LGR will be reviewing Snowy Escape (Out Now)

You wouldn't wipe your behind with a Lady Gaga album but that doesn't necessarily mean the album should be priced lower than toilet paper.

@SimmerGeorge
I believe this is where you misunderstand me. You’re right about the first part, the thing about my behind. In the second part, however, you are speaking of the current market value of a specific product. In this case a music album.
I’m the last person to call up Lady Gaga in the middle of the night to tell her she has to lower the price of her album just to please me. I work in the creative industry. I have an understanding of how much time, money and effort goes into “creating” and “producing” content within the entertainment industry.
I would hope the album that an artist lists on various musical platforms will generate enough revenue for them to make back the money they spent on recording, hiring technicians/ musicians, the recording studio, promotion, etc. Same goes for illustrators, writers, filmmakers, game developers etc. It’s the only way to successfully run a business. You don’t want to lose money, you want to make money.

Thing is, if I -as a potential customer- don’t like the music, I will not buy the album. If my taste in music doesn’t think the album is worth $15, I will not spend the money on it. Even at half price.
This, however does not mean that the album, like any other album, shouldn’t be on the market for $15. It should. In fact, I may have paid $15 on the artist’s previous album. It was that good. I’m bound to feel a little sad if I don’t think their latest album is as great as their previous albums, because I always felt a fondness for their art. Of course I’d feel melancholic and annoyed if their art suddenly doesn’t resonate with me anymore. It’s too different. So I can either decide that I’m not going to be their customer for now, or I keep supporting them. In both cases I can let them know what I don’t like about their current album. Hopefully they can take feedback on board if enough customers feel similar to me, so they can get some of the mood and essence of previous work back in their next couple of singles.

With Sims...same? Also, the game is priced at whatever the “current market value” of a life simulator is. Problem here is that there are no other life simulators. At least not of the same complexity as Sims. There is no real competition. Prices can only be compared to what came before in the same franchise. Outside of providing an overview of content, that’s all that reviewers are doing, mixed with their own opinions of what they deem ‘quality’ or not. What is ‘gameplay’ or not. What is ‘fun’ or not.
At the end of the day it’s still only an opinion.
I really don’t know what else I can say on this. ??‍♂️