It’s solely been about two years or so for the reason that online game trade started charging $70 for large video games as an alternative of the standard $60, as a result of sport improvement prices rising (and greed). This shift, understandably, didn’t go over properly with gamers as the fee to remain up-to-date with fashionable gaming continues to rise, however which may not cease Take-Two Interactive (the mum or dad firm of Rockstar Video games) from making an attempt to push it additional with Grand Theft Auto VI—one of many few upcoming video games that would in all probability promote for $80.
In 2022, the period of $70 video video games started. Since then we’ve seen WB Video games, Activision, Nintendo, Xbox, PlayStation, and different firms start promoting their largest, fanciest video games for $10 greater than the $60 price ticket that had been in place for years. The response to those elevated costs wasn’t nice, however video games like Name of Responsibility and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom offered properly even with the upper price ticket. And in Take-Two’s newest earnings name, CEO Strauss Zelnick appeared to set the groundwork for costs going up.
As reported by Gamespot, when Zelnick was requested about how Take-Two decides what to cost for video games like Grand Theft Auto VI and Borderlands, he didn’t present any particular costs and as an alternative shared the writer’s pricing philosophy.
“Look, there’s extra content material continually being made accessible, and we actually intention to ship nice worth at any given time,” mentioned Zelnick. “We’re so targeted on delivering extra worth than what we cost. And that’s kind of the rubric.”
He additional added that every time Take-Two establishes a sport’s worth, the corporate needs to be sure that it’s “excellent news” for gamers and that “the expertise vastly over delivers” in comparison with the worth level. “ That’s the purpose,” added Zelnick.
If we glance again at latest feedback from Zelnick, I’ve some critical questions on what he considers excellent news and good worth for customers.
Zelnick’s ideas on good worth and $70 video games
In August 2023, when followers criticized Take-Two for charging $50 for the good, however bare-bones Purple Lifeless Redemption and Undead Nightmare PS4 and Change ports, this was Zelnick’s response:
“That’s simply what we imagine is the commercially correct worth for it,” Zelnick informed IGN after an earnings name.
“[Red Dead Redemption] was a fantastic standalone sport in its personal proper when it was initially launched, so we really feel prefer it’s a fantastic bundle for the primary time, and definitely a fantastic worth for customers.” I’d argue that $50 just isn’t an “correct worth” for a primary port of a decade-plus previous open-world Xbox 360 sport that, at launch a minimum of, didn’t assist 60FPS and eliminated all the net multiplayer modes.
In Might 2023, Zelnick additionally indicated that there wasn’t any shopper pushback on publishers charging $70 as an alternative of $60 on some massive video games, like Gotham Knights.
“What we’re seeing is customers are searching for to restrict their spending by going both to the stuff they actually, actually care about, blockbusters, or to worth, and generally it might be each,” mentioned Zelnick.“And the excellent news is, we have now a bunch of blockbusters and we have now an exquisite catalog.”
All of this appears to counsel that Zelnick believes $70 video games work, customers don’t thoughts them, ports are value $50, and other people will purchase your blockbuster video games if they’re actually enthusiastic about them, even when they must handle their cash. That makes me surprise what Grand Theft Auto 6’s worth will find yourself being when it launches in 2025.
If any sport can cost $80 (or extra) it’s GTA 6
Wanting again in any respect his feedback and Take-Two’s latest historical past makes me surprise: Will Zelnick resolve that GTA 6 is value greater than $70?
Will he have a look at one of the crucial hyped video games in human historical past, the sequel to one of many best-selling video video games of all time, and a blockbuster open-world journey that can possible be large, and assume “Oh gamers can pay $80 and even $90 for that!” I feel that’s an actual risk and if it occurs, I’d wager my subsequent lunch that he’d clarify on an earnings name that followers are getting a “nice worth” for that $80.
Positive, it appears foolish and even downright idiotic in 2024 or 2025 to cost greater than $70. We’ve seen numerous examples during the last 18 months or so of massive, costly video games failing to attach with gamers, critics, and fandoms, whereas smaller indie titles charging much less are exploding in recognition. I imply, one of many largest video games in 2024 is Helldivers 2 and it sports activities a $40 price ticket. In simply the previous couple of months, Manor Lords, Grey Zone Warfare, and Content material Warning have discovered massive success on Steam they usually all value far lower than $70.
However Grand Theft Auto 6 is completely different. It’s the following entry in one of many largest online game franchises on the planet, will possible have an enormous advertising and marketing push, and is the follow-up to GTA V and GTA On-line, a number of the most profitable items of leisure in historical past.
It additionally has an virtually not possible quantity of hype surrounding it, with gamers and followers going feral over tiny updates to Rockstar’s back-end servers. These identical individuals make theories primarily based on birds in teaser photographs and monitor down each piece of minimize GTA content material they will discover utilizing all kinds of strategies. These are followers who, if requested, would possible purchase GTA 6 at $80. And I feel there are many different individuals on the market who would shortly toss $80 to Rockstar and Take-Two if it meant they may play what is going to possible be the most important online game launch in 2025.
So actually, at this level, the one factor stopping Take-Two from charging greater than $70 (and providing customers a lot “nice worth”) is Zelnick and different executives all this and deciding to not be grasping. And folk, I’m not holding my breath, particularly as video games value increasingly more to make and take longer and longer to create. I feel if Zelnick and Take-Two imagine GTA 6 can succeed at $80 they’ll cost that and promote you a particular version for much more.
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