The rising price of games has been a hotly debated topic for a few months now. Nintendo’s decision to price Mario Kart World at $80 sparked a firestorm on the internet, and the industry appears to have taken notice.
At least for the moment. Don’t get too excited. You know how quickly things can change…
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Electronic Arts isn’t going to be the next to make that move
As reported by Rebekah Valentine at IGN, EA’s CEO, Andrew Wilson, spoke at the company’s Q1 earnings call. The topic inevitably turned to different publishers deciding to go to the $80 price tag. He answered in the standard corporate speak but ended with this:
“We’ll continue to look at opportunities to deliver great value to our players through various pricing schemes over the course of time, but no dramatic changes planned yet”.
I mean, we know it’s coming. However, for the moment, the $80 dogs have been called off, which is fine. It’s just weird watching these companies jockey for some level of moral positioning for the short term. They know where this is headed. They know where they want to go. We all know where they want to go. When GTA VI comes out, we’ll likely be heading down that cheese-filled hill together, looking at $79.99 on everything.
I wonder if the backlash that was received with the Borderlands 4 and The Outer Worlds announcements had something to do with this. Companies are still capable of being shamed into making the right decisions with enough pressure.
Not that I expect that of EA, but, interestingly, they are staying firm on $70 games for now when they would have been the first company I thought of when it came to shooting those prices in the air.
But let’s enjoy what time we have with the prices we’ve gotten used to.
