As we continue to monitor our buying behavior during the recession, something we can rely on during these difficult times is that video games will be affordable. For $50 to $60, we can derive hours and hours of entertainment from a single title. It’s generally not a bad deal, in most gamers’ eyes.
Would you pay $100 for Gears of War 2?
(Credit: Microsoft)
But what if a blockbuster title that took years and millions of dollars to develop was priced at $100 or more? Would the price make us think twice about buying it?
That might be the question we’ll need to ask ourselves soon, if we are to believe former Sony Europe President Chris Deerling.
Speaking to U.K. publication MCV, Deerling said that if current development cycles and costs are maintained, a price tag of 70 British pounds per game is inevitable. Based on recent exchange rates and on the assumption that the game would sell for essentially the same price internationally, that would mean that U.S.-based customers would face about a $119 price tag for the title.
“Before there can be as many successful blockbuster games as there were in the past, games have to be produced in a more efficient fashion,” Deerling told the publication. “In order to price these games at a level where they would support an industry (as strongly as) they did 10 years ago, they’d have to be sold at 70 pounds.”
“Consumers won’t spend more, but to write the game, publishers are having to spend more than ever before,” Deerling continued. “That’s the key problem.”
And what a problem it is.
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Originally posted at The Digital Home
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