We're approaching the next-gen of consoles, and both the PS5 and the Xbox Series X look incredible.
No matter which one you want to get your hands on though, we're all aware of the fact that some of the next-gen games are going to cost more than current-gen games.
This is a sore issue because people are generally worse-off this year than they were last year because of the impact of this global pandemic. If every company raises game prices, will people even be able to keep playing games?
Well, Microsoft doesn't seem to think it matters.
Why are games becoming more expensive?
Before we get to that, it's important to address the cause of this whole thing.
Game prices are going up because they haven't in years. Games are becoming increasingly expensive to create, with larger staffing costs and the ever-increasing level of technology required to keep up with the cutting edge.
That's why we're seeing so many games with microtransactions and DLC. They have to cover the actual costs of the games. Well, sometimes it's just money too.
So, if that's all the case, why does it look like Microsoft isn't going to follow suit.
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Why doesn't Microsoft care?
As reported on by Gamesindustry.biz, Aaron Greenberg, the Xbox Games Marketing GM, appeared on the Real Deal Podcast and was asked about the price increase.
While he didn't say if Microsoft would adopt the more expensive game pricing, he did say that it's not all that relevant because of Game Pass and Smart Delivery.
He also said "Gaming pricing is a super-complex thing to answer, because, in the old days, every game launched at one price and that was it. But we launched Ori and the Will of the Wisps at $30, and Gears Tactics is a new title launching this holiday and it's launching at $60. State of Decay 2 launched at $40. So there's not a simple answer to that except to say that Tactics we're launching at $60."
He makes a very good point. Who cares about the price of a game if you're subscribing and getting access to all of them anyway? Though how Microsoft is making money out of that and also keeping the developers well-paid is magic.
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