Why Next Generation Games Will Cost $70

Dan writes - "Do you remember the good old days when you got a $100 gift card for your birthday or Christmas? You went happily to the games section of your local Wal-Mart or Best Buy and picked out two games purchased them and you were on your merry way. Then the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 came out and $50 games were a thing of the past. Gone, never to be seen again (except for crappy movie tie in games). So now, you get another $100 gift card for your birthday or Christmas. You head down to your local Wal-Mart or Best Buy and you grab two games, run to the register and realize games are now $60 and you’ve got to put one back. Not only are you deprived of one game, you’ve got $40.01 left on your gift card and forced to either spend your money or just keep the useless piece of plastic."

[-Mika-]

Look in my opinion, If game development costs go up. Then the price of the game should too. That how it is in every market.

[No_Pantaloons]

Assuming you get the same amount of content, and there in lies the problem. They're just cutting stuff out now for dlc, so you'll actually get less for more money.

[Gaming101]

Games have always gone up in price when consoles initially come out. I can't remember if PS3 games were 70 bucks initially but I know PS2 and some PS1 games were depending on where you shopped.
Initial costs to keep a console going are extreemly high on startup due to huge manufacturing, marketing and R&D costs that can sink a company if it doesn't manage its cashflow properly, the extra money can be the difference between profit and loss for the year, and in Sony's case with its dire financial straits it can use all the cash it can get lol

[Nitrowolf2]

Games have always been expensive.
In the NES times to the PS2 times, there have been games that have ranged anywhere from $30-$100 bucks.

Production cost my ass, publishers have always been raping gamers wallets. DLC or not.

[aCasualGamer]

@-mika-

I don't agree. Look at the movie industry, the costs went up but movie tickets are still the same as in the 80's and 90's. And the price of the DVD's were as high as Blu-ray are now. So there really isn't any significant increase in prices. Same goes for music industry, the albums are just as expensive as before. Heck, the music industry has even lowered in price thanks to Spotify and other digital music services.

Costs increase, but so does the number of gamers out there who buy the consoles and games. You can't expect us to pay upwards 10$ more for each generation.

By the time i'm 50 games will cost upwards 150$.

[Peppino7]

As all things in this world go up I'll settle for 64.99 because 70 just seems like a lot.

[SilentNegotiator]

I would rather next gen titles look no better than current day games (except higher res/AA) and get more content, than pay $70 per game. I already don't like paying $60 for a game that could ultimately disappoint me.

"Why Next Generation Games Will Cost $70"
-
As a community, gamers have become so pathetic that many of them defend getting screwed over on a constant basis. No one will put up enough of a stink when games hit $70. COD sales will probably stay the course, and other games will suffer. The industry will saturate more and get weaker as idiotic CEOs stay the course. Meanwhile, titles akin to Angry Birds and Minecraft will be booming.

When...oops...IF these foolish CEOs ever find their heads, buried miles in their butts, and reel them out, maybe they can realize that expensive engines and copying what the most successful game is doing, is not alone what makes and sells games. Or even the most important. If that day comes, perhaps the game industry can thrive even further, and pull itself away from another inevitable crash.

[gamingdroid]

I don't have as much issues with $70 games, because if you can't afford them now just wait and they will drop in price. Capitalism will ensure fair market pricing on games. Just take a look at the current state, brand new games price drops within weeks now.

It is basically the one thing, publisher cannot screw me over on.

On the other hand, anti-consumer behavior such as online passes, and ugly DLC is far more damaging to me as a gamer.

As a note, I love DLC that are done well. For instance, Lair of the Shadow Broker for ME2 was an excellent and worthwhile DLC despite the slightly high cost. However, ugly DLC are the likes of weapons and characters. Which also exist in ME2 ironically...

[JhawkFootball06]

They spend more making movies... and the cost doesn't go up so why should the price of games go up?

[da_2pacalypse]

I think publishing costs is the last thing a publishing company actually looks at when they're picking their prices... It's all price/demand curves... if there is a good demand for it, you can charge more... That's economy 101.

I highly doubt the cost of production is the reason why call of duty games are 59.99 each year. They could lower their price to 39.99 and still make billions.

[Dee_91]

i havent bought a game for $60 since 08.If games cost $70 everything i buy will be used.

[Spydiggity]

There's something very important that for whatever reason, most people can't seem to realize.

Improved technology brings prices down. The reason prices went up is because there's more to production than the engine. There's the music, the motion capture, the actors, etc...

The reason games went from 50-60 is because of that very reason. Well, we already have that now. In the next generation they aren't going to need to make music more sophisticated than 7.1. it's already there. they aren't going to have to hire MORE actors than they already do. The only thing that will improve in the next generation is going to be on the graphics engine side. the physics, the look, etc...

So you aren't going to need drastically bigger teams to develop for the next generation like you did in this last leap.

If prices go up to 70, it's only because they think they can get away with it. and the only way to stop them, is by not supporting it. but we're really bad consumers, and we'll just suck it up and try to justify it because we think that the cost of development in the next generation will go up the same amount as it did in the last.

[sikbeta]

@-Mika-

Games are 6hrs campaigns as standard @ $60, IF next gen is going to be $70 for the same amount of content, it's time to bail out

Publishers get it all wrong, with lower prices, they could sell more copies at faster rate, now @ $60 they have day one purchases and after a mere month massive price-cuts :/

[AngryTypingGuy]

Next gen games will cost $70...that's what GameStop and Amazon are hoping for, at least.

[irepbtown]

Cinema prices have NOT stayed the same.

Example, 4+ Years ago to watch a film in Cinema you pay £3.50/£4.00. Now that price is £6.95. 3D is ridiculous aswell, a 3D film with glasses will cost you £9.95. Then on top of all this, the food at the cinema are ridiculously expensive and they dont allow you to bring your own food.

Back to gaming, PS2 era and before I would happily pay £40 ($60) because back then, they were complete games. Not games that were half done and then the DLC costing £10+. Now a days you pay £40 for an incomplete game.

Oh and btw, we pay £40-£45 for a new release game here in UK. That in US $ is $63-$71. So if you Americans think you have it bad there, think again; We have it ALOT worse...

[decrypt]

"Then the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 came out and $50 games were a thing of the past."

Only on console, PC games till this day cost only 49usd at launch some even cost 39usd. Hell i personally bought BF3 at launch for only 37usd on the PC. Most games if shopped around are very cheap on PC. Its only console makers looking to rip people of be it with high game prices, charges to go online, lack of BC, HD remakes, over priced accessories.

Now regarding cost of development, its only way to prepare console gamers to get milked even more than they already are. A game like Crysis 1 on PC is still a gen ahead of whatever there is on Console. Yet Crysis only cost 20million usd to develop. It was even very profitable selling on PC. So why are console developers and makers crying about game dev cost going high. Reason is simple they want to create an environment where they can milk the people.

What is making console gaming expensive is royalties MS and Sony want, Massive advertisement costs (sometimes even more than the cost to develop the game), its all what console gamers must indirectly bare. They are fooled into buying hardware that looks cheap as an initial investment however later on its plainly ripping people off.

[JayD-1K]

Just to let some of you know, the ticket price hasn't gone because, Drinks and food HAVE SKY ROCKETED!!

I mean come-on, $4+ for a drink???

[Gamer1982]

Devs are not to blame for rising costs publishers are. Devs get about $20 for the game at most which means they cant really say its anything to do with development costs. I honestly think though to cut costs devs should start doing Digital right. Why is it on my UK PSN new games are £49.99 yet in stores they are £39.99 for the physical copy? The digital copys sells and the dev gets 90% of the fee but the physical copy? 30-40%. Devs shouldn't punish digital buyers and instead embrace them. Release digital copys for £29.99. They still get more money, you cannot trade a digital copy nor sell it and the devs get more than you buying it at £39.99 from a store.

[Getowned]

$70!?!?!? DAMN!! thats too much to pay with tax were I live new games come to a total of $75 any more then what were already paying is to much. I wonder if we will start to see a decline in games sales because of that, and if you think piracy is bad now just wait until then. I think the average price should be $45-$55 to me that is acceptable to me.

Publishers have been doing a lot of penny pinching lately and I think it's geting out of control, take a look on PSN and XBL and look at some of this DLC most of it is over priced and 90% of it all are costume packs.The gaming idustry seems to becoming one were the "customer is always wrong" imo maybe im wrong idk not really saying I am but damn...all I can say is my PC and steam will keep me going if this happens next gen -small rant

[superadvanced]

hay guys theres this thing called inflation. 70 2012 dollars is equivalent to 60.83 2006 dollars is equivalent to 50.76 1999 dollars. the price of games around a console launch has really always been the same for over a decade. the price of games gradually decreases through the console generation, then hikes up about 10 at the start of a new. i'm not saying inflation is okay, (damn you federal reserve) but it is what it is. now i do think that dlc is getting out of hand though.

[Deadpool616]

You just continue to fall into all the misconceptions about gaming industry Mika. Here's an bit of information that will enlighten you.

http://www.cinemablend.com/...

I hope you learn something from it and realize that they're trying to pull a fast one on the ill-informed. Don't fall for the bs without knowing all the info, I believe you're smarter than that. :)

[scotchmouth]

Nice article. Thanks for sharing

bubs

[Nitrowolf2]

If games go up to $70 then I'm done with buying games new.
It was a nice hobby, but it's becoming to expensive.

I will see terrible things with Activision if games go to $70.

Anyway there is a flaw with the first paragraph.
PS1 games, NES games, have seen prices around $50-$60 bucks

Also adjust for inflation and see how much those games would cost today. So technically games are cheaper now considering inflation.
I think

Use this:
http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin...
game for $80 1991 = $133 for today
I remember buying a few games $50 Plus back in the days. I take it this Author didn't buy his games when he was little.
EDITED:

Apparently some even remember paying $80 for some games http://www.gamedev.net/topi...

As you can see though, the prices have always been everywhere.

Still would not pay $70 for them.

[Nitrowolf2]

And as I've said, this whole production thing just seems like utter BS to me. I know cost are rising, but our wallets have always been raped by publishers. Inflation or not, $80 earned back then is still $80 today, even if the purchasing power may be different.

Not a genius, just some old high school learning. Also wanted an excuse to make this cause I'm bored: http://www.flickr.com/photo...

[larrym]

Damn dude. You must not remember those Genesis and Snes cartridges that were around $70+, back in the early 90's!! I remember going with my buddy to go get Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask, and that bad boy was 89 bucks!! And that was I think 2000 or 2001.

[nirwanda]

you cant compair expensive cartidge production to a disk based format there is a massive difference in production costs dont forget in the same era you still had games on floppy disk which were much cheeper and games on tape if you go back even earlier that i used to buy for £1.99.

[sikbeta]

@ $70 I'll not stop buying games new, I'll just wait a month for the typical price-cut or 3 months, so I can pick a game from the bargain-bin lol game-industry, you have it all backwards if you think that higher prices will make you some good

[irepbtown]

With this SHIT economy, I dont think its right to compare game prices to that of past generations.
Main reason why I dont want the prices to increase is because everything else is getting expensive.

The world is turning into a shit hole...

[cyborg6971]

This is an archaic pricing system and is flawed to the point that if it keeps going this way, we might see the day where we only have a handful of devs.

60 bucks is ridiculously mad. And I call bullshit on the higher cost of production. Maybe at the start of a console cycle, hut at the middle end with one game under you belt, you should have optimize your code to fly through.

It's all crap ten bucks every cycle. Whatever. There's a reason this gen has lasted longer than usual. It's because the publishers are scared to raise it again, as had as they want to.

[RedDead]

Games used to be 70 euro in the Eu...

[Wintersun616]

They still are here in Finland, but we have crazy tax rates to thank for that. I usually wait for prices to drop before purchasing a game.

[torchic]

what do you mean used to? I coughed up €70 in cash for the normal edition of Battlefield 3. never again. like Wintersun I wait for a price drop, or borrow from a friend.

I live in Italy btw.

some games though cost less then others. like all the Sony HD Collections launch at €39.99, fighting games for some reason launch at €59.99, etc.

[ChickeyCantor]

You mean when publishers want a higher percentage?

[Thatguy-310]

gaming is an expensive hobby. if you cant keep up with it then change it or better of stick to the iOS since games there ar cheap. Games now are capable of a lot more so its evident that the price should go up. You want better graphics, deep online etc. Then you better assume that theyre going to cost more. You get for what you pay for.

[Nodoze]

Spoken like a true sheep. I am sure you are also fully on board for all of the DLC craziness as well?

We have MS to thank for $59 games and the introduction of micro transactions. They are the bane of gaming and the sooner they leave, the better off we all will be.

The good thing is that when they release a download only console (which is the present rumor) they will be done.

[jeeves86]

As much as I hate iOS, this statement is right on. Gaming is an expensive hobby - do you have the right to be upset because its expensive? Absolutely - but that's the way the industry is.

Remember that it's not just the production costs that go up, it's the cost of living all together. It's why bread used to cost 25c and now costs over a buck per loaf. It's why minimum wage goes up. These are universal market trends, not just something from one industry.

[morkendo23]

ur ok with 70.00 game?? r u nuts??... hell SNES games @ 49.00 was to much not alone ps4 70.00 games.
if this true im out. cant justify 70.00 4 one game.

love racing games GT6,NEED FOR SPEED 13 (criterions HP 2) ,RATCHET AN CLANK 4
but i'd be damn paying 70.00 a pop for them.
dont know about u guys but video games getting less an less interesting. (HIGH PRICES) HAPPY WITH MY 60GB PS3

[TBONEJF]

You must be crazy. NO ONE DOESN'T want to spend 70$ on a video game while prices are already going up.

[Xof]

...Except in many cases game development costs have gone down. A LOT. And game prices go up no matter what because of basic inflation coupled with static wages.

[zeddy]

thats too much. £40 is just about right, if we allow them to go higher there no telling what the prices are going to be. it not like were getting paid more at our jobs yet the prices of most things are going up.

[cannon8800]

LOL

Any of you guys still remember that before the ps3 was released, people were predicting that it's games were going to cost 120 dollars? lololol

[mcstorm]

Mika i agree with what you are saying but if game prices carry on going up we will see alot more developers go bust just like this gen as people will start to only buy 2 maybe 3 games a year and we will start to see the cod effect again. If i look at what people who are not core gamers buy on my live friends list i will see cod fifa and gta as the main 3 games for none exclusives.

What i think developers should do next gen if games will cost so much is bring the game out for £50 to £55 and then instead of release a w full retail game the next year make it a dlc. For around £20 to £30 where you get a new sp and mp added onto the 1st game. I think this would help sales of alot of games go up.

I am one of the lucky people who buy lots of games from my self but i know people who cant afford to do that so they have to pick something they will play for 12 months or so.

[oricon]

This is a copy and paste of a post i made regarding on Jaffe saying that he doesn't care much about next gen consoles, as it would mean more budget etc.

Jaffe pretty much said what Ive been saying all along, consoles are advancing far too quick, to develop games it costs alot more compared to how much they cost to develop last gen its only hurting devs, games also take more time to develop and people wonder why a lot of games today are barebones compared to last gen, I think this is the main factor that the number of quality games in Japan is a lot less as the Japanese developers are smaller whereas in the west most devs are backed by big publishers such as EA, Activision etc, thats why most Japanese devs have moved onto handheld notice how there are a lot more quality games from Japanese are now on handhelds.

If we keep carrying on this rate next gen games will probably cost more and see a lot more dlc so that devs can cover costs as much as i want to see much more powerful consoles i think it will just hurt the industry and the devs, i think Nintendo were on the right track this gen in that they slowed down the console cycle with the wii by not creating much powerful thus allowing the same quality as games as last gen although this didn't work out since there was bigger audience on the HD systems.

I know what im going to say isn't going to be popular if Sony and Microsoft followed suit with nintendo and had consoles slightly more powerful than last gen the game industry would be in a better position and we would see more quality games even though they might not have amazing graphics, we're in the finals stages of the current gen and now games on current systems costs nearly the equal amount as last gen and by the time we get to the next gen consoles who knows how much more budget is needed to develop games, this could mean alot more dlc, prices of games increase, publishers will want to take less risks with new IPs which is bad for the industry.

[CarlitoBrigante]

I dont understand this article.

AFAIK games have always been 59, here in Europe I was buying my PS1 games at 59 euros. This has been like that for the past 20 years or so, dont listen to these hipsters, 70 dollars lol.

[specialguest]

There's a huge misconception that video games today are overpriced. The truth is that current video game cost at $60 is actually a discount compared to the past. The reason why is because the cost of video games have not factored in inflation.

Back in the NES days games cost as much as $50, that's equivalent to paying $80-$85 today. If video games kept up with inflation, we would be expecting to pay $90 per game today.

The fact is that in the past, development cost was low, yet the price per game was high. Where as today, development cost is high, but the cost of games are actually very low due to the lack of inflation being tacked on to the cost.

Even if the cost of video games goes up to $70, we are still paying a lower cost compared to the past.

This link explains it more in detail: http://arstechnica.com/gami...

[Relientk77]

I hope that next gen games are not $70, but they probably will be.

[Snookies12]

They -shouldn't- be... The only reason games are 60 dollars today is because of the blu-ray discs that cost more to use. (With Microsoft who knows... They have no excuse for charging an extra ten dollars for games) Why do you think (most) PC games are still 50?

Still, that would suck to see rising prices for no known reason whatsoever. :\

[NYC_Gamer]

console games are 60 bucks because of development cost plus the publishers have to split the profit between MS/Sony plus the retailer.

[Nitrowolf2]

"The only reason games are 60 dollars today is because of the blu-ray discs that cost more to use."

Um weren't 360 games at launch $60?
Don't think that's the reason, I think it's mainly due to competition and production costs.

[Persistantthug]

All new retail released games on Steam are $50 - $60.......just as can be found on consoles.
Not to mention that BLURAY pressings are now LESS than $1.

That's why you're getting an unbalanced amount of 'disagrees'.

[vortis]

Thanks Persistantthug for pointing that out.

Steam and Origin and a few others usually launch PC games at $60 a pop. There's no disc, no booklet, no box and no extras...just code.

[Machioto]

I doubt that because some don't Sell at 60 and next gen requirement are that games look good and run smooth .

[KingJFS]

>> Um weren't 360 games at launch $60? <<

Actually, they weren't. MS-published 360 games like Kameo and Perfect Dark retailed for $49.99. Third party publishers charged $59.99 and then a year or so later MS used the "rising development costs" excuse to jack up first party games to $59.99.

But anyway, I agree with those who say that the only people complaining about high game prices didn't pay $80 for a Street Fighter II cartridge back in the day.

[aviator189]

I usually never buy games within the first few months they're released anyways, but used games price would probably increase as well.

[wiggles]

I do the same. Not to mention most new game usually go down to $40 after a few months on their own, or through an amazon.com sale.

[The_Devil_Hunter]

amazon has saved me soo much money when buying games. its definitely one of the best places to purchase games.

[xtremexx]

AMAZON FTW!

[NYC_Gamer]

just wait for some nice deals on amazon

[NobleRed]

Hm.

Square Enix tells us the exact opposite.

According to Square Enix chief technical officer Yoshihisa Hashimoto, Luminous Studio will reduce the cost of creating a game by "up to 30 percent" and should make the dev cycle faster. The publisher says Luminous was created to be used for any type of game from a casual title to a full-blown next-gen experience.

http://www.gameinformer.com...

So why should the games become more expensive?

[vortis]

Good comment and bubbles to you, sir.

Software development tools are dropping drastically. There's even some new lip-sync facial tech that scales in cost per project and can offer up the same fidelity as L.A. Noire (goodbye ridiculous costs for MotionScan).

People believing that game production costs will rise are vastly misinformed about the way game design works.

[1nsaint]

Yeah this article is complete bs, this guy doesnt even give a good reason, and higher production cost is not a good reason, Rockstar games spend around 100 mil on gta 4, red dead redemtion and now max payne, all in stores new for 60 bucks

Another point i have is that here in europe games have always costed around €55.-
The only price increase i saw in years was for ps3 because they use bluray

[Mithan]

In the 80's and early 90's, the average NES and SNES game was $80-100 here in Canada.

[Finch]

I was coming in here just to say the same thing, but for the USA. I rember games from $75 to a $100 back then. How soon people forget!

[Motorola]

They never knew, some people werent born yet and didn't bother to look at where video gaming was prior to when they were around. Sad really.

[aquamala]

That's what happens when a console maker owns the majority of the market, and this is what i don't understand the console wars, why would any gamer want a console maker to "win"?

[Fel08]

If that's true, I will just buy them used or wait for the good deals like I do now.

[marioPSUC]

thats what I do. Usually websites have game deals, especially amazon after a few weeks. Only time I buy games on launch are really big titles like GTA.

[AtomicGerbil]

I recall the early PS1 games retailing at £50, that's $79 at today's exchange rate, so I don't understand why it's a problem now.

I've even got Atari 2600 games in the loft with £20 price tags on them from the late '70s, early '80s. I dread to think what that equates to now.

[NotSoSilentBob]

It is a problem due to the fact that by the content level from that Gen is not even half as much. When you are paying 30-40$ more and only getting a quarter as much content is where the trouble starts.

[Ace_Man_6]

yep, I've got a receipt here from when my dad bought an early PS1 game, 12/09/96 was the date and he bought it for £44.99 D:

[ksa-sh8sh8b8]

games in this generation don't cost 60$ it's cost 80$ or more , don't forget DLC (disk black ops and dlc cost 120$ )

[Kamikaze135]

If that happens, I will wait for sales or just buy them used.

[Morgue]

UHHHHHHHHH... Neo Geo games were that much and more back in the day and Electronics Boutique back in the day had a return policy which allowed you to basically beat a game in a week, then return it and get your money back. People complain about everything these days and it's really getting old. Can't afford it then don't worry about it.

[gtxgamer2]

depends on dev kits

[kagon01]

Take note

I predict in the future you'll buy 1/4 or less of a game at full price then pay for the rest, by that time most gamers will adapt to become officially mentally challenged...

I recommend to watch this video and you'll understand:

[vortis]

Like those idiots who defended Capcom saying "38 characters is more than enough for $60" all the while other fighting games out there offer just as many fighters and a huge accoutrement of stages, costumes, colors and destructibility included in the package. Yet everything else in SFxT is disc-locked behind a pay-wall.

I can't believe gamers have stooped so low in intelligence they're defending paying more for less and then having to pay EVEN MORE to access the full game. Unbelievable.

[ExitToExisT]

i would gladly pay $70 for games , if they would be 15+ hours.

[spacedelete]

who is dumb enough to pay $70 for a game nowadays ? most games drop in price after like 1 month.

be a smart shopper. let the dumb masses buy day 1 with less content, expensive and buggy game.

good things come to those who wait.

[theeg]

Steam and Amazon, thats where my money goes, I cannot remember the last games besides Skyrim and Starcraft 2 on PC, Demons Souls PS3, Dark Souls PS3 that I paid $50-$65 for....maybe Halo 3, I dunno....they are just not worth it...

ohh Uncharted 2, bought that day one, Rented Uncharted 3, damn glad I did as i thought it was vastly inferior to 2, I bought Resistance 1 the day I bought my ps3 on launch day back in 2006 ...lol.......hmmm....gears of war 1 i bought for $65

hell, the rest i rented or bought on sale

I rent console games with my blockbuster game pass for $14 a month, play every single game i want and buy pc games on sale on steam 90% of the time

very, very few games are actually worth $65 to me

I have 220 steam games, most were $5

many were $2.50 and a few were $10-$20

[BrianC6234]

Games didn't go up this generation. Most of the last generation games were $59.99. Toward the end I think they dropped about $10 but most of the life of the PS2 and Xbox games were what they cost now.

[Shivan]

they will not be 70 dollars

[frequentcontributor]

This article is fairly black and white; you buy one $60 game then throw the other $40 away? Or you're "forced" to spend it? First of all, game prices go down all the time. With so many sequels and "flops", now, games are often lowered to $20-30 within a few months of release. And game prices have remained steady for 25 years, with the recent $10 increase being a minor shift upwards that, even if it is a false inflation, is unlikely to happen again soon. Gamers will stop paying for software if the value doesn't "seem" right, and another $10 increase doesn't. Where is the extra money going? Is the game 100 hours longer? Are the voice actors actual famous movie stars? Are the graphics so close to real life that we won't be able to differentiate? If not, then an extra cost will be difficult to justify... Actually, with an increase in digital distribution, I'd expect to see costs drop. Even if you're downloading a new title for $50, that's still cheaper than gamers have grown accustomed to over the last few years. We will definitely see the low end of game prices go up, though... I can see games on Amazon (used) for $10-15, but digital distro will erase all of that, with no physical copies for gamers to unload. Prices are unlikely to dip below 20 bucks on a digital marketplace, without independant sellers trying to undercut one another. Thankfully, wiiU will be disc-based. Rumors abound regarding the next Xbox lacking an optical drive, which would actually make selling games for $60 seem highly unreasonable. I fully expect game prices to basically return to the standard rates, with the high and low ends meeting in the middle.

[DigitalAnalog]

I would've preferred a more flexible pricing system as opposed to the standard $60 for ever A, AA and AAA title available.

[turgore]

this is stupid. Then by this logic the original crysis should've cost 200$. You can implement next gen effects, high res textures and tesselations with very little investment !

[vortis]

And what about Project CARS? Pretty much photorealistic gameplay right there, right out of the box.

[CanadianTurtle]

Nobody said gaming was a cheap hobby.

[Bercilak]

That already cost $70. It's called Day One DLC.

[DFresh]

Yeah it sucks.
Luckily being more into PC gaming in the coming years I'll save tons of money with game distributions like Steam, Gamer Gate, Direct 2 Drive (Game Fly), GOG, etc.
(Steam deals FTW!)
Honestly the only things that will make me keep playing consoles are the exclusives and the occasional game that I can't get on PC.
Not to mention all of the emulators I can run with every console on PC with all of the bells & whistles.
(I can always plug in a controller and play.)
Moving to PC will be the smartest thing a gamer can do as the years go on.

[SKUD]

Games are already costing over 60 dollars. There at about 80+. Thanks to DLC.

[DeltaCanuckian]

It's already $70 in Canada. Then there's DLC. F*ck this sh*t.

[Omega Zues]

if game prices go up...

It just makes me love Gamefly even more. However, publishers can learn a thing or two from the app market. I mean look at Angry Birds, only cost a few bucks and they've made boat loads.

Lower prices = more buyers

[kma2k]

fellow gamefly member agreeing with you, but i could see gamefly saying they have to increase there monthy price by a dollar or two, no real biggie to me!

[Khordchange]

Gaming to Entertainment is like Golf to Other sports. Extremely fun but extremely expensive to play.

[kma2k]

i do gamefly so i guess there monthy price might go up a dollar or two no biggie to me!

[gypsygib]

N64 games were mostly 69.99 in Canada.

Just wait till they charge 70 bucks a game then another 30 bucks to for an annual online MP pass.

[jeeves86]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who remembers this.

[catfrog]

publishers should follow a model, if you spend more, you should charge more, but if games like uncharted 3, gears 3, and metal gear solid 4 are selling for $60, games like hanna montana and babyz dance should be selling for $30. so that is, you spend more, you charge more, you spend less you charge less. this one price fits all thing isnt the way to go.

[InklingGirl]

You know a little patience and restraint go a long way, do you really need the game the day it launches? Wait a few weeks and get a it cheaper on Amazon because they ALWAYS drop the price of a new game by $20 within the first two weeks.

Human beings need to learn the words restraint and patience unless you can and don't mind paying full price.

[honkyjesus]

Looking at day one DLC, the price is well over seventy for many games now.

Sixty dollars is still a lot to pay, if a game made like Skyrim is seventy... fine. They work on DLC after the game. I am still waiting for consoles to deliver more in between stuff, thirty or forty dollar games. I think the days of anything that isn't AAA or indie are fading.

[256bit]

this article is stupid. games during the ps1 n64 era some costed $60. no the next gen games are still going to cost $60. who the hell approves this article anyway?

[C0MPUT3R]

I haven't paid $60 for a game in years. They always go on sale within a month or two.
.
$39.99 is the most I pay for games these days.
.
Games ship unfinished & need patches anyway, so I wait one month the game gets a couple patches and is $20 dollars cheaper.

[larrym]

Not to mention I felt sorry for anyone who owned a Neo-Geo. The games were arcade perfect, but they COST $200 bucks, lol.

[Grove_Street_CJ]

Well I can say this in the PS2 era games were $59.99 (Newly Released) not including tax, I still have the sticker on some of them that say that. PS3 brand new for the most part I've bought games day one at $59.99-$64.99. To tell you truth I think Sony as well as other companies know that $70 games are at that "unreasonable mark"

[Awesome_Gamer]

I dont think that will happen.. They will keep it $60 but they will make tons of on-disk DLC and make us pay for it (unfortunely)

[Conzul]

Idk. I might be persuaded to buy a game for $70 if it was infamous 3. (open, dynamic world, shared user made content , etc. Something actually worth such an outrageous price)

[blackhammer]

Good thing I rarely buy new video games. Bring forth the sales, baby!

[NnT3291]

Games have always been $89-99 here in Australia

[Yodagamer]

I doubt they will get to $70, all the game companies are probably gonna make their next consoles easy to develop for and that should keep the cost down.

[Soldierone]

Honestly 60 dollars was justified early on in this generation, but it never went away since people happily payed the price. Development costs went down, and yet the prices are still high....

60 dollars is already pushing it, you push it higher and used games become even more enticing. You get rid of used games, well watch how fast your sales slide downhill and how fast that price goes back down to 60. Hopefully if that happens people won't be happy at 60 anymore either, and it drops to 55 or even 50 again.

Want to talk about how high prices are? Then why do companies constantly report how well their games are selling? Didn't COD just break records? Make good games and not 4 hour Resident Evil's and your golden.

[frankboy2012]

Snes/mega drive games were more or less at the same price back then,its funny really because although the graphics weren't 'next gen' the games lasted twice as long and the gameplay was certainly their.This gen its a case of (by the way I'm not tarnishing every game here)it feels like your getting your in between average of 5-8 hours campaign mode and a half baked multiplayer excluding your call of dutys,battlefields etc sometimes it feels like eyecandy over gameplay to me.So if they put the prices up on next gen games we want more bang for our buck oh and tone down the pay for dlc which is already on the disc doubt that will happen tho :/

[REALgamer]

That would be nice. That's $40 US cheaper than what we are forced to pay in Australia, and the same price as 3DS games.

Don't believe me? Here's the largest game retailer in Australia (owned by Gamestop): http://www.ebgames.com.au/

[BuffMordecai]

Anyone who would pay $70 for a new game is a goddamn fool. If the consumer doesn't fall for it, they have to reduce the price, or face diminishing profits.

[JoeSchmoh]

This is the result of gamers congratulating graphics more than gameplay. So now, cause everyone wants high end graphics you're gonna get high end price tags. I hate to say it like this, i'm not trying to say everyone is stupid. Its that if people don't speak up for shit on sites and forums. We ain't gonna have a sony or nintendo anymore cause everyone is hating on them so much. Look at how DLC and Digital Only games is pissing off gamers. I was telling people it was a problem 3 years ago. Now people are realizing it the closer we get to a newer console generation.

[susanto1228]

And they want to stamp out piracy...riiighhhttt

[Elvis]

Why I don't care:

Because I will either buy it used or pirate it.

[Asgaro]

My PC games range from 15 to 55 euro. Never higher. :)

[aaronobst]

You Americans are lucky. Games are literally twice the price here in Australia...

[Tzuno]

Because someone throw this gossip to observe the people reactions and if it works well prepare your wallet. That's how it works even if it will be 65$ to make you feel that you won over 70$ price. At the end of the day they win.

[jeeves86]

Playing the devil's advocate here, but gaming is an expensive hobby. There are more expensive hobbies to have, but having a top of the line console with a stack of games next to it is expensive.

That being said, you guys sound like a bunch of old people complaining how much bread and milk costs at the grocery stores, or how much fuel used to cost. You could feed your family at McDonald's for less than $10 - do you see a pattern here?

In games, the cost of production has gone up, whether it's due to the cost of tools used to make the games or the cost of the manpower to make those games. The cost of living is getting higher, which affects the entire market, not just one or two areas of it.

I am however wary of how DLC will affect gaming's future and I do see developers loading in a bunch of it with future games. So in the end, gaming might end up costing more than $70 a pop.

[Veni Vidi Vici]

Increasing the price will only increase piracy and the amount of people that use Gamefly or only buy used games.

[abant7]

I rent most of my games for PS3 these days, I do buy the odd few i'm a fan of though; actually the last game I bought for full retail price was dark souls. Games are just so expensive these days especially on a good gaming month that it's just too expensive for a lot of people.

[edilions]

60$ games are a rip-off already
At least last gen and before....was better because games were finished/less glitch-fest and not cut... to be charged later or unlocked (Crapcom and their 20$ incoming STreet fighter X Tekken)

[TBONEJF]

If video games on next generation consoles going up to 70$ then theirs NO WAY in buying next gen. I already having a hard time trying not to spend 60$ on a game.

[Dfooster]

Every time the next gen hits we get told the same thing. Games cost more to make blah blah blah it will cost more for the games blah blah blah.

no they wont they will cost exactly the same as they do now, maybe the big franchises like fifa and call of duty will try and rob a few extra quid out of the sheeple who cant miss their yearly updates but everything else will remain as is because there is only so much people will pay to be entertained.

[TheRacingX]

I have a news flash....games are already $70 plus, I have been gaming since the Atari and this generation is the worst. The waters were tested last gen mainly on the xbox, $4 for a new golf course or two, $6 for a few new halo maps etc, just to see if it could be done. Problem was, at first you got a full game and the add-on's were just that, prolonging your gaming enjoyment and interest further. NOW it completely out of control... DLC on the disc that you have to pay for to unlock, have to pay to get the "Real" or "Complete" ending to a game , $15 yes 1/4 the price of a "full" retail game to get a few maps (Thanks Activision, you whores) paying to dress up a chararcter, really? $2 per songs for crap that should be on there already (thanks Apple you whores) Its INSANE....the next step is episodic games.....you'll be paying $15 a chapter to play a single player game....its already starting. Game publishers own greed is cutting their own throat, sooner than later more people will stop buying that "other" game they wanted or cut out the impulse buy to check out something else they may be interested in, and more publishers are going to go belly up, then we are only going to see rehashes of the same formula games that made money so new ideas will never see light of day and then we all lose.....

[madpuppy]

that is the beauty of just waiting and buying the GOTY edition with all the DLC and add-ons for 20.00.

[TotalHitman]

Try buying a game outside of America. You'll realise how well off you are. Here in the UK, our games already cost $70/£45. I should be happy with this though. Other countries charge even more than that.

[nik666uk]

£45!!! Where r u buying your games from? I've just bought Fifa 12 for £25 new, pre ordered Max Payne 3 and Far Cry 3 for £37 each!!

[TotalHitman]

You pre-ordered MP3 and FC3 for £37 each? Where are you pre ordering your games from, you can pre order games for £5 in most places.

[susanto1228]

What a STUPID article I just bought Deus EX HR for $7.49.....
$7.49 FREAKING DOLLARS!!!!! When are these 70 dollar game suppose to arrive 3000?

[madpuppy]

I think he is referring to the price of newly released games, not ones that have been out for a while. but, that is the flaw in this article. waiting till the price drops is the best option when the price of the game is too much.

[madpuppy]

This is an easy one, you just wait till the price goes down, Time is kind to the patient. Everything has a market value attached to it, If you are willing to pay 70, 80 or even 100.00 for a game then the publishers will gladly oblige your stupidity. If you show them that you aren't willing to pay, they will have to lower prices to keep in line with market expectations or risk very poor initial sales.

The lesson here is don't let the publishers treat you like stupid, endless bags of money.

[Jason143]

ummm Day 1 releases this gen $60
1-2 weeks after release $39.99
1 month after $29.99
I dont see why anybody would get a game day 1 anymore. I always wait for the price drop and grab it at frys or target. They could charge $100 a game next gen and it wont make a difference to me as I will wait for price drop lol

[jeeves86]

Where do you buy your games? Is this kind of thing typical?

[nik666uk]

Game content is getting to be less so the price should be less too!!!! Simple!!!!

[nik666uk]

SNES and Mega Drive games were more expensive new than this gen!!!

[girlwithturn]

In Russia games costs 88$ already.

[ShinraE5]

I will wait and see until the companies announce pricing before I have a reaction.

IF it happens...

- I will buy fewer new games. I can barely shell out 60+ bucks for X amount of titles over time. 10 more a pop simply means less new sales.
- I will buy fewer "risk" games, aka the ones that aren't estabhlished companies and/or franchises. I may miss out on some great "under the radar" experiences, but 70.00 gambles are a big risk (as if 60.00 ones aren't enough)

Hopefully they don't hike it again (it was 50.00 for PS2/Xbox, 60.00 for PS3/360, and allegedly 70.00 for the upcoming gen) but we don't have power over it.

I wish at least a FEW companies would focus less on UBER HD graphics, massive worlds, etc and maybe scale back development costs.

Is it impossible to make a decent looking game which is focused on good gameplay, vice a massive oversized world with 2 million real life scaled cities that make the costs to make sky rocket?

Once of the reasons I like the XBLA, smaller scale, smaller price, still great fun (Bastion, Alan Wake AN, Trenched/Iron Eagle, etc)

[jaymart2k]

As David Jaffe said.......Games cost to much money.

He said games should cost between $40-$50. Heck he also said you should rent games your not sure of.

We all know how publishers feel about used games & renting.

It's not up to the developers tho. It's the publishers that mark the prices.

After all they are the boss & fund the games.

[Smokeeye123]

I already only buy like 3 games a year. Guess I will be buying even less.

...And the game industry wonders why it's losing money...

[SicilianGunner]

both my 360 and ps3 broke ylod and rrod 3x whatever the price i just hope next gen is going to be more reliable or else im quitting console gaming for good and sticking with pc and handheld

[iliimaster]

yeah bring the price up and chop the game up more and more each damn time a new game comes out... i can see it now 70 bucks a game then another 30 for DLC that should of been in a 70 $ game to begin with... 12-12-12 DREAMCAST im waitin

[Duoma]

I remember a time when games were in the 30-40$ price range.
If they go up to 70$+ they can go screw themselves period. It would be one thing if the wages scaled with the cost of living these days, but they dont.

Everything goes up while my damn paycheck has stayed the same. Its bad enough i work two jobs just to get by and im not going to bust my ass even more just so i can afford entertainment, they can seriously go f*&ck themselves.

[HappyWithOneBubble]

PS1 games were $40 new when I was a kid. PS2 were $50 and PS3 is $60. Next gen will most likely be $70 and no way am I paying that for a game.

[iliimaster]

exactly well i mean the go to games yeah like halo GOW Gears uncharted mario im talkin established games COD battlefield's yeah okay damn ill be forced but the unknowns??? hell no im not risking almost 100 bucks on a unknown adventure that might suck and when i go to game stop to return a 70$ game i might get 30 if that

[PooEgg]

I would not mind playing $70 for a game if they cut back on the DLC nonsense. Just charge everyone $70 and sale us complete games. If they want to make a little extra with DLC do it ONLY as expansion DLC, because I don't mind DLC that comes out a couple of months later and expands on the story, but I do mind DLC that makes you feel like it was pulled from the main story so it could be sold separately.

[blvdnights1414]

Go on Amazon right now and look at any AAA game that just came out recently and then tell me who's really paying too much for a game. Even if we had to pay $70 for a game that just came out no one is paying full retail price for very long. You want the latest and great right now then you gotta pay top dollar nothing has changed.

[Unlimax]

Believe me.. Next Gen games will cost more than 80+ $ !

[SuperBeast811]

I hope your wrong but I have a feeling your right well if thats the case WII U here I come Nin will keep them at 60 bet on that

[SuperBeast811]

games will only cost what were willing to pay so if they dont sell at 70 they will have to drop it or more and more people will just ignore launch days and wait for price drops thats what I find myself doing more and more.

[JayFergg]

I used to buy all my games new, Till i graduated highschool now i only buy 2 or 3 games new now a year i just wait for the buy 2 get 1 free deals

[geth1gh]

It truly sucks but its not unjustified.

With the way the economy is and add to that the exponential higher cost of next gen development, I think you still get off easy for only having to pay $70.

[GRiMLiNX]

the only thing I can say to this, is that it would be an extremely bad choice for publisher to raise the price, they would end up loosing in the end.
where the consumer will move from AAA games to mobile games that cost a fraction of the price asked for a console game, and thus slowly dragging console gaming down to extinction.

the only way forward would be to tightening anti piracy system and lowering exponentially the price, to something everyone can afford, its a win win strategy.

[J86blum]

Thats fine the price can go up, I'll still buy mine preowned (holds edge card.) and I have read people flamming Gamestop but im going to be honest, a good 75% of the games this gen were not worth their 62.00 dollers (not including DLC cost.)So I will continue to buy preowned until the games are worth their cost.

[Prince_Dim-Lu]

70 bucks is nothing. I used to pay for Neo Geo games!

[rob6021]

honestly only 20-30% of games should even cost $60. Most games should charge $40. It's just every company wants to tout their big games as 'AAA' and if they cost less than $60 they're afraid people will think so - which isn't true. Sports games are a shame coming out every year at $60, $20-$30 is what we should pay considering the amount of work/effort they put into the updates.

[Drithe]

CHeap gaming will always be around. You can bank on that. I will NEVER pay 70 bucks a game. I will wait for the price to come down.

You can say all you want that, "Well I guess companies will stop making games then." But they wont. If the consumer puts their foot down then we get what we want. Period.

End of Line.

[kingduqc]

My face when I buy game off steam for 5-7$ While console fags still buy em 60$ a peice.

[Dazel]

We had this before the last gen, same arguments and they still charged the same as before.

[Jonmau5]

This article provides no actual fact or any hint of anything that has been said or hinted at by publishers or retailers to justify or show that they are thinking of a $70 price tag for future games.

This article is an opinion piece, fair enough. However the opinion is based solely on the fact that games used to be cheaper, then they increased them so they now MUST increase them yet again? No, they must not.

They may release to around £50 but they will quickly come down in price to around the same price points we have for games today (£40).
Publishers and retailers alike want to sell their games and even though they can make more money from less people, they can make EVEN more money that if they find the price point that means the price is accessible to more people's gaming budgets.

[frankiebeans]

i have no problem paying 70 bucks for a game as long as they are the quality of that CG demo thing that the heavy rain guys made but im also going to buy less games if this happens.

[SnowBlu]

bitch please in my country current gen games are 80$

[TheGameFoxJTV]

PC still has most games at $40-50 while new. XD

[Enigma_2099]

You can come up with as many excuses as you like. But the fact of the matter is, people will buy what they want if they can afford it. And with everything increasing except income, how long do you think they'll get away with that before consumers finally say "no, I can't afford that, and it's not worth that much."

This is why the game companies want to slay the dragon that is used game sales. After all, if you have no alternatives, what choice do you have left? Gimmie your money.

To add, going to an all digital format would just make this easier to do.

[tmoss726]

Should digital only games be cheaper then box games? Since you know, there's no box or manufacturing required. Some developers have games launch at $50 but others who launch at $60 are slightly annoying.

[Rageanitus]

there are many games that launched this gen at 69.99 if you buy it they will sell at that price... supply and demand ppl basic economics...

[legend911]

The Wii U games will be $50, sorry for you guys. Lol.

[jjb1981]

I think that since the world population is increasing at an insane rate that they don't mind keeping the price at 60, plus the whole in-disc dlc bullcrap will make more than enough for a triple A title..