As early as June 2020, Dr. Li shared the article "The development cost of next-generation games will increase significantly, what will happen to the console game industry?" " tells the story of the changes in the next-generation game market. The development cost of next-generation AAA games will soar from the previous $80 million to $150 million, causing the price of the game to inevitably rise, and the current mainstream increase is $10, from the previous $60 to $70!
For a long time, AAA games were stable at $60 ($59.99). At the end of last year, with the launch of the next-generation game console PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, some game manufacturers took the lead and changed the above unspoken rules, such as: R Star, 2K and so on, the parent company Take-Two adjusted the pricing of the next-generation game version of "NBA2K21" from the agreed $60 to $70. Many large manufacturers have followed up with this initiative.
After a year, the above price increase trend has shifted from the host platform to the PC platform! Earlier, at the Game Awards, major game companies released new news, in which Square Enix released information about "Forspoken" and "Final Fantasy VII: Remake" will land on the PC platform. The efficiency of SE is still quite high, the former on the Steam platform, the latter on the Epic Games platform have opened pre-order.
Interested players naturally want to pocket the game, but everyone is a bit dumbfounded when they see the price, because both games are currently priced at $70, and the deluxe version of Forspoken even marks a high price of $95! In contrast, Square Enix's earlier game blockbusters, such as Outriders, still cost $60. This means that Square Enix has already started to adopt the next-generation version of the $70 pricing on pc platforms!
This is a trend, whether players like it or not, whether they accept it or not, the game manufacturers have tacitly raised the price of the game. Whether you want to play Sony's first-party title Demon Souls: Remake or Activision's Call of Duty: Vanguard next-generation version, it will cost $70.
After "Forspoken" and "Final Fantasy 7: Remake" PC version, there will be more and more so-called next-generation games launched on the PC, although there are no announcements or statements that the price will increase, but Square Enix has made a sample, The Doctor personally feels that the price increase is the trend of the times, and it is very likely that $60 to $70 will occur!
Of course, there is an accident, that is, players tacitly abandon Forspoken and the PC version of Final Fantasy VII: Remake, and unify their thinking against the price increase of manufacturers. However, the Doctor believes that it is unlikely, and the sales of games such as Demon Souls: Remake and NBA2K21 Next Generation Edition are not a problem.