Video games could rise in price for the first time in 15 years

Video games which cost 60 dollars can date back at least to the 1990s. In the later three decades, although the value of the dollar devalued for half price due to inflation, few games have been sold for more than “Super Nintendo”.

In this week video game publishers will push the industry standard price up to 70 dollars. This move comes at the right time when Microsoft and SONY Games are switching consoles -- they usually launch a new generation Games every seven years. But the current situation is complicated: an economic crisis has doubled unemployment rates in the United States since COVID-19 outbreak.

Inside the publishers, senior managers have been planning and analysing price increases for years. There are mainly two reasons why they increased the price: the first is inflation, and the second is the cost of developing a 3A game has soared. Before SONY finalized the price up to 70 dollars, they had been discussing about raising the price up to a higher level. Many game senior managers accepted the report interviews anonymously, apparently because they realized the move was not popular. In the most cases, these companies would not admit the raising prices, only saying that the price varies from game to game.

But when people are browsing digital stores, they would find out the case that the price rising is inevitable: the new “Call of Duty”, “Devil’s Spirit,” “Meteorite” and “NBA 2021” are all 70 dollars.

In the 1990s, Nintendo took advantage of the popularity of its game consoles by pricing certain cassettes at 60 dollars. It was not until SONY launched the PlayStation in 1994 and put the games to lower-cost CDS then the prices fell. The world entered the age of 50 dollars’ game, and the Microsoft Xbox, which was launched in 2001, continued the same price. But the price of next generation of consoles went back to 60 dollars, during a three-year economic boom in the mid-2000s and has continued until now.

Inflation

Dan Armstrong, 34 this year, has been playing video games since he was 12. “When left my parents and make my own money, the standard price was 50 dollars, then it went to 60 dollars, and now I hear it would be going up to 70 dollars”, he said. “it is ridiculous.”

Armstrong served in the US Navy for eight years before he got honoured discharge one year ago, expecting for a work in the IT industry. He attended college in Norfolk of Virginia, where he took a job as a career consultant, working 15 to 20 hours a week. After the epidemic outbreak, his working hours were cut in half. He said the economic situation formed a threat to Americans’ livelihoods, and he had to choose groceries and car loans or his hobby.

“We don’t know how long it will last. I’d rather keep my money in a safe place than giving it to Activision,” he said, “I know they need to hire more programmers and graphic designers, but it still seems greedy.”