In a press release which will draw ire from players who’ve been feeling burned by the rising value of video video games lately, Capcom president Haruhiro Tsujimoto has stated that the worth of latest video games ought to go up. Below Tsujimoto, the corporate has seen gross sales successes with new entries in its Monster Hunter and Resident Evil franchises, with the gross sales of Capcom video games on PC serving to to gas that progress.
In line with a report by Japanese monetary outlet Nikkei, Capcom’s president made remarks throughout the latest Tokyo Sport Present suggesting that the worth of video video games ought to improve to mirror the rising price of improvement. As famous in protection of the remarks by VGC, Tsujimoto is reported to have stated that whereas “improvement prices are round 100 instances increased” than throughout the NES period, the worth of software program has didn’t observe go well with. To be able to proceed attracting the kinds of gifted builders Capcom depends on to the corporate, Tsujimoto believes that the choice of elevating the worth of video games to offset elevated salaries “is a wholesome type of enterprise.”
Whereas clearly not what most players need to hear, the remarks from Tsujimoto echo comparable statements made by different executives within the gaming business lately. In 2020, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick confronted backlash from many within the gaming neighborhood after stating that “shoppers had been prepared” for the $70 value level for video games to grow to be the usual. Regardless of inflicting controversy on the time, Zelnick’s assertion proved to be prophetic, as each Sony and Microsoft raised the worth of first-party video games within the years that adopted. In each situations, the businesses used comparable reasoning as Tsujimoto, citing the elevated price of growing the sorts of AAA titles players demanded because the trigger for the rise.
With improvement prices for AAA video games now usually reaching a whole bunch of tens of millions of {dollars}, it’s onerous to dismiss the monetary logic behind Tsujimoto’s proposed value improve for brand new titles. And though Capcom hasn’t introduced any official plans to boost costs on its video games, given Tsujimoto’s statements and comparable strikes all through the business, it wouldn’t be stunning to see the enduring writer observe go well with down the road. It might nearly definitely not be fashionable with gamers, however such a value improve might additionally assist the corporate stave off the potential of a Capcom acquisition. In an business that’s grow to be more and more consolidated, that kind of independence might show to be value the additional price within the eyes of some players.