During Take-Two Interactive’s recent conference call with investors, CEO Strauss Zelnick was asked about other publishers selling AAA games at a reduced price shortly after release. His company was one of many Start charging $70 for gamesand in his opinion, at least, he has not seen a “pushback” in relation to the new price.
On May 17th, Take-Two Interactive – the publisher behind games like NBA 2K, GTA V, Borderlands, And BioShock— released its 2022 earnings report at the same time a press release that seemed to indicate this GTA VI
As discovered by VGCDuring the call, an analyst pointed out that several other, unnamed publishers had begun discounting new AAA games “within days and weeks” of release. The discussion about game pricing has been brewing for some time as more and more publishers (including Take-Two Interactive) Join $70 Gaming Club, including Nintendo with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. But Zelnick claimed that consumers don’t really mind.
“We’re not seeing a drop in frontline prices,” Zelnick said. “What we’re seeing is that consumers are trying to limit their spending by either focusing on the things that really matter to them, blockbusters, or things they value, and sometimes it could be both. And the good news is we have a lot of blockbusters and a wonderful catalogue.”
The Rise of the $70 Games
Basically, Zelnick believes that gamers are simply buying fewer games and focusing on a few big, expensive $70 blockbuster titles, or are willing to buy older or smaller games that cost less. As the video game industry continues to struggle with layoffs Big games don’t sell wellIt seems odd that Zelnick would agree that people can’t afford more games and instead need to “limit their spending.” But I’m not a big, rich CEO. So what do I know?
The reality is, while players are definitely vocal about it $70 Games– Zelnick should look at the comments on literally every story about these expensive titles – the reality is publishers are going to move forward anyway. There’s too much money to be made and all Tears of the Kingdom‘S Huge sales numbers have showna $70 game can sell like hotcakes if it’s good enough.
And as MicrosoftSega and other companies confirm future releases will cost $10 more than the old $60 price tag. It seems clear that setback or not, We really are in the age of $70 games.
