Are video game prices currently high or low? Surely the answer will depend on who we ask that question to: if it is a user it is possible that they will answer us in 99% of the cases that the figures paid on day one are very high, but if we ask a developer , You will think that costs have skyrocketed so much that these amounts can clearly be improved.
Video games, especially consoles, have always been expensive. Already in the 80s, buying a cartridge for one of the consoles of the time had a very high price that could reach 8,000 (€48), 9,000 (€54) and even 10,000 pesetas (€60) in extreme cases. Something that has been maintained over time until today, where to buy a new PS5 or Xbox Series X|S we have to pay – for a standard edition – almost €80.
Costs have skyrocketed
It is true that That price range seems to have remained sustained over time and that those 10,000 pesetas = 60 euros has been an equivalence table for many decades. However, the production costs of a game have skyrocketed, multiplying by 100. So the perspective that the companies have does not exactly coincide with the vision that we have of the market. gamers.
And one of those people in charge – from a company as important as Capcom – has gone out to the media to, precisely, give a voice to those who They believe in the industry that video game prices should be increased more, to be more aligned with the effort involved in developing a quality product. Now, would the user’s pocket be prepared to withstand an increase that places the lowest prices at 100 euros?
Capcom, in favor of raising prices
It was on the occasion of the recently closed Tokyo Game Show that Capcom’s executive and operations director, Haruhiro Tsujimoto, He has declared to the media that “I think the prices of video games are too low. Development costs are about 100 times higher than in the Famicom years, but software prices haven’t risen as much. It is also necessary to increase salaries. Considering the fact that wages are increasing in the industry as a whole, I believe that increasing unit prices is a healthy option for business.
Thus, the important thing about these statements is that show the whir that is loose in the corridors of the industrywhere key companies are surely putting pressure on the owners of the systems –PlayStation, Nintendo and Xbox– to forcefully push the prices from their digital stores, marking the new sections in which the standard editions of any new product should move.
If you remember, with the arrival of Ps5 and Xbox Series X|S We went from new prices of 69.99 euros to 79.99, so in one fell swoop a total of 10 euros rose, that is, 14%. So if no one remedies it, the same for the next generation we find ourselves with a new rise… what do you think?
