Phil Spencer Talks Future Price Increases For Next-Gen Games
Just recently, the folks over at 2K Sports announced that NBA 2K21 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X will cost $70, a $10 increase over the $60 cost that’s been the video game standard for the past 15 years. Now that 2K Sports has opened that particular Pandora’s Box, it’s quite likely that other publishers will continue with the trend, especially given the rising increase in cost to develop Triple A games. Now, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has weighed in, revealing that he doesn’t seem to mind the potential industry-wide price increase.
“As an industry, we can price things whatever we want to price them, and the customer will decide what the right price is for them,” Spencer said in a recent interview with The Washington Post. “I’m not negative on people setting a new price point for games because I know everybody’s going to drive their own decisions based on their own business needs.”
But gamers have more choice today than they ever have. In the end, I know the customer is in control of the price that they pay, and I trust that system.”
The wording Phil Spencer used is interesting seeing as how NBA 2K20 is the only triple A basketball game that’s been released in the last two years, with its most recent competitor being NBA LIVE 19 released in 2018. Sure, FPS games and battle royale titles are a dime a dozen, though Spencer’s reasoning won’t matter a whole lot to folks that are forced to shell out extra money due to 2K Sports having effectively called dibs on that particular market.
It will be interesting to see how quickly other publishers follow suit with their own price increases. After all, if any consumers complain they can point a collective finger at 2K Sports. NBA 2K21 is slated to release on current-gen consoles on September 4, 2020 and later on next-gen consoles.
So, thoughts on the price of video games being raised? Let us know in the comments section below, and as always, stay tuned to Don’t Feed the Gamers for all the latest gaming and entertainment news! Don’t forget to follow DFTG on Twitter for our 24/7 news feed!
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Ryan "Cinna" Carrier3026 Posts
Ryan is the Lead Editor for Don't Feed the Gamers. When he isn't writing, Ryan is likely considering yet another playthrough of Final Fantasy IX. He's also the DFTG cinnamon bun.
