Ubisoft addresses the possibility of $70 games in 2021
The company says it "hasn't made any decision" about a potential price hike
Ubisoft has addressed the potential for "$70 price tags" on its games in 2021, clarifying that the company hasn't made any concrete decision on the matter just yet.
During a Q&A session following its third-quarter earnings call, Ubisoft was asked whether players should expect a price hike in the company's next fiscal year, which spans April 2021 to March 2022. Without giving a definitive answer one way or the other, Ubisoft CFO Frédérick Duguet admitted that the company is evaluating its game prices but hasn't made a final call.
"In terms of pricing, we've been analyzing the competitive dynamics of the last quarter and we are still looking at new opportunities, but we have not made any decision yet," Duguet said (via VGC).
Ubisoft is far from the first major player in games to talk about rising game prices, specifically to $70/£70. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has twice spoken out in support of the idea, telling Protocol in September that "we deliver a much, much bigger game for $60 or $70 than we delivered for $60 ten years ago."
Of course, we've already seen a couple of $70 PS5 games, including Demon's Souls and Destruction All Stars, and Sony CEO Jim Ryan has argued that $70/£70 is a fair price for PS5 games.
"Yes, I do [consider £70 games fair]," he said. "If you measure the hours of entertainment provided by a video game, such as Demon's Souls, compared to any other form of entertainment, I think that's a very straightforward comparison to draw."
For more on $70 games, check out our piece on why a rise in game prices is inevitable, and ultimately a good thing for gamers.
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After scoring a degree in English from ASU, I worked as a copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. Now, as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer, I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my apartment, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.