Videogame Analyst Rhys Elliott of Alinea Analytics has recently told IGN that consumers are now ready and willing to pay more for videogames, in line with the recent surge in prices made by both Microsoft and Nintendo. After the price hikes by the two major companies, “the floodgates are now open”, and more publishers are now expected to follow suit by raising prices for their games as well.
“The market will bear it. Plenty of gamers are willing to pay price points above $70, as shown by the high numbers of those willing to pay $100 for a few days’ early access,” Elliott stated.
He said that people will continue to pay increased prices for things they want the most, “The rising prices won’t necessarily reduce spending. The market will bear it. Early adopters will always be early adopters,” he added.
Newzoo’s Manu Rosier however, has stated that rising prices for videogames can lead to consumers being far more selective in their buying decisions than ever before, which may even see an upsurge in the live service games and other subscription-based systems in the industry.
“The total spend may remain steady or even grow modestly, but the distribution across formats and platforms will likely continue to evolve. Xbox’s pricing changes, and similar moves by others, could accelerate this transition toward services and ecosystems over standalone product purchases,” Rosier said.
However, not all videogames are arriving with increased prices, as evident by the upcoming Mafia: The Old Country which is set for a reasonable $50 when it launches in August this year. But according to Daniel Ahmad of Niko Partners, “$50 games in 2025 is just the new $40 games from the PS4 gen and $30 games from the PS2 gen. They’ve always existed and usually been the price point for titles that aren’t quite AAA in nature.”
It’s interesting that none of these suggestions quite reflect nor represent the average gamer’s perspective on videogame prices so far. But either way, it seems that we’re currently in a pivotal period of the industry in more ways than one.
