Xbox Is Raising The Price Of Its Games
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Following the news about the console’s price increase that we covered last month, Microsoft has announced that it’s raising the price of its first-party Xbox games in 2023, following the current trend within the gaming industry. The price increase will apply to nearly all releases scheduled for 2023, including Bethesda Game Studios’ Starfield, Turn 10 Sudios’ Forza Motorsport, and Arkane’s Redfall — some of which were actually supposed to drop this year but were pushed back.
The new price will jump from $60 per AAA title to $70, which is what Ubisoft announced just recently. The pricing may differ regionally, but Microsoft still hasn’t disclosed all the specifics tying into this price increase. As reported by Destructoid, the increase reflects the content, scale, and technical complexity of the aforementioned titles, but other AAA titles as well, which actually helped the gaming industry surpass Hollywood when it comes to revenue and brought gaming soundtracks into Grammy Awards.
Head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, previously stated that the company would have to increase pricing at one point to mirror the current economic shift within the gaming industry and global economy. However, Microsoft has decided to postpone the price boost until the end of the holiday season, allowing gamers to obtain their consoles and gaming titles at current prices. This is most likely due to the fact that Microsoft is too busy trying to get its acquisition of Activision Blizzard approved by the powers that be, despite Sony’s vocal objections against such a deal.
Admittedly, Xbox has held the price of its games, consoles, and subscriptions for quite some time, despite the increasing prices, but it would be foolish to think that the company could sustain such a business plan forever. It was entirely expected for the price to increase at one point, and the gaming community has finally received a time window for when it might happen. Luckily, the newly released titles will still appear on Xbox Game Pass on day one of their releases, despite the price increase, allowing Xbox to still maintain a better subscription service than Sony.
This price increase isn’t a novelty in gaming, and other companies, like Sony Interactive Entertainment, Ubisoft, and Take-Two Interactive, recently released new blockbuster titles at $70 per pop. Other publishers, such as Capcom, still haven’t transitioned to new pricing brackets, but their transition is also included. All of this is happening amid a move to increase the price of hardware as well. Sony has already increased the price of PlayStation 5 in select regions, and Microsoft has previously announced the price increase for its gaming hardware.
It would seem that the rising development costs are the main factor in a price increase for all gaming titles, not just AAA blockbuster titles. With that said, considering that all those titles become available on Game Pass on day one, it’s likely for Microsoft to profit even further from additional subscriptions prompted by such releases. A $70 for a gaming title does seem a bit much, considering that the same titles would be obtainable at Game Pass for a significantly lower price tag.
