Games Need to Go Up in Price, According to God of War Director Cory Balrog - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 04 January 2021 / 3,059 Views
Publisher 2K Games earlier this month announced NBA 2K21 for the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 will se a $10 price hike with a launch price of $69.99. 2K Games says the "suggested retail prices for its games are meant to represent the value being offered."
God of War director Cory Barlog took to Twitter saying that the price of video games needs to be increased. He prefers the initial cost of buying a game be higher than publishers and developers add in microtransactions.
"Games need to go up in price," said Balrog. "I prefer an initial increase in price to the always on cash grab microtransaction filled hellscape that some games have become."
The price of video games in the US have remained flat since 2005 and 2006 when they were raised from $49.99 to $59.99. While 2K Games will be increasing the price of their games for the next generation, it isn't known just yet if other publishers and developers will follow suit.
Other game publishers are considering raising the price of their games for the PS5 and Xbox Series X, according to video games research firm IDG Consulting President and CEO Yoshio Osaki.
games need to go up in price. I prefer an initial increase in price to the always on cash grab microtransaction filled hellscape that some games have become.
— Cory Balrog ? (@corybarlog) July 8, 2020
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Yeah, I am more than willing to pay 70$ for a complete experience like GoW. The problem is that 99% of games will still maintain microtransactions when 70$ will become the norm...
Games don’t need to go up in price, studios need to budget better. And if a game uses the free-to-play business model of loot boxes and micro transactions, the game should be free.
They can cry all they want about rising development costs and inflation, but it rings hollow when their profits are higher than they’ve ever been. AAA publishers can afford to lower the price of games and STILL be making record money.
Given the state of the industry, the average game needs to go down in price.
A lot of times, it's not even the studios that need to budget better, but rather, the publishers blowing way more than necessary on huge amounts of marketing.
You’re speaking like you work for a game studio. I have to assume that’s the case; otherwise, you would be speaking from a place of ignorance, without the necessary insider experience and knowledge, when making a blanket statement accusing all studios of budgeting poorly.
AAA games have far too much useless bloat and most of them are boring. For one thing, hiring celebrities. I don’t give two shits about Norman Reedus or Keanu Reeves, so I don’t want to pay the extra money to stroke the ego of a prima donna like Hideo Kojima so he can play with his favorite TV stars, for example.
I'm not willing to pay more if my experience is that of a lesser game, port job or a game loaded with MT's/artificial padding.
No, they fucking don't! Digital distribution has made games far more profitable than they were in the PS2 era. Back then you could only buy a game new at retail, so long as it was in stock. This cut the legs under from game sales. With digital distribution you can easily buy a game brand new years and years after it released, no matter how obscure the game is. Then you've got to add in that Digital distribution cuts out many of the middlemen such as retailers, and even publishers in some cases. The used games market has been pushed more and more out of the scene as well. Game prices may not have gone up, but the overall share of revenue that developers keep has definitely gone up.
Jim Sterling is going to have a field day with this one.
No thanks. Game prices are fine. Budget better.
They can charge whatever they want. I will wait for price cuts.
I also prefer that there is no mtx and other silliness in games, GoW didn't had any of those, but also I don't want games to go up in price, even more when they are profiting more than before anyway. At least GoW is a game that I would have paid full price, but for most game that would just mean I would take longer to purchase.
God of War (2018) no add-ons, no microtransactions. A blockbuster and critical darling.
Yes! It had that fucking swearing dwarf. He swore juuusst enough. Didn't overdo it.
Only good RPGs are worth more than $60. The rest of them can sit in the bargain bin until they’re $10, and that includes the vast majority of “AAA” games.
I paid 20$ for that game, and I think it was a more than adequate experience for the price. So yes, probably I wouldn't mid pay an extra 10$...not that much at least.
I mean. Video Games are the one product that has consistently been $60. While other products have increased with price due to inflation. Chocolate costs a hell of a lot more now than it did 15 years ago. But meanwhile the $60 you spent on game back in 2002 is equivelant to $85 today, yet games have remained at the same $60. People won't like the price going up, but why should games perpetually be $60 when those $60 are worth less and less with every passing year.
Well said. Another good example is movie theatre ticket prices. They’ve more than doubled in price in around the same time that game prices have remained the same. And it’s a double whammy, bc game development costs have increased much more, comparatively, than movie production costs have increased.
Sure, but it doesn't matter whether the game has season passes or micro transactions, the appropriate price is still viewed as $60. So a game that gets a ton of money through MTX.... $60. A Game that has no MTX... $60. And if anyone dares go over that price people will be upset. Meanwhile as Pitzy said, prices are going up for all other forms of entertainment, such as the movie industry.
A lot of people have also stopped going to movie theaters because they are too expensive, especially when there are other options. The largest movie chain in the US has been struggling for years.
Most games aren’t worth $60, let alone $70.
And TVs actually came down in price. So inflation isn't something flat that affects all goods the same way.
Maybe not make games as expensive too could help, like the most interesting games mechanically nowadays are cheap indie titles and you have your Breath of the Wild here and there that actually tries to push the medium with gameplay depth, the game itself not being that expensive compared to the TrIpLE A INduStRy too.
Visual fidelity and the like is just noise at this point when most stuff today can't reach the gameplay detail of something like the first Dead Rising, Half-Life 2 or the first Crysis from over 10 years ago. Or classic RPGs becoming more simplified by streamlining the role playing aspect of it like how Cyberpunk is shaping up, compared to cheaper projects with much more depth like Pillars of Eternity and Divinity.
Bottom line for me is, if games are to become more expensive, actually make them better games, not just prettier.
How about if they just keep the same price and use Nintendo approach. Dont drop the price so early on. Wait after 2-3 years.
When you market your games like cheap garbage as EA and Activision do, consumers will treat them as cheap garbage.
It would be a better market practice, but for me it would be worse because the price would take longer to drop and so I wouldn't buy.
Yep. It is important to separate what is good for the company, what is good for consumer and what is our individual preference.
I know I'm the odd on this one, but I would prefer to pay 1000 USD for the HW (that I buy once and use for 5 years) and 20 or less for the SW (that I buy hundreds and play for like 50h) because HW is limited by material cost and that define performance while software all the cost is really in the development so if they can sell more they profit more without extra cost so price can be a lot more flexible.
But I know that wouldn't happen and probably devs wouldn't profit enough and would break.
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