Gaming Company Take Two Thinks People Are ‘Ready To Pay $70 For Games’
As technology advances and next-gen consoles become household necessities, game prices only seem to rise and rise. Where the average price for a AAA title PlayStation 4 game was around $60, that is steadily rising to 70 bucks, a change many think is unnecessary, given the price of consoles themselves, especially the new PlayStation 5.
Rockstar Games and 2K Games' parent company Take-Two Interactive, however, believe that consumers are willing and able to pay $70, which the recent price point for NBA 2K21 revealed.
At a recent Morgan Stanley conference, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick spoke on the next-gen price hike, stating "our view was that we’re offering an extraordinary array of experiences and lots of replayability. The last time there was a frontline price increase in the U.S. was in 2005-2006. So we think consumers were ready for it."
However, Zelnick did not make any solid statements about the future pricing of Take-Two's titles, saying "we tend to make announcements on a title-by-title basis. Our view is to always deliver more value than what we charge, to make sure both the experience and paying for the experience are positive for the consumer."
But what of the consumer issue of feeling overcharged and underwhelmed? Zelnick understands that, and stated, "we all know anecdotally that even if you love a consumer experience, if you feel you were overcharged for it, it ruins the experience and you don’t want to have it again."
This confidence in the Take-Two games, and their stance on charging more for them, is not one all publishers can share.
Click to enlargeIt's not new information that Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto V (GTA5) and GTA Online remain two of the most profitable games of all time, and a higher entry point (such as $70) may seem "fair" for next-gen titles.
However, in a world where games are monetised from within, even after purchase, and arrive to the consumer incomplete and defective (Cyberpunk 2077, we're looking at you), there is obvious distrust for paying these higher prices within the community.
Only time will tell if the wider gaming community will be happy to pay inflated prices, or if publishers will have to take their foot off the profit pedal.
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