Modern Warfare 2 to retail at £54.99

MCV reports that consumers looking to pick up Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 this autumn will have to part with more cash than they did for Call of Duty: World at War last year.

Activision has confirmed that the highly anticipated sequel, expected to be biggest-selling game this holiday season, will carry a RRP of £54.99. It’s a move expected to be followed by other publishers.

Commenting on Activision’s decision to raise the RRP, THQ’s EVP of worldwide publishing Ian Curran told MCV: “Exchange rates between the Euro and the pound are making it very difficult for publishers to show an acceptable operating margin in the UK.

“You can’t continue to trade as normal when the biggest territory in Europe has seen cost of goods increase by 30 per cent due to the strengthening of the Euro. Publishers somehow need to offset this drastic increase in costs. I’m not surprised to see the [Modern Warfare 2] SRP go up and I feel this will continue across more key titles.”

Curran added: “Also, development costs for next gen software has increased at a time when the take-up on these machines is slower than expected and therefore the opportunity to sell more units is limited.”

A top games buyer at one of the UK’s biggest retailers has told MCV the move has not come out of blue.

“A couple of months ago a few publishers mentioned that they were being hammered because of the Euro. To combat this they decided that certain titles would have a higher RRP.

“You can guess the reception this got from retail. The fundamental problem is that the customer will feel conned that the latest triple triple-A is £50 at retail when last year it was only £40.”

One publisher which won’t be upping prices is EA, a rep telling MCV: “There has been no change in our trade pricing policy and there will be no change in RRP.”

One unnamed global publisher has come out in support of Activision, citing tough times for the industry.

“Retail moans to MCV, because they want a massive game like Modern Warfare for next to nothing,” said the publisher’s UK boss.

“90 per cent of a publisher’s business is done from barely 10 per cent of titles. In these tough times, these games cost a lot of money to develop – up to £50 million. With that pressure to see a return on their investment, I can sort of understand where Activision are going.”

The unnamed boss also pointed to the fact that a £55 game should still be seen as better value than going to the cinema or watching a DVD.

“Will this affect consumers? I don’t think so,” the UK boss added. “If a title is this good, will they spend an extra £5? Of course. You can’t blame Activision. They’re entitled to do this – they’ve invested huge amounts.”

Will a rise in the RRP of video games affect your video game purchasing? Let us know in the comments section below.