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The price of games is skyrocketing. After the already-controversial rise from $60 to $70 at the start of the Xbox Series/PS5 generation, games like Mario Kart World and The Outer Worlds 2 are raising prices even further to $80, and former PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida thinks that a-okay.
In a recent discussion with former Nintendo of America marketing leads Kit and Krysta on the duo’s YouTube podcast, Yoshida explained that the $80 value for AAA games is fine as other games are “amazing affordable” to balance the scale.
It’s also worth noting that PlayStation in general has also raised the prices of consoles and its PS Plus service significantly over the past half-decade, with the company planning further price adjustments to “maximise profitability”. PlayStation is also being sued for “artificially high” PS Store prices.
Yoshida defends $80 game prices for AAA
Speaking on the podcast, Yoahisa explained that “every game has a different value” and that publishers should be willing to diversify. This is similar to thoughts echoed by Expedition 33 developer Sandfall Interactive, a studio that hopes more devs will create $40 and $50 experiences instead of everyone focusing on AAA.
“It doesn’t have to be that every game has to be at, you know, $70 or $80 or whatever because every game is different,” explained the former PlayStation boss.
As for games in general, Yoshida explained that the last decade has made gaming in an overall capacity “amazingly affordable” with a low barrier of entry and thousands of cheaper games available to players.
But what about those $80 games? Using Mario Kart as an example, Yoshida explained that players get hundreds of hours of entertainment from these titles which could justify the asking price. (He didn’t say anything about the price of Sony’s expensive first-party cinematic games, though.)
“When you look at the value that the amount of entertainment a good video game provides, like Mario Kart 8, so many people played hours and hours and hours right with just one purchase, or maybe you know some people paid for additional tracks,” the former PlayStation boss said.
“So it’s really up to the game and people have to [judge] which game provides the entertainment that you want and see if it makes sense to pay the price on day one,” he continued.
Yoshida also touched on the price of additional cosmetics in games, the most exorbitant part of modern gaming in general. While games like Call of Duty charge full price for the right to play, they also supplement their games with expensive cosmetics that just keep getting pricier.
“Some people see the benefit, so they spend that $100,” the former PlayStation boss said. “So it’s up to you if you see the value or not.” Honestly, if I ever met someone who spent $100 on a cosmetic bundle, I would slap them silly. What possible value could that have?
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