For years I carried around a fear that I would “spend too much money” on video games and as such I would him-haw around for months before buying a game that I wanted. This is probably related to the long-since-overcome fear of buying the highest quality paper towels. However, a few years into my Nintendo Switch ownership (circa ’21 or ’22), I came to an important realization: I needed to stop agonizing over the number and cost of games I wanted to buy and instead let myself buy whatever caught my interest.
“Crazy!”, you say??
Actually, it’s not as wild as you might think.
For one, I’m a responsible adult with my own (disposable) income. While I recognize how reckless frivolous this may appear, this shift in mindset has genuinely improved the quality of my life with negligible increase in direct (dollar) costs. More importantly, it wasn’t on a whim; it stemmed from a thoughtful analysis and a genuine change in perspective. This shift feels especially relevant to me now because we’re fresh off of the much-anticipated announcement of the Nintendo Switch 2. With that in mind, I thought it’d be fun and timely to revisit the thought process that led me to my current approach to gaming. Is it still relevant today?
Now, do I think I can convince you to open up the purse strings and buy every game you want without hesitation? Maybe…maybe not. But what I am confident I can do is to help you shed any guilt you might feel about spending your “hard-earned money” on something as “frivolous” as a video game—or several.
World 1-1: Spending Habits
The combination of the nascency of digital entertainment (e.g. the build up and anticipation waiting for the Nintendo 64 in my 3rd grade year) and the role of money in the mediation of familial relationships anchored in my mind the idea that video games are both rare and expensive. The upside of this is that I have always valued and taken care of my games and consoles. The downside is that even as my buying power grew, my perspective on these toys tools (as well as many other things in life) didn’t co-evolve alongside it. I needed to revise my understanding of cost and integrate the concept of value. This change would allow me to cast video games alongside other appropriate classes of entertainment as well as understand that just because it is a game, doesn’t mean that it isn’t also a tool.
World 1-2: Hourly Cost of Entertainment
Virtually everyone is comfortable with the concept of purchasing entertainment. We purchase games, tickets to shows, fancy meals, rent or go to the movies. Hell, we buy alcohol, sugar, marijuana and other nasty indulgences as low-level forms of entertainment (this is most certainly a can of worms in my argument!). This even excludes big-ticket items like vacations, ATVs, jet-skis, etc.. It’s clear that spending for entertainment and experience is normal.
I’ll narrow this concept to help make it quantifiable. Let’s consider purchasing entertainment measured in some duration of hours. Yes, the nature of entertainment can vary substantially and duration is not always the best proxy for assessing cost or value. There are also forms of entertainment that echo through our memories and provide long lasting satisfaction while others leave us the moment they conclude. Though for the sake of brevity and concreteness, measuring cost in term of hours of entertainment should be a suitable measure for video games and allow translation to other forms of entertainment. Therefore, we can compute the hourly cost of entertainment quite simply by dividing the cost of the purchase by the total number of hours of potential enjoyment.
hourly_costi = cost_per_gamei / hours_per_gamei
World 1-3: How Long to Beat & the Post-game
We’ll then need a reliable measure of how many hours we get from a video game. I think the best proxy for this would be how many hours does it take to “beat” a game. When I am assessing my own progress, I’ll often Google: “how long does it take to beat [insert game name here]” and compare with how much time I’ve already spent. Unsurprisingly, there is a website called howlongtobeat.com that is almost always Google’s source of the answer. Yes, “beating” a game can mean many different things. This website uses three ratings for game length: Main Story, Main Story + Extras, and Completionist. There are some titles with significant post-games that enable near-infinite replay-value (e.g. Pokemon, Skyrim, etc.). However, I will ignore infinities because, as you can imagine, they will break my calculation, even though they will make my point for me 😉
World 1-4: The Final Boss: Analyzing my Library
My earlier drafts of this post included a comprehensive table of all of the Nintendo Switch titles that I own but I rolled that back because sharing that detail felt a tad obnoxious. For all of the below analysis, I assumed a conservative $60/game title cost. Here are the summary statistics:
- I currently own 40 Nintendo Switch game titles
- 3 are unplayed (they’re recent purchase)
- 11 are completed (Main Story + Extras)
- 6 others almost complete.
- 19 titles have some degree of “infinite replayability”.
- Across my entire library, the averages for each completion rating are:
- 18 hours (Main Story),
- 30 hours (Main Story + Extra), and
- 58 hours (Completionist).
My library is dominated by several franchises. These are Mario and Mario adjacent (22 titles), Zelda (5 titles), and Pokemon (9 titles). The average time-to-beat and hourly costs for each of these franchises are:
- Mario (and Mario adjacent): 13 hours, 21 hours, 36 hours with costs of $4.62, $2.86, and $1.67, respectively.
- Zelda has the longest durations and the lowest hourly cost with 34 hours, 60 hours, and 114 hours with costs of $1.76, $1.00, and $0.53, respectively.
- Pokemon fills in the middle with durations of 25 hours, 42 hours, and 91 hours with costs of $2.40, $1.43, and $0.66, respectively.
On the extreme end, the Completionist for TOTK is 245 hours with an hourly cost of just $0.24.
World 1-Star: Comparing Alternative Forms of Entertainment
Now, where do we stand with alternative forms of entertainment. How about the classic dinner and a movie for two? I can rent a movie at home for $3.99 (2 hours of entertainment at ~$2.00/hour). Subscription services certainly lower this cost if you make use of them. Buying a Blu-Ray copy of the same movie may run you $30 or more and is most conceptually similar to buying a video game. This would yield an hourly cost of ~$15.00/hour. If we go out to see a movie at the theatre, including snacks, we could be spending well over $60 for two people with an hourly cost of ~$30.00/hour.
Dinner on the other hand could range anywhere from $30-$50 (DoorDash) to several hundred dollars for a fancy romantic dinner. This yields an hourly cost range of $15.00/hour to $100.00/hour. You can see the cost go up as the scalability of the entertainment decreases as we get into more-involved aspects of meat-space.
Let’s expand this idea with some homework for you: Do the math in your own life on (1) a night out drinking with friends, (2) attending a live concert or show, (3) amusement parks, and (4) sporting events, etc.
I’m not trying to make the case that you should replace all of these forms of entertainment with video games – not at all. We need to be well rounded humans. What I am arguing for is that the cost of video games per-unit time is 10-100X cheaper than other commensurate forms of entertainment that we question far less. Yes, there are also definitely more cost effective forms of entertainment (e.g. books, cards, boardgames, etc. around 0.25X) and less cost effective forms (e.g. LEGO sets around 3-5X). And yes, these are different types of entertainment that provide different value.
We can conclude, however, that in terms of purchasing raw hours of entertainment, video games are one of the most cost effective approaches. However, this only addresses the relative assessment – what about an absolute metric?
World 2: Total Cost of Ownership
Perhaps the absolute size of the expense also scared me (and most people). Perhaps we worry that the absolute cost of a single game is too much or the amount of money we spend on gaming in total will become a runaway function. It turns out we can also show (a) the total-cost of ownership is quite bounded and reasonable, (b) the cost is, in a sense, amortized over the lifetime of the game console, (c) the cost of the games and console pale in comparison to the lost-opportunity cost of spending time playing games. This last one may seem counter-intuitive as a positive observation – more to come on this one. So, let’s explore the total cost of ownership (TCO).
World 2-1: Naive Total Cost of Ownership
The naive TCO would be equal to the sum of the cost of the console, any console accessories, and the total cost of all purchased games (buy whatever you want but only buy what you actually want). Essentially, this number represents the upper limit on the amount that a person would spend on gaming. I’m excluding the cost of the television and furniture because you purchase these items for other reasons there are many high-quality handheld gaming consoles like the Switch that don’t require a TV to enjoy. My costs included:
- The original Nintendo Switch ($300),
- a spare Joy-Con ($80),
- a Pro Controller ($70),
- and a Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64 Controller ($30 and $50, respectively).
It’s pretty clear where Nintendo’s margins are, isn’t it? The total comes to $530. On top of this we can consider the 40-title game library with a conservative $60/game assumption bring the total cost of the games to $2,400 and the naive TCO to $2,930 – less than $3,000.
Even this number is deceiving because we don’t spend that in a single purchase. We accumulate these things over many years. Therefore, we can consider an amortized amount by dividing the naive TCO by the ownership lifetime (months or years). I’ve enjoyed 7.5 years of Nintendo Switch gaming. Therefore, I can divide $3,000 by 7.5 years to get $400/year or $33/month.
World 2-2: Robust Total Cost of Ownership
The naive TCO excludes lost-opportunity cost (LOC). So we can create a more robust TCO that includes the cost of the time spent enjoying the entertainment. It would be very difficult to compute the value of these hours against the ROI of other potential activities. So, the best proxy for measuring this would be the effective hourly rate based on your primary form of employment. Therefore we need my average hourly earning rate to represent “lost opportunity cost”.
I’d rather not disclose my hourly rate, so we’re going to go with a nominal 6-figure salary as a proxy. With earnings of $100,000/year (~$70,000/year net), the hourly rate based on nominal working hours of 2080 is $33.65/hour (also net). We can also establish a lower bound with minimum wage. The minimum wage in the state of Virginia is ~$12.50 (about $8.75 net).
Now, we multiply each of these numbers by the average hours to complete a game on the Main Story + Extras rating to get the LOC per game. Based on my library, it takes 30 hours to complete a game to this standard. Therefore, the LOC for a minimum wage employee is 30 hours/game * $8.75/hour = $262.50/game and the lost opportunity cost for a 6-figure salary employee is 30 hours/game * $33.65/hour = $1,009.50/game.
I know what you’re thinking…
World 2-3: Lessons from TCO
Yes, you’re correct. This is NOT nothing. However, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t buy or play video games. There’s an interesting, non-intuitive perspective we can garner from this exercise. We may think that because the cost of the game is ~10X less than the LOC, the decision making process should not be a function of the cost of the game, but rather the LOC. Duh, right? Ok, stay with me…
Let’s take another look. First, are there reasonable assumptions that would allow us to derate the LOC? For instance… does playing video games create some value that increases performance or opportunity? I think we can make a strong argument that it does. We’ll hear more about this later. Also, when do we play video games? Do we play video games during our peak hours of performance or during hours that would otherwise be wasted? I think that we can easily make an argument for the latter – at least when good habits are involved.
But wait, I think there are even more interesting observations that relate to how we feel about video games that can be derived from this cost-ratio. Like I mentioned, my goal isn’t to get you to open up the purse strings and buy haphazardly but rather to remove the money-guilt that is holding you back from buying something you genuinely want and would enjoy.
World 2-Castle: Self-Stabilizing Spending
Clearly, LOC increases as a function of income. As income increases, the “cost” of the game entertainment becomes less significant as the LOC dominates the cost. However, as the income/LOC increases, so does my natural incentive to spend time on other activities. Therefore, as income/LOC increase, both the significance of buying a video game decreases and the incentives to spend time on other activities increases. This both reduces exposure and creates a self-reinforcing/self-stabilizing mechanism making it so I never have to worry about spending too much. How so? If I allow my interests to govern the acquisition of games and the LOC regulates my interest then there is an inherent self-regulating mechanism that I can rely on to assuage my concerns of spending too much money on games.
This also shows why you see the cost of the game dominate the conversation at lower income levels.
However, as my life has progressed, the cost of the games has become absolutely irrelevant to the decision making process. Therefore, it simply isn’t worth it to have an over-optimized process for making these decisions. The pragmatic process can be a lightweight heuristic that says: “If I want a game, I can buy a game”.
World 2-Star: Delayed Gratification
You can absolutely lodge an argument for delayed gratification. That’s 100% valid. However, when it comes to purchases like this, I’ve found that self-imposed delay is less of a helpful exercise in patience and more of a distracting mental hijacking. Instead of setting the desire aside and moving on, I obsess over the item for days, weeks, even months. It doesn’t build excitement—it just becomes an exhausting loop of indecision. For me, the real anticipation happens between a game’s announcement and its release (kind of like how I’m eagerly awaiting the next Switch). But the stretch between when I start thinking about buying something and when I actually pull the trigger? That’s just pure and unnecessary torture.
World 3: The Value of Play
Another key aspect of assessing a robust TCO is understanding not just the cost but the actual value that video games bring to your life. You might liken this to intentionality—the idea that your gaming habits should align with what you genuinely enjoy and find meaningful, rather than just mindless consumption. Put another way, it’s about recognizing that video games aren’t just toys; in the right hands and the right context, they can be powerful tools.
World 3-1: Revisiting the Past to Heal the Present
For many people, video games are an incredible cultural medium that hold a unique power to bridge the gap between who we were and who we are now. You can think of this as watching a movie as an adult that scared you as a child and viscerally experiencing the contrast. For me that was The Neverending Story. Jesus Christ did that movie freak me out. You could also think of this as revisiting a place you spent much of your childhood and experiencing the contrast. Haven’t you experienced returning to your childhood home or school and feeling how small it is? I have personally experienced this even more viscerally and positively with several video games. Revisiting a childhood game like Donkey Kong Country and Super rMario Bros. has offered me more than a nostalgic trip down memory lane – it was a form of closure. The act of finally being able to beat a level or defeat a boss that once seemed insurmountable as a child provides a symbolically actionable way of achieving resolution and asserting control over our past self. To me this has felt like a mild form of defragging and the physiological effects were palpable.
World 3-2: Digital Canvas & Cultural Zeitgeist
Video games are more than just entertainment – they are a vibrant art form that captures and contributes to the cultural zeitgeist. The charming and often immersive universes they create often spill into “meat-space”, influencing everything from fashion and music to film and architecture. This is especially true for many of the most prolific franchises. Take Mario, for example. This iconic character has evolved alongside us, reflecting shifts in culture and technology while remaining a constant touchstone of joy and wonder. To dismiss video games as mere frivolity is to ignore a legitimate and influential form of modern art, as essential to the cultural tapestry as a famous painting or a beloved novel. I’ve intentionally, in anticipation of the next major Mario franchise title, gone back and played all of the 3D Mario games in historical order so I can watch and appreciate how the technology and medium evolved.
World 3-3: Shared Pixels & Shared Memories
There is a deeply social aspect to video games that extends far beyond the nature of multiplayer games. Sure, Mario Party, CoD, Halo, etc. all drive social behavior through game-mediated online interactions. There are stories of friendship and even romance that emerged from these phenomenon. But what I’m speaking of is something deeper. I’m speaking about shared experiences – many people experiencing the same game/art and then talking about it. This can transcend time, geography and even generations. For instance, parents who grew up on the “hard” levels of Super Mario Bros. can now introduce their children to those same challenges, cultivating experiences that blend nostalgia with new memories.
World 3-4: A Virtual Sanctuary for the Mind
In a world that often feels chaotic and overwhelming, video games offer a sanctuary. Their structured universes, governed by simple and consistent rules, provide a much-needed escape from the unpredictability of real life. There are some games which border on meditative experiences because they offer an engaging yet non-draining experience. This surrender isn’t avoidance—it’s rejuvenation. By immersing ourselves in these digital worlds, we give our overworked minds a chance to rest, recharge, and return to reality with fresh energy and perspective. For many, this ability to reset is as valuable as the entertainment itself. In this way, video games can be a part of your active recovery toolkit. Can you argue the opposite about some games? Yes! Of course! But perhaps if you were less stressed you could hold two ideas in your head at the same time 😉
World 3-Castle: Bowser’s F***ing Around
Despite how long this post has already become, I still need to add an essential disclaimer. Someone, somewhere, could certainly interpret my arguments as the perfect pitch for a “Netflix for Video Games” business model for Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony, etc. I’ve heard arguments made by others both in favor and against a pure subscription model. While the details of my counter argument will have to be fodder for another blog post, I want to be crystal f***ing clear that I do not want to live in a world where this model dominates. And anyone that thinks so or — worse — anyone that is driving us towards that outcome, I hope takes a long walk off a short pier.
Whoah… what happened? I think I blacked out there for a second…
Now, do I mind a model like this for creating access to retro games? No, not really. It’s quite convenient, and I’m all for that. But for new titles and building out a library, absolutely not. Let me just remind everyone: During the zombie apocalypse, we’ll all be so bored with so much free time on our hands. And guess what? There won’t be anyone left to power the massive server farms needed to keep these all-digital services afloat. So… good luck with that.
Star Road
Is there a game (or perhaps something analogous) that you’ve been wanting and unnecessarily depriving yourself of? There is a time and place for that kind of discipline—but this is not it. The actions I’ve taken in my life to drive down the cost of games were driven by the same mechanisms that will naturally prevent the runaway spending that I fear. Therefore, I can shed this legacy notion from childhood about the rarity and expensiveness of video games, put them in their proper place in my life, and eliminate the cognitive burden and anxiety that comes along with that otherwise dissonant mental model. Consider how entertainment fits into your life, and whether your current mindset serves you or limits you. The key takeaway here is that games, like any other leisure activity, have a cost, but also a value. When approached with intentionality, they can be a rewarding and worthwhile investment. So, if you’ve been holding back on something you know will bring you joy, maybe it’s time to Switch it up.