Can PlayStation Exclusives Really Be Worth £70?

Pete Keen says, “It has been a massive talking point for the PlayStation community that not only do they now have a new and expensive console, but they also have to deal with even more expensive exclusives, at a whopping £70 a pop. The price rise is galling, exacerbated even more when on the other side of the gaming world, Xbox is practically giving away new and upcoming first-party and cross-gen titles, albeit as part of Game Pass. No one has been a bigger critic of the £70 price tag for Sony games than myself. In wanting to not support the hefty price tag, I held off buying a day-one game, but having finally relented, do I now regret doing so?”

[Jericho1337]

£50 for any game is plenty. Making it more inaccessible for young kids who want to get into gaming.

[TallDarknWavy]

For young kids it's usually their parents buying. But I think even 50 is too much, I haven't paid full price for a game since Metal Gear Solid 2, I'm always waiting for sales and have way more than enough to play going through my old backlog.

[SpineSaw]

You got the right idea waiting for sales if you don't want to pay full price. I don't have a issue with company putting a $70 price on their product and when you consider that product has had a $60 price for some 15yrs now that's A long time to have no price increase no matter the product but if you can be patient and wait for the price to go down and it will this is great strategy and works well for PlayStation exclusives and when you consider most of their great games are single player games so playing a great game now at $70 or deciding to wait for the price drop to pay less you've not missed a thing as a single player game is a new game or a new release when you play it no matter when the game released no matter what you pay for it. Multiplayer games are different For example the Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War game lobbies will look very different on release day than say 18 months later as people have moved on and your left to game with hackers and cheaters more so than in the first six months of release. The price of everything goes up and its long past the time the price of a game went up.

[Extermin8or3_]

@activision that's incorrect games started the ps3 generation at £50 they went down abit due to economy and retailers competing with each other but the rrp was £50-£55 from the start that was 2007, it decreases slightly when VAT was cut but went back up when it increased. By end of the generation that had gone up to £60. Now they've gone up to £70 which matches the inflation and the current value of the pound and VAT levels.

[DOMination-]

As someone who has worked on the disti side of things, I can confirm that PS3/PS4 generation games in the UK have ALWAYS had an MSRP of £49.99 but retailers (not all but most) choose to sell at £39.99. Sometimes £44.99 for obscure Japanese games that weren't being purchased in bulk. You would find non-specialists who wouldn't understand the market still sell at MSRP (somebody like Argos for example).

Its true though that even specialist retailers chose to sell at £49.99 for maybe the first six months of each of those generations. Prices will likely come down again once there is more of an equilibrium in supply/demand of the consoles. They need to get as much profit as possible right now as the hardware is so limited (and thats where their margin lies) and in general, people will pay the higher price for software in this window because its new and shiny. This is just standard retail psychology.

[b777conehead]

Activision that’s those high taxes the rest of the world for free not free universal health care. Nothings free .

[franwex]

Young kids had to put up with similar pricing 25 years ago. With inflation it’s a lot more. So kids will be fine.

[Popsicle]

When I was 9 I went to Toys R Us and purchased an SNES. At the same time I paid $74.99 in 1992 for Street Fighter 2. My parents were in a difficult position financially at the time so it took over a year of savings for me to purchase these items by doing yard work in the neighborhood and saving each $ from every holiday and or birthday card that came from friends and family. Adjusted for inflation in 2021 dollars SF2 alone was approx. $149. Didn’t kill gaming for this kid.

As an adult I am loving every moment of Rift Apart!

[senorfartcushion]

This current price increase is unjustified compared to back then.

Stop feeling the need to constantly stick up for companies over real people.

[Extermin8or3_]

When I was a kid it simply meant I had to wait. I got a game or two at Xmas and birthdays and perhaps bought one or two in-between if I was lucky and the one I got in between were always discounted heavily and usually a year old by then. The ones I got as gifts were often newer but not like released that week bar a couple of exceptions. I recall having to wait until my birthday many months later after persuading my mother to go see how much ratchet and clank: up your arsenal was and her refusing to let me buy it for 45/50 pounds new which was it's release day rrp.

[smashman98]

@senorfartcushion
We're not sticking up for companies We're accepting the reality that this was bound to happen. Also it will happen again.

[Michiel1989]

My parents only bought me a game for me and my brother for christmas and maybe 1 for my birthday. When i was 14 i immediately got a summer job and a weekend job and i managed to buy a couple games with that. Its still possible for kids nowadays to get a side job and buy a couple games with that. There is also insane steam deals very often now, so they should be fine.

[Teflon02]

When PS2 dropped I remembered wanting Dark Cloud and here in Canada it was $94.99. It didn't stop me from getting it, as a kid you don't give a damn about price, you want and you'll ask or do what you gotta until you get lol.

[Rude-ro]

To ask this question legitimately.
The current market usually and majority does not match the quality of a Sony title.
The last decade plus.. marketing has tried to fluff a lot of effects of gaming to mimic Sony’s output to drown out the quality.

I absolutely love that this is trying, key word “trying” to pin this on Sony when the market is dictating the prices…

But, all major developers are only trying to to ride the coattails of Sony’s output.
They lead the market… but the market is going to capitalize on Sony’s success.

All you have to say is AAA… and the “market” thinks the quality matches.. it usually, not always, does not matches.

Microsoft is a great example.
People are worried about Sony charging more, yet Microsoft charged full AAA Prices for games like sea of thieves and gears of war,
Nothing special at all but yet.. AAA tag line attached themselves to what consumers should expect…

100% Sony earns their value..
It is the blood sucking leaches that drown out the value via marketing.
From companies trying their best to get you to subscribe to gaming.

[Extermin8or3_]

Games whee 50 like 15 years ago. So you expect the company to just ignore 15+ years of inflation??

[OptimusDK]

In theory i dont even mind SONY charging 70USD for a game - i will just wait. But the problem for me is that they are charging the SONY tax to 3rd. party developers - that is a power grab and not OK.

[Teflon02]

More inaccessible!? Lmao kids are the one that game prices matter the least to. You think Nintendo prices for games stay that high for no reason? It's because kids ask their parents and the price doesn't matter to a kid lol

[kayoss]

I agree, 99% of the times, The kids buying the game are using their parents credit cards.

[Zeref]

I wish I had a service like GamePass when I was a kid.

My parents couldn't afford to buy me games all the time.
During the Playstation 2 and OG Xbox era, I had maybe like 7 games in total.

[BigMalk]

@activision

UK has never had games at £60 unless you're dumb enough to buy from Game.

Amazon, Shopto and other online retailers all sold PS4 games at about £45 max. £70 is a huge jump.

[shadowT]

Ratchet&Clank costs currently £59.00 at amazon UK, Miles Morales £41.93 (incl. VAT). So maybe worth to wait some days and save some money.

[purple101]

54.85 brand new at base.com

I'm a ps fan but 70 is taking the biscuit. No one should have to pay that much.

[RosweeSon]

Certainly not when as you say £55! And it’s barely been a week lol that is taking the 🐎 💩 🥴

[frostypants]

No one has to. Just don't buy it.

[RaiderNation]

@fostypants

"No one has to. Just don't buy it."

I'm constantly astonished at how this is lost on so many people.

[ScootaKuH]

You don't "have" to pay £70. If you don't want to, then don't. You can wait until it gets reduced.

For me I'll judge whether I deem a game worth the money. Everyone has different tastes but for me even though it was only a short game, I think R&C definitely was worth £70, but I certainly won't buy every game at that price. Likely I'll also be willing to pay £70 for the next God of War and Gran Turismo 7, but I won't be paying £70 for all games. Some games I want day one, other games I'll happily wait until they're reduced.

[kayoss]

So you're ok with not get a pay raise after 15 years?
For the past 15 years, technology have advance, prices on everything have increased, cost of living have increased, by the law of economics, game prices should have been $90 by now. Im not saying im ok with it, im saying it was expected.

[Highrevz]

If only Sony allowed 3rd party retailers to sell digital games then people without disk drives wouldn’t be locked into high priced games also.

[ScootaKuH]

I can't understand why you've had so many disagrees. I think this is a perfectly good idea tbh. If the games industry wants to go digital then they need to offer us more choice on where we buy our games from. Being essentially locked into a closed ecosystem removes all competition. Having places such as GAME or ShopTo offer a digital marketplace means that you're not tied into just one place to buy.

[Teflon02]

It's likely because anyone who's gone to stores and seen the prices to buy digital games, they're the same price as on the store on PSN. Sony has done it on multiple occasions, it's just pointless, also if you want to buy the digital only system that's your choice, you decided to limit your choices. Don't put that action on the company for letting you have the choice lol. PSN has more deals these days than Stores do anyways. The benefit of PSN drops about 2 years in where the games get dirt cheap but prices online aren't updated anymore

[Highrevz]

@Teflon02

So you wouldn’t like the option back to buy cheaper games from CDKeys and no one else should either? Can’t agree with that at all.

[RosweeSon]

On the day of release I could have used a code and got ratchet off eBay for £55 by end of that week at least 3 retailers were only charging £59.99. I know it’s only a week but bit of a con really. I won’t be doing it unless it’s god of war horizon etc GTA6 but yeah the majority will be delaying for 2-3 months and I’ll get them at normal prices deathloop I’ve preorder for £45 Resi 8 was similar kena is £40. It’s just pure greed and I won’t be participating haha I’ll go the opposite end and wait for ps+ they make enough budgets increased so did inflation and their profits last I checked 😑🥱🤣

[ScootaKuH]

Exactly. That's always an option. Some people act like Sony are holding a gun to their heads and are forcing them to pay £70 for a game when that isn't true. If you can't justify or can't afford it then wait and get it in a sale. Games these days tend to drop in price pretty quickly. It's not like the games are only available for launch day and then they disappear forever. Be patient and wait a while.

[RosweeSon]

That’s what I’m doing myself nothing against ratchet as it looks great but only recently platinumed the ps4 one first time I’d really got into the series but when I got the last one for free now I’m gonna pay £70? Nope not myself, especially when within a week £15 off, sure it’s not life changing but it adds up. Got plenty to play for now.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

I am unsure of whether-or-not game budgets have spiked to justify a price hike. Sony, 2K, EA and others may just be seeking higher profit margins. I bought Rift Apart for full price (89.99 CDN), I didn’t want to wait for a price drop. So I, myself am part of the problem.

[isarai]

That's what annoys the hell out of me, this whole "games are more expensive to make than ever" is complete BS. Yes games are bigger, more complex, and longer than ever, but the tools to make them so have also made that possible and far easier. Not to mention the majority of a games budget is spent on marketing and not development itself. $70 has already made my buying habits more selective, i dont agree with the price hike, but not much i can do past waiting for a price drop

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

Some of the $70 price hikes are there to exploit the hype of current gen consoles. There really isn’t any justification for the Xbox series and PS5 versions of BF 2042 being more expensive than the other versions.

[Darkborn]

It's been about 15 years since the game prices had changed. since then, motion capture was implemented, as well as full voice acting with thousands, if not tens of thousands of lines. This alone justifies a price increase from something that had none of it before. Like you also said, they take longer to produce along with more devs working every day, getting paid a higher salary and the cost of marketing has increased. All of these reasons and more is why the price has increased.

[Darkborn]

Since you guys want to donwnvote me when I say facts, what are your suggestions? Explain to me why gas prices have increased. It's because the cost to manufacture and buy oil has increased so they have to charge the customer more. It's the same concept. I bet if they waited 50 years to increase the game prices, people like you would still be in a stink about it even though companies would be tanking. Let's not forget the company, being Sony who implemented this initially is the one known for the highest quality of games every year. They explained the cost of making games has gone up and if you expect the same quality, they have to charge more. Why don't oil companies literally just water down the gas when the prices go up and keep the price the same? That's essentially what your asking for. Have fun with gamepass in 5 years is all I have to say.

All that being said, I don't like for example games that are multiplayer only or have loot boxes or micro transactions charging more. That was put in supposedly to offset the cost and to pay for continued content.

[RosweeSon]

Agreed the vast moneys are spent on advertising budgets for big telly adverts for the same old fifa etc as if it needed advertising 😑🤣 then they gotta pay for messi or whoever to be on the front of the box and do all the promo… honestly it’s utter 🐎 💩 just making the rich richer yet again. Wise up wait for the sales and crack your backlogs 😜🙌🏻
29299;✌🏻🤣

Sciurus_vulgaris hit it on the head oh this is a new console premium prices we’ve seen it with Capcom on switch 3 old Resi ports that’ll be £59.99 please but aren’t there £16 on sale for all 3 elsewhere same with Ea charging £60/70 for ps5 fifa yet PS4 is £30/40 on sale and includes a free Ps5 upgrade 🤨 we had it with PS3 we got it with switch we’re getting it again with Ps5 after year one they’ll realise are lot are skipping and waiting for sales effecting day1 sales then they’ll look to reduce it back to £59.99 max when majority of games were £45/50 max for standard to now £69.99 it’s a big old jump. £59.99 I’d have barely batted any eye lid but yeah £70 is a leap of faith I’m not taking… unless it’s GTA6 etc 😜🤣✌🏻
Activision launching Tony Hawks on new consoles those prices are a joke… when the cheaper PS4 version has free upgrades they really just trying to mug people off I don’t think a new box justifies premium prices when you are giving free upgrades away, proper mess 😑🤣

[InUrFoxHole]

My question is this. If these games are going to PC as well, why don't we see the price hike on pc Too? It's because console gamers have been gouged for so long they know it's easier to screw them over more than pc players.

[Gamble20]

In addition to game budgets being higher (which they certainly are), the consumer base for games is much larger also. Thus you have a higher pool of gamers you can sell to. There are also more opportunities for additional revenues today such as DLC or cosmetics upgrades. So the argument from some companies that its solely due to cost increases is a bit disingenuous.

[kneon]

As a software developer for over 3 decades I can tell you that having tools to make things easier just means that you're willing to do things that are much more difficult. The total time spent is around the same, we're just doing things that wouldn't have been feasible before.

[VariantAEC]

@Darkborn
That's ok no one will agree with you because they're too dense to understand the reality.
What's funny about it is they'd most certainly be the strongest defense of the "price hikes" if they were actually working as software and game developers today.

That's right, I'm calling out all the people who will simply disagree without any explanation, because they're just to simple minded to pose any real arguments against what you said.

You don't have to be happy about the price hike but without it *GAMING (our favorite pasttime) GOOOOOES AWAAAAAAY!!!*

[RosweeSon]

They are that’s all it’s about sure budgets have increased but last I checked so did profits. This extra £10 so £69.99 they catch 5 million with that it’s an easy £50 million I guess the days of pricing your games reasonably are gone. Thankfully Capcom didn’t feel the need to charge £69.99 for Resi 8, mine cost £48, desthloop is next generation only got mine ordered for £45 you’ll notice it’s mainly companies who do the yearly churn rubbish and have already got multiple ways to earn each year not only unit sales, they got season passes of ripped content from the game and also microstransactions these companies are not hard up they just trying to increase the profits so they can go oh most units sold biggest $ total figures…. Nah. They could break records by releasing great games not but inflating the margins 😑🤷🏻‍♂️ ✌🏻🤓 other than spider miles which came with PS4 remaster £64.99 I’m not biting, I had to get a launch game tho 🥴😜 plenty to catch up on PS4 for now so taking the time to catch up and let the games launch and drop to reasonable prices 😍🙌🏻
28540; rant over but I hate greed and that’s what I boils down to they make billions per year they’ll be fine. They obviously panicked due to the pandemic, how do they think us mere mortals have been we ain’t on billions 😑😏😜

[kayoss]

So if the company you've worked at made more profits than they did 15 years ago. Its a good justification not to give you a pay raise?
Yes, profits have increased. but youre talking about a video game company. Look at their business and you will understand. Video game companies are unique in way. Take Sony for example, they make 2-3 AAA exclusives a year. They are literally dependent on those 2-3 games to be successful and make them a profit. Yes, they have subscriptions, third party and hardware sales. But for subscriptions, you still need to pay workers to support those and keep them running. For hardware sales. For the first few years, typically they're sold at a lost so Sony or Microsoft are not making any profits. Third party games, they only get a percentage of the total sales. So this means that Sony and Microsoft are dependent on the success of these 2-3 AAA games to push them through. But at the same time, they need to pay contractors, voice actors, developers, designers etc to make these games.

Why do you think some AAA developers goes out of business, layoff workers, or end up selling their business? because their game didnt make enough to sustain them.

[kayoss]

Budget have increased. games are exceeding $100 million dollars to make now. Before it was between $50- $80 million (AAA games). You also have to factor in other variables as well. Cost of living have increased, cost of goods and products have increased, the hiring of more talented and experienced workers. However, seeking higher profit margins is also one of the variables.

Just imagine if your employer never gave you a pay raise for the last 15 years. Would you be ok with that?

[-Hermit-]

No.

This money doesn't go towards the developers, it goes into the pockets of the people at the top, like the Bobby Kotick's of the world. People should remember that when these companies try and justify price increases.

[Imalwaysright]

100% Have people that defend this price hike forgotten this https://www.engadget.com/20... already?

[kayoss]

So youre saying the developer didnt get paid for their work? Do you really think if thats the case, any developers will work for game companies?

[lociefer]

No game is worth 70 bucks. Exclusive or not.

[ocelot07]

Never ever pay RRP. Before launch the cheapest for ratchet and clank was £59 I think and digital was £61 (using cheap credit).

[FPS_D3TH]

Taxes included, gamepass ultimate costs $20 a month. That’s $240 a year… that’s hardly giving games away for free there lmfao. Sony doesn’t have gamepass. Sony games cost $90 here in Canada so that’s just over 2.5 games a year. That’s very much the average amount of games the casual gamer buys a year. Cod, fifa and maybe some game on sale. Xbox is not giving away games for free lmfao. That’s some delusional thought process going on over there to think that. To be quite frank, positioning games as instant day one free to play puts much less risk on the developers to put out a complete and finished product. There will be some gems for sure, but there will be lots of misses too. Just look at Netflix for example…

[MrSec84]

TBH if you do the Gamepass Quests, use the Bing App on your Laptop & Smartphone you can quite quickly earn enough Microsoft Rewards Points to pay for your Gamepass Ultimate, that makes it cost no physical money.
I personally haven't paid for Ultimate since late 2019, plus I just cashed in 75,000 points to pay for a £50 gift card for Curry's (they're a popular electronics store), I was able to buy a year of PS Plus for £37.49, I used the other £12.51 towards a £20 wallet top-up on PSN which paid for my copy of Metro Exodus Gold Edition to play the Enhanced Edition on my PS5.

I had cashed in all of my earned points up to about the 8th of June, it's only taken 20 days to earn 18,750 points and 12K is enough for a month, though I could very well earn enough points to pay for my next 3 months of Gamepass Ultimate which runs out on the 8th of July.

I don't know how exactly Microsoft are really making any money on XBox, especially when games like Halo Infinite cost what is likely hundreds of millions of dollars for development and marketing, they also include Live and EA Play, have a bunch of day one releases of either their own projects they're paying for and obviously there was the acquisition of ZeniMax Media for $7.5B.
There's really no point in paying for individual releases of Microsoft's own games, Forza Horizon 5 must have cost them a pretty penny too, but TBH when you can pay for no money using Microsoft Rewards it is essentially free for those users like myself to get access to hundreds of games.

Gamepass doesn't have to cost you anything, though it does depend if you live in a country that Microsoft supports with their Rewards Program.

[InUrFoxHole]

Rewards is probably the best, least talked about program. I can't tell you how many movies I've bought with those points lol

[FPS_D3TH]

Lmao I don’t pay for gamepass to play the games they want me to play just so I can get it for free. Grind 20 days only to play 10 days of the games im actually trying to play, just so I can get it free? Yeah very few of us with that kind of time.

[Gamble20]

You’re kind of conflating things. 1.) Game Pass Ultimate also includes Xbox Live Gold so if you back that out it’s half the price you quoted. 2.) For many the first three months is only a buck, so that makes the break even much farther out. 3.) It’s really easy to get Game Pass memberships at a discount online.

[FPS_D3TH]

You can’t get out of paying for live without paying for Ultimate so no I’m absolutely not conflating anything here. It’s been almost two years now since I could get Ultimate pass for $1 so that’s nothing to consider. Discounts or not, I didn’t factor those into the PlayStation game pricing so I’m not going to bother here.

[Gamble20]

You actually can just pay the normal Xbox Live Gold price. The difference between ultimate and the normal online membership price is $5 a month.

[MrSec84]

Anyone moaning against Microsoft Rewards and Gamepass Quest doesn't have any experience with it.
It takes hardly any time, certainly not 10 hours a month.

Doing this doesn't mean you don't value your time, that's like saying if you're a gamer or you consume any kind of movies, music or tv shows that you're wasting your time.
Given that this also paid for my PS Plus for a year, paid towards my copy of Metro Exodus Gold Edition and gave me access to a bunch of games I enjoy playing on Gamepass Ultimate, allows me now to cloud game anywhere with a decent internet connection, it's worth it for a few minutes of this stuff.

[Elda]

Games like the new R&C are worth it. Folks have to realize AAA games went up to $60 back in 2005 (16 years ago) which was 2 console generations ago. It was inevitable after 2 generations at this point in time the price of video games would go up. Some folks may not want to hear this or accept it but it's happening. As long as (God willing) I'm able to work & bringing home a lovely check I will support my favorite hobby.

[-Hermit-]

How can you try and justify this nonsense when you know the money isn't going back towards development costs or the devs themselves? It's going straight into the hands of the top guys at the company.

[Elda]

Unless you work for a prestigious AAA video game company your comment is nothing more than your personal opinion. 2 generations of consoles have past which is 16 years now & in that amount of time the cost of everything on this planet has gone up. May it be wages,salaries,production cost,developing tools,software & hardware to develop games,etc all goes up in cost & price & that means the cost of games will eventually go up as well. You can just wait months down the line & buy video games when the price goes down but someone like myself will continue to support the industry & buy video games when they are first released because I don't need or want to wait for a discount to play a game I'm interested to play when I have the funds to buy that game no matter if it's $20 or $70.

[InUrFoxHole]

@Elda
Then in that case... unless you personally work the finances of every AAA company your opinion is just as valid.

[FPS_D3TH]

Please present those facts. Til then, you’re comment has absolutely zero legitimacy.

[Teflon02]

PS2 games started at prices up to $100 in Canada 20 years ago, $89.99 is alot but still reasonable for me. I even paid for the deluxe content after for a $10 because why not make it $100 baby lmao. No but if you've made an amazing game and it's not some yearly title like CoD, AC or something nor a sports title, I think you can justify it if AAA. In Sony's Case I don't even think it's much of a conversation as Sony is the quickest to sell their top games for loose change for absolutely no reason when it would still sell millions at a higher price. Just wait a year if you don't like the price, It's be 50% the price anyways. I've always had that rule. Even if MS I dont think it's a issue as they drop prices. Only time this should ever be a convo is Nintendo as they don't drop prices. Also I think Nintendo's pricing of things is a bigger issue that $70 games with big budgets

[kayoss]

@Elda,
I wouldnt argue with these guys. They dont understand the law of economics. They will learn when their employer stop giving them raises for the next 15 years.

[LoveSpuds]

As Hermit points out, consider that the like likes of EA and Activision, despite making pretty lousy products for the most part over the years, still make billions in profit and pay their board and execs hundreds of millions in salary and bonuses. Now tell me, with a straight face, that AAA was struggling to make a profit.

People stating they paid £75 for Street Fighter 2 on SNES back in the 90s is irrelevant, those kinds of prices were driven by the cost of manufacture of the carts. When I bought games for my Amiga in the same timeframe, they were around 30-35 quid upon release.

Those who say that games prices haven't increased are also incorrect, prices have indeed crept up at the launch of each generation (here in Europe/UK at least) but irrespective of this, the market is vast now compared to 20 years ago and they make much more money these days simply because there are more consumers.

If I could see that AAA was struggling to turn profits etc., then I would happily support the price hikes but when every single studio reports sales of billions then I just don't see how it is justified, as others have said, those extra profits rarely find their way to the devs, those profits line the pockets of board members and CEOs.

Look how poorly run Gearbox is, Pitchford is a disgrace, they basically put out Borderlands but everything else they release is piss poor, yet Pitchford still rakes in millions in salary and bonuses.

[DaReapa]

Very well said.

"People stating they paid £75 for Street Fighter 2 on SNES back in the 90s is irrelevant, those kinds of prices were driven by the cost of manufacture of the carts."
Exactly! SF2, Strider (Genesis), Resident Evil 2 (N64), and the like were all isolated cases of price increase for the reason you mentioned, and it amuses me when people use that as if it was standard practice across the board.

Another one that amuses me is when people use inflation as justification, citing the $600 price of the PS3 15 years ago. We're only 7 months removed from the release of next gen consoles - yet, and still, there was an outcry prior to release that pricing the PS5/XSX around $600 would be a big mistake.

[GOULDYBOBS]

What a sap. The industry you bravely supported into what it is now. A mess of micro transactions, season passes, 70 dollars to play a base game for offline only.
Or you can really show off your brand new console by paying 20 dollars more for the next gen version. The PC version.

[Elda]

I don't buy into MTs but if a game is really good & I want extended gameplay I don't mind paying for the season pass. If you don't want to pay $60 or $70 dollars for video games then maybe you should find another hobby instead of complaining.

[GOULDYBOBS]

I have a PC and I don't pay 70 dollars for games or pay to play online so my "hobby" is fine.
My concern is how much its going to cost me for my children to play in the future.
500 for a console. 70 for a base game. 40 each year to play it online.
I'm glad you are doing well financially but I can assure you a lot of others are not in such a good position during this global pandemic.
I lost my job of ten years this week and have a mortgage and mouths to feed.
Sony showing pure greed at the worst time. Talk about reading the room.

[InUrFoxHole]

Elda=Kotick

[kayoss]

Games that are littered with MT are what you call greed. Games like COD that break sales numbers every release are milking their consumers at every second. But their games are $60.

However, Majority of SOny Exclusives do not have MT and they are exclusives to SONY's consoles. This means that the sales numbers are not as big as COD or battlefield. So how can you say Sony's increase their prices out of greed? Yes, every company wants to make a profit so that they can continue to be in business. Whats the point of being in business if you going to break even on everything?

What kind of logic is that?

[Petebloodyonion]

- Yet ppl How many games are physical with a nice booklet inside?
- Did they remove Microtransaction in Maden, NBA, COD?
- Where's the multiplayer content in Ratchet? Cause I do remember games from 2010 having both and some 3 modes
- What changes between the Ps5 version and the Ps4 version of the same game?
- How Come Free to play games makes so much money if they are free to play?
- How come gasoline was more expensive in 2007 compared to now?

The point is tons of analysts and pointed out that the price hike had no justification except that Ppl wanted to pay more because it's a new generation and feel and will defend that they should pay more.

The best example is back in 2014 when ppl were defending Sony for charging 40$ for remasters while others like my me were simply pointing out that a better graphics card will do this for free on PC. (heck I remember the countless Should they give you the Bluray disk because you have the VHS copy) Today the same thing is now free because a simple program can do a quick change and there's already 50+ plus game getting the Sony remaster treatment of 2014 for 0$

[InUrFoxHole]

Then why no price hike for pc?

[VariantAEC]

Because PC games haven't changed radically and most of the game publishers make more money fron console software sales regardless.
Console gamers are subsidizing PC game development.

[JackBNimble]

How is a single player game that you can platinum in a weekend even close to being worth $70usd ? That's over $90cad and over $100asd.

[fitofficial]

Nope. Demon's Souls remake wasn't worth full price and the original is my favorite game. RaC was about 15 hrs, pretty vanilla, and at least a third to half cutscenes. $70 is overpriced for everything currently on the market.

[FlavorLav01]

Well maybe you had already overplayed it. For folks new to the game, that was a $70 gem! Excellent experience. Spent at least 70hrs playing it. So I paid a dollar for every hour I got out of it. SO worth it

[fitofficial]

Through new eyes sure, but even then I think $70 is too steep. It's still a game that came out a decade ago; it's just prettier.

[LoveSpuds]

As a longstanding Demons Souls fan, I have to say the remake was one example where the price could be justified, that game was stellar on every level. In principle, £70 is too much for any game in my opinion, but its hard to say I didn't get my moneys worth from it.

It's difficult to imagine 70 quid providing that much entertainment through any other medium to be honest, I must have played that game for 80-100 hours on the way to the platinum.

[buffig]

At least 1/3 - 1/2 of R&C is cutscenes. Obvious troll is obvious

[fitofficial]

Play through challenge mode and skip all the cutscenes. You'll notice just how many there are and how short the game really is.

[waverider]

its normal when you got nothing to play they try do downplay hits.

[PunksOnN4G]

There is Zero Problem for paying for PlayStation Great Games simple..

[talocaca]

I just finished Ratchet & Clank (also bought Miles Morales, Demon's Souls and Returnal at launch).

The quality of the games was there so I never felt like it was unfair.

For Sackboy Adventures, I waited a few months and I just bought it brand new for $30 (and it was worth it).

I see many articles like this and I wonder, why are we not constantly complaining about Nintendo charging $60 for Mario Kart 8? Or Pikmin 3? And honestly even Mario Party or Animal Crossing. Those games can not be that expensive to develop and they are clearly charging a premium.

I was even shocked to see that the new Metroid is $60 (I was expecting $39...maybe $49).

So, in my opinion....some games deserve their price tag. Some don't.

[Vegamyster]

People have complained about this for years, have a look at larger communities like Reddit let alone here where it seems to get brought up fairly regularly when given the opportunity lol: https://www.reddit.com/r/ni...

Sony are the first of the big three to bump up the prices by 10$ so of course people are going to make articles about it, people continue to pay full price for years on Nintendo games because they feel it's worth it in the same way you paid $10 more on a few game at launch for the PS5 but waited for a price drop on Sackboy.

It's simply supply and demand, look no further than trade in value, not that i like using Gamestop (without their membership) as a reference for value but Mario Kart 8's trade in value is $25 and $48 to buy used, Ratchet & Clank just came out is $30 trade in and $65 to buy used, Best Buy's trade in is slightly less on both.

[TheColbertinator]

Sometimes I'm not so sure. Madden comes out every year for 60 and EA should seriously only charge 20.

[FlavorLav01]

Annual sport titles and CoD definitely don’t warrant the price hike. They’re the ones I have the biggest problem with their pricing, even pre-price increase. Just a bunch of monetizing schemers at their worst

[VersusDMC]

Nobody had a problem with Nintendo asking for 60 for Wii U ports or games that are last gen(now will be 2 gen old) on Switch. All switch games should be 40. The handheld pricing standard that had been around for years! But they let Nintendo get away with it and expect other companies to not do the same...

And now the new Wario Ware looks like a cell phone game that packs a "massive" 1.5 GB size...that cost 50 bucks. Just silence from everyone on that. It's actually crazy.

[franwex]

We actually did have a problem with Nintendo doing that.

[TheColbertinator]

Not really. People still buy them full price or otherwise Nintendo would've lowered the price of 5 year old ports.

Face it, most Nintendo fans are suckers

Signed, a Nintendo fan since 88

[fitofficial]

Plenty of people had a problem with it, we just get downvoted by the rabid brand-loyal fanboys that lurk here.

[Obelisk92]

Everyone had a problem with that, except the fanboys. But Nintendo keeps doing it, because they can.

Also, to be honest, judging Wario Ware price tags by the graphics and file size is nonsense. Great games with cartoon graphics and small file sizes are worth full price.

Miitopia for 50€, that was illegal, not Wario Ware.

[VersusDMC]

I guess you're for companies charging whatever they want and letting the market decide what's worth it. Which is my stance.

All i point out is if we give a shit about Playstation raising the prices then don't forget to mention Nintendo.

[bleedsoe9mm]

$105 Canadian the answer is no game is worth that Sony or not

[ShadowWolf712]

Yes. Every single one I've bought has been worth the money.

[andy85]

To me, yes. Some games were £60+ 30 years ago which is £120 to £130 now and let's face it, the gameplay was limited. Now they are big studio acting and design, massive open worlds, years of production and we're only just seeing a small rise. People go to the movies and spend £20 for a 90 minute film. If it was a digital only console I'd be more against it but both Returnal and Rift Apart were both available physical for £55 prior to release and if you did want to, you can sell it for £40-50 when done. Makes gaming so much cheaper when you do that.

[LoveSpuds]

Could it be that we were being overcharged 30 years ago?

Is it the case that these days, games sell multiple times the amount that even the most successful game did 30 years ago because the market and audience is huge? Take a look at how much the board and CEO's at EA, Activision, Bethesda, Gearbox etc., make and how vast their bonuses are and tell me that AA was struggling and needed to hike prices.

[CobraKai]

$70 is really for early adopters. A few months and the price becomes more pleasing to the pallet.

[DarkHeroZX]

I bought R&C for $40 off Facebook marketplace after seeing how short it was. Amazing game, gave it a 9/10. But $70 is a no from me lol. Also that extra $10 for the digital deluxe is a rip-off because you can earn most of the content by playing the game. Only the armor that serves no purpose stat wise has to be bought.

[Scissorman82]

Yes.

[PS-Gamer-1986]

Unlike nintendo, sony don't keep their prices artifially high for ages and unlike ms they actually release games with AAA visuals that are expensive to make.

I just wait to some time after release and buy it a little cheaper on most releases like i'm doing with ratchet and clank right now, which is around 75 to 80 euros here in germany, because finally (thx to the price hike in part) i don't feel the need to buy games right on release the anymore, but i still believe quality games are worth premium prices and early adopters do no wrong for paying them for a great game that they want to play RIGHT NOW and not in 3 months. I will certainly also make an exception for GOW once it releases and will happily spend that money without any remorse for a probable masterpiece.

[FlavorLav01]

Simply Yes. Demon Souls, Returnal, and Ratchet have all been fantastic experiences for the money. Keep the quality coming and I’ll keep buying them Sony.

[waverider]

of course, we all know who is saying here that Sony exclusives arent woth that. They are still waiting for a quality games...

[gamer7804]

Things are only worth what someone is willing to pay. I wouldn’t pay 70$ for a single player finite game but that’s just me. I’d wait til it drops in price and I’m not missing out on any type of player base.

[ShadowWolf712]

Yes, it is the single-player game that can be endlessly replayed that is finite, not the MP title that will be useless as soon as the servers die.

[gamer7804]

precisely, the singleplayer game will still be the same (maybe some bugs and performance fixes) in 6months to a year, but an online game is dependent on a playerbase that might not always be around so i usually jump on those early on in their life cycle.

[Spenok]

Yes. R&C, Returnal, and Demon's Souls cements this. I've no doubt their other games will too.

[Tetsdah]

My god, why is this still a conversation point? Wait for a price drop. It is staying this because the Sony feels it's worth that price and consumers have not disagreed. This is evident by their charting either digitally, physically, or both. The industry appears to be heading in this direction anyway. Are there truly no other topics to discuss in gaming?

[harv052]

Some will, some won't. For me, Returnal was a bit overpriced as the game was too short for my taste. Ratchet and Clank is very good and has very high production value, but doesn't have a lot of replay value so for that reason, a tad overpriced. Knowing Horizon Forbidden West will probably be a lot longer and very good for the same price, seems open world games offer more value for the dollars spent...So charging 70 or more just because it's "next gen" isn't a good indication of quality/length/value.

[Donjune]

Right now Gamepass is the shite!

[FlavorLav01]

For playing shite, sure…

[Orchard]

So are we now pretending games like MLB are shit?

This year alone I would have bought MLB, Psychonauts 2, Halo, Back4Blood, MSFS and Forza Horizon 5.

That’s $370 this year (assuming the MS games stay $60 at retail). My GamePass ultimate sub is $180 this year, and it would be 120 if I didn’t care about EA/PC.

I also pay for PS+ and would be paying for gold if I didn’t have Ultimate, so technically I’m only paying out $120 for the above games, plus all the other things that come to GamePass.

Hard to argue against simple math 🤷

[anubusgold]

70 dollars for 12 hours for ratchet and clank no. Legend of Zelda would be 80 or 120 back in the 90's but you got way more than 12 hours of gameplay . Games use to be higher back in the day i think i paid like 80 dollars for mortal Kombat and the super nintendo version was higher than that and they cutt out all of the blood and changed the fatalities .

[BlaqMagiq1]

Depends on the game. If the game is high quality it's fine. Something like NBA 2K21 doesn't deserve its price tag. Demon's Souls and Ratchet are some of the best games on the market right now and I have no problem with its price tag.

[John_McClane]

If it's a good game why not make money by volume instead?

[anubusgold]

The justification for 70 is just greed they were already making way more money with all the live service crap, loot boxes, special editions, paid in game items and dlc they were putting in games.

[Good-Smurf]

For my country this bump to $70 is rather small increase maybe I was so used to open pricing we have here on games.
I already seen stores bumped the price of games up 75 80 or even 100 bucks here about 15 years ago when PS3 first came out.
Not say I'm happy about the increase but this already happened here and it kinda make me ready for it.

[Ninver]

Vote with your wallets. You decide whether a game is worth it's price. If you think it isn't worth it then buy it at discount price. Next they'll be asking for £80 then £90.

[ArdynMDH]

The one thing i Rarely see people talk about but mentioned here and there is: why the F$^k is a digital version of the game priced the same if not more expensive in some cases?

They should be cheaper. with physical i understand , having to make and print not only the discs but the container it comes in, shipping, packaging and storage and all that plus the retailer getting their cut.
With digital basically just taking up server space and maybe maintaining the product page, theres still a huge chunk you dont have to deal with as you would with physical.

[ScootaKuH]

Yes I can't get my head around this either. It's one reason I don't buy my games digitally. If I'm spending £70 or more for a game I want to actually see something for it, so I always buy physical.

[giveyerheadawobble]

No.

[dbcoops]

We all paid $60 for ages and now we're going to moan over an additional ten bucks. All this article is and any other article like it is an excuse to rep Gamepass and the ideology that "xbox is practically giving away games" is ridiculous, paying a forever fee isn't getting something for free. The gaming community and especially game "journalists" never cease to amaze me but this is reaching for a reason to hate on Sony, lets jut go back to the good old days of arguing over frame rate and resolution.

[Orchard]

$60 became $70 easily and $70 can easily become $80 if no one pushes back.

With $400-500 entry points and $70 a game, a lot of people are being priced out of gaming quickly.

“paying a forever fee isn't getting something for free”

It’s not free, but given that most games are a one and done situation, and that the GamePass catalog of games keeps changing, it’s a good deal and works out cheaper than buying those games at $70 really.

[dbcoops]

It became $70 after a long time and how about we let it be $70 before we start worrying about $80, escalating also seems to be an issue in the gaming community.

Entry points didn't price anyone out when they were higher in previous generations. FYI whats pricing people out now is scalping prices.

"It not free", Well someone should tell the game "journalists" that keep trying to convince everyone it is.

I never said Gamaepass wasn't a good deal but using it as an excuse to rep a rental service and argue over how much someone chooses to spend of their own money is a pointless and ridiculous argument. The people griping about this have Gamepass the ten extra dollars doesn't effect them anyway, this like most things is fodder for the fanboy wars.

[waverider]

Cheaper isnt better. But keep saying it 100 times. A good game is better then 100 crap. The reality is that not even giving GP for free Microsoft, and putting all their games day one is getting the amount of gamers or any more marketshare to Microsoft.

[Orchard]

“ Cheaper isnt better. But keep saying it 100 times. A good game is better then 100 crap.”

Except cheaper is better, I don’t like to waste money I don’t have to

Crap? This year I will have gotten MLB, Back4Blood, Flight Sim, Halo, Psychonauts 2, FH4 - all day one. Are you saying those games are bad?

“ The reality is that not even giving GP for free Microsoft, and putting all their games day one is getting the amount of gamers or any more marketshare to Microsoft”

1. GP isn’t free, it’s $120 or $180 per year

2. Why would I care about Microsoft’s market share? I subscribe to GP for the games, not because I think it’ll boost Microsoft’s stock - I’m a gamer, not a shareholder.

[ShadowWolf712]

Fun fact, when compared against the rise of inflation in the U.S. Dollar, paying $70 for a game today is much the same as paying $50 for a game back when the price hike happened. If the price were to rise with inflation, the price of games SHOULD be $80 or so. We're actually still gaming cheaper than we did back when the $60 price hike happened, comparatively speaking.

That being said, people said this same thing back when they hit a $60 standard, not realizing gaming was still significantly cheaper than it had been just two gens prior. And it only took, what, 12 for the price to go up again?

I think the alarmism needs to chill.

[TGADjMessiah]

Our team member who wrote this article is a PS fanboy through and through. He even goes on to say that he loved R&C and thinks the £70 price tag is entirely justified. It's certainly not a piece hating on Sony :)

[anubusgold]

10 bucks plus tax so its more like 76 dollars for each game we buy now. Game pass looks really good now.

[dbcoops]

Then go pay for game pass. I have Miles Morales and Rift Apart and paid about ten bucks between the two of them, there are such things as gift cards, discounts, sales and for the real thrifty borrow from a friend. Smart people will know how to save if they don't want to spend $70 on a game. Again this argument is pointless.

[Rimeskeem]

Why can't the executives just take a pay cut so the games can be 50-60? I at least want to know how PS budget works so I can see the devs getting the money and not just an increase in the executive pay.

[Zerobalance]

GamePass

[ScootaKuH]

No.

[Orchard]

A PlayStation game pass with Sony exclusives in it would be immense, are you nuts?

Perhaps you just enjoy paying $70 for games you play once…

[InUrFoxHole]

Lol are trying to convince yourself? A ps gamepass is an excellent option.

[Droppedez]

I regularly preordered games at $60, but with the ten buck increase I just stopped and use Gamefly and if I like the game I pay 40 to 50 some to keep it through Gamefly. I will never preorder a base game at 70.

[mch2011uk]

It was this that stopped me from buying a PlayStation 5. If I wait a few months most of them will be a lot cheaper.

[Ron_Danger]

So the price hike is for sony first party games. You decided to not get a ps5 because of the $70 games. You then say you’ll play the games in a few months when they’re cheaper, but you don’t have/ aren’t getting a ps5.

When you’re just repeating points made by other users, make sure the points line up 🙄

[DaBudSmoka]

I was just telling this to the wife. Paying $50 for a new game is no problem. It's the $60/$70 games where it gets to be a tough decision. For the longest time I remember games being the $50 point, except PS1. Those were even cheaper at $40. Bring those prices back and guarantee to sell much more.
I did buy R&C at $70, and while it's a great game, it's not worth $70 at least imo

[mkis007]

the difference from 50 to 70 isn't really huge from a first world country perspective. If it is, then maybe its just not that big of a hobby for you.

It's like a car builder getting mad parts cost so much...maybe it's just not for you then?

[BABI-PANGPANG]

The only games that I would buy for full price are the likes of Dishonored and Dark Souls, knowing that every playthrough will be a little bit different, with something new to stumble upon with every playthrough.

[Profchaos]

The quality of the end product should speak for itself ratchet to me felt like a premium product. Everything was polished above and beyond the majority of games.

Would I like games to be cheaper yeah ofcourse I have bills to pay bit I think that if a game has done more than most at that point the Dev should be free to ask for more.

So for example if GTA 6 asks for that same price I'd pay it looking at the gamea pedigree it is obvious it will be polished and worth it but if EA wanted that for the next need for speed I'd say no chance

[Bronbron92]

Don’t understand while we’re still having this conversation over the 10$ price hike for first party Sony games, it’s only 10$ and even then some people get the other editions of a game paying 70$ or more for just cosmetics and some boosted xp without questioning it, I believe the 70$ price is fine if you want the game enjoy spend plenty of time on its well worth it, sure if you buy a game and don’t like it take it back obviously if it’s physical copy but digital bite the bullet or do more research on the game before you buy it or just wait for a sale to happen

[ScootaKuH]

I don't mind paying £70 for a game. Yes it's a lot of money but I will judge whether I deem a game to be worth that amount. A game like CoD definitely isn't worth £70 to me as it's mainly multiplayer and I prefer single player games, but games like R&C? Absolutely it's worth the money to me. Sure it was a short game but it fulfilled my expectation in that it was a lot of fun that kept me entertained. It was also a great game on a technical level. On the flip side, if I'm interested in a game but don't think it's worth £70 then I'll wait for it to be reduced or arrive on PS Plus.

Game Pass definitely has its place but I wouldn't want to see this become the de facto way we consume games. I like to build a collection, and for that I like to buy physical games. I know the industry is moving towards a more digital future, but as long as physical games are always an option then I'll be good.

[Magog]

Activision and Take Two are also charging $70 for games. It's called inflation.

[MehmetAlperTR]

they are between 690 and 790 TL in Turkiye!.. and minimum sallary is 2.300 TL in Turkiye.. So we can not buy any PS game right now.

[Gaming4Life1981]

No and I game shared ratchet & clank and its good in its own right but was never my cup of tea. I would have never payed 70 bucks for it or any game. The $70 price tag is pointless when the same games are cheaper on
PC's like the new battlefiled proving that the price hike on console is total bulshit. Sony started it and no blow back from the outspoken sony fans means the industry is rolling with the market leader. Meanwhile xbox games did not go up and are free to all gamepass subscribers.

[BioShockGX]

I finished ratchet and still think it worth $50 or less.

[_LarZen_]

In today’s gaming landscape. I’d say for most, no it isn’t. I honestly wouldn’t recommend a PS5 for most these days. There’s just better value with a SeriesX|S.

[poppatron]

No

[leejohnson222]

You have a choice, buy or don't. Funny thing is how this narrative is spun to be a PlayStation issue when most big triple a multi plat games are $70 on both xb and ps.
It's an argument designed to push game pass. Buying games isn't bad, renting things is not for me. I like ownership not endless services. Everyone is different and choice is great but you can still buy used games or on sale. Renting games is unsustainable for deva and if you want big games to go away keep supporting renting

[glennhkboy]

The $70 price IS A Sony issue, since it is Sony that charge for $70 at their exclusive titles. The fact that those game will have a discount very fast (not pre-owned) means that at the price point of $50 Sony is still making profit. So the margin of $20 is pure profit.
As for "Renting games is unsustainable for deva...", let us ask another question: have you own every single TV show, every single movie you've ever watch? Have you refuse to watch TV or movie because you can't own the physical copy of that show? Or have you refuse to buy air ticket because, well, you cannot own that plane? The fact is we have been paying for just the usage, not the ownership of a service for decade now.

[poppatron]

I bought returnal for the full £69.99 and although I thoroughly enjoyed it, I don’t think I got my £69.99 and that’s not commentary on the game itself. Long story short I’ve now got a series x as well so I can mitigate the problem as much as possible with games pass, then I’ll just blast the £69.99 when I have to on the ps5.

[philm87]

I remember paying £60 for N64 games, but then I guess the cartridge was more expensive to produce.

Just need to wait for a bit if £70 is too much for you. I got Demon's Souls for £35 new a few months after release. Bit screwed if you're on digital only though.

It's a strange argument whether they're worth £70. Sony clearly have a good quality control to make sure people aren't disappointed with their exclusives. I guess it depends how you value time vs quality in a game. AC Valhalla I loved to bits and spent over 70 hours on it, absolute bargain for £45 if you asked me.

I certainly think they should be trying to keep digital prices lower than physical. Makes no sense to me going digital only. Physical games with an RRP of £70 seem to be selling under £60 anyhow, then there's the fact you can recoup most of your money by selling it on second hand.

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

I normally wait for sales, I very rarely pay full price anymore, unless it's a game I have to have right away.

[Nacho_Z]

I'm spending less and less on games as I get older and I no longer feel the need to play (most) games at launch. I won't just wait for a sale I'll wait for a good sale. There are very few games I'd spend £70 on and it's certainly too much to be the new standard, as far as I'm concerned.

[nitroxhotshot]

Ratchet and clank has dropped to around £52 already.. they are not holding at 70 quid for long at all... just wait a few weeks and it will reduce further

[KillBill]

People keep making point of the idea games prices haven't increased for the past 15 years or so. but the reality is that games are not the same as they were years ago. You used to be able to buy a game and get the complete game with purchase. But now the game is broken down into pieces where they sell you the introductory portion of it at regular price and then charge you for the rest of the game in installments with DLC, Add-ons, micro-transactions, deluxe editions, premium editions, battle passes, seasons, etc. All of that and they still regularly have to patch their games because they are released broken. So cry me a river about pricing not having risen for the past 15 years. Devs have much more increased revenue opportunity than past games.

[stefd75]

I never buy on day one any more now and def never buy digital games. Just wait a few months and you will always get the game cheaper. I got Demon Souls for £40 on ebay just 2 months after it was released and this weekend i got Returnal for £30 on ebay all because it was not someones type of game. I dont feel the need to pre order any more.

[KINGS47]

70 is ludicrous given Steam sales & Gamepass. I haven't bought one game worth 70 & i won't unless it's NaughtyDog. FACTS

[stupidusername]

The price increase in Noeway where I live is ridicilous. Games on the ps4 was at 600kr which equals 70 american dollars. Ps5 games noe cost 859kr which equals 101$.

A 30$ increase is way too much, and 100$ for a new game is on the nose. I bought Returnal and R&C, but I didn’t feel good about it.

[parkesy78]

I have owned every generation of playstation and bought a PS5 at launch with demon souls and miles morales great games but im not going to pay £70 for another PS5 game again,i passed on returnal and ratchet and clank for that reason im going to wait till around september and if sony hasnt changed there pricing by then will sell PS5 and move over to series X i dont like microsoft as a company but gamepass is a no brainer compared to Sonys pricing

[WeAreLegion]

Inflation went up, but our paychecks didn't.

[lellkay]

It's definitely seems like a high entry price, though so far the first party games i've bought at full price have more than provided me what I would consider "asking price worth" experiences. I will make this point though, due to the increased prices, I'm definitely being more selective and picky with which games I buy and when I buy them.

Saying that, shopping around can definitely net you a cheaper deal (I got R&C at £55 for launch day) and I do find these games come down if you are willing to hold out,

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

Well, I would argue against this like many already have, but these games are already on sale (still BS price for UK) for $50. Patience is key going forward, and for me, $60 was already much for broken day-one games, $70 is simply too much.

[Locutus_of_borg]

I’m a bit of a cheapskate nowadays , usually buying long after release , but I always used to balance the cost of the game against my personal life , for example , if a game cost me £40 , and kept me interested long enough to of not spent that money elsewhere , I could quite easily gone out for a few drinks on a Friday night and spent £40 , so if that game made me stay in then I could justify its cost …

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

Did you know that games go on sale? And that Mario 64 retailed for $70 in 1996?

If $10 is a barrier to a game that was most likely announced over a year before its release, then you are not financially stable. You couldn’t afford the ps5 when you managed to find it.

Games don’t make themselves, and they certainly don’t implement photo realism detail all on their own, either. They take time and effort, and both deserve fair compensation.

[InUrFoxHole]

Ok then make games $200. Why has no one in the gaming industry said this ?
A: Has increased costs by .75 per hour
B: Has increased cost s by $100 a month
$10 per unit increase is to offset this cost increase.
I'll tell you why... Because it's not the case. Why aren't pc gamers seeing this price hike? I'm sure the games are cheaper to make on pc

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

How much did Mario 64 cost a launch. Don’t deflect, tell me. Bonus points for calculating what the cost would be today with inflation.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

Why do you think DLC started?

[InUrFoxHole]

$70.
Mario was about $70. Now show me all the games that base priced at $70 since then. Bonus points for all the games your simp ass pays for $70 games. Good try fam

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

I can count hundreds of games that were over $70 with the DLC. More and more of the average game’s content has been pushed to DLC in order to keep the base game under $70. But with DLC, the complete game ends up costing anywhere from $70-90, which was the exact price hike that was being considered at the dawn of the X360/ps3; and, by no coincidence, DLC became common place right after this price hike didn’t happen.

Alotta factors go into being profitable from media, it’s not the same as a commodity. We’re not talking about milk, we’re talking about a product that has only required more people and hours to complete over the years as graphical expectations only continue to perpetually rise (never fall or become stagnant).

The quality of game graphics has only gotten better, and one way or another (DLC or base price hike, or game pass support) the cost has to also increase in order to fund the advancements.

[Yppupdam]

The market ultimately decides the value of a product, that is why there are sales on products, there are people out there that are simply unwilling to pay full price for a product and have no issues waiting for a sale or a price drop. If you don't like the full retail price of a product, you need to leverage your right to wait for the price to drop. The actual reason for the increase in the price of games (or a product in general) is the result of the research a company does to maximize profits, they will push for an increase to the cutting edge of what the market will bear, and if the majority are willing to fork over the full retail and the product sells good, you will see very few sales until the sales numbers start to drop off.

[ANIALATOR136]

No game is worth £70

[Phoenix76]

If you don't mind paying £70 on the Psn store and prefer digital, then that's your call to make.
Me personally, I'll either use Amazon or walk down to ASDA's and save myself £10 - £15 on a physical copy for day 1 releases that I really want.

[TheEroica]

Nope...! Not a single one yet has been worth 70... Things are o ly worth what you're willing to pay.

[Mangomates]

50 quid is a lot and I’ve yet to see the value of adding 20 more to that. I enjoyed returnal for example, but it’s not worth 70 and to me didn’t have anything extra in there for it to be 20 more. Take for example res 8, which was 55ish in the uk on psn, which was priced much better for the content

[tagzskie]

That's why i advised not to buy the game at 70$, wait for the price drop. If we gamers cooperate and not buy their game, they're gonna force to lower the price tag and we gamers win. Though theres an exemption and the perfect example is gow ragnarok

[Bender6502]

As a general trend I think £70.00 is too much for a video game. But how much are people prepared to pay for Apple products when the technology used isn't inherently superior to standard PC parts? So objectively, it's whatever the market will withstand for whatever reason. Subjectively though, I have seen very few games I would consider 'worth it'. But, there are a few, even for a miser like me.

One of the arguments supporting increased prices is the suggestion that videos games cost more to produce. Personally, I'm not convinced this is generally true, because while inflation is real, and the production costs have gone up, the return on these investments is massive by comparison to earlier generations. There are just so many people playing video games today! Consequently, any half decent game can return far more in profit than they ever have.

Sony, currently, and MS, more so as we move into this gen I suspect, will be making higher budget games which may justify the increase for some, but I've seen nothing yet to warrant the higher price taking into account the profits that come from a good game. Of course, companies make bad games too, and when they do, they loose. And when they do - tough, that's business. Do better.

It's also worth noting I think, that MS has chosen to go the subscription route which means any investment costs are aggregated across the subscriber base. Hence no £70.00 hike as yet. Still, for me and many others it seems the most effective way to mitigate the increase is to wait for sales, contrary to what some developers have espoused.

[jts1891]

The cost of game development has skyrocketed over the last two generations. Big AAA titles at the beginning of the PS3/360 era cost around 20-30 million dollars to make. By the end of it, development costs had almost doubled if not tripled in some cases. Nowadays, it isn't uncommon for big AAA games to go well over the 100 million dollar mark with some getting near 200 million. Developers and publishers offset the rising costs with shit like MTX. Given that PS exclusives like R&C don't use MTX, the price hike makes sense.

[InUrFoxHole]

Long/Short answer... HELL NO!

[hiawa23]

Well, the games are $69.99 minimum and many are paying it so that tells me to many the price is worth it. If it is not to you don't pay as that is all you really have control over.

[Thundercat77]

You don't have to pay 70. Wait for the game to have a price drop. I have no problem paying 70 for a premium quality game. I use to pay 60 and then 15 more for a deluxe or special digital edition with some skins and stuff.

[Blaze929]

With Game Pass, this hasn't even cross my mind yet. I haven't bought a full price game in so long and increasing by 10 isn't going to help. I think it's a test they are trying but they will find out the masses are not supporting 70

[waverider]

the masse are paying 70 buck and not gp... Thats why Microsoft service got such a low number...

[Bennibop]

I don't like the high prices for games but it is given that the cost of producing video games has climbed massively over the last 10 years. Gone are the days were relatively small studios were able to produce AAA games. Just finish a game like last of us 2 to see the number of staff and outsourcing studios being used. The cost of running motion capture studios is also very high. Players want higher production values, better graphics, physics and sound from Sony but are not prepared to pay the price. it's also worth noting that Sony don't fill their games with Microtransactions to bolsters their earnings like Activision, EA and even Microsoft.

[jBlakeeper]

Paying 70 bucks these days is the same as paying 50 bucks two decades ago. Products steadily rise in cost as time goes on and game development has become very expensive and time consuming. So no it’s not.

[sawoosevens]

Lol funny thing is it use to play 70-80 for their games to support em anyway, but ever since they been on forcing the 70 thing I haven't bought a single game.

[JTShiny]

Well, there's a thing called waiting for a sale, you know!

[purple101]

I'm considering paying £68.85 for the gold edition of Farcry 6. 3 seasons of dlc included. (Rrp £80)

The thing is .. when the standard game will be £40 after Xmas. Is dlc really worth paying double for?

Especially when I normally sell my games on eBay and recoup over half the price I paid

[S2Killinit]

Not sure if anyone has noticed but this is not just gaming. This is everything. When people vote to put more tax on fuel, and the price continues to rise, they think the stations are paying it so they keep voting to increase it thinking that someone else is paying the cost. What they don't realize is that the cost of fuel goes into EVERYTHING that you pay for. Food, electronics, everything and anything that gets transported.

Do I like that its increased? No. But it makes sense. You want the same quality games? Well, the cost is not the same as it used to be so it makes sense that it gets passed down.

[kingjohnm]

No, I mean look how returnal tanked

[TreMillz]

Everyone saying just wait for the price to drop and them cries when theres no sequel ex: Days Gone.

[tombfan]

Stop it already, I'm seeing one of this articles every 2 days -_- If it sales, then i don't see the problem.

[P_Bomb]

Majority of games I seem to buy on sale so I can justify a day one every now and then.

[Abear21]

Hate to break it to you, but DLC, Season Pass, and just trying to get the whole game has long meant spending more than $70

[Latex74]

Thay can be 70 pounds dont mean you have to pay 70 pounds wait for a sale easy

[SPEAKxTHExTRUTH]

I've yet to play a single game this gen worth $70. Any company charging $70 for a game is a con artist plain and simple. There's NOTHING in a $70 game that's not in a $60 game. You people defending this are the exactly who these companies target.

[TreMillz]

It's been 15 years since an overall price increase happened to the industry, yall really act like this wasn't expected, you can't want all the bells and whistles and nothing want to pay for it, standard 4k, 60-120fps as standard, Ray tracing all that fancy stuff should just be added in for free huh, people gotta make money.

[SPEAKxTHExTRUTH]

Just stop...

[Redlife2g]

If the game has alot of replay value I don't mind spending this much

[shaenoide]

Not for me but I don't care I can wait for a price drop.

[Yusi-D-Jordan]

Yes. Next question.

[Neonridr]

if they are great games, absolutely. As long as you enjoyed it and felt you got your money's worth, then that's all that matters.

[Agent75]

£70 for a PS5 game in the UK, that works out at around $97. Not sure how much PS5 games sell for in the US, but $70 works out at around £50 and that’s with VAT included. In 1996, Nintendo 64 games sold for £60 tops. Any UK gamers remember Mega Drive Virtua Racing for £70 back in the early to mid 1990s? But only a fool would buy games at launch.

[brewin]

I bought my copy of Ratchet & Clank from somebody local for $40. It's definitely worth that I'd maybe pay $50 tops for it. It's A wonderful game but it is relatively short. Sure you can draw more out of it by doing every little side quest and finding all the little trinkets like the golden bolts but that just gives you cheats and stuff in the game so they're not required by any means. It is fun searching them out though. But definitely $70 is too high for new games. I even think $60 was pushing it. It's no big deal for me I just usually buy the games on sale. Sony's pretty good about putting things on sale in a reasonable time frame so it's not too hard to just wait a few weeks.

[YourMommySpoils]

Can xbox wannabes just give up for £70? Asking the writer of this article to be frank.

[waverider]

This kind of «news» are pointless. But they keep pumping them. Games are getting more and more expensive. Of course that we are talking about games with quality. Ratchet is a quality game next gen.

[Gamble20]

Comparing apples to apples with inflation adjusted numbers, it is not high relative to history. (The jump to $60 in 2005-2006 was much larger proportionally) However, compared to where the industry is today with the plethora of FTP, Game Pass etc I do believe it to be too high. That being said, you can wait just a few weeks and buy the game on eBay for more like $50-55. It just takes a little patience.

[DFresh]

Life Hack:
Wait for sales and be more selective with your game picks.

[CrimsonWing69]

I personally don't think any game is worth going over $60 for and even then I try to wait for sales. This is literally the industry pushing prices to see where the market can go. Hopefully, people push back and they drop sales to $60. Otherwise, I can see it eventually going to $100 for a game. Hell, The digital Ultimate Editions for like every game is already $100. It used to be back in the day that Digital Deluxe games were $70... now look where we are...

[siLENTEsKI]

Yes.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

Mario 64 was worth $70 in 1996, and you couldn’t even count Mario’s noise hairs yet.

[Vithar]

starting to get expensive, not gonna lie

[46player]

Just wait and buy all games on sale. I do not pay full retail.

[Fluke_Skywalker]

I bought it, and I definitely don't regret it at all cause its amazing. But no its definitely not worth £70, no game is imho. But its the price we have to pay if we want to play 🙄

[Dramacydal]

Did a child unable to afford their hobby write this?

[Xenial]

Simple answer, NO.

[SinisterKieran]

no its not but here is a tip...buyyour games (if you're in the uk) from tesco.
it says online that its £60 but i got it for £50.

[Armyntt]

Prepare for more articles like this until sony comes up with some type of gamepass equivalent. Only time will tell if Sony or MS vision is the way forward.

[brewin]

Judging by the amount of copies of Ratchet for sale on any marketplace, Facebook, Ebay, etc, Sony is going to have to do something sooner rather than later. I cant see $70 games becoming sustainable when Xbox starts releasing the big AAA titles Day 1 on Gamepass. I bought R&C used for $40 from someone on Facebook 3 days after release!

[waverider]

Thats why after 4 years Microsoft still got the one buck 3 months GP available... Now try to make profit with game costing more then 500 millions day one on GP.... and another that cost 300 millon and 200 milllions and so on...

[waverider]

Time? Same stil dont understand. Sony isnt is the same position of Microsoft. Its not in last place. Microsoft is giving awayt GP because their software and console sales are low. Hell, Even Halo is going F2P... Their biggest franchise they are looking to get money from microtransaction and battlepass.. Sony is breaking records from the PS4!!!! Sony is selling more then a console with 115 millions on the market. Is breaking records on every market, even the US.

[Armyntt]

Time absolutely. Sony is leading, but so was Blockbuster. If MS succeeds and it's gamepass becomes the Netflix of gaming, it could be to late for them to counter.

[ArdynMDH]

After reading the comments I'm at a loss for words at all the bootlicking justifying the price hikes of games ESPECIALLY considering the BROKEN state of most high profile games in the past decade alone.
This is just a small list for reference in case most of you forgot or are too young to know or remember: https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...

Its like gamers have collective amnesia or someone is holding a gun to their head.

Either that or you just have so much disposable income or have rich parents that broken games and predatory actions (microtransactions on top of the price hikes) are non issues for you.

I also want to add for the fanboys out there. I am NOT attacking any company or platform in particular and I am speaking about gaming in general.

[brewin]

I know it's kind of ridiculous. People are fanboys that much where they justify price increases when at the same time another company is giving them the shit for free basically. it's like they somehow feel like it's better because they paid for it versus a subscription that only cost a dollar.

I hear the same Fanboy argument all the time. Oh game passes only a dollar for 3 months how can they make money. If you hate Microsoft anyway why does it matter if they're making money on it or not? If you like good games, buy the damn service and milk it play the shit out of these games on your dollar sub. Or better yet create new profiles every 3 months and keep getting it for a dollar! Then you're really sticking it to the company. If you hate Microsoft so much why you justifying Sony upping the cost of their titles? That makes no sense to me I don't like any corporation so you're s******* on Microsoft while emboldening Sony to charge more for the games.

So what are the Fanboys going to do when these supposed PS5 exclusives also come to PS4. But if you buy them on PS4 are they still $60? And don't they come with the PS5 version if you sell them on the PS4 version? That makes no sense you're paying a premium for a box that says PS5 on it. $70 for the PS5 version $60 for the PS4 and PS5 version?! Lol I will never understand Fann boy logic. I wish the Fanboys would just admit that they just don't like the games, they just like the company Sony. They're always claiming that people on here lauding Game Pass are paid spokespeople but then all they're doing is defending sony. Y'all are defending the company that's charging you more?! That's some Stockholm syndrome shit going on right there

[John_McClane]

I would give your comment 100 upvotes if I could!

[kungfuian]

The real question should be- Will the change from $60 games to $70 games result in a proportional decrease in the number of people who buy your game?

The dollar increase for 60 to 70 is 16.67%. If they see a 16.67% drop in people buying the games then the answer should be to return the price back down. If that number is less than 16.67%, and for example they only see a very small drop in sales, the price increase is justified.

My guess is the answer to this will be on a case by case basis. For example something like Ratchet can justify the price, where as something like Returnal might have seen increased sales/revenue from a lower price tag.

Sony is clearly attempting to leverage it's IPs to become a 'premium brand' similar to Nintendo or Disney or Apple, where the properties/experiences are so good they can justify the price.

Relative to Gamepass it's kind of a bad look, but only when Microsoft's 1st party starts regularly releasing games with similar production value and critical reception as Sony's. And by then, say a year or 2, Sony will likely have some type of similar offering. I'd imagine we see them merging Now and Plus and enhancing the offering to include day 1 discounts on 1st party games, more day one AA games on Plus, more free to play first party across the board, incorporation of their Movie/Media Properties, etc. etc.

[eliMoises]

It's going to get harder with GamePass

[1nsomniac]

No. As much as I think The Last of Us was one of the best games I’ve ever played. I still don’t believe it would ever be worth £70.

Stop letting them try to persuade you, you pay to little. These people can make their entire expenditure back in 24hours.

[justadelusion]

No. i waited till demon souls dropped in price so i can wait on any game to go on sale that is 70 out of the gate.

[Sidewinder-]

I assume this would be "before" DLC / Season Pass bullshit too?

No one in their right mind should accept this.

[BigMalk]

They might be worth $70, but not £70...

Conning bastards.

[Harryvok]

Decide for yourself. Get them day one or wait for a sale. No one is being forced to buy them.

I've paid full price for Demon's Souls, Miles Morales, Returnal and Ratchet & Clank. Didn't regret any of those purchases. Returnal is my current game of the year.

[Knightofelemia]

I would love to see $70 again haven't seen that price since the PS3 days come to Canada and buy a game day one depending where in Canada that game costs even more. I always research the game before I buy it and I wait until it really drops in price before I buy it.

[Binarycode]

I'm more of a Pirate then Jack Sparrow.

I remember Copying Amstrad CPC 464 games on a twin deck. Took ages and didn't always work. But the joy once it did.:) £70 is too much.

£45 should be the limit.

[Firebird360]

I dont think any game justify's a $70 price.
That being said, I bought ratchet day 1 and its incredible.
But I still think its overpriced, especially considering digital games and digital purchases slowlyovertaking physical forms. Devs are raking it in without the added cost of physical games.

[crxss]

i'd pay quite a bit for TLOU3, U5, GOW2, FF7R2, and prob a few others