Take-Two CEO says next-gen price increases will be set on a game-by-game basis

Forget about caviar, diamonds or a new Ferrari in the garage. If you really want to be the most annoying humble-braggart on the block, nothing will annoy everyone around you more than a collection of video games that were bought on day one of their launch. Interactive entertainment doesn’t come cheap, and even though the $60 price mark has held firm for many a year now, that number will jump upwards as the next-generation of consoles pop up.

Take-Two Interactive is the first publisher to slap an extra Hamilton on their prices, as NBA 2K21 will set you back $70 when it arrives on PS5 and Xbox Series X. Digital sweat physics aren’t cheap, after all. While you will be seeing more of that higher price in the future, CEO Strauss Zelnick believes that it’ll be saved for select games and won’t be applied to every new release.

“I would just observe there hasn’t been a frontline price increase for a very long time although costs have increased significantly,” Zelnick said to ravenous investors in a post-earnings call via VG247.

But most importantly we believe we’re delivering the highest-quality titles in the business and consumers are staying more engaged than ever. Games have extraordinary playability and replayability and they offer many, many hours of entertainment. We think it’s a great value. It does rely on our continuing to deliver amazing experiences and that’s our strategy and our goal.

Obviously, we don’t speak for the industry and the industry naturally does not coordinate on these matters, to say the very least. And from our point of view, it’s an extremely modest price change given that prices haven’t changed for a very long time.

While publishers such as Ubisoft have committed to a $60 price tag for currently announced games that’ll be releasing on both current-gen and next-gen consoles, Take-Two’s influence as the publisher behind some of the most successful video games in history gives them a position of authority when it comes to determining the future prices of video games in the industry.

If the company can succeed in convincing gamers that select titles are worth chipping an extra $10 towards, it’ll be the benchmark for other companies to follow the same path. We’re used to it down here in the South, as high-profile games such as Grand Theft Auto V and annual Call of Duties have all had a higher than average price point on day one, a tax on perceived premium quality that consumers have had no choice but to pay if they wanted to get the FOMOnkey off their back.

Last Updated: August 5, 2020