CEO Yves Guillemot recently confirmed that a $70 price point is going to be the norm forUbisoft’s games from now on. $60 has been the default price tag of AAA games for decades, but an increasing number of publishers are deciding that’s no longer enough. While the publisher already announced that the standard edition ofSkull and Boneswould be $70at launch, Guillemot’s statement confirms that the price point would be the publisher’s new standard in the future.
Axios reporter Stephen Totilo recently spoke to Guillemot in Paris. Their conversation covered various topics, including the potential rising price ofUbisoftgames. The publisher’s co-founder explained that while not every new release will cost $70, that will be the standard for Ubisoft’s AAA releases. “Some of the games will come at the same price as the competition,” said Guillemot. “The big AAA games will come at $70.”
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“Big AAA games” presumablydo not includeAssassin’s Creed: Mirage, which will retail for a below-average $50 at launch. It’s also unclear how Ubisoft will price the upcoming games codenamedAssassin’s Creed RedandAssassin’s Creed Hexe. However, given thatRedwill reportedly be a full-sized open-world game, unlike the smaller 15 to 20-hourMirage, it’s reasonable to assume that it will be $70 at launch. The $70 price tag will presumably also apply to new installments of Ubisoft’s other big franchises likeFar Cry,Ghost Recon,Watch Dogs, andThe Division.
As Guillemot implied during the interview, Ubisoft is not the only AAA game publisher raising its prices. Companies like Take-Two, Activision, Sony, EA, and Square Enix have all released games at $70 over the last few years. Notable examples includeNBA 2K21, recentCall of Dutygames, theDemon’s Soulsremake,Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Ultimate, and the PC version ofFF7 Remake Intergrade.Sony executive Jim Ryan defended the $70 price tag, arguing that players get significantly more hours of enjoyment out of AAA games likeDemon’s Soulsthan any other form of media.
Notably, however, this opinion is not universal among gaming executives. In 2020,Microsoft’s Vice-President of Gaming Phil Spencerconfirmed that the company didn’t plan to release any games at $70. He cited the high upfront cost of next-gen consoles like the Xbox Series X, raising concerns that a higher price might alienate more casual gamers. This may also represent a decent PR win for Microsoft since it allows the corporation to frame itself as the more consumer-focused publisher.
That will be especially trueif $70 becomes the industry standard for next-gen games. And while gamers and developers will no doubt disagree over whether a price increase is reasonable or necessary, that certainly appears to be the way the winds are blowing.
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