sortiwa
A hot potato: Video games are becoming more expensive – Microsoft announced last week that it would be selling some of its upcoming titles for $80, while Nintendo will be doing the same with Switch 2 releases. One of the companies’ arguments for this increase is that games now have enormous budgets with massive teams, all of which supposedly benefit the players, yet the three best-reviewed games of 2025 so far are all budget titles.
Microsoft blamed market pressures and rising development costs for its hardware and software price hikes last week. Its announcement followed news that every first-party Nintendo Switch 2 game will cost $70 or $80.
Some people are willing to pay more for a game if a higher price translates to a better experience. But Bloomberg‘s Jason Schreier notes that the pricier-equals-better formula doesn’t apply to 2025’s best-reviewed games.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a brilliant RPG that sold more than 1 million copies in its first week. The PC version has a score of 90 on Metacritic and a user score of 9.7 – one of the highest ever recorded. It costs $50.
That’s the same price as Split Fiction, which has sold 2 million copies and is now being made into a movie. Made by Hazelight Studios, the same team behind It Takes Two and A Way Out, Split Fiction is one of the most enjoyable games this writer has played in years, and easily one of the best couch co-op games ever.
Then there’s Blue Prince, an incredible puzzle-roguelike mostly made by one person in Los Angeles. It costs $30.
Clair Obscur was made by a small French studio. And while RPGs are obviously popular, reviving turn-based combat – albeit with some QTE attacks and timing-based dodges and parries – was seen as a risky move.
The EA-published Split Fiction, meanwhile, was also developed by a relatively small team in Stockholm.
It’s estimated that the average cost of a big-budget AAA game today is $440 million. In January, it was revealed that Activision had spent $700 million developing Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (2020) and $640 million on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019).
Related reading: Yes, video game budgets are skyrocketing, but the reason goes beyond graphics
But Analyst Joost van Dreunen notes that budgets have not risen in line with player numbers and sales. “AAA game development has entered a danger zone where content bloat, not innovation, drives costs to unprecedented heights,” he wrote.
Companies like Microsoft and Nintendo think raising game prices is one solution to rising costs. In the case of games like the recently delayed GTA VI, which is rumored to cost between $80 and $100, that will probably work. But with so many games now available and plenty of amazing, more affordable alternatives, there will be plenty of releases that fail to break even, even with an $80 price tag.
It’s also noted that smaller budgets mean a game can be considered a success without selling 10 million copies. This allows developers to take risks with projects that might not have universal appeal, much like this year’s three top-reviewed games.
Source link