, for the most played games, there are probably very popular streamers out there dropping maybe upwards of $25k/mo just to stay at the top of those pay-to-play leader boards, but they aren't burning mommy-and-daddy's money. They have that much income coming in from sponsors and streamers "paying for their donuts!"

 

Something about this actually really appeals to me, in a strange way. It's like if say a thousand people each spent 5 bucks in a mobile game, that money would be totally wasted because each person could burn through the "gems" or "donuts" or whatever in mere seconds. However, if each of those thousand people gave their 5 bucks to a streamer, with 5000 dollars the streamer could probably make serious progress!

And, frankly, the amount of entertainment 5 bucks can buy you in one of these games is WAY less entertainment than you could get watching a streamer you enjoy blowing five grand!