[ZaidH]

Source

Earlier this year, we saw Nintendo increase the price of their first party games to $80, and now Xbox seems to be following suit. It won't be long before Sony jumps on this train as well.

What are y'alls thoughts on this?

[mazen18]

all it takes is someone to rise up the price of anything, then everyone follow right behind them. it's genuinely just greedy

[ZaidH]

Greed indeed. Add the ongoing tariff drama into the mix, and gaming as a hobby is quickly becoming a luxury for the few. I just hope PC gaming doesn't follow suit, and that reasonably priced games like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and other indie titles aren't forced to raise their prices too.

[Aapje]

It's just inflation, I think. Things are getting expensive for companies as well.

[miskkie]

Originally Posted by ZaidH

Greed indeed. Add the ongoing tariff drama into the mix, and gaming as a hobby is quickly becoming a luxury for the few. I just hope PC gaming doesn't follow suit, and that reasonably priced games like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and other indie titles aren't forced to raise their prices too.

Not with the game prices really, but GPU pricing has been pretty out of control for a while now. Thankfully there are so many games that players don't have to be chase the latest AAA titles and upgrade GPUs all the time.

[tntiseverywere]

Expected under the current circumstances...

[ZaidH]

@Aapje Inflation is definitely a big part of this, but imo, the tariffs have really thrown things into disarray. I can kind of see the logic behind increasing the price of video games, but hiking the price of 5 year old consoles is most definitely a reaction to the tariff fiasco.

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@miskkie Oh yeah, the GPU market just can't catch a break 😅 And yep, now’s a great time to work through our gaming backlogs. There’s a bit of hope when games like Balatro, which can probably run on a potato, are the ones delivering great value and peak entertainment.

[Lascax]

I see this as a move that deals with multiple objectives on MicroSoft's part:
* Normalize higher gaming prices overall; every company tried this for decades but never succeeded, but now Nintendo opened the floodgates and, as a major player, they can get into this
* Profiting from the Perfect Storm; inflation, tariffs, economic struggles in the gaming industry are all factors they can use to justify this increase without coming off as an unexpected raise
* Pushing GamePass; expensive games makes the GamePass much more appealing
* Preparing the public for higher prices on nextGen consoles; it's pretty clear that the nextGen will be much closer to 1000$ than 500$, and even PC Handhelds and Switch 2, seen as "lesser" consoles will allow them to push further the idea that powerful hardware comes with a price tag closer to an entry-level PC

Sony will follow suit at the end of this month but... will this work out?
Personally I think partially: GamePass will surely gain a push and the public will not cry aloud for a nextGen console bein 800$, but in these times of economic struggles gaming has no place as a luxury hobby.
Look at recent highly successful games: Expedition 33, Split Fiction and Oblivion Remastered at 50$, Blue Prince at 30$. And all of these will get discount in how much time, 2-3 months? Or day1 with websites like Instant-Gaming?
80$ games are not appealing, because you risk buying a "decent" TriplaA with a huge scope in comparison to 2-3 surely reliable great games focused on just doing their thing.

[ZaidH]

@Lascax Phenomenal writeup! Couldn't agree more. To add to that, even Game Pass will likely see a price increase, which could slow down its growth. Microsoft's Azure data centers (backbone of Game Pass) rely heavily on global partners for servers and infrastructure. Unfortunately, this includes countries significantly impacted by tariffs, and those added costs may end up being passed on to the consumer 🥲

And yes, indie and AA games like Expedition 33 for the win!!! Eighty dollar games that still launch with bugs and include microtransactions? Now that's a recipe for disaster.

[Abdelsalam]

Honestly, it's disappointing but not surprising. With development costs rising, companies are trying to justify higher price tags but $80 is a steep ask for many gamers. If prices are going up, I think the value should go up too better performance, less bugs, and more complete games at launch.Otherwise, it just feels like we're paying more for the same or less.