The biggest bombshell from the Nintendo Switch 2 launch event is that some games will be hitting an eye-watering price of $80—a first in gaming history. This revelation has sent shockwaves through the gaming community, and it's easy to see why. Gamers were just starting to adjust to the $10 price hike per game with the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and now they're facing another surge.
Although many people are frustrated with rising prices, the cost of developing games has indeed skyrocketed. Former PlayStation executive Shawn Layden is well aware of this and has shared his thoughts on the increasing game prices.
Former PlayStation Boss: Game Prices Have Actually Gone Down
The debate around the price of video games is heating up, especially as we navigate a new generation of consoles. It feels like just yesterday games universally settled at a standard price point, yet whispers (and sometimes outright announcements) of higher costs are becoming more frequent, leading to understandable sticker shock for many players.
Amidst this discussion, former PlayStation executive Shawn Layden offered a perspective that, while perhaps initially jarring, holds some truth. In a video interview, Layden pointed out that when factoring in the effects of inflation over the decades, the actual real cost of games has, surprisingly, decreased. Think about it: the price you paid for a cutting-edge cartridge back in the Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis era – often ranging from $60 to $80, with some titles pushing even higher – would translate to significantly more in today’s money due to inflation. Yet, that nominal $60-$70 price point largely held steady across several console generations, from the PS1 and PS2 days all the way through to the PS4 and Xbox One era, essentially remaining unchanged for 20 or 30 years in raw numbers.
Layden suggested that perhaps game companies missed an opportunity for a smoother transition. He mused that if, with each new console generation launch, the standard price of flagship games had increased incrementally by just $5, players might have found these gradual hikes more digestible over time. A jump from $60 to $65, then perhaps to $70 with the next major hardware leap, and so on, could have felt less abrupt than the sudden shift we’ve seen with some titles jumping directly from $60 or $70 to $70 or even $80+ within a single generation’s cycle.
Foreign media reports echoed Layden’s sentiment, acknowledging the sting of higher prices but validating his point about inflation. They highlighted how that decades-long price stability, while seemingly beneficial to consumers on the surface, meant the relative cost had indeed decreased significantly for players, even as the complexity and cost of game development exploded. Creating the sprawling open worlds, stunning graphics, complex mechanics, and massive development teams required for today’s blockbuster games is astronomically more expensive than developing for the consoles of the 90s. Marketing budgets have also soared. From a developer and publisher perspective, costs have risen dramatically, while base game prices remained relatively stagnant in real terms for a long time.
Now, with the standard price for many new AAA releases settling around the $70 mark on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, the question inevitably arises: what’s next? If an $80 price point for certain high-profile titles becomes normalized, what would prevent a massive, highly anticipated game like Grand Theft Auto 6 from pushing the boundary to $90 or even $100? The thought alone can understandably cause some discomfort among players.
Ultimately, whether players are willing to pay $80, $90, or even $100 for a game boils down to a fundamental question of value. Is the content offered substantial enough? Does the game deliver an experience, replayability, or quality that justifies the higher price tag in the eyes of the consumer? This seems to be the direction the market is heading, and the decision to purchase will increasingly rest on whether the perceived value aligns with the asking price for each individual player. It’s a shifting landscape, and how developers justify those potential price increases through the quality and breadth of their games will be key in the ongoing dialogue with players.
Orange Man