Tianyu Zhu

In the earlier days of the video game industry – around the 80s and 90s – the price was very volatile, both in video games and consoles. Games ranged from $30, to $45, to $50, this might seem like an increase in price, but adjusted for inflation, they are actually more expensive than the standard price today, which is $60, established around the Xbox 360/Playstation 2 era of the mid 2000s. This $60$ price tag has remained stable for over a decade, but recently, it has started to shift once more, signaling that maybe inflation is having an effect on the gaming industry.

It was the same for game consoles, the PlayStation series went from an introductory price of $299 (PS1-PS2, 1994-2000), to $500 (PS3, 2006), to $400(PS4, 2013), and then back up to $500 with the PlayStation 5 in 2020. Adjusted for inflation, the PS1 cost $600, and the PS2 cost $700.

As time goes on, both consoles and games become more expensive, and one company that has shown more volatility than most is Sony and their Playstation series. Recently, in a Playstation Blog, Sony announced that they would be increasing the price of the PlayStation 5 in many regions (U.S. not included), citing inflation as the main reason. In Europe, the Playstation 5 shot past the €500 mark for the first time in the console line’s history, coming to around $588. The situation was even worse in Mexico, where it shot up to it costs 14999 pesos, which comes to around $743.

A sizable part of the gaming community was not happy with the decision; many believe that Sony had used the recent economic inflation as a cover for price gouging. Scathing comments could be found in many places echoing this sentiment, with one user on Reddit by the name of “Datlinus” commenting that “Sony’s gaming division is doing extremely well, but of course they have to have ALL the money, it’s never enough.” This user, along with many others, complains about the extra price that Sony is charging them, because even though Sony, along with much of the rest of the gaming industry, experienced record growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, they still seem to want more out of players.

But there was also another increase in price that seems to have gone nearly unnoticed by many in the gaming community, and that is the slow increase in the amount of $70 dollar triple-A games. 

It began in August of 2020, when Take-Two Interactive released the first $70 dollar game, NBA 2k21. Take-Two’s CEO, Strauss Zelnick, stated that the reasoning behind this decision was that games have remained at the same price point for a decently long time now, and that consumers are now ready for $70 games.

Even though this drew a large amount of attention and backlash from the gaming community, with some even calling for boycotts, the decision was not reversed, and eventually it was normalized. Since then, many current-gen titles have launched with a $70 dollar price tag, with more notable games such as the Demon’s Souls and Last of Us remakes and Godfall as well as the next Call of Duty game.

With recent changes in the industry, it seems like despite the backlash the companies might receive, they are willing to increase prices, hinting that maybe gaming could be growing more and more expensive in the future. Despite the plateau of game prices during the 2000s and the 2010s, it seems that prices in the gaming industry are trending upwards along with the rest of the economic sphere.