Gamers are shocked by the increasing price of gaming merch – but it’s not necessarily a bad thing

GAMING has always been an expensive hobby, and with game and console prices rising every year, it’s hard to keep up.

Not only has the average price of games risen to £70/$70, but many companies charge £100/$100 to play the game a few days before release while also adding in-game purchases.

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This can make prices skyrocket and that’s not including some of the gaudy collector’s editions.

Yet we know that the majority of money from gaming doesn’t come from the games itself.

Microtransactions and in-game purchases certainly make up a huge portion of profits, but you only have to look at Pokémon to see the power of merchandising.

People can get fanatical about their favourite games, meaning that they end up searching for everything they can read on the subject.

This has led to the popularity of gaming books, in particular, the artistry of gaming coffee table books.

There are plenty of players currently in the game all selling high-end books about gaming with gorgeous covers and interesting reads inside.

Following on from a long history of gaming magazines and guidebooks, these luxury gaming books link what has been consistently seen as a low-brow hobby with a high-brow one.

Bitmap Books were one of the first players in the game, then others like A Profound Waste of Time and Lost in Cult’s Lock-On bridged the gap between magazine and book.

Lost in Cult is the current big player in the scene, and has since branched out into books that the fandoms really want.

The Design Works series takes deep dives into popular indies like Sable, Citizen Sleeper, and most recently the 90-rated film-based game Immortality.

Creator Sam Barlow has been busy recently with a number of big announcements.

Immortality released yesterday (January 24) for PS5, bringing with it a number of new fans, while at the same time he teased two new games on Steam.

Then as a triple punch, Lost in Cult announced the Immortality Design Works with a Deluxe Edition costing £150.

This isn’t even the most expensive item on the shopping list as the next Lock-On featuring art and signed by legendary Final Fantasy artist Yoshitaka Amano costs a whopping £400.

However, this shouldn’t be surprising in a world where people pay £300 for a Starfield watch in a plastic case or £449 for a Dark Souls 3 figurine.

Maybe these high-end books are the way forward for collectors, giving people the beautiful things they love, while also making them useful and long-lasting.

If you want to read more on how to play Immortality, check out the best games free with Netflix.

Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.

All the latest Gaming tips and tricks

Looking for tips and tricks across your favourite consoles and games? We have you covered…

This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk

GAMING has always been an expensive hobby, and with game and console prices rising every year, it’s hard to keep up.

Not only has the average price of games risen to £70/$70, but many companies charge £100/$100 to play the game a few days before release while also adding in-game purchases.

2

2

This can make prices skyrocket and that’s not including some of the gaudy collector’s editions.

Yet we know that the majority of money from gaming doesn’t come from the games itself.

Microtransactions and in-game purchases certainly make up a huge portion of profits, but you only have to look at Pokémon to see the power of merchandising.

People can get fanatical about their favourite games, meaning that they end up searching for everything they can read on the subject.

This has led to the popularity of gaming books, in particular, the artistry of gaming coffee table books.

There are plenty of players currently in the game all selling high-end books about gaming with gorgeous covers and interesting reads inside.

Following on from a long history of gaming magazines and guidebooks, these luxury gaming books link what has been consistently seen as a low-brow hobby with a high-brow one.

Bitmap Books were one of the first players in the game, then others like A Profound Waste of Time and Lost in Cult’s Lock-On bridged the gap between magazine and book.

Lost in Cult is the current big player in the scene, and has since branched out into books that the fandoms really want.

The Design Works series takes deep dives into popular indies like Sable, Citizen Sleeper, and most recently the 90-rated film-based game Immortality.

Creator Sam Barlow has been busy recently with a number of big announcements.

Immortality released yesterday (January 24) for PS5, bringing with it a number of new fans, while at the same time he teased two new games on Steam.

Then as a triple punch, Lost in Cult announced the Immortality Design Works with a Deluxe Edition costing £150.

This isn’t even the most expensive item on the shopping list as the next Lock-On featuring art and signed by legendary Final Fantasy artist Yoshitaka Amano costs a whopping £400.

However, this shouldn’t be surprising in a world where people pay £300 for a Starfield watch in a plastic case or £449 for a Dark Souls 3 figurine.

Maybe these high-end books are the way forward for collectors, giving people the beautiful things they love, while also making them useful and long-lasting.

If you want to read more on how to play Immortality, check out the best games free with Netflix.

Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.

All the latest Gaming tips and tricks

Looking for tips and tricks across your favourite consoles and games? We have you covered…

This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk