What's Your Price Limit?

[Retreater]

I recently noticed that the Player Core and GM Core for Starfinder 2 are $70 each. That's $140 for basically the same material that was $60 in 2018. Add the monster book and that's $210 to get into Starfinder 2.
Yes, inflation. Yes, tariffs. I get it. Paizo can charge what they want. Maybe Starfinder 2 is even so good that it's worth $500. And yes, Archives of Nethys will be free. And yes, PDFs and Pocket rulebooks are cheaper.
But in the era of Shadowdark (which FYI I didn't love), Dragonbane, and Daggerheart when you can get a full game for $50-60, does $210 seem excessive? Does the very thick, three core rulebook model need to continue in the era of $210 games? (This might be the most expensive core system by a major publisher.)
I never played Starfinder 1 - my books went unused. But I did purchase them for study and consideration by my group. I can't see myself dropping $210 for that now.

 

[Celebrim]

$60 in 2018 is worth like $30-$40 today depending on the numbers you trust.

$70 today is like $35-$48 in 2018, again depending on the numbers you trust. I'm surprised they can sell it so low given what's happened in the last 7 years.

$80 to $90 dollars would be totally fair given the inflation since 2020. People are just going to have to accept the sticker shock. My savings lost nearly half their value. The only good news is so did my loans.

 

[Morrus]

TTRPG books are massively undervalued. The profit margins are non-existent, and creators get paid less than minimum wage for a book which took many people months or years to make, and which you can get months or years of use out of.

So, yeah, $70 doesn't pay for a hardcover TTRPG book.

WotC sells its core rules -- three books -- for, what $30 each? Depending on where you are in the world. But it's Hasbro and can print hundreds of thousands of them at a time, and so pays pittance for each book. And in doing so, trains the market what a hardcover TTRPG book is worth.

(This, incidentally, is why monopolies are generally prevented through regulation--unfortunately our little corner of the gaming industry is too tiny to qualify for notice, but make no mistake we are operating in the contrails of a monopoly, and the industry problems that causes are apparent).

The rest of the industry sells 0.1% of what Hasbro does if they're really lucky, and pays 10 times or more per book printed. And doesn't have worldwide distribution deals, if at all. And if they do have distribution deals, they're on much worse terms--like, 60% of the cover price is gone right there.

So a hardcover book? Really? For a non global-corp with massive economies of scale? It costs $100. That's minimum wage for the labour.

If you are paying less than $100 (and you are, because every company prices its books at $60 or so), it's because the company is not paying itself or its creators a living wage. Because they literally can't. And this is why the entire TTRPG entire industry is mainly people in their spare bedroom as a side job.

Sure, maybe the books aren't worth $100 to you. Maybe TTRPGs are not a viable business if you're not Hasbro. I'm not telling you what a TTRPG hardcover is worth to you... you spend your money how you want. Your priorities are yours. But I am telling you what it costs if people are paid fairly. And that's $100 for minimum wage.

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

I’ve moved to PDFs since a handfull of years, besides some core books for systems I really like. Part of the reason is shelf space, but price is a factor too - I would never play current paper book prices just to check out a system like I did a decade ago.

 

[TiQuinn]

I recently noticed that the Player Core and GM Core for Starfinder 2 are $70 each. That's $140 for basically the same material that was $60 in 2018. Add the monster book and that's $210 to get into Starfinder 2.
Yes, inflation. Yes, tariffs. I get it. Paizo can charge what they want. Maybe Starfinder 2 is even so good that it's worth $500. And yes, Archives of Nethys will be free. And yes, PDFs and Pocket rulebooks are cheaper.
But in the era of Shadowdark (which FYI I didn't love), Dragonbane, and Daggerheart when you can get a full game for $50-60, does $210 seem excessive? Does the very thick, three core rulebook model need to continue in the era of $210 games? (This might be the most expensive core system by a major publisher.)
I never played Starfinder 1 - my books went unused. But I did purchase them for study and consideration by my group. I can't see myself dropping $210 for that now.

If it’s something that I want and will use, yes, I’ll still pay that price but I’m also selective about the things in that area. If everything is priced at the range, then yes, it makes it hard to justify given that there’s only so many games I’m likely to play at the table.

 

[Jd Smith1]

I only buy pdfs, and only products that I have a clear use for. I'm unlikely to buy a new system, although there are a couple setting books on my wish list, but its been a long time since I've seen something I would spent more than $20 for. There's one or two potential exceptions, but those are just maybes.