Update: EA’s John Reseburg emailed us with the following statement
“The statements you’re writing about came from an investor conference call today, during a hypothetical discussion about pricing patterns at the beginning of a hardware cycle. Blake Jorgensen misspoke on the points you’re calling out – he meant to use examples of $59 and $49, not $69/$59.”
EA’s Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen stated during a recent EA investor call that game development costs are to increase during the next generation. He expects PS4 games will retail at $70.
He said the $70 price tag will be there at the very beginning of the next generation console’s lifespan until they revert back to the standard $60 price later. He expects game development costs to increase by 5-10 percent.
Before everyone gets angry, this contradicts what Sony said about the price of PS4 games. Last week, SCEA president and CEO Jack Tretton mentioned PS4 games will be priced between $0.99 and $60. In no way did he mention that games will be priced higher than $60.
It’s possible some game publishers might ask a higher price for AAA games they release on the PS4. This might suggest that EA will price Battlefield 4 at $70 when it first launches on the PS4…
Source: PS4 Nexus
Glad that sony already said they would be $60 and no higher. This gen isn’t even supposed to be as big of a jump, plus most gamers can agree that games have been declining in quality… especially with how some publishers are getting involved in more money grabbing ideas, something most would agree EA is certainly a part of. Why would we pay even more in the current state of gaming?
It should be “EA expects EA games to cost $70”. If games get anymore expensive, that whole online pass bull better disappear, and DLC for that matter.
You can’t expect people to fork out that kind of scratch for a game that they MIGHT get 10-15 hours out of.
In all honesty, with the coming of crap tons of dlc and online passes, games should cost LESS. That way you don’t feel so ripped off after buying a $60 game, then paying another $50 for a ‘season pass’. Yeah, some games regularly add new content, and you don’t feel so bad. But when you get 3 dlc add ons that might add another couple hours to the game. It just seems wrong.
The problem is, it sells. People continue to give companies more and more money. So why NOT continue the trend? It’s a shame really