Considering a decent NES game cost about $50 in 1987, how is $30 too steep for a game in 2017 that provides many hours of gameplay?
$30 for a mobile clicker game just seems too much to me. I don't think it holds so much value.
NES games were a lot harder to and took more time to produce (we're talking writing the game in assembly for a lot of them) and had less effective tools at producing content than we have today.
You also had to assembly the cartridge and transport it to the retails. Hardware was not as cheap as today (nor was transport I believe).
Compare that to your 2017 mobile game which can be distributed via internet (very cheap), produced at a high level language, and you can make in less than 2 weeks with less than 4 people.
Don't you think that a game providing hundreds of hours of gameplay does hold a lot of value for the user? Getting hours (or even days) of entertainment for $30 certainly looks like a good deal. Especially if you compare it to $8.50 for a ticket to a 2-hour movie.
It also follows the sentiment often found on HN, where freelancers and consultants are advised to price their services based on the value they provide to their clients.
Pricing is more nuanced than just calculating the expenses.
Clicker games are not nearly as engaging as those games were. It's not just the cost/hour that we should measure with, it's also the quality/hour.