- Former PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida knew the cost of games would increase “sooner or later”
- Yoshida says inflation and production costs are the cause, so more expensive games were inevitable
- He doesn’t know if Rockstar Games would increase the price of Grand Theft Auto 6, but thinks “a balance must be found between production costs and game prices”
Former Sony Interactive Entertainment executive Shuhei Yoshida has said that the recent rise in the cost of games “was going to happen sooner or later” due to inflation and production costs.
In a new interview with PlayStation Inside, Yoshida was asked about the increase in game prices, specifically regarding Nintendo Switch 2 games, like Mario Kart World, which will now cost upwards of $80, and if he thinks this will affect other studios and publishers.
The ex-PlayStation boss explained that he predicted the rise in prices would happen eventually, mainly due to inflation and the cost of resources, but didn’t think Nintendo would be the one to kick it off.
“I think it was going to happen sooner or later, maybe not from Nintendo, but it was going to happen eventually,” said Yoshida. “We live in contrasting times, where inflation is real and significant, but people expect games that are ever more ambitious and therefore expensive to develop to cost the same. It’s an impossible equation. Everything in video games today is more advanced and more technologically demanding than ever before, and therefore requires more resources.
“Each publisher or manufacturer sets the price of its games, of course, but in the end the heart of the matter lies in production costs. And that’s why industry actors are so keen to diversify their revenues, in order to continue producing the AAA games that the public buys before anything else.”
Just last week, Microsoft raised the prices of its Xbox consoles and accessories, with some first-party games expected to release at $80 later this year. Elsewhere, Sony recently upped the prices of its PS5 consoles.
Although there is a very obvious shift happening within the industry, Yoshida doesn’t know if studios like Rockstar Games would consider setting the price of Grand Theft Auto 6 higher, but that “a balance must be found between production costs and game prices”.
“So I don’t know if Rockstar will jump at the chance to set the price of GTA 6 at 90 euros or more, to speak with your currency, but the situation is this. And we could even add subscription platforms and games as a service, which, while providing huge revenues in their own right, also help to finance AAA down the line.
“In any case, a balance must be found between production costs and game prices. GTA 6 will obviously be a case in point, but if you take the example of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the game is just as phenomenal visually, despite the fact that the team only has around thirty people. This is one of the ways forward, I think, because you can make excellent games with tighter teams and budgets without compromising quality.”
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