There was some concern earlier this week that the price of games would go up in the next generation. Microsoft helped calm fears by saying its games would remain at $60, and now others are starting to confirm the same.
Shacknews reports that a Sony representative has confirmed that the company’s first-party titles will remain at $60:
“…we have announced the pricing for our first party line up of PS4 launch and launch window games. All four titles, Killzone: Shadow Fall, Driveclub, Knack, and inFamous Second Son are all $59.99.”
The news should come as a relief for those concerned that Sony would push for higher game prices going into the next generation. A price increase wasn’t exactly out of the question as the ricing price of game development could be tied to a price increase at retail.
So, Microsoft and Sony are both locked in at $60. What about third-parties? They’re free to charge whatever they want so they very well could bump up prices to $70. It wouldn’t exactly be novel as Sony used to offer its first-party titles on the PS2 for $40 while third-parties charged $50. Could we see a similar situation on next-gen consoles?
As Shacknews points out, Amazon is listing all third-party games for next-gen consoles at $60. It very well could be a placeholder, but it’s not likely. These are most likely the prices that retailers were given to expect and I wouldn’t think that third-parties would try to shake up game pricing in the immediate future.
Instead, we might see game prices going up incrementally over the next few years through game pack-ins and extra content that they’ll argue warrants the price increase. In fact, some publishers already do this with digital deluxe versions of games that add a few bonuses for an extra $20. We can only hope that publishers will start to offer better bonuses if they intend to continue the practice.