PlayStation Boss Thinks £70 Is A 'Fair' Price For Next-Gen Games
While we're sure you can't wait to play your shiny new PlayStation 5, you might not be ready for the hefty price tag that comes with buying all those next-gen games. The PS5 is hardly a budget console as the full model clocks in £449/$499, however, with so many new features and as strong competition for Microsoft's Xbox Series X, what did you really expect? Added to this, Sony is rolling out the red carpet in terms of first-party exclusives and games shared with other consoles.
Whether you want to swing across the New York City skyline with Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, take in some history with Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, or hack the English to pieces as a bloodthirsty Viking in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, the PS5 can play them all. Added to the list of complaints the console is already facing, there's also those who are unimpressed by the high price of its games.
Do PS5 games cost too much?
Gamers have gawped at Demon's Souls costing £70 in the UK, which converts to around $93 in the USA. There's the same for the Ultimate Version of Miles Morales. Although the game comes with a remastered version of 2018's Spider-Man, many are disgruntled that they're paying £70 for a base game that's billed as an expanded DLC. Despite our frustrations, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan doesn't think it's too much for next-gen games.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Ryan explained, "Yes, yes, I do [consider £70 to be a fair price]. If you measure the hours of entertainment provided by a video game such as Demon’s Souls compared to any other form of entertainment, I think that's a very straightforward comparison to draw". Here, it seems like Ryan is pointing to how a game's main campaign can take between 10 and 20 hours to complete, while we'd happily spend around over £10 for a two-hour cinema ticket.
Is a game price hike overdue?
Ryan is doing some damage control after a Bloomberg story implied Sony wanted to price higher with its games. Discussing the drama, Ryan said, "I can say that that report that we were considering higher prices for first-party games is categorically false".
Video game prices have remained pretty constant since the 1990s, meaning some have argued a price hike is long overdue. There's also the fact we're pushing into the next generation of games. You only have to look at graphics on the likes of Miles Morales and (hopefully) Cyberpunk 2077 to see games have come a long way from Mario's angular nose in Super Mario 64. Are you happy with paying £70 for a PS5 game? Whether you are or not, you'd better get used to it.
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