Returnal exemplifies the pitfall of Sony’s $70 pricing strategy
Sony are one of the first publishers wading into the waters of the $70 video game pricing strategy. 2K beat them to the punch with NBA 2K21, but even they took a step back, reluctant to fully commit themselves to the new pricing strategy; Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick confirmed in an investor call that it would be “on a title by title basis.” Other major publishers in the industry such as EA and Ubisoft released their titles at the more familiar $60 price point at the start of this new generation. Sony, however, had a slate of PS5 games priced at $70.
Yoshio Osaki, CEO of research firm IDG shared his thoughts on the $70 video game pricing strategy in an interview with gamesindustry.biz: “Not every game should garner the $69.99 price point on next-gen, but flagship AAAs such as NBA 2K merit this pricing more than others.” Clearly, it seems that the $70 video game is a reality now but it should be selective - reserved for those big AAA games which has development costs and a production value that justify the price hike.
Demon's Souls, Destruction AllStars, and Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales Ultimate Edition all cost $70. In my Demon’s Souls review, I summarised that “some might feel reluctance due to the increased $70 price tag, but Demon’s Souls earns that price tag. From its incredibly impressive visuals, quality-of-life gameplay improvements, superb sound design and soundtrack, and use of the new DualSense controller, Demon’s Souls is a stunning showcase of why the PlayStation 5 is worth upgrading to at launch.”
Destruction All Stars, however, is a title that drew a lot of skepticism for being priced at $70. Simply, It didn’t look like a video game worth the price hike to $70. After widespread skepticism across social media, Sony delayed Destruction All Stars and announced it would be offered as a free PlayStation Plus title in February. The $70 video game represents new, largely uncharted waters, so it makes sense that there could be... mistakes at the start.
That brings us to the next game from Housemarque, the upcoming Returnal. Housemarque is a solid studio, with a history of good games under its belt. But, I struggle to recall any ever retailing for more than $30 at launch. In fact, their PS4 launch game, Resogun, was priced at $14.99 at launch. Now, Housemarque did say that Returnal is their most ambitious game yet but is it $70 price tag-deserving ambitious?
It’s not as bad as Destruction All Stars, but is again an example of a game that doesn’t look like a $70 game. Just check the social media reaction to the reveal of Returnal’s $70 price. It seems, to me, there’s not enough scrutiny at Sony HQ when deciding what games will release at $70. Though it’s not published by Sony, Godfall is an example of a game that probably didn’t do itself any favours being priced at $70, especially after receiving very lukewarm reviews. In the UK sales chart of the week of the next-gen launch systems, Godfall didn’t even make it into the top 10. But, Demon’s Souls and Miles Morales both did.
So, we can make a basic conclusion that gamers will splash the cash on $70 games that are deserving and represent that level of value. Both Demon’s Souls and Miles Morales Ultimate Edition are huge, high-budget AAA games. Gamers clearly felt okay spending the extra $10 on them. Godfall, however, was another game I looked at and just thought to myself, that doesn’t look like a $70 game. Clearly, most other gamers agreed and didn’t see the value in forking out $70 for it.
The pitfall, then, of the $70 pricing strategy is the lack of scrutiny in what titles should be priced at this $10 surcharge over the $60 we’re used to. My fear is that pricing games at $70 can drive away a lot of potential buyers, who just can’t see the value in a game that doesn’t look like it’s worth $70. If games don’t sell well, that can affect whether we see continued support or sequels. Sony seems intent on making $70 the standard for the vast majority of their games going forward, but I fear they’re not seeing the pitfall in that strategy that could see some of those games suffer as a result.
