Games should get more expensive in 2023; understand the reasons

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The year 2023 will go down in videogame history as the beginning of a new era: that of US$70 games. releases.

The publication states that “Forza Motorsport”, “Redfall” and “Starfield”, all scheduled for launch in 2023, should be the first titles distributed with a new list value, following a movement already carried out in recent years by other major publishers, such as Sony, Ubisoft and Take-Two —Nintendo is a notable exception on the list.

• For the Brazilian consumer, if the dollar remains at the current level, this should represent an increase of about R$ 50 in the price of these titles at launch, going from about R$ 300 charged for top-of-the-line games, such as “A Plague Tale: Requiem”, for R$350.

Discussions in the industry about the launch price of top-tier games began to gain momentum in 2020, along with the arrival of a new generation of consoles (PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X / S). The last time the industry raised game prices was in 2005, at the start of the PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 generation, when major releases went up from $50 to $60.

The first game to adopt the new pricing standard was “NBA2K21”, an annual basketball title distributed by Take-Two, released in September 2020 for PCs, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One for US$ 60 and in November of the same year for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, but costing $70.

At the time, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick defended the price increase citing that costs for producing games had increased by 200% to 300% over 15 years. “What consumers are able to do with products has completely changed. We ship much, much bigger games for $60 or $70 [hoje] than we delivered for US$ 60 ten years ago”, he said in an interview with the Protocol website.

Five months later, Zelnick celebrated the success of the new pricing strategy. “As a premium offering of the highest tier, the title [‘NBA2K21’] was built from the ground up for the next generation, it’s the first title here that was created that way. And consumer acceptance has been nothing but extraordinary, the title has sold over 8 million copies,” said the executive in a statement to investors, noting that future discussions on pricing for new releases would take place on a game-by-game basis.

In an interview with the GamesIndustry.biz website, Yoshio Osaki, CEO of the consultancy IDG, a specialist in the games industry, agreed with Zelnick’s view on the increase in production costs. “The price of $70 [para jogos] in the next generation represents an increase of 17% from 2005 to 2022, well below that of other items. While the price of development and distribution has gone up—and other forms of entertainment have gone up substantially—next-generation software hasn’t reflected that rise. [A mudança de] $60 to $70 doesn’t cover the increase in those costs completely, but it’s a move in the right direction,” he said.

From that point of view, the price increase seems more than justifiable. It does not take into account, however, new monetization models developed by the industry over the past 17 years. Expansion packs (DLCs), season passes, microtransactions and the infamous ‘loot boxes’ have become widely used mechanisms and today correspond to a large part (if not most) of the revenue of the gaming giants.

An example is Activision Blizzard (owner of the “Diablo”, “Call of Duty” and “Warcraft” franchises, among others) which, out of a total of 8.8 billion revenues in 2021, obtained only 2.3 billion (26% ) in game sales versus 6.5 billion (74%) in microtransactions, subscriptions and other forms of monetization, according to its investor report.

For Microsoft specifically, the increase in the price of its releases also acts as a convenient incentive for consumers to purchase Xbox Game Pass. The subscription game service that promises free access to all the company’s titles since launch is now its main bet to grow in the games market.

Financially, the new pricing standard could help the industry to lessen its reliance on subscription services and contain the proliferation of microtransactions, at least in titles considered “premium”. But Pandora’s Box has already been opened and it is unlikely that companies will decide to go back.

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game tip, new or old, for you to test

bowser’s fury

(Switch)

Sold with the re-release of “Super Mario 3D World” for Switch, this Mario platformer title may have gone unnoticed by many fans (myself included). It is the first fully open-world game in the franchise and a curious laboratory for mechanics that may appear in future titles by the mustachioed hero. The game is relatively short (so maybe Nintendo decided to include it as a “bonus” in another title), but it deserves a chance for the courage to seek innovation in such a traditional franchise.

update

news, launches, business and what matters most

• By 3 votes to 1, the FTC (regulatory agency of the market of the American government) decided to open a lawsuit in Justice to try to block the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft. The agency alleges that the deal would harm free competition in the market for consoles and game subscription services. Executives from both companies still believe that the acquisition will be completed, but this is unlikely to happen by June 30, 2023, the date previously scheduled for the completion of the purchase.

• “Elden Ring” got the better of the dispute with “God of War Ragnarök” and won the game of the year award at The Game Awards. FromSoftware’s title also won the trophies for direction, art direction and RPG game. Sony’s title, however, did not go empty-handed and was the most awarded game of the night, winning in six categories: narrative, music and soundtrack, audio design, best performance (Christopher Judge as Kratos), innovation in accessibility and action/adventure game.

• Brazil was featured in The Game Awards esports awards. Loud’s “Valorant” team won the award for the best esports team of the year and their coach, Matheus “bzkA” Tarasconi, won the best coach.

• The awards also featured a series of new game announcements. Among the main ones are: “Hades 2”, sequel to the acclaimed action title from Supergiant Games; “Death Stranding 2”, sequel to Hideo Kojima’s last game; “Judas”, debut title from Ken Levine’s new studio, creator of “Bioshock”; and “Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon”, the return of FromSoftware’s giant robot (mecha) battle franchise.

• Nintendo started the official sale of Switch games on physical media in Brazil on the 6th. For now, ten different titles are on sale, two of which (“Animal Crossing: New Horizons” and “Splatoon 3”) are exclusively sold by Amazon. The suggested price is BRL 349 per game, BRL 50 more expensive than the digital version.

• Microsoft announced a partnership with Itaú bank to bring the Xbox All Access program to Brazil, which allows the financing of consoles. Through the program, Itaú credit card customers will be able to buy an Xbox Series S by paying 21 installments of R$170.99. During this period, the customer will also have access to Xbox Game Pass. At the end of the period, it is up to the user to choose whether or not to renew the service subscription.

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games that will be released in the next few days and promotions that are worthwhile

13.dec

“Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion”: BRL 219.90 (PC), BRL 249.50 (Switch, Xbox One/X/S, PS 4/5)

“High On Life”*: BRL 222.45 (Xbox One/X/S), price not available (PC)

14.dec

“Lil Gator Game”: BRL 41.99 (PC, Switch)

15.dec

“aka”: BRL 31.50 (Switch), price not available (PC)

“Blacktail”: R$ 79.99 (PC), price not available (Xbox X/S, PS 5)

*Available on Xbox Game Pass