Bad news for gamers: Sega may join the industry in raising its video game prices to $70.
Executives at Sega’s parent company alluded to a potential price increase in a newly translated transcript from an earnings call, which was spotted by Video Games Chronicle.
Company executives were asked “why the unit sales price” for new games has been set higher for the upcoming fiscal year. In response, Sega leadership signaled it’s preparing to price its own high-budget AAA games at $70.
“In the global marketplace, AAA game titles for console have been sold at $59.99 for many years, but titles sold at $69.99 have appeared in the last year. We would like to review the prices of titles that we believe are commensurate with price increases, while also keeping an eye on market conditions,” the executives said.
So don’t be surprised if the next Sonic game is $70. Other video gaming publishers—including Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo—are already pricing their newest major titles, like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, at $69.99.
As a result, it looks like the higher price is poised to become standard, to the annoyance of gamers. However, the video game industry has defended these price hikes, saying they’re necessary to fund game production costs amid rising inflation. In contrast, the $59.99 price was the standard in the industry for the past 15 years.
In the same earnings call, Sega also indicated it’s looking at producing more video game movies outside the Sonic franchise. “If we can match the timing of game launches to the release of movies, it would be extremely effective from a marketing perspective and there are also significant benefits, such as increasing awareness of our IP and increasing the number of touch points for customers, as we achieved with the Sonic movie,” executives said.
