Many players have not yet gotten used to paying around $70 for long-awaited productions, meanwhile the first owners of industry enterprises mention even higher prices. Capcom’s president says games should cost much more.
The gaming industry is constantly evolving, which requires production teams to not only adapt to the industry’s expectations, but also to the demands of the specialists themselves. We are clearly convinced that the costs of creating new proposals are increasing year by year – projects are getting larger and involve more developers, some titles can count on support many months after the premiere, which also requires additional expenditure and resources. The main representative of Capcom directly referred to the topic.
Haruhiro Tsujimoto, president of Capcom and chairman of the Computer Entertainment Association, openly admitted in an exclusive interview with Nikkei that game development is now “about 100 times more expensive” than it was during the NES’s lifespan, while companies face numerous challenges. The Japanese pointed out that the prices of gaming equipment have not increased that much, so the best solution would be to raise the prices of games – in his opinion, productions should be priced at much higher amounts.
Personally, I think the prices of the games are too low. Game development costs are about 100 times higher than they were in the Famicom era, but software prices haven’t gone up that much. There is also a need to raise wages. Given that wages are rising across the industry, I think raising unit prices of production is a healthy option for business.
So, can we expect an announcement of a transition to a higher pricing standard among publishers and producers in the near future? There are certainly company leaders in the industry who share Tsujimoto’s opinion, but it should be noted that Capcom is currently not selling all its new products for $70, but is adapting to the market situation.
If new games at launch in the basic version were to cost up to $100 (approx. PLN 435), this could influence some purchase decisions among fans of electronic gaming – and would be an opportunity for subscription services.
Source: Insider Gaming