Take-Two CEO Feels $70 Price Hike on Next-Gen Consoles Is Fair

Earlier this year In July, Take-Two announced their NBA 2k21 will cost $70 on next-gen consoles. The price was heavily criticized, but this has not had any impact on the company’s decision. In a new Interview to Protocol yesterday, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick was once again asked about the price hike. Zelnick replied to this saying, that the prices for development have sky-rocketed while the retail prices haven’t changed. Other than this, he has also pointed out that games have gotten much better, and consumers can do a lot more with games than they could 15 years ago.

The bottom line is that we haven’t seen a front-line price increase for nearly 15 years, and production costs have gone up 200 to 300%. But more to the point since no one really cares what your production costs are, what consumers are able to do with the product has completely changed.

We deliver a much, much bigger game for $60 or $70 than we delivered for $60 10 years ago. The opportunity to spend money online is completely optional, and it’s not a free-to-play title. It’s a complete, incredibly robust experience even if you never spend another penny after your initial purchase.

In the same interview, Zelnick also spoke about movies, saying that movies haven’t changed that much. A movie In 1936 was still colored featuring 90mins to two hours of length. Gaming on the other hand has significantly changed, and consumers are now getting a lot more than they expect.

Fans aren’t happy with the new game prices. Some argue that they are ready to pay $80, but then In the future, they shouldn’t pay more for extra content. Many other gaming companies have followed Take-Two’s footsteps and increased their prices for next-gen consoles.

For example, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War will also cost $69.99 on next-gen consoles. On the bright side, there are still some companies like Ubisoft, who have clarified that their game prices won’t be changed on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S.

Earlier this year, In an interview with gamesindustry.biz, Zelnick was asked about Ubisoft, weather he felt other publishers should also change their prices. He answered to this saying that Take-Two only speaks for themselves. Zelnick also mentioned that “The pricing has to reflect the quality of the experience, and we aim to provide the best experiences in the business. And from our point of view, it’s an extremely modest price change given that prices haven’t changed for a very long time.”