In a recent earnings Q&A session, Capcom hinted at potentially shifting their pricing strategy towards the increasingly common $70 standard. This comes after their upcoming Dragon’s Dogma 2 became the company’s first title to adopt the higher price tag. Listening to the reasoning makes a lot of sense overall.
The translated excerpt from the session highlights rising development costs as a key factor, stating, “Industry-wide development costs are rising, and we are considering a price review as one option.” This aligns with similar justifications made by other publishers who have already implemented the $70 price point. (Thanks VGC)
Capcom refrained from disclosing specific sales targets for Dragon’s Dogma 2. They categorized it as “in the million-selling class,” suggesting confidence in its performance at the new price point. This aligns with previous statements by Capcom president Haruhiro Tsujimoto, who expressed his belief that game prices should be raised to reflect development costs and employee wages better. He noted, “Development costs are around 100 times higher than they were in the days of the Famicom (NES), but the price of software hasn’t risen so much.”
Capcom’s potential shift towards $70 games would position them alongside Ubisoft, who debuted the pricing strategy with Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora in December 2023. However, it’s worth noting that some publishers, like EA and Activision Blizzard, have opted for a mixed approach, offering certain titles at $60 and $70.
It’s important to remember that Capcom hasn’t made a definitive decision yet. This suggests they are aware of the ongoing debate surrounding the fairness of increasing game prices, with some arguing it’s necessary to keep up with industry costs while others express accessibility concerns. With each developer making their own decisions, we’ll have to wait and see how the industry changes.
Comments