Returnal is the first game to truly put the new $70 MSRP base price to the test

Returnal is not the first game to be $70, but one of the first big test cases for the new price point. And it seems like a lot is riding on it because of that.

[Paleblood]

Returnal is amazing. I bought and Finished Spider Man MM which is also an amazing game. I have Demon's Souls on my radar for when I finish Spider Man Remastered and Resident Evil 8.

[bouzebbal]

Games still cost the same price where I live

[Eonjay]

Also Returnal isn't the first $70 game. It doesn't seem like a lot is riding on it.

[Michiel1989]

@eon it never says it the first 70 game, its about thats its supposed to be the 1st game that "truly tests" if games are worth 70 bucks or whatever that means. Bit of a pointless argument here, because 15% of the games might be worth it, and those will even be up for debate, doesnt mean the other 85% are allowed to follow suit costing 70 bucks because of it.

Most games allready costs 100bucks + anyway when you consider dlc and post launch support. except now you will be forced to pay 10 for dlc instead of it being optional.

[Army_of_Darkness]

It's $89 plus tax in Canada! And as much as love games, I can't be shelling out nearly $100 for each new release! Got bills to pay, gas to pump and groceries to buy, so..... I'll have to wait for price drops and sales on psn.

[BenRC01]

Means I won't take a punt on anything I'm not 100% sure of. Will only buy dead certs at £70 and wait for sales for everything else. Hope this gross and greedy move backfires. But all it'll do is make Activision and ea richer while smaller studios with more niche games will struggle. Returnal would be a complete flop at £70 if we werent in such a massive game drought.

[MadLad]

Seems like a quality title, but I'm not seeing how a game with mid-tier visuals, developed by a team of less than 100 people, had no giant advertising campaign behind it, and minimal voice acting warrants being one of the first games to push the price hike at retail.
If publishers are going to claim that game development got oh-so much more expensive, maybe don't put a AA release at the forefront of your push for more expensive games.

[Flawlessmic]

Spoken like someone who hasnt played the game.

Funny how everyone that owns loves it and says its worth it but then people like question the worth without even playing.

Would understand i bought it and then said u know what this isnt $70 game, whatecer that means anyway

[Jin_Sakai]

I can’t believe we’ve already got people defending $70 game prices.

[boing1]

You have to buy it to play it. And that means shelling out 70 euros for a title that may not be my cup of tea in the end, once the novelty wears off. It's a niche genre and from what I'm reading it is clearly not for everyone. Pretty sure people don't want to risk this kind of money for a title they are not sure of. For me, the easiest solution to solve this price 'issue' would be a demo.

[LucasRuinedChildhood]

@boing1

The game is actually €80 (almost 100 US dollars, tax included). It's mad.

I feel bad for the devs if the sales suffer but €80 is too much money for a video-game, and this price point needs to fail.

[Gamer75]

So if the other two companies start charging $70 for games then you can't complain seeing as you're defending the price already

[Flawlessmic]

Not liking the game and not liking the price are 2 different things.

I couldve bought godfall for 20 bucks and still wouldve been a waste of money, get my point.

If the game is something u would like then its worth it the extra 10 bucks shouldnt make a difference.

And just so were clear here im from australia paying 125 dollars which around 98usd, so iv basically got it worse than all u cry babys.

If dont like a game dont buy it, if you like it then pay the price support the devs and get a great game in return.

Well end up with FTP games with MT galore if u dont support the devs and games fail.

[garos82]

@flawlessmic

ive bought it at full price and am loving it so far, but get lost with the defending of $70 thing. He is right , it doesnt warrant a $70 price range being that its a small studio that have the fraction of a cost of a AAA game.

[Flewid638]

I agree with him, and I have played the game

Ah well...one man's trash is another man's treasure. Enjoy!

[demonseye]

@LucasRuinedChildhood just adding a bit of information on your statement. the 70$ price tag is without taxes which obviously doesnt make it much more expensive. it avarages out on 76-77 dollars. but the reason for this is they try to keep the price the same not counting in the value of the currency when it comes to europe and USA they always have. obviously with there stupid tax system they always show the price without tax.

[annoyedgamer]

The shilling is real. If Sony priced the game at $90 id see the majority of this site defending it. Actually when Sony finally kills disk based games, everyone here will become pro DRM overnight.

[RedDevils]

@Flawlessmic why are you even paying @125 aud. Get it on Amazon for like $15 less.

[RosweeSon]

Just odd reasons as well, minimal voice acting is one thing but because they didn’t waste a load of money on flashy PR campaigns or because the dev team didn’t have 300+ people 🤷🏻‍♂️🤦 🏻‍♂️🤣 some of the best games ever made come from the smaller teams, too many cooks and all that. I’ve not played it yet so can’t say too much but doesn’t overly seem my kind of game so holding off for a while top end price is too much for a chance got plenty else to play and I’ll only pay that price for top top games god of war, horizon, GTA6 etc. But that’s just me. Gran turismo will be another.

[oldenjon]

@Flawlessmic Exactly.

[MadLad]

Did you even read what I wrote? I'm questioning the reasoning behind the $70, itself.
If the price hike is to mitigate all these supposed development costs, then how do you justify it on a game that cost far less to make than your average AAA release?

Value is up to the consumer. If you want the game, and are willing to pay $70, then go but the game and spend $70; but we both know development costs didn't warrant it, making this sudden price hike all that more BS.

[Rbeasley123]

I loved Hades, and so did almost everyone. Does that mean it should have been priced at 70 dollars?

[nickanasty206]

I own this game, and it is great, but not worth 70 dollars. You basically get 5 levels that are just extremely difficult giving the game some length (technically if you are really good you could beat it in 3 hours). Performance comes from the game upscaling a 1080p image to 1440p then upscaling that to checkerboard 4K. Tbh, I can think of several other games that I would rather pay 70 for, but I guess joke is on me at this point because I paid it. This game should be more like 39.99. Ratchet looks like it would be more worth the 70 tbh.

[Michiel1989]

@Rbeasley123 exactly, just because a game is great doesnt mean it must suddenly get an out of proportion price. in hindsight i would have probably paid 70 bucks for Hades if I knew before hand I would like it as much as I do. I prefer the 20 dollar tag though.

its similar with most products i buy, if its a good product i gladly shell out a bit of extra cash. but when I need to pay 500 just for a brand name like apple on my machine ill pass.

[Extermin8or3_]

Mid tier visuals? What? They are far from mid tier...

[Futureshark]

I think mid-tier visuals is a little incorrect, the particle effects are fantastic, and the speed it all moves at is very fast.

[senorfartcushion]

Not even AAA games with those resources behind them need a $70 price tag. The price increase is there because those biggest companies want them to be there. There’s no thought behind it but “more.” That is literally all.

[Abear21]

Let’s keep complaining that’ll do something

[CaptainHenry916]

One of the hardest games out. It took me hours to beat the second boss. Now I'm on the third boss and I put in over 40 hours already. The difficulty is worth 70 bucks. This game is a roguelike Dark Soul's 😊

[Shikoku]

Id venture to say not every find replay the same damn level over and over "fun". Difficulty isn't usually most people idea of "fun" man not everyone like dark souls games type games.

[RedDevils]

I'm enjoying dying in this games lol, just like any rogulike games, where you are just in the grove and want to get back up again and again.

[Bathyj]

I stopped reading at.id tier visuals. You haven't played it so I don't care what you think.

[MadLad]

I'm not exactly waiting on bated breath for your opinion either. Just saying.

[Bathyj]

That's fine. Glad we can agree on something. :)

[lipton101]

Spoken like someone who haven’t played the game nor has an understanding of basic capitalism, inflation, economics or price elasticity.

[MadLad]

Spoken like a shill.
I have eyes, and a brain.

This would be considered a AA release in any other situation, were it not backed by Sony.

Development costs were nowhere near the levels of, say, Last of Us 2, yet that retailed at $60.

If the price hike is to mitigate development costs that are just oh so much higher than previous, despite game sales rising every year due to more and more consumers coming into the mold, then why does this game need to be $70?

[gamer7804]

It doesn’t they just want more money like when Xbox tried to hike their Xbox live gold price but thankfully changed their minds.

[oldenjon]

@TheRealTedCruz This was an ambitious game for Housemarque, a big departure from the kind of games they made before and I can imagine the R&D was not cheap. It's a little sad that gamers are so immature about price hikes, like their opinions are going to make a difference. This game is gold, definitely AAA IMO and the developers deserve all the sales they can get.

[StoneyYoshi]

"I can imagine the R&D was not cheap."

Yeah especially considering they made their own particle system for this game instead of using what UE4 already has available. I've Never seen anything like it.

[SpineSaw]

@TheRealTedCruz
With all you that you said ...... Yet the game is doing very, very well even at $70. Also I find it odd that in all you pointed out like mid-tier visuals, minimal voice acting, AA release and so on that no where do you mention is it fun. You mention buzz words like AA is if Single A, AA or AAA has ever been defined. One could call Returnal AAAA game the way this game is talked about, the way this game has reviewed so well and the overwhelming vast majority that did pay the $70 love it.

[MadLad]

Stardew Valley was fun. Hades was fun. I've played a lot of fun indie games but they, typically, were priced accordingly to the cost of the manpower to bring it to market.
I loved Greedfall, but there were so many on here arguing that it was a AA release, and shouldn't have cost full retail.

Now we're sitting here justifying a glorified AA release, and its choice to be one of the first titles to take the price hike.

[Knushwood Butt]

If voice acting determines retail price most Nintendo games should cost $5

[MadLad]

Lol, I call out Nintendo's pricing and lack of sales all the time.
It's funny that you avoided every single other point I made though.
The points I raised are all the deciding factors companies are now trying to use to justify the price hike.
If you have a highly cinematic title, which is seen in a lot of Sony releases, there's a lot of voice acting and mo-cap involved. It usually requires trained talent, and is typically a large dent in the development budget.

Nintendo typically doesn't go that route. They're more mechanic based than story. All the same, their teams are comprised of hundreds of people, they focus on one platform, and there's a giant ad budget for almost every 1st and 2nd party release.

Two vastly different development situations. Again, I have called out Nintendo on their pricing. Especially considering they target lower end hardware as of the last few generations; but taking my comment and cherry picking one thing out of it doesn't fly, and doesn't address my actual point.

Look at me and my consistency.

[Knushwood Butt]

I made a flippant comment about Nintendo based on your criteria. It wasn't personal against you and I have no idea if you call them out or not.

Regarding your other comments, the game looks fantastic. The second area was impressive but the third really blew me away. I almost stopped to take screenshots. Haven't got past the third area. Hope this game gets a photo mode. So to summarize, I totally disagree with your comment about mid-tier visuals.

I couldn't care less how many devs are on their team as long as they deliver the goods, and aside from the patch issue, that they fixed quickly, I`ve been enjoying this game the more I play it.

Advertising budget? I haven't seen an advertisement for this, But I rarely see any advertisements for games other than Nintendo. That's nothing new.

Did you have any other points? I forgot.

I got R Type Final 2 on the same day. Played it for about an hour. I`ve played Returnal for close to 20 hours.

[Platinum_k]

I have the game and it is worth it

[Knushwood Butt]

I have over 20 hours on it, and not even past 3rd boss yet, so pretty good value for money so far.

Can be frustrating, but dang that first area can kick your ass if you are not careful...

[Kornholic]

I paid 49,95 euros for the physical version at launch and it was 79,95 euros on the Finnish PS Store. A 30 euro difference is huge. That's why physical games are superior.

[njitram2000]

How did you manage that? I live in Belgium and the cheapest place for physical games is amazon.de but on there it is still 80 euro. With ps4 it took years before the amazon prices became more reasonable.

[Kornholic]

There are typically good launch day deals at certain stores/websites here, and if there aren't any particular deals, at launch the physical version is still usually 5-10 euros cheaper than on PS Store.

[elazz]

Budgetgaming.be
you could get it new for 70 I think.

[senorfartcushion]

Might not be telling the truth?

[Kornholic]

@SenorFartCushion

Do you want to see the receipt or what?

You can see the price history here: https://hintaopas.fi/produc...

and here: https://hinta.fi/2631217/so...

[njitram2000]

@elazz good to know that site. But 70 euro (or 67 in this case at the moment) is still way too much. During the PS4 gen, I bought my games on the US PSN store for 60 dollars. And I'll continue to do that because 70 dollars is still cheaper than whatever you find locally (except the voodoo stores Kornholic shops at 😁)

[Shikoku]

Exactly

[lipton101]

Physical games are superior in terms of occasional pricing flexibility but inferior in terms of convenience and physical fallibility

[Kornholic]

Not really. The pricing flexibility isn't occasional, it's consistent. The convenience digital games provide is also minimal at best.

[MadLad]

@korn

Not on PC. Having several digital storefronts aiming for your wallet means you're seeing fantastic deals on the daily.

[andy85]

Agreed. Here in the UK the lowest before launch was £55 which is still a significant difference to a store price of £70. Especially as you can easily sell it for £40+ after finishing

[LoveSpuds]

I paid 60ish quid if I recall, here in the UK, no regrets either, belting game.

[BenRC01]

No you didn't.

[Kornholic]

You are being very disrespectful and rude. I'm not going to return the favor. Instead, I will direct you to the post above where I gave two links to the price history of Returnal in Finnish online stores. These links corroborate my original claim of the physical version of Returnal costing 49,95 euros at launch in certain stores.

[1nsomniac]

Looks like a good game but I won’t be paying £70 for it. Like it or not I’ll wait till it’s a sensible price.

[DJStotty]

Sadly that is the case for all Sony PS5 1st/2nd party games in the UK, they are all £69.99.

[senorfartcushion]

Remember when people were arguing over price increases and we were like: “360/ps3” games were 35 quid, PS4 games were 45-50 quid, what happened?”

[DJStotty]

Not sure, i have always paid around the same price for games for any console, between £49.99-£59.99 in the UK, even in the 360 era, the pricing in the UK has been quite static for a good few years now.

[Kurt Russell]

Same for me... apart from R&C. That game looks incredible, if it reviews as predominantly 9's I am going to suck it up and buy it.

[Extermin8or3_]

Not sure what you are on about because I recall ratchet and clank 3: going commando releasing for 45 pounds way back when I was in like year 5 or 6 at school so we are talking some 16 ish years ago.games remained about that price at launch till pa3 era when they went up to about y0 pounds and stayed there. That was over a decade ago. Now their price has increased again to 70 which rbf if you consider the average inflation rate of about 2% a year here in the uk means that this price increase does increase the games by the equivalent of 83.33% of the amount they have devalued due to changed in value of currency over past decade.... it's actually less though given ps3 came out in 2006/7. But going with 10 years as its easier. 2% of £60 is £1.20. £1.20 x 10 = £12 . So games priced same in real terms as they were back in 2010 would cost roughly £72 in todays money

[DJStotty]

"So games priced same in real terms as they were back in 2010 would cost roughly £72 in todays money"

But in today's money, they are still £39.99, £49.99, or top end £59.99.

Like i said, same price range they have been since the Super nintendo/mega drive era, can not speak for US $ prices, but pretty sure they were $60 for SNES/$50 for mega drive, which is exactly the same cost as today's games.

[Knushwood Butt]

Pretty sure I paid over ￡50 for Street Fighter II on SNES in the UK what, like, 30 years ago.

[Kornholic]

Exactly. I think Sony will see that there is a decline in launch purchases and will revert back to the original pricing eventually.

[LucasRuinedChildhood]

Hopefully. €80 for every game is way too much. If people refuse to buy a game for a new IP like Returnal but buy Rachet & Clank, then this price increase will also encourage companies to take less risks as well. Overall, this just isn't good for the industry.

I think Microsoft are just waiting to see which way the wind blows, and they'll start doing this eventually if other companies get away with it.

Anyone who defends this price hike is a complete muppet unless they're personally profiting from it.

[Kornholic]

@LucasRuinedChildhood

That risk aspect is a very good point that I didn't even think about before you said it.

[lipton101]

Now here is where I’d agree with someone complaining about the price. £70 is ridiculous. That’s just shy of $100 USD.

$70 USD is still cheaper than buying the same game in practically any other currency when converted against USD. Those whining about an extra $10 for a brand new game (that will likely be discounted as part of a sale within a few months like most other games) should either ask mommy and daddy for more allowance (because they sound like children) or get a job.

[BlackRiderRazil]

Sorry man, while $70 US is still cheaper than other currencies: its also too high for the base price for games. And I say that as someone with a job, and a house, and kids. ESPECIALLY with COVID based financial difficulties around the fucking globe, a price hike is unnecessary and greedy.

I REALLY want to play Returnal myself, sci-fi roguelike with horror vibes? Right up my alley. I'm not paying 70 for it. FUll stop. I'll wait for a sale, or buy it used. Sorry Housemarque, game looks great, but I don't agree with Sony's price hike and that goes for EVERY game released at that price point. Full out refuse to buy them at that price point.

[DJStotty]

@BlackRiderRazil

I completely agree, i have never paid £70 for a game in the UK, and i never will.

[RosweeSon]

Yeah resogun was great and not played their follow up but they budget indie type gsmes resogun was brilliant but I just think it’s a massive leap from those type of games to now the biggest blockbuster for a new gen currently but yeah £70 not chancing that. Looks good enough but yeah I can wait not overly my kind of game and don’t tend to just Chuck £70 down Day1 for something untried and untested unless it’s from a dev with a history of delivering those type of big games your naughty dogs rockstars etc 🤷🏻‍♂️✌🏻 ;

[Platinum_k]

I think you guys just gotta budget better. I purchase maybe 1 PS5 (on launch -$90 CAD) full price every 4-5 months.
In between that I buy 1 used game for about $30 CAD.

So far, Demons souls ($80) + DMC 5 ($30) + Returnal ($90) = awesome time =)

[Kurt Russell]

I've got the money, so it's not a matter of "budget" I am just not willing to part with it at £70 a game.

[Platinum_k]

@kurt Russel ...if you got the money then what the hells the problem here? games will only keep going up from here so might as well just accept it. it's un awesome game.

[metalhead]

The value of the dollar has been going down since I was born and usually that drives prices up. The fact that games were even able to cost $60 from 2005-2021 is nothing short of miraculous. I thought we’d be paying $100 for the base game by now and am glad we aren’t.

[jlove4life]

Sometimes we do not base pursae but MT DLC and season pass easily hit that 100 mark

[Atikos]

In that time frame I've seen
$60 for base game
$50 season passes
$10-40 per dlc
$1-$100 Per MT's
$1-$1000 Per Pay to Win MT's
$70-100 Deluxe Editions
$80-200 Ultimate Editions
Basically there's a ton of methods these companies used to get more then $60 per person in 2005-2021 so I would say many have been paying over $100 to play a single game for awhile now.
Modern games do not need to be $70 because of all this extra revenue. Fortnite comes to mind as the perfect example where a game can be $0 and still be one of the most profitable games out while using the same MT systems full MSRP games are using *Returnal excluded*

[Abear21]

I agree, the price tag is often not the final price to see all content or just enjoy the best aspects of the game. Some DLC is better than base game and that’s sad. The real truth is gaming can be a cheap hobby if you cheugy. Otherwise, paying an extra $10 for the newness when devs aaAa

[DJStotty]

In the UK, the price of PS5 games £70, is indeed that $100.

[Knushwood Butt]

Do you own a PS5?

[DJStotty]

Games were still $60 in the 80's and 90's, game developers/publishers are making more profit than they ever have, all by sticking to the same price point.

$70 or £70 games, is exactly what people are calling it greed, accept that now, and then in a few years they will see if they can get away with $80

[Mangomates]

I’m part ways through this and it’s a decent game, and the combat is incredible.

That said it’s not worth 70, especially since games like res evil 8 are 55

[OptimusDK]

I for sure will not be buing this for 70 EUR, no matter what.
If it is good I will wait till it is priced reasonanbly - we have to set a stance here.
70 GBP/EUR is NOT OK

[DJStotty]

Exactly, especially when the US only pay $70, at the current exchange rate, that should be £50.39

[Kurt Russell]

I agree totally, but I believe (and someone from the US correct me if I am wrong)... they also have to pay tax on top which would bump that price up a bit. Whilst ours is tax included.

[DJStotty]

Not sure, looks like $70 is inclusive of any taxes (apart from shipping)

https://www.walmart.com/ip/...

[Knushwood Butt]

UK pays 20 % VAT

Feel better knowing that your cash is being used to buy worthless PPE gear via some slime with mates in the government.

[blackblades]

We'll see if $70 is worth it or not when we start seeing the data of sales.

[Inverno]

And so begins the articles to fool the masses into believing 70 dollars should be paid for games. I've nothing bad to say of the game itself, and to those who bought it and have been enjoying it I've nothing bad to say to you. But screw 70 dollars for a game!

[Shikoku]

All a 70$ "base" price is going to do is cause more people to wait for sales or to use sites like G2A to get the game cheaper.

[CrimsonWing69]

Perceived value. My perception is Hell no it isn’t worth $70. I own the game and felt like I should’ve waited for a price drop.

[NeoGamer232]

And this is really what it is about. "Perceived value". Games are a completely optional purchase for everyone. So, in order to sell at $70, people must perceive that they get the value back in some way.

The publisher can say whatever it wants bought if you are not a fan of rogue-like games then the perceived value of this is zero. If you are a super fan of rogue-like games you'd probably pay even higher then $70 to play this.

[CrimsonWing69]

Right, I agree.

However, I'll never buy the narrative that there's a justification for a $10 price hike on games especially seeing as how not all next-gen games are $70. This is purely an industry decision to see how much consumers are willing to pay.

I caved in because there wasn't anything else to buy and the reviews were glowing. I won't say the game is a waste of money, but I honestly could've waited for a Black Friday deal. Ratchet and Clank... that one's going to be hard waiting for a price drop on. Thankfully Resident Evil 8 isn't effected. Day 1 for me.

[NeoGamer232]

@CrimsonWing69
To me the price of games should be based on a bar of production values, complexity to make, and entertainment value.

To me $70 is simply a bar for an high production value, complex game, and that has above average entertainment value. R&C is looking like a game that is worth $70. But there is the hype vs. the actual game. Housemarque seems like they did a great job here. But, with my backlog, I can wait til it is more in the $30-40 range if not more like $20.

[Knushwood Butt]

So sell it.

Or did you buy digital?

[CrimsonWing69]

Digital and even then I wouldn’t sell it. I like having a library, I’m just saying that having spent the $70 and playing the game I absolutely felt like the price wasn’t justified in my opinion.

[starsi360]

Problem with this game is it sounds like one of those games that lots of people love but some people just find that it’s not their cup of tea.

Personally I don’t want to spend THAT much to find out

[derek]

This "is it worth $70" campaign is just an extension of the console wars as it is purely focused on Sony games, while others price their games at the same price.

[DJStotty]

I only see all PS5 1st/2nd party at £70, the rest are the same price as normal £60 or less. Here take a looksy :-

https://www.game.co.uk/en/g...

[mania568]

you only needed to read this article you comment on to see you are incorrect and those are last gen games that added +10$ for the "next gen" version.
-
"There have been other $70 games within the past few months. The current-gen versions of Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War, NBA 2K21, and MLB: The Show 21 are all $70, $10 more than their last-gen counterparts."

[DJStotty]

"you only needed to read this article you comment on to see you are incorrect and those are last gen games that added +10$ for the "next gen" version."

I referenced £70 (i thought this would explain i am talking about UK pricing as we are the only country that uses GBP)

I will try and help, seeing as you think games have added £10 for "next-gen" versions of "last-gen games" :-

Ratchet and Clank : Rift apart - £69.99
Demon's Souls : £69.99
Godfall : £69.99

How much are these games on PS4? I clearly said, whereas i am not sure how much clearer i can make it, PS5 1st and 2nd party, not PS4 or PS3, but PS5 Exclusives, just games you can get on PS5 and not PS4, are ALL £70.

Other games, including cross-gen, last-gen, multi-gen, cross-plat or whatever you want to tag them as, are normal pricing range, only PS5 games, again, games only available on PS5 are £70 prices, which when converted, is $100 (or just shy).

Call of duty cold war : £64.99 (it's COD, it is always higher)
NBA 2K1 : £24.99
MLB the show 21 : Series X standard digital download : £59.99 / PS5 (could not find a digital code) £69.99

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ML...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ML...

[Relientk77]

In your opinion. Mine is Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is the first game to put that $70 price to the test.

[vTuro24]

There is no such thing as a "test case" for the 70 dollar msrp. That price tag is straight up bullshit and the fact that there already are people shilling for it means this is pretty much a win for corporate greed. Good job. These games cost 80 fucking euro where I'm from. That's just insanity.

[Bathyj]

I bought this at full price and I bought Watchdogs Legion for nearly half that price because it was on sale

Guess which one made me feel like I was ripped off?

[Knushwood Butt]

Currently my wife is watching some Fox channel on cable TV.

I feel ripped off just by glancing at the screen.

Got my ass kicked on Returnal earlier so...

[hiawa23]

The price point is really not an issue to me since I generally buy the deluxe versions of games anyways, and bought the deluxe version of Returnal.

My gaming budget is uncapped, so I generally buy every new game that comes out that appeals to me, or Gamefly with option to buy the ones I am not sure about for a discount.

I can't do that with the PS5 since I have the digital console, but PS exclusives come out far and few between compared to 3rd party multi-plats which I buy on the other console, so not an issue.

[parkesy78]

Looks a great game and solid reviews but i havent bought it and wont buy any other games at this price ether

[chiefJohn117]

For the sake of game pricing, don't buy this. At least not till a price drop. Let it bomb out the gate. Please fellow gamers. We hold the power here

[Yobo5]

Better off putting money in these companies since people arent gonna learn may as well profit.

[Abear21]

It’s the first must have PS5 game so yeah, not a great one to judge the price hike. All depends on game quality, like Nintendo—can’t wait to see the sales numbers, I’ve never seen so many people comment on the internet that they pre-ordered. The hype is real with this one.

[anast]

Great now UBi's games will be $110 instead of a $100.

[galmi]

And its not worth 70$

[Highaf]

Won't test it for me. Will either wait for a price drop or just pirate it if it comes to pc.

[sourOG]

Not a 70 dollar game imo. Game pricing in general is junk imo. It’s fun and I like it so far but in no way should something like this cost the same as something like red dead 2 and games like that.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

I think PS5 will have an easier time with justifying a price hike, because at least they have to pay for unique support for their controller and its deep potential for sensory feedback (worth the $10 IMO)

[adaminoregon]

I will never pay 70 dollars for a game. People that do are foolish. I am in no rush so i can always wait for a price drop and the inevitable patches that are now expected day one. 70 dollars for a digital game with no manual or disc? You crazy.

[Ausbo]

IMO, it’s totally worth the $70. It has enough content and is a well regarded game. I’m not worried about Sony’s games being “worth” the $70

[GoodnessGreatness]

I'm glad it's a great game because it's $90 here in Canada lol.

[Saeedashing]

IMO I think the price is quite acceptable for an exclusive PS5 game, that fully utilized the PS5 system functionality including instant loading and Dualsense

[Knushwood Butt]

The Dualsense integration is fantastic.

You can feel when parasites get agitated, or the rain on your suit, or the side of your pad that is closest as you walk by a fabricator.

[parkesy78]

Its a shame probably would of sold double the amout if it was priced £40 -£50

[Blaze929]

I personally do not believe this is worth $69.99 and won't be supporting. Personally.

[Profchaos]

Remember when IGN reviewed GTA IV back in 2008 and in their review stated this would be a game they would be happy to pay $300 for.

Sometimes it's about the quality and polish that the developer can deliver which far outweighs what the competition is capable at that point in time and I can think of a few noteable games over the past 20 years that have driven the medium in some way which I had no problem in paying over the RRP for given I'm Aussie I often had to if I brought from EB Games most games in the 360 / PS3 era EB took it upon themselves to sell for $120 new when other retailers had them for $80 to $90.

The high price point for me meant I was more selective I often waited for games to hit a deep sale to grab them.in the $30 range I think we will see that attitude return which en large isn't great for the industry but will drive quality games overall.

I haven't played returnal yet I have a ps5 however the advertising didn't speak to me enough to warrant the purchase and the long runs bare not something I have time for but if that's what the publisher want to charge for it sure thing go for it but I'm not buying it that high I might take a chance on it at $30.

[moralsup]

Turned on my ps5 to get this game tonight, turned it off again when i saw the cost, 859 NOK (103 USD)

[Jkappin]

Just get gamefly. play it for a month, return it, then buy it when it's on sale.

[Father__Merrin]

$70 is like £50 over here in the UK. We pay usually £49.99 for a brand new AAA title approx so you have it easy over the pond

[ravens52]

I have it, I think it's a great game. I DO NOT SUPPORT $70. I still bought it tho but I do not plan on buying every $70 game, most likely only exclusives and wait for price drops on everything else.

[GamingSinceForever]

All I know is that I am loving this game. It is equally fantastic and frustrating.

[Knushwood Butt]

That summarizes my thoughts too, thanks.

[Yobo5]

The thought of normalizing this new price-point held me off from buying.

studios have had enough revenue streams and shortcuts to make up for any discrepancy in inflation, rising development, etc.

Tiered editions ( which are now going to go up $10 each tier or more)
Microtransactions
Rushing to release half-assed and patching along the way
Brand deals through foods, drinks etc

Are those magically going away and they'll be back to traditional non-crunch development of free content updates (whats now called season passes) and releasing a game in a complete state day 1 without updates because they found a new price-point? Doubt it. Whats gonna be the excuse there since the price increase was supposed to resolve all the inflation, rising development excuses? lol.

And since when has $60 not been profitable?
GTA 5 made more than double its budget on one day of sales $800m out of $264m budget with only 11M copies @ $60. They have since sold over 140M copies. Not even counting how much they made in microtransactions which have been the main reason they still 8 years later couldn't be bothered to make single player DLC.

[Bronbron92]

I think the game is worth it I mean I’ve bought and loving every second of it sure some glitches caused me to restart or horrible rng with items and gear but hey jump back in and go harder I love these types of games definitely a lot easier than a souls like but still challenging as one

[SPEAKxTHExTRUTH]

It's not worth $70. NONE of the "next gen" games released so far are and I don't believe any of them ever will be worth that price.

[howyeman]

Returnal is the first game to test if Sony fans are as stupid as apple fans.

[BlackDoomAx]

And as always people will buy it, then complain about the 70$ price.