Been seeing a lot of negative comments lately about how fightstick builders are charging too much for custom builds, so I wanted to break down the numbers a little. If you were to build a typical custom fightstick yourself in the US in 2026 (joystick + 14 buttons), you're probably looking at around $500+ in parts alone. Having someone build it for you adds another $100 or so for labor and shipping. I can't speak for every builder, but my average custom build quotes usually land around $650 shipped. And that's typically for builds with more buttons, significantly more customization, and a lot of design work beyond what you'd get with a standard build. The margins are honestly pretty thin, and most of us are doing this because we genuinely love the art, the community, and the process of making these things. In reality there's a lot of time, material, design, and labor that goes into each build. Hopefully this gives a little more context to what actually goes into the price.