PS5 Games Likely to Remain $70 as Xbox Bumps Prices

Ok... Here's the thing about the $70 releases...

With minimal self-control... if you don't like the $70 price tag... you can wait for a price drop or sale. Example... the new God of War isn't worth $70 to me. It'll be a great game to play through, but I'm not shelling out $70 for it. That means I'll be waiting and I'm ok with that. Seriously... minimal self-control and over time, the price will lower.

"... this change could potentially have occurred earlier had the manufacturer actually deployed any tentpole titles in 2022..."

Lol

I'm absolutely fine with it. Compared to other leisure/pleasure activities, and their price increases over the years, gaming is dirt cheap.

This fine. I’ll just continue to get most games second hand or when on sale. I don’t mind paying top-whack for a truly unique experience like VR, but for most games I can just wait it out. The beauty of having a demanding job is I’ve developed a “healthy” backlog.

I’m all for paying $70 if a game is worth it (IE, I KNOW I’m going to be getting a high quality, incredibly fun game along the lines of Returnal, God Of War, Elden Ring, etc) or if I’m all about supporting a particular developer. But FAR more often than not, I always wait for a sale and especially for a game to be at a particular price point I have set in my mind that I’m willing to pay for it.

There was a few who ripped into Sony for putting the prices up-so it’ll be interesting to see the xbox fanboys reaction to this. Also it’s funny to see that Xbox who had no proper 1st party games, didn’t put the price up, but are now after they’ve finally got 1st party games comming out soon. But it’s not suprising really to see prices going up? Maybe Nintendo will be next?

What a bizarre article. I haven’t seen anyone expecting lower priced PS5 games because Xbox hadn’t raised theirs. Doesn’t matter now £70 games are here to stay no matter who you game with. At least Xbox offer Gamepass which softens the blow somewhat.

It was poo when Sony did it and it’s poo that Xbox have followed. These poor, hard done by billion dollar companies need even more money from us while the cost of living is sky rocketing. Waiting for sales is the smart thing to do now, better than paying £70 to beta test the majority of titles while they patch new releases up anyway.

@Uncharted2007
While I completely agree with you about self control (I rarely if ever buy games at release) it doesn’t really speak to this issue does it? I mean, yes, games will drop in price but, presuming sales are at the same percentage drop, we will either still be paying more even during a sale, or have to wait longer before it hits our threshold. Both are legitimate points of contention even for those of us with patience (or big backlogs).

I guess higher prices are the norm nowadays.
Thing is, consumers can just wait a while for the price to drop then pick it up when it hits that sweet spot.
Can't say the same about Nintendo's first-party games, which seem like they barely ever hit below a certain point.

@Uncharted2007 I found GOWR for €60 new physical but seeing a digital €80 price on PSN makes it more easier to let games go and wait for a price drop. And GOWR is a polished title! I bought Grid Legends SE full price but the DLC is/was questionable & in hindsight I should have waited, lesson learned!

It's all personal if a game is worth it. Even if it costs more to make, the market has grown a lot too ...

And as if Sony was going to lower their game prices ... Xbox bumping prices feels more justified for Sony? I really think they don't care about their consumers.

Super lame move from Xbox here. Was hoping they'd keep it at $70 to pressure Sony to reconsider.
Seems greed wins out all round 😔

I'm fully expecting the price of game pass to go up soon as well. I think they've even hinted at that being the case in the future.

Too bad, but I think we all saw it coming. Gaming it's a luxury nowadays depending on where you live, and this just makes it even more difficult.

@Cyrus29 Maybe, maybe not. Nintendo budgets are lower, the hardware sells at a profit, and the games sell so well that the massive additional profits fund other games, whereas for Sony and Microsoft it would seem that while games turn out profitable, the lower (relatively) sales means less profit overall given those games also have far higher budgets, which means whatever they make back goes largely into the next entry, not other games as well, thus higher prices to offset that.

It's the one place where you can argue Nintendo stepping away from the power race has helped. Games for them are $60, cheaper to make, much more profit with massive sales funds everything else. I recall Miyamoto said Breath of the Wild needed to shift 2 million copies to make a profit. And you can bet all that Mario Kart money isn't going into Mario Kart 9, but games to expand the library that won't do as well like Bayonetta.

I doubt this will affect Xbox gamers too much tbh given the amount of subscribers on Game Pass.

With the way games release early to please shareholders, bugs, lack of content, crashes, etc etc, $70 is hard to justify for some games. But i have GP and PS+, so i get value there. I do not buy physical media in any medium, so I wait for digital sales and patches to catch up. I have the money to buy them, so it’s not that, it’s more the principle of selling broken products, they are making record profits on broken games and raising prices. Overall they better not go to $80 for PS6 or PS7.

Won't affect me. I just grind Microsoft Reward points and get free game pass ultimate each month. Haven't paid for online in three months. Always have slightly more points left after the previous month of redeeming ultimate. Long as I keep the streak going I get more points. Eventually I'll have enough points for three months ultimate just for clicking a few things and unlocking achievements or doing a certain thing in a game.

This shows $70 next gen was their intention all along, the only Xbox Game Studios game before 2023 that was Series X|S but not XB1 was Flight Sim but even that was originally announced for XB1 (cancelled later on but the PC price was already set at XB1 price by that point).

This is the reason to own a disc-based console. The digital prices never seem to drop (bar the odd sale) or you can wait a week or two and the physical price will drop - despite the transport, packaging, production and postage to you costs. And at the end of it all, you can trade it in and put the money to your next purchase.

These companies know their target, know the sheer desire of immediate gratification they crave for, that they are willing to pay $70 (sometimes even more), that they don't care because they rarely rationalize their purchases.

Still, in the end it is all about how much a certain group of people is willing to pay for a game (whether that choice is behind a thought process or not). Very few will think it through and wait until the price really matches what they are willing to pay for.

Remember you vote with your wallets.

@Fenbops
Some very valid points
Especially the beta testing bit, so many games so many bugs and patches.

I would not mind so much
But seeing the patches for HFW, which now runs perfect for me and also the recent GOW patches solving many issues.
Does real quality control exist anymore.

Games costing 70 is not an issue when you also have the option of getting them day one through a cheap subscription

@Dezzy70 at £70 Xbox games need to start delivering. Their main IP’s (Gears, Halo, Forza) are all riddled with micro transactions that you expect to see in free to play mobile games. It’s not a great look at £50 let alone £70.

@Dezzy70 No, I think game testing seems to be a thing of the past.
When you get Day 1 patches that are almost the same size as the disc install, you know that game's going to be rough for a few months yet!

@sanderson72. I agree with you playa.thats why i will never buy a digital only ps5.the disc version of ps5 always goes on sale.and plus im old school.the physical box version is always a winner for me.word up son

If anybodys buying their games on disc for £70 when you can purchase day 1 games for less than £60 from various online retailers then you need your head examined. This whole £70 premium debacle is pretty much over unless you bought the digital only console..you guys are getting fingered on standard editions and taking the whole fist on the deluxe editions..

@Fenbops
For me it’s more about Xbox quality of AAA.
Only FH5 is worth near £70 to me.
Halo Infinite and the rest, are definitely not £70 AAA quality and high production.

Its been fun seeing the double standards from people who moaned at Sony doing this but are now defending MS doing this.

It could also be a good ploy to push more people to their Subscription service. MS announced that growth on Console for Game Pass had somewhat stagnated and not seen the 'growth' they expected.

When faced with paying $210 for Starfield, Redfall and Forza (for example) as well as other 3rd Party Publishers who also now adopt the $70 price point, or paying a 'small' monthly fee to play all three (and other games), they maybe more inclined now to Subscribe.

I will 'never' pay more than £50 for a game and only if that game delivers on what it promised - inc perfect frame rate performance and 'all' content at launch. If I cannot purchase a game for £50 or less, I am more than happy to wait for the inevitable price drop/sale or even check the used game market. When games were supposedly $60 (would be Digitally from Sony/MS store), I could find them for $45-50 to 'pre-order' from Game, Amazon etc as they were 'competing' for my money.

There are always 'whales' that will buy games the day they release but with MANY games, that's when they are often the 'weakest' package and most expensive price. It's often better to wait a few months (or more) for the devs to actually make the game 'playable' after rushing it out with the 'barest' content, promises of expansions etc. I'll vote with my Wallet - its not as if I don't have games in my backlog as well as 'free' games every month thanks to Sub services like PS+ and GPU so I don't 'need' to buy day 1 to have something to play - I have more than enough to keep me busy, keep me playing until the inevitable Sale or price drops. No 'cosmetic' or early 'beta' access for pre-ordering or buying at launch is 'incentive' enough to warrant spending more than £50 to play Day 1...

I won’t be paying $70. Thanks for reading

In all honesty, so long as you are only looking for the base game, you can get a years worth of Game Pass for the cost of two first-party games (with a saving of approximately £20/$20 to boot). So, plan ahead; if there are two Xbox first party exclusives that are going to drop over the next 12 months, go for Game Pass instead, and no only will you save yourself some money, but you will also get access to 100s and 100s of games.

Unfortunately, the same is not the case on the PlayStation, but one can only hope they might follow suit at some point...

@Dezzy70 agree on that too.

With gaming bigger than ever and CEO's on extortionate amounts of money these companies didn't need to raise the price by $10(£20 in the UK!) to survive, they did it out of greed nothing more .
The lack of a real pushback from those with a significant platform really cost gamers as a whole.

The year of greed continues. We are being duped by multi-million dollar corporations and governments with lame excuses.

As everyone with a pulse predicted. Microsoft had nothing besides an unfinished, beaten and broken down Halo game for the past two years, might as well take the PR win.
Now that they have anything close? "Oh yeah $70 for us too, sorry broz, 'member Sony still bad, exclusives bad, even bigger megacorp your friend!"

I'm not even waiting because of a potential price drop but more because most games seem to not be properly finished at release and have to be patched up a bit -.-'
Really just thinking logically: Pay less and get a better game if you buy in later xD

@Fiendish-Beaver yeah. I am not happy about Xbox increasing their game price to $70 but the advantage they have over Playstation is that all Xbox Game Studio games come to Xbox Game Pass day 1. So instead of paying $70, you could pay like $9.99 (for me in the USA i think) a month and get to play a Xbox Game Studio game for free. Also you got a bunch of other games to play too.

@Fiendish-Beaver yeah mostly 100s and 100s of shovel wear, and I say this as someone who's subscribed to GP well into next year. The first 2 years of my series x have been a massive disappointment.
If the bland, boring and half finished halo is what we can expect from xbox and GP I'll take PS plus extra and £70 quality AAA games any day.
For me personally, when I get 40-50 hours out of a masterpiece like GOW ragnarok, I think £70 is a fair price.

@Fenbops One big big difference almost MS are monetized to hell.

@Cyrus29 *crickets

@anoyonmus Thats true thats why a lot if it is monitized, liveservice ill rather pay full price then that.

The hilarious thing about Microsoft's statement was where they said:

'We've held on price increases until after the holidays so families can enjoy the gift of gaming," a Microsoft spokesperson told Eurogamer this evening'

What games are those then Microsoft? And yet all i've heard is excuses from Xbox owners online. Apparently its ok when Microsoft do it, but not Sony. Bonkers mindset.

Funny how suddenly Microsoft want to increase the price now they have some games coming out.

Sooner people see through the PR spin they have been putting out over the last 3 years the better.

@Serialsid Gamepass subscription prices are also certain to increase though so you'll be paying more for that too.

@Sqush-Pare I think you are correct. Plus they seem to be monetizing more and more of their games. If it goes up too much I'll just cancel and subscribe on the actual months they release anything!
And i find it funny that they ram the whole day one on GP down your throat, but nobody mentions that any DLC has to be paid for. FH5, minecraft dungeons, outer worlds to name a few. To me in a subscription service it should all be included.

I largely agree with you, @Serialsid. There is likely a whole load of games that I would never play, however were I to play every game that actually interested me (to the exclusion of everything not on the Game Pass) then I would likely find enough entertainment to last me at least a year (and that's with gaming each and every day).

When it comes to the exclusives offered by PlayStation, the likes of God of War, The Last of Us, and Horizon are unrivalled anywhere else. These games, truth be told, are AAAA, not your standard AAA games. There are very few games that can hold a candle to them. We've yet to see what Xbox has in the way of quality exclusives over the coming months, but we will soon find out. I would hazard a guess though that the best we can hope for is to see some quality AAA games, and not the standard of games produced for the PlayStation.

That said, it does not devalue the worth of Game Pass. Game Pass has been going great guns for a while now, and that is without the huge exclusives that are yet to come. I honestly think few would argue that Sony's offering is better than Game Pass. How they can improve it without the inclusion of their big releases is difficult to say. I guess the best we can hope for it these AAAA games to come to the service 6 or 12 months after release.

I'll be watching Xbox with interest next year, because that is when their big releases will be seen, and then maybe we can actually see whether they can produce something worthy of being called AAAA.

Finally, when it comes to Halo, it depends on what you were looking for; if, like me, you were only interested in the single player component, then there was much enjoyment to be had. I had no interest in the multiplayer, but I can understand peoples frustration with the lack of varied content. However, for me, I found the campaign very good, and truthfully, even for its faults, there is still nothing like it on the PlayStation...

@jrt87 "new game prices...about as inflation busting a thing as I can think of."

Absolutely. People compare video games to the movie industry - well, compare ticket prices from when the PS3 came out (2006/7) to today. Using US numbers (because I'm American), the average ticket price in the US rose from $6.55 to $6.88 in 2006-2007. [source:Yahoo Finance] Meanwhile, today they're (probably - good numbers are apparently difficult to track down in 2022) around $11, at least 20% higher than 2019 [source: indiewire].

So movie ticket prices may not have doubled the price, but they're roughly 2/3 higher today than when the PS3 came out. So to be comparable, the new price point ought to be $100 for new video games, not just $70.

Elden Ring is the only game that I've paid full price for in years. One of the earlier games I remember not waiting on was SOMA (although that was something like £27).

But either way, as technical prowess improves, I find that games become increasingly hollow and vacuous. Games are more expensive to develop and market today, sure, but it's mostly for the sake of needless detail and reach. I don't need a game to be of photographic quality. It's a game, not a film.

Meanwhile, I can play old school Runescape, Rimworld, Dwarf Fortress and Minecraft, and find I get more out of these four games than a single AAA title put out today (for the most part).

@BAMozzy
I said that on pure Xbox yesterday.
When some said about a gamepass increase.
I said they will hold the gamepass price to try to get subscriptions up as it looks more appealing than ever, of course as long as they can actually release some new top end AAA titles and at £70 now they definitely need to be top end in all aspects for me to purchase. The only game in two years worth the £70 is FH5 to me.

It´s almost certain that GamePass will increase it´s price too. A Microsoft spokerperson said about the reasons for this new $70 game price: "This price reflects the content, scale, and technical complexity of these titles."
So, if almost everyone are already a GamePass subscriber, the only way to help fund these complex and technical games are increasing the price of Gamepass.

I laugh at the notion that people think paying $70 for a triple A game is out of this world. These are the same people that probably spent over $25 on a grubhub meal for a $7 order

Apologies for being off topic. Why can't Extra Plus have a 1 month remaining section or something. I mean how difficult would that be for PS to achieve on the plus section or on the store, I'd hazard a guess it's real easy for them to do. So stupid to ignore such an important part of Extra games catalog

@Dezzy70 I'd also add MSFS into that list - nothing has come close to the scale and scope of that game, and the way it has continued to be enhanced as a packaged with regular free updates - and on a Console too....

No disrespect to any Exclusives released for either console, that game is truly 'next-gen' and on a scale no other game has yet demonstrated. GoW:R is a 'last gen' game with the visuals/frame rates boosted by next gen hardware for example - its not a Next-Gen game built with scale and freedom potentially opened up by 'next gen' hardware...

Anyway, that's a bit off-topic. All Price increases to me just increase the 'value' of Game Pass. I know for 'some' its still about 'exclusives' to justify the cost despite the 'value' of games you get access to each month regardless...

But you know some will do the maths based on maybe 2 or 3 Exclusive games per year vs cost of GP over a year and think its 'not worth it', but now if they see 3 or 4 with numerous others (like Hellblade, Fable, Perfect Dark etc as well to come) and think that now it's better value. That same mentality that thought Game Pass had 'no value' this year with 'no big first party games' after Starfield/Redfall were delayed.

If they still want to buy, the 'option' remains, but it will cost you and Game Pass would give you 20% off if you want to buy after you've played it enough to decide you want to 'keep' and/or 'support the devs' - in the case of Indies, it does!! So in the long run, its whether or not that 'extra' to not be a GP subscriber is worth it to the 'individual' and a price hike will push some more over that threshold...

@BAMozzy
Trouble with me I’m just maybe a boring big game AAA player if I like the game of course.
So of course it’s been FH5, HFW, GOWR games for me.
This is why I crave Xbox to start getting their arse in gear and produce some. I just have my fingers crossed that Redfall and Starfield will have that big AAA bing for me.
Forza will be bing AAA, but I’m not a big track racing fan. More an adventure action type gaming and exploring in beautifully crafted and environmental wonderful worlds full of detail and weather effects etc. Hence my draw towards games like HFW, GOWR, Uncharted the last of us even Ratchet and Clank.
In the old Xbox days, Halo, gears of war, fable and Forza Horizon etc.
Of course Assassin creed etc etc.
Time will tell of Xbox can get there again for me.

A big reason i stuck with the disc PS5!!! £50-£60 on disc!! Got Ragnarok for £57.99, TLOU Part 1 for £54.99. These £10 an £15’s all add up!!

@Dezzy70 FH5 is a micro transaction filled embarrassment I wouldn’t pay £70 for it. I can forgive it somewhat while playing it on Gamepass but there’s no way I’d pay top dollar for it.

@Fenbops
Each to their own, it’s just the only one I would consider. I take no notice of micro transactions in any game so it doesn’t bother me.

It's like owning an N64 all over again

Like I've said before, people had no problem dropping $70 and $80 for an SNES game in the early 90's... And people are whining almost 30 years later about new games costing $70... which as several others have stated, games go on sale anyways

Games launching at $70 is fine.

I have 0 interest in Xbox first party games. So does not affect me
I also have gamepass ultimate and all their games are there. So doesn't really affect anyone does it?

Games launching at $70 is bull

“the content, scale, and technical complexity”

wonder what games is he talking about?

The car sim?

I don't mind paying $70 for AAA high budget games. The fact that PS games go on sale really quickly softens the blow as well.

But Madden/2K at $70 HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHahahahHAHAHAHAHA

I’m surprised they held out this long.

gamepass will go up in price just like every streaming service out there.

People need to be realistic. I think given that price of making games have increased and impact of inflation £70/$70 is cheap. It might not be great for us but unfortunately we have to recognise and be willing to support the industry

FYI according to Bank Of England inflation calculator £50 in 2006 is worth £78.94 today.

Difference between Microsoft and Sony offers is that the first company also offers all first party games on their subscription service, Sony does not. So paying 80€ for a remake like LOU is a harder pill to swallow. Don think ihats dirt cheap like others said.

@Grimwood It basically means that Every Xbox published game will be available to play on day 1 via Game Pass at NO extra cost. If Starfield, Redfall and Forza all released today, I could play ALL 3 without needing to pay anything so its 'effectively' Free.

Its no different from PS+/Gold offering 'free' games every month. Yes there is a 'fee' involved, but its not for a Specific game, its for the 'service' of which 'free' games is a 'perk' of that service.

@KidBoruto I was happy to buy A Plague Tale Requiem (PS5) to support the small studio Asobo at full price. They're going to be lucky to hit 5 million sales for that title as it's new gen only and considered niche. Games like God of War Ragnarok that have a massive fan base and will be accessible to over a hundred million users? Yeah... they'll be fine without me supporting them at launch.

Fortunately I have huge backlog. Anyway £70 is too much ...sorry I still laught to word "content" in:

"Representatives from Microsoft pointed to “the content, scale, and technical complexity” of its titles as a reason for the increase. "

because new standard is to hide content behind paywall in form of Season pass for at least £35 so game, as it meant to be made, is actually for at least £105 and that is real hardcore.

@Cyrus29 I primarily use my Series X for gaming, although I have a PS5 as well for the PS exclusives. I still think the increase to a £70 price point is unnecessary and I will defend neither Xbox nor Sony for doing so. That being said, Microsoft knows full well that gamers will see that their first party titles are available day and date on Game pass and it'll likely drive more subs to the service so at least on Xbox people have the choice to either pay the £70 outright or to pay the lower monthly fee to play those games, as well as many others. I prefer to have choice and I believe it's a more consumer friendly approach. I know that the monthly price of Game Pass Ultimate will likely increase in the near future but, let's face it, the top tier of PS+ is already £1.50 more a month than Game Pass Ultimate, and I cancelled my PS+Premium and went down to essential after 2 months because Premium is garbage. I'm not going to whine if Game Pass increases by a couple of quid a month

If you look at release prices for games on the PS4 and applied inflation to those prices, games should be $90.
Given that dev costs have gone up, I've never had a problem with this price point at all.
Microsoft have done their usual Shanigans, trying to look like the good guys by saying 'we don't see us raising prices' whilst they know they have no games to sell. As soon as they have titles to sell they've stuck the prices up - I personally prefer a company to be up front with me and not engage in that nonsense, but the faithful lap it up and use it to suggest Sony are evil. At least they don't play you.

Also worth pointing out that Sony don't nickel and dime you with hardly any MT in their titles. Microsoft's titles are full of paid content above the price tag.