Regardless where one lives in Europe (including countries where salaries are lower than those living in France or Germany for example: such as Hungary, Romania, Latvia or Serbia to name a few) yet they’re confronted with 89,99€ at release considering EVERYONE in Europe as wealthy (further from the truth since there are nations in Europe where people aren’t paid 8000€ a month, some are paid x10 less than that).
Regional pricing is indifferent in this case no matter as to their actual income, it’s weird since they count countries where Euros aren’t used (Czech Republic, Romania, Serbia) whilst people there aren’t earning high salaries, like this: a Romanian earns 815€ a month but are treated no different: a 90€ game at launch (about 10% of their wage), for some reason they don’t bother adjusting it based on a specific country.
And that’s why the only correct choice is a piracy. We just cannot afford to waste that kind of money on unfinished games. Especially while the economy is getting worse and worse.
Or one could play FOSS games. However, in such case I would still recommend supporting the developers as much as one can, if the game is enjoyable. Usually, those games are better than any AAA game that came out lately.
I’d say the other option is being patient gamer. I only buy at discounts year(s) after release. It’s a win win in my book:
Man, I wish I could have a Lemmy community that bans pirates from all discussion.
Either a game is shit, made by abusive managers forcing crunch time, in which case there’s no moral issue with pirating it but also: Why would you want to for a shit game? Or, a game looks great, is fairly made by inspired artists looking for a return on their risk, in which case: Why are you not paying them for their work?
And I also have no patience for anyone claiming the latter type of game doesn’t exist. Stop gluing your eyeballs to AAA ads while constantly whining about them, and find some recommendation lists. My GOTY list for 2026 is already packed.
It helps to realize that complaining is a hobby. People will always find something to complain about regardless of whether it’s constructive, reasonable, or anything else. There’s a whole world of other things people could be doing, but some people greatly prefer complaining to anything else. Not even complaining about anything significant, just anything they can.
Like, yesterday I was hanging out in two different voice chats with some friends who enjoy roleplay in video games. In one chat, we discussed our plans for an upcoming group and reminisced fondly about arcs from years past. In the other chat, everyone just wanted to complain about other people’s rp without really talking about anything they enjoyed at all. I heard them complaining about the same people 3 days earlier. This is literally years after the last time they interacted with them.
Personally, I find the former more engaging and try not to take part in the latter. Admittedly with varying degrees of success. But that’s me. If complaining endlessly is your hobby, the latter would probably feel more compelling.
Best just to leave them to it, imo. Complaining about complaining is also a hobby, though, and I would never seek to deprive you of it.
Vast majority of people making games are on a Salary. They’re not getting any more or less return from you buying a game.