PS5 Games Could Cost $10 More Than PS4

When the switch came out games started to retail at around £55 but they quickly dropped back to the £40-£45 mark again. I suspect we'll see some retailers charging £60+ for PS5 games whilst online retailers will probably start at £50 around launch and then they'll settle back to the sub £50 mark again.
It's not something I'm worried about as it tends to be a common trend with each new gen but it never really comes to pass.

Just pre-ordered the PS5 edition!! Price hike isn't really surprising but def. going to cause huge uproar.

Sounds like a cash grab, with limited games on release and if your into basketball...you're slam dunk'd. They do tend to settle down in price though after a year.

So that would mean digital would cost probably 5-10 each for the games or maybe even more. I thought ps4 games would cost around 60 but was grateful to be at most 55 but usually amazon etc are quite cheap on release so who knows maybe still be relatively good prices for ps5 games but players who use digital will be stunned.

As a game hoarder I think it will have an effect on my purchases. Then again, I was not sure I was going to get NBA2K, but if I ever do it'll be the Mamba Edition anyway.

AAA games are a bargain at the current prices. While I'd obviously like to pay less (hell, free would be best haha), if they all start adding £10 to the price of AAA games, I'm fine with that.

2k charging for an upgrade other offer for free and using a dead man to make more money. I should be surprised but its 2k.

Not sure why there should be b*****ing and complaining because Nintendo frequently charged $70 and $80 for SNES games... and that was over 25 years ago.

Here's hoping this is just 2K being greedy and not the general trend that next gen games will take. They already pack this game full of predatory microtransactions there is no way that this price hike is necessary for the game to profit.

2K is below even EA (who have been improving) in my mind when it comes to anticonsumer practises.

Now that I think about it, it's kind of crazy that nes games can cost $70 35 years ago and now the price of ps4 games is cheaper at $60.

Or, alternatively, they cost about £10-15 if you bother to wait for a couple of years before buying them. Luckily I'm not desperate enough to want to play a game brand new at release and can wait!

Bearing in mind you can typically get 15% or so off PSN credit, and sometimes more (I stock up on codes at 25% off usually) the 'real' price is nowhere near that.

And if you're not desperate for a day one purchase, the regular PSN sales of increasingly large chunks off the RRP make it very affordable imo.

I expect this to be a universal thing unfortunately.

Prices in Europe already increased from €60 to €70 this gen. For most games at least.

Again I get a PS5 I'll probably be able to pick up Gran turismo 7 for less than €20 😅

@wiiware indeed, I can well remember PS1 games going for £50 in the mid 90s....far more than £65 in today's money, and with no options such as PSN sales or easy re-sell of physical back then!

@Octane
If you buy in GameStop's yeah but everywhere else is below €60.

The only full price game I bought this generation was TLOU 2.

@wiiware
I bought a few NES games for £50 each back in the day. That was the price.

Scarlet Nexus is up for pre-orders on both XSX and PS5. They the same price as PS4 59.99

https://www.amazon.com/SCARLET-NEXUS-PlayStation-4/dp/B088CK6GP1/ref=sr_1_16?dchild=1&keywords=Bandai%2BNamco&qid=1593701664&sr=8-16&th=1

Like always, up to the publisher.

@tinCAT-zero Nah, digital as well. I remember seeing BOTW on Switch for €70 at launch (digitally). And I've seen a bunch of other games over the years on the PS store for €70 as well; standard edition. Physical games are still 60 in most cases, or even less.

@pip_muzz

"When the switch came out games started to retail at around £55 but they quickly dropped back to the £40-£45 mark again"

Yep, exactly what I was going to mention. Some will always try and push the line. Does not mean it will stick.

Sounds like I’ll have to be picky as hell with what games I buy then. At that price, damn, I just don’t see it.

I'm fine with that. Price has been static for so long while the cost of development is going through the roof. If we want to continue with the quality we expect then a price increase is needed.

@Octane
True digital is priced sky high. Tbh I wouldn't in a million years spend 60 or 70 euro on a digital download. I value my money more than that 🙂.
In shops like Argos and Smyth's newly released games are below €60.

Infographics like those, with 516838381 different editions of the same game chopped up and sold in different packages, are one of the things I hate about the current state of the industry.

I doubt it.but at the same time i buy my games on ebay.they always got a good deal.psn got sales a lot.but some of theyre games are overpriced.word up son

I rent 90% games so doesn't bother me, but tbh every new generation the price goes up

I was expecting something like this, tbh.

Called it just over a week ago.
https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2020/06/ex-playstation_boss_wants_to_see_15_hour_aaa_titles_return#comment5670303

Disappointing if it's going to apply outside the US as well, since our prices got bumped for this gen while theirs didn't.

And I've got to be honest, I don't think the 'generational changes' alone really justify it. They're already making games in 4K resolutions and on virtually identical hardware, for PS4 Pro, Xbox One, and PC... it's not like the workload is going up massively over this gen, and even this gen was supposedly much easier and quicker to develop for than last, so...

But it is what it is, I guess.

Some companies will try to push the line when it comes to MSRP, but they're usually brought back down to Earth. I was surprised how long Atlus spend trying to normalize $49.99 for new 3DS games (versus the standard $39.99 for brand new portable games).

Ugh I noticed they were doing stupid...um..stuff with the new Crash Bandicoot at £54.99 on Amazon, just so they could bump it up by another tenner.
Not gonna fall for it again after paying for Mortal Kombat 3 for £80 odds and then the ultimate version came soon afterwards. Back to taking the preverbial and I want no part in it.

This isn't a big deal ... Games have been priced at $59.99 for over 10 years , it was bound to happen and I personally have no issues with it .

Then i expect a 10 dollar increase in baseline quality. And a decease in microtransactions. The mt was supposed to offset the cost of production and maintaining the life of a game.

I guess it's good news for the 2nd hand market, they'll get a lot more popular. Games now are £50 they where once £40 on PS3, mean while PC price's stay the same.

Not too surprised... Super Streetfighter 2 on the Megadrive was £59.99 and I paid nearly £70 for Virtua Racing with the SVP chip in the cart...

Early adopters usually get hammered in terms of RRP over the first six months and then it calms down.. So don't imagine this will be a long terms thing, but if it is, I'll just be more picky and wait for sales..

That's a bummer. Games cost more since I'm in Canada.

It was inevitable eventually. Bummer now as I’m just starting college 😂 Has Sony confirmed the extent to which the PS5 is backwards compatible? I still have a crapload of PS4 games to play.

Never in a million years would I pay £65 for a video game. I don't care what it is

2K's gonna 2K. That's about all there is to it.

Video games are already overpriced at $59.99 USD, so this $10 price increase is ridiculous. Hopefully it's just for NBA 2K21. But even if it's not, I'll just do what I always do: with the exception of select franchises / games that I know deliver, I'll just wait until PS Store sales drop them to $30 USD. That's where I see value in games.

I'll just add that for £65, I'll be expecting a finished, tested, and largely bug-free product at launch, and not 6 weeks and 10 patches later.

I’m of two minds on this. I do realize that the prices for new games is bound to go up to account for increasing cost of production and adjustment for inflation, so I have no issue there. If I calculate cost per hour spent, I think I’m getting a lot more value from games this generation than past generations. In general games are longer, have more content, and are more complex - both graphically and mechanically.
However, I think there is too much discrepancy in the cost and I would favor tiered pricing, based on game content and production value. Furthermore, if we are going to have increased retail pricing, then by all means take all microtransactions out! And give us all the DLC in the base game! The gradual leeching through all the post purchase content is how they are making up the extra monies, so don’t do both raise the game price and continue to charge for extra content!

Games have been forever at $60 now so I'm okay with this. That being said I expect those $70 games to have absolutely 0 microtransactions or else is no deal!

This happens every console refresh and then goes back to what we see. I wouldn't be too concerned

@Juanalf good luck with 2K21 having none of those. haha

This was going to happen at some point.

Always happens when new consoles launch as Devs try to recoup costs. They'll be back to normal prices when people get over the hype or when the first sales start creeping in after Christmas. Plus, NBA 2k20 was £2.50 on the switch a couple of weeks ago so you know the price won't hold 😂

It won’t affect me as I’m sticking to current gen till next year and I only buy certain games like large open-world games and other genres in digital sales, otherwise I’ll just rent anything else I’m interested in.

Could be worse. In the late 80's the average NES game was bought for £40 or so. That's at least £100 in today's money. In other words, the real cost of purchasing a game has nearly halved in the last thirty years.

@tinCAT-zero Beside nes, I remember nintendo 64 games is so crazy expensive back then, I think I only have about 4-5 games for the system compared to 100+ on ps4 lol.

@Porkfiend Yeah psn sales is kind of crazy, if we wait maybe a couple of month we can get games way cheaper than release price, I bought dmc5 and re2 remake for only $20, I only need to wait less than 6 month to buy days gone for $40.

@Mince Good plan, but be careful. I've been using this plan since PS2 came out, and I still have a couple of PS2 games I haven't finished. It's a combination of real life getting in the way, and having your head turned by the nice shiny new game sitting on the shelf over there.

@Mince thats what I ask myself but the last of us part 2 was 55 at launch and in most shops and you get it cheaper on disc, have you ever noticed for long periods of time a digital version may stay the same price but disc versions go down in price over time? It may sound silly due to the whole manufacturing etc but its true digital does cost you more in many games it may not be much but this is just what i have noticed for a long time, digital should be cheaper from start of launch of a game as its not costing any extra to package. I state that digital costs more its what I notice on the UK psn store and compare to physical prices and seems that disc based version you may have to wait a few more hours to play but its cheaper.

Most of the time I buy on disc for the trade coz it does save me money but if I sell a game and I think il come back to it I'll just pay abit of money in a sale on digital when its cheap enough for me to want to buy it again for example.

Edit...i admit not all digital is more expensive can be same price at launch i just think its not right.

@wiiware
Tell me about it. I used to play a game to death in the 90s. Anything from 3 months to 2 years I would get out of a game. Nowadays the problem is deciding which game from my backlog to play next.

It's been literal years since I last bought a full price game. I don't care how high they price retail games next gen, I know all I have to do is wait six months and they'll all be on sale for less than $30.

always felt this was an inevitability. games being £40 and under on PS3 was partly an artifact of the dollar's low value around 2006/7 when PS3 released as the GBP was worth more than $2. accounting for sales tax, it's almost 1 for 1 these days. whilst the biggest PS4 games have tended to be at £54.99 or £59.99 RRP, it's usually been possible to find them in the £40-£45 range on disc. might be struggle to find new PS5 games on disc for less than £50 though.

It's one game and a game I won't be interested in.... its bad enough now that digital games are £55-£60 yet I buy discs and pay £35-£45 for my games...

I rarely buy games at launch, within a few months most of them go down by $20 and in two years you can buy them for $20

@Mince I agree it is nice with digital sometimes so sales are always welcome.

I agree its a pain, and for everyone who will buy a digital ps5 edition will lose money in the longrun so to me they may as well just buy the disc version but maybe this next gen is the turn of when digital becomes cheaper than disc.

I remember when games came on cassette at £5 to £10 a game.
There wasn’t much to them though.

Game prices have been largely untouched for so long that this wouldn't surprise me, I am waiting for Sony to officially comment on the matter before I jump to any conclusions though, 70 bucks will be a tough pill for many to swallow since we have been used to the 60 dollar price point for so long.

If its true, then I'll definitely not be buying games at launch. A month later they'll prob be 50 or less.

This was bound to happen. As people have already pointed out games have been at $60 for nearly 10 years now.
Just think about how wages have changed in the last 10 years alone. Plus all the additional costs of development that weren't there before, new console to work around etc etc.
I think generally we undervalue games (myself included) - especially if you compare to films.

These publishers are crazy, just 4 million of nba 2k21 sales at 60$ which it will certainly sell that amount in the first month (let's say they earn 45$ on average if we include the mamba forever rip-off edition). They'll earn 180m$. And that's not including VCs. If this amount is not sufficient for 2k, then f*ck 2k.

Our insistence on low prices for all kinds of products keeps wages down around the globe, and it’s been depressing to see game development staff be exploited. If this can be alleviated by paying what Chrono Trigger cost in the 90s, I’m all for it.

I had a feeling sooner or later games would start leaving the $60 price range here in the U.S and start being $65-$70.

Sure glad I don't buy collector editions anymore.

Good thing I'm buying the physical edition console then. I expect retail copies to atleast try to be competitive. Typically I can get a brand new day one retail game for atleast £5-10 less than digital on PS4.

The folks that are going digital only are likely to really get shafted I'm almost certain of it. That estimated £50-100 saving on the console won't last long. And in the future if digital becomes the it option that's when we're really screwed without competition.

They do this it will spell disaster....especially when charging for dlc and season passes on most games....

@get2sammyb I think that has more to do with the fluctuation in the vale of European
Money, I worked at a apple store in Manhattan around the begining of last gen and within two years British pound and the euro bounced all over the place in value with the dollar. In the us games have been 60 I think since ps3. Anyway there are a bunch of micro transaction laws in the UK that will probably come down the pike and I suspect it's changing the sport game production formula. Still I never understood why anyone would pay what they do for these sport games? To each their own I guess.

@Hoodie718 You think by giving more money to an organisation, the people at the bottom who do all the work, get more money?

Looks at every big business in history.

ROFL.

Lets see, cross platform development has never been easier saving money.

The market size is growing increasing volume of sales increasing revenue over time.

We now pay for online services like PSN adding more money into the coffers.

Online gaming services are heavily monitised through dlc, subscriptions, microtransactions and online currency boosters etc.

But yeh let's ramp up the cost of core game prices on top of that, if it wasn't for games like Cyberpunk 2077 im not sure id have much hope for the industry.

@themcnoisy I hope so. Gamers seem pretty engaged around labor conditions and game studios and the problem of crunch. When adjusted for inflation, today’s $60 releases sell for half of what large-capacity cartridges went for in the 90s. I’m hopeful that there’s an opportunity there to create better conditions at games studios.

Oh hell no. $70 for new games? Some of the games coming out at full price aren’t even worth that much, on top of that developers are including DLC in their games too. We’ll be paying around $100 for games soon.

I grumbled when PS3 games rose to $59.99. At free a while it made no difference to me. It’s steep and it’s sucks but I don’t buy that many games for it to be a hassle for me.

@themcnoisy you’re saying trickle down is a myth? Blasphemy!

Competition is great for keeping prices low, hence the reason going all digital is probably a very bad idea.

"With nearly endless replay value..."

Lol, until the next yearly "revision" drops with minimal changes 😂

@Akurusu that soon is NOW!! Some deluxe editions already cost 99.99 (madden!) and we’re buying. 70 dollars a game, not with my g d wallet you’re not. I’ll wait for the sale. As long as we’ve got our ps4 library I can wait. All this talk about soon games will be 100?! I don’t even want to entertain that. Us broke ducks would have to wait 3 months every time they release an exclusive. Bottom line; you’re gonna catch hell trying to get 70 dollars a game from my ass. Like...7 games is the cost of the system. Madness. It’s like everybody buying both editions of the system it’s crazy!!!! Lol

Guess I'll be borrowing games from my friends a bit more often then haha.

Ill just wait until it drops to 4 bucks again. Imagine paying 10 euros more every year for the same Basketball game.

To be quite honest, when I look for good value in video games, the only 2K games I think of are the ones in the bargain bin at <$15.

If I'm paying $70 for a game, it better be because I'm buying a bundle with no less than $10 worth of additional content.

Raising the price is not justified for several reasons:
1. 2K is comparing that cost to 2005, while it would be fair to adjust for inflation, the volume and number of gamers have substantially increased.
2. Why don't they give proof that their revenues are affected at the current price tag of $60. On the contrary, profit has been increasing many folds
3. Which studios at 2K have been closed recently due to insufficient revenues generated from poor sales. They are rehashing the same NBA2K for years now, GTA has been milking the cow for 3 gens. ISn't that enough for them?

So they’re raising the Starter Price? The additional costs will be for those who don’t want to waste time dealing with the deliberately implemented grinding to advance. At the end of the day the game will cost in excess of GBP100+ for some people.

I’m still wondering if 2K will release another Gambling Trailer this year (or as I prefer to call it the “Ha Ha FU! Trailer”.

I can remember some N64 launch games being up to £90 at launch.

I suggest buy a PS5 with a Disk Drive. More likely to get discounts on physical, plus the 2nd hand market and borrowing/trading is about to become bigger again.

WTF???!!!???
£64.99 for a base game....... That could (MORE THAN LIKELY WILL!!!) have micro transaction, DLC AND a Season Pass?
It is day light robbery because gamers will pay it

They're basically charging the extra money for turning everything up to high or ultra pc settings, pre-order price on Steam is £49. Laughable.

While I dont r ally have a problem spending the 70 on a game made by a dev I really like (buy the deluxe edition most times anyway when they go on sale); 2k hasnt been a dev Ive trustrd like that since bioshock infinite. Nba 2k used to be really good when it started on the dreamcast up until maybe nba 2k9 (which came out 12 years ago), this product most certainly won't be worth more than the 3 dollars they'll be charging for it in june 2021.

Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis games had a retail price of $59.99 and these were the old school cart-based 16-bit games.

The old NES games also sold for $59.99 so this price thing is confusing.