Price of console and PC games experienced a significant increase in the past two years, and SEGA is the latest major publisher to consider following the trend that Take-Two started with NBA 2K21 in August 2020, a title that hit the market with a price tag $69.99.

Haruki Satomi, CEO of SEGA Sammy, and Koichi Fukazawa, the company’s CFO, confirmed in a recent interview that they would like to “revise” the price of those games they think should get a price increase, from which it follows that it will not be a general measure, but that they will only make those games more expensive in which they consider it fair. They have also qualified themselves to closely monitor market developments and conditions.

We’ll see how it turns out in the end, but the market trend is clear, and finally, more and more publishers are launching their games with a minimum price of 70 dollars/70 euros, which is an increase of 10 dollars/10 euros compared to the price we saw before. SEGA hasn’t dared yet, in fact its last major release, Sonic Frontiers, hit the market at $59.99/euro and was a huge success, amassing 3.2 million units sold.

As for the arguments that the major publishers have made to justify this price increase, there are rising development costs and inflation. I understand that developing a game for a new generation of consoles can be more expensive than doing it for the previous generation, but at the end of the day, almost all titles that come out are cross-generational, that is, they are developed for both generations and do not present important differences that we help to understand this perceived cost increase and this price increase.

PC gaming prices have been kept at a more restrained level, but we’ve still seen moves that are sure to make an impact a major turning pointfor example the arrival of Final Fantasy VII Remake with a price of 79.99 euroswhich is a number that is far from the 49.99 or 59.99 euros that we are used to paying on PC for triple A games, and this represents a significant increase.

I think it’s an interesting topic to comment on, so I’ll ask you if it’s right to price games at 70 euros? Are you convinced by the arguments of the publishers and developers, or do you think this is ultimately nothing more than an excuse to make more money doing the same? Read in the comments.