Charging you $60 for a game, then telling you it isn’t actually finished and if you want the complete experience you need to pay for downloadable content (DLC) through a series of microtransactions, might make you think that video game companies are treating you like mugs.
Then, just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, the base figure seemed to go up to $70. NBA 2K21 was the first game to break this barrier in August 2020. Since then, other companies have also started selling games for $70, including Activision, Sony, EA, Square Enix, Ubisoft, and Microsoft.
Well, those sensitivity readers and DEI narrative script consultants aren’t going to fund themselves. You will pay an extra $10 to have an overweight woman in horn-rimmed glasses with interesting colored hair lecture you through your favorite game, and you will like it!
Things could be about to get even worse. A report now circulating online has said it expects Grand Theft Auto VI to go higher, much higher.
Matthew Ball’s Epyllion State of Video Gaming paper says the price point could be as high as $100 and open the floodgates to a shift in games industry pricing. The report even says that there is “hope” among industry analysts that the developer could take the opportunity to raise default pricing to up to $100.
The industry would say these costs are fair, due to high inflation and rising development costs.
Grand Theft Auto VI is widely predicted to be one of the top-selling games of the year, with millions of copies expected to be sold.