Sony considered pricing PS5 games ‘even higher than $70’, report claims

Sony reportedly discussed pricing PlayStation 5 games higher than $70.

That’s according to a new Bloomberg article focused on rising next-gen software prices.

Earlier this year Take-Two’s NBA 2K21 became the first next-gen game to be priced at $70. Other publishers have since followed suit including Activision with Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Sony with selected first-party titles including Demon’s Souls.

A Sony spokesperson said PS5 first-party launch games start at $50. The $70 price tag is currently reserved for the “biggest” titles in a strategy “reflective of the growing development resources needed for these ambitious games.”

In July, Xbox head Phil Spencer wouldn’t comment on how much Microsoft’s own Xbox Series X/S titles would cost when asked by The Washington Post. However, its only new first-party launch title, Gears Tactics, has a standard $60 price tag.

“Gaming can be an expensive hobby and I see certain platforms going to, in the US pricing, $70 for games,” Spencer told La Vanguardia this month. “The consoles are $500 in US pricing, and I think that’s a heavy investment for people who aren’t every day playing video games, kind of the more casual player or a family that’s balancing many things.”

FIFA and Madden publisher Electronic Arts claimed last week it hasn’t decided whether it will raise prices for its PS5 and Xbox Series X/S games in the future.

The CEO of Take-Two, which owns Grand Theft Auto maker Rockstar, reiterated last week that the company will decide software pricing “on a title-by-title basis”.

Capcom is also taking this approach. “We believe game software’s price should be determined by how much money consumers are willing to pay for the quality, not by how much money we spend to make that game,” chief financial officer Kenkichi Nomura told Bloomberg.

Ubisoft‘s first wave of PS5 and Xbox Series X/S games aren’t priced at $70, but the Assassin’s Creed publisher hasn’t ruled out its next-gen releases post-Christmas 2020 coming at a premium price.

Further reading

8

$70 games are ‘fair market value’ and consumers will ‘happily’ pay, argues analyst

“You do pay a premium, and you have been paying a premium, for years to play a game on day-one"