For many years, the standard edition of most AAA video games cost $60 USD; however, starting from the current generation of consoles, the price has increased to $70 USD and that has become the norm. Although many fans might argue that games are already too expensive, there are executives who believe the price should be higher.
Among these industry figures is Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two. In a conference call with the investors, he said that video games are too cheap and should be more expensive in some cases.
Strauss Zelnick used streaming services like Netflix as an example, which had to increase subscription prices to cover expenses.
TAKE-TWO, THE COMPANY BEHIND GTA, BELIEVES VIDEO GAMES SHOULD COST MORE
During the investor conference, the head of Take-Two argued that video games are currently very cheap, especially when considering the amount of entertainment hours they can offer. He explained that prices should be adjusted based on factors such as game duration and production costs.
"In terms of our pricing for any entertainment property, basically the algorithm is the value of the expected entertainment usage, which is to say the per hour value times the number of expected hours plus the terminal value that's perceived by the customer in ownership, if the title is owned rather than rented or subscribed to", detailed Strauss Zelnick.
The executive explains that the price should be determined by elements such as the value consumers get per hour and the overall value of the product.
With this in mind, Take-Two's CEO considers their games to have "very, very low" prices because they offer a lot of value and a great number of hours of interaction and entertainment.
Take-Two owns Rockstar Games, the company responsible for the Grand Theft Auto franchise. With this in mind, Strauss Zelnick's statements alarmed players, who fear that GTA VI might be very expensive and exceed the $70 USD standard. This scenario would align with previous rumors indicating that the game could cost up to $150 USD.
However, Strauss Zelnick explained that due to the workings of the video game industry, that algorithm cannot be applied to set the price of titles. Thus, it is unlikely that there will be a short-term price increase.
"It's our strategy here to deliver much more value than what we charge consumers (...) The price increase to, for example, $70 USD for certain frontline products [in 2022] was the first price increase for many years after many generations. So I think we offer terrific value to consumers.," commented the executive.
Recently, Haruhiro Tsujimoto, Capcom's chief, expressed a similar idea and was in favor of raising the price of video games.
Tell us, do you think games should be more expensive? Let us know in the comments..
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