During Take-Two Interactive’s recent earnings call with investors, CEO Strauss Zelnick was asked about other publishers selling AAA games at discounted prices shortly after launch. His company is one of many start charging $70 for gamesand at least according to him, have not seen any “resistance” to the new price level.
On May 17, Take-Two Interactive—the publisher behind games like NBA 2K, GTA V, Borderlands, And biological shock—released its 2022 earnings report with a press release seems to hint at GTA VI-the level of success coming next year. As part of this process, the company also conducted a call with investors, who questioned Take-Two’s plans and past performance. It was here that one person raised the price of AAA games.
As discovered by VGCOn the call, an analyst pointed out that a number of other publishers, who remain anonymous, have begun offering discounts on new AAA games “within days and weeks” of launch. The conversation around game pricing has been hot for a while as more publishers (Includes Take-Two . Interactive) join the $70 game club, including Nintendo with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. But Zelnick claims that consumers don’t really mind.
“We didn’t see a drop in frontline prices,” Zelnick said. “What we’re seeing is consumers looking to limit their spending by switching to things they really, really care about, blockbusters or value, and sometimes maybe both. . And the good news is, we have a lot of blockbusters and we have a great catalog.”
The Rise of Games $70
Basically, Zelnick believes that gamers are buying fewer games and focusing on buying some big, expensive blockbuster titles worth $70, or willing to pick up older or smaller games with lower costs. As the video game industry continues to grapple with layoffs and Big games don’t sell well, it seems odd that Zelnick is fine with people not being able to afford more games and having to “limit their spending” instead. But I’m not a rich CEO, so what do I know?
The fact is that while gamers are certainly speaking out to push back $70 game—Zelnick should take the reviews of any of these expensive titles literally — the fact that publishers will continue to grow. There’s too much money to earn, and like Kingdom Tears‘S Large sales have shownA $70 game can sell like hot cakes if it’s good enough.
And like MicrosoftSega and other companies confirm future releases will cost $10 more than the old $60 price tag, it seems clear that, with or without feedback, we’re really in the era of the $70 game.
