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#Beloved Ex-PlayStation Boss Believes $70, $80 Games Are a Steal

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Beloved Ex-PlayStation Boss Believes $70, $80 Games Are a Steal

Ex-PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida believes $70 and $80 games are a “steal” when compared to other forms of entertainment

The newly independent executive was speaking at Gamescom LATAM, where he was inevitably asked about the rising cost of games. Almost all publishers bumped the price of their software up to $70 at the start of the PS5 generation, but now Microsoft and Nintendo have announced they will increase the cost of some of their software to $80.

Speaking with Critical Hit Games, Yoshida spoke in favour of variable pricing: “Each game has different value it provides, or the size of budget. I totally believe it’s up to the publisher – or developers self-publishing – decision to price their product to the value that they believe they are bringing in.”

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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 recently found significant success at $50, for example, despite it having the production values of a much larger-scale release.

“In terms of actual price of $70 or $80, for really great games, I think it will still be a steal in terms of the amount of entertainment that the top games, top quality games bring to people compared to other form of entertainment,” he continued.

While we can see where Yoshida’s coming from – games can offer hundreds of hours of entertainment compared to a movie ticket, for example – it’s really difficult to justify such enormous costs when free-to-play releases exist. It’s going to be interesting to see what kind of impact these prices have on the industry.

[source youtube.com, via tech.yahoo.com]

As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He’s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.

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1
Yaycandy
4:15pm

If the game is released and is nearly perfect maybe. Sucks spending 70$ and the game being broken in areas and waiting on future patch promises

2
Jimmer-jammer
4:17pm

I completely agree with him on the premise of dollar for hour bang for buck. In contrast with other comparable forms of entertainment, it’s not even close. Beyond that it all gets arguably more subjective.

3
Dan12836666
4:19pm

Garbage a steal at all if its the complete edition with dlc ye then it’ not when games are released a mess nowadays and then dlc is released on top too gain more money pure greed

4
J2theEzzo
4:24pm

I just don’t see me ever being happy with the idea of spending upwards of £60 on a game, no matter how good it supposedly is. I understand increasing costs, etc. but that’s a price point that’s just too hard to justify for me (as I’m sure for many others, also). The effect of this is that game’s sales tank and more people buy 2nd hand, or long after release for a deep cut sale. Case in point, I only just picked up rebirth, because it was £35 brand new. Some stores are still selling it 2nd hand for about £45…

5
IronCrow86
4:24pm

Says the wealthy video game producer 🙄

6
Member_the_game
4:26pm

I think for me it depends on the game…. if it’s a game I’ll play over and over again Mario Kart being a good example then I don’t mind paying the higher price for it.

If it’s a one and done game then I find it a little harder to justify spending so much

7
DonJorginho
4:27pm

It is, but that’s on the very rare case that a game comes out being absolutely perfect without any issues, bugs, predatory monetisation, and is the best possible thing you can play.

AAA games very rarely are that these days, so till then, £70/80 is not good value outside of the outliers.

Game publishers have the right to price their games at what they see fit, but I also have the right to not buy it till it falls to the value I deem worthy.

8
UltimateOtaku91
4:27pm

For me it depends on the finished quality and game length, no way I’m paying £80 for a game that can be completed in less than 10 hours. Games like Ghost of Yotei, God of War, Persona, Final Fantasy and Horizon are games id gladly pay £80 for as they are usually polished and offer 20+ hours of gameplay.

9
Juanalf
4:29pm

A very rare Shuhei Yoshida L 😔 no sir, $80 games aren’t a steal when we take into account season passes, expansions and everything that falls under DLC and live service. Plus most of these games aren’t releasing in a complete state.

Is not the 90s and early 20s anymore when you bought a game and it had all its of its content included and was patched to almost perfection. Now we buy the game and have to wait days or weeks for the developer to finish patching it.

10
themightyant
4:35pm

Depends on the game. There are some games that £80 would have been a bargain for the amount of enjoyment and entertainment I had, but the trouble is those are the minority, most games are simply not worth £80 to me.

But you don’t have to pay £70+ as long as physical exists there will be a cheap way to play games, you just have to be willing to be patient and wait, don’t play Day 1. This might not be the case if it’s all digital.

But he’s not wrong in terms of other entertainment. A cinema ticket is what? £15 for a couple of hours? live sport, music tickets etc. are often £50 – £100+ for a few hours. Gaming is a lot cheaper than some of my other hobbies.

11
gollumb82
4:37pm

In the times when games are often released broken and discounted a few months after release (sometimes heavily discounted) and services like Game Pass I refuse to buy anything day one, except for diamonds such as Astro Bot or Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

12
Number09
4:39pm

They could be a £100 for all I care.

I wait for sales discounts I rarely buy a game until its been out for 2 years or more patched up and most importantly tested by the ones willing to pay full price.

13
AhmadSumadi
4:39pm

The unfortunate thing is this is the way of the world. Everything is going up in price! I remember the jump from $39.99 to $49.99. Then from $49.99 to 59.99. Now we’re going up even more. It sucks! But it’s our hobby and we love it so we’ll pay. Either that or games as a service. Because we all know how much gamers love that idea…

14
matekomlosi
4:43pm

Considering how much it costs to develop a game (programmers, graphic artists, 3D designers, actors, support tech, etc.), and the fact that many studios don’t see any profit for years, this kind of pricing is understandable.
The issue isn’t with the price, but with the quality. I’m happy to pay €80 for a game, but then I expect at least 20–25 hours of well-written, exciting story, with good and varied gameplay.
It should also be well-optimized – 4K 60FPS minimum – and both the main character and side characters should be memorable and likable.
As for the graphics, I don’t care if it’s near-photorealistic or something more pastel-styled like Life is Strange, as long as it looks beautiful.
This is my hobby so I have no problem paying €80 for a well-crafted game, but yes, then it should meet the expectations I just described.

15
nessisonett
4:45pm

Any discussion of inflation and so forth doesn’t take into account wage stagnation and literally every bill being far more expensive. The hobby is starting to price people out and when it becomes the plaything of the upper classes then the artform suffers.

16
Anke
4:58pm

He probably earns/earned at least 100x the average wage so to him that’s a pocket change layout.
Yeah I’d be saying that too with bottomless pockets.

17
OldGamer999
4:58pm

@Member_the_game
Nearly Switch 2 time.

Paying it for say a game like BOTW or TOTK or AC shadows then yes it’s worth the money if you really enjoy those games.

But say a 12 hour game that once done is done the price does seem steep.

18
Coffeeglitch
5pm

Key word is “really great” games. A lot of games are not really great, they’re just ok. You also have to factor in time. Dark Ages provides 20 hours on the higher end for a 90 dollar price tag. Clair obscur provides at least 30 for 60 dollars, and that’s assuming you beeline the story and some side quests. Obviously this will change depending on the player, so some will get hundreds of hours out of Doom. I don’t mind higher price tags but I do mind when games are deemed a failure or just not successful by the publisher when they asked too much for too little.

19
Coffeeglitch
5:02pm

@matekomlosi very well said. I personally prefer a creative art direction over photorealistic graphics, though sometimes they do go hand in hand. But if it runs at 18 fps unless I turn it to blurry town, even that isn’t enough to bring in my investment.

20
Coffeeglitch
5:03pm

@nessisonett agreed. I think pricing people out is the big issue. I’ve had to go from buying each new game that I enjoy to limiting myself to one every other month or so. It was a hard adjustment but worthwhile. I’m 34, I’m not going to skip bills and cat food, quality of life things etc just for a game that will keep me entertained for a few hours.

21
UltimateOtaku91
5:07pm

This also effects those that wait for sales, for example 30% off a game that costs £75 is still going to cost you more than before when you was waiting for 30% off games that were £60. So either way everyone is going to end up paying more than before.

22
playstation1995
5:17pm

No it’s not.shuhei stop it.word up son

23
IntrepidWombat
5:20pm

@nessisonett If anyone is priced out, it will only be temporary for a given title provided that distribution remains varied. Prices of games drop based both on competitive pressure between retailers and with newer releases. It’s damn difficult to be priced out of the hobby with an enormous number of titles available for peanuts on places like GOG that will run well on PCs that are cheaper than last gen’s consoles.

Still, I don’t believe wage stagnation is a good argument against the rise on prices. I’m going to us US numbers because that’s where I am. Check out numbers for wherever you are. I’m using average over median because that data is more readily available.

2000:
Average Hourly Wage: $16.97 (census.gov)
Price of New Release: $49.99
Hours of work needed to buy a game: 2.9

2010:
Average Hourly Wage: $19.21
Price of New Release: $59.99
Hours of work needed to buy a game: 3.12

2020:
Average Hourly Wage: $33.36
Price of New Release: $59.99
Hours of work needed to buy a game: 1.8

2025:
Average Hourly Wage: $30.19
Price of New Release: $79.99
Hours of work needed to buy a game: 2.65

Wages have indeed stagnated and even fallen, but I would argue that game prices stagnated for even longer and what we’re seeing is a market correction.

24
Zazu
59m ago

He’s right. They are a steal. But not for consumers.

25
Ravix
59m ago

@IntrepidWombat apologies for jumping in to your debate, but I believe you missed out the cost of living from your numbers though. You can’t only provide half the data.

If a larger percentage of your income is already spent on rent/bills, food, you know, the essentials to live, then what good are these other numbers?

I’m not saying your first numbers are wrong, but you do have to go deeper to provide your argument with more weight.

26
Snick27
58m ago

I’m never spending $80 for any game no matter what. I’m at the point i wait 6 months for a full patched game around $40. Once things go all digital and games clued to full price i will switch to PC or get a cheap xbox an go gamepass.

27
McBurn
56m ago

I’m sure I’m in the minority but I always felt lucky how cheap games still are for how expensive they are to make and how much I get out of them….also how flexible the pricing actually is with the constant sales. When we get to $150 for normal version releases THEN I’ll start getting worried

28
Ravix
51m ago

In theory, yes. In reality, no. Depending on the games.

Clearly game sales have shrubk in general, though.

I think maybe there needs to be an industry wide acknowledgement that only some games are truly worthy of the top price tag, whatever that may be, and the rest should be in the £40/50/60 range, and at the end of the day they might actually sell a bunch more copies to make up any percieved difference.

People are definitely more likely to take a risk and adopt a game early if the price is right, and then word of mouth and FOMO helps sell even more.

Of course, if the game you release is not good, then that’s another issue and pricing won’t solve anything for you anyway.

But the industry will shrivel if people can’t afford your products consistently, and gaming should never be this exclusive club, and I say this as a supporter of buying games we want day one at full price to support those games we want to see being made. But people won’t be able to do that if they are being priced out, and thus they wait for sales, and wait for the shrinking second hand market, and that isn’t helping the giant publishers anyway, so really they should already be looking for ways to convert more of those people into day one adopters before the industry shrinks again.

29
naruball
51m ago

And he’s absolutely right, but internet people assume that’s not the case because other internet people are equally unreasonable.

30
danzoEX
48m ago

I believe the point he’s trying to make is you spend $70-$80 for 80-100+ hours of entertainment versus say buying movie tickets (plus if you buy popcorn and a drink) is pricey to spend 2-3 hours watching something and that be it.

31
naruball
46m ago

@Juanalf all those are extras that you can completely ignore and greatly enjoy the base game. Like we used to do before all these additions (DLC, expansions, etc) became the norm.

32
DonkeyFantasy
46m ago

The thing is I can spend £10 – £15 on a cinema ticket, and if the films rubbish it’s not a big deal. But when I’m dropping £80 on something and it doesn’t click with me, or is a buggy mess then I’m gonna be a bit annoyed.

33
Khwarezm89
44m ago

I believe the main issue here is that a lot of games launches in a terrible state and needs some patches to solve these issues. If games launch in a nearly perfect state then I guess people will be happy to support these studios and buy the games full price.

34
MojoMonkey
43m ago

This man needs to stop talking lmao

35
Slayer25c
29m ago

@MojoMonkey why he has a right to opinion just like u do lmao

36
S1ayeR74
25m ago

Everyone went nuts when Nintendo announced it’s new Switch 2 game prices, yet Mario Kart World, a game at it’s maximum new price, is still £67 on digital in the UK, and just how may £70 games are there again in Sony’s PSN store…………… Yeah seems Sony and Microsoft have got a strange idea of value IMO.

37
naruball
24m ago

@DonkeyFantasy but you can sell it immediately and make a significant amount back, if it’s physical or a game on steam.

38
Boxmonkey
22m ago

Good luck convincing the general public. Studios closing left and right. These morons are tone deaf.

39
DarthOreo
21m ago

He’s not wrong. Go to the movies with my wife cuz it’s one of the few we need to see in theater? $30. For 2 hours.

If you’re mad that something that eats up 15-20 hours (which is on the short side) is too much at $70 then you’re an entitled whiner. Learn to budget.

40
Fiendish-Beaver
20m ago

Enough with the sensible comments, @UltimateOtaku91. You know how I love to disagree with you… 😂

41
IntrepidWombat
13m ago

@Ravix I could, but then we’d be me missing other context – cost of living in different regions, racial disparities, gender disparities, education, etc, etc. I understand what you’re saying in that we would also need to check what percentage of income is considered disposable, but I’m trying to keep things surface level since this is a video game forum and it’s not really that important.

42
NoHope
7m ago

I play video games since before the 8bit days, last game I payed “full price” for was either Elden Ring or Death Stranding, whichever came later, astrobot I got on release for 44€. I have so many games in my library that I am not in need to play the “new and shiny” thing right away. if a game is digital only, there is no way I pay full price, the one exception would be a SOCOM 2 Remake (which, thanks to Sony, will probably never happen).
They can charge whatever they seem fit, I will always wait for a sale or buy it second hand. I know I might be in a small minority.

I am also very curious what the new Mario Kart will entail, that it justifys the 80€ price tag. 40 more reused tracks? Nothing against it, however for me that would be another slap in the face from Nintendo, they are good at doing exactly that and get away with it free almost all of the time.

43
Max_the_German
7m ago

Dedicated gamers spend maybe 2 hours per day for playing, 60 hours per month, 2-3 big games per month, 240 $ per month. For a hoppy of that intensity, that’s not too much in industrial countries.

If you are a junkie though, spending 4 hours per day, then play Fortnite or other F2P stuff.