> If salary of the average Joe was doubled as well your logic would be ok. Bit it did not.

Using the most recent numbers against the last quarter of 1997, it actually increased to 2.29× the 1997 amount, well over double:

Employed full time: Median usual weekly nominal earnings (second quartile): Wage and salary workers: 16 years and over

Q4 1997: $508 / Q3 2024: $1,165

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881500Q

To be fair, we should also consider expenses.

All-Transactions House Price Index for the United States [1]

Q4 1997: 204.87 / Q2 2024: 682.18

i.e., roughly 3.33x

Median Consumer Price Index [2]

1997-12: 170.42938 / 2024-09: 353.73857

i.e., roughly 2.07

Take that as you will (I was mostly curious).

Interestingly, it seems console prices have kept pace with inflation.

NES at release: $180 ($428 adjusted for inflation)

PS5 right now: $450 (standard) / $500 (slim) / $700 (pro)

[1]: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/USSTHPI

[2]: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEDCPIM094SFRBCLE

The CPI was already built into the discussion (the original discussion was inflation--CPI adjusted--prices, and this branch was about a comment that indicated that wages had not kept price with inflation) and the housing price thing just indicates that buying a house has gotten more expensive even adjusting for inflation, which is true but way afield of the discussion of game prices.

Sorry, my wrong then