Ubisoft price hikes could risk next-gen gamer fury
Ever since the marketing campaigns for the PS5 and Xbox Series X got into full swing last year, there's been much ado about next-gen price hikes from a number of publishers. Sony itself has raised the price of its first party games to $70, and that seems to be a move that many other major publishers are at least considering. 2K Games has indicated through NBA 2K21 that it will be raising prices as well, as has Activision.
Other publishers seem undecided on the matter. When we last checked in with Ubisoft, it said only that its holiday next-gen releases would be priced at the normal $60 price point, refusing to talk about the price of next-gen games releasing after that window. Here in mid-February, the holiday season is well in the rearview, so what does Ubisoft have to say about a potential price hike now?
As reported by VGC, Ubisoft says much the same thing. During a call with investors following its third quarter earnings report, the company was asked if it plans to raise game prices in its next fiscal year (which kicks off at the beginning of April 2021). The response indicated that Ubisoft still hasn't made up its mind regarding up-front game pricing.
"In terms of pricing, we've been analysing the competitive dynamics of the past quarter and we are still looking at new opportunities, but we have not made any decision yet," Ubisoft CFO Frédérick Duguet said. As VGC notes, Far Cry 6 pre-orders are currently priced at $60, and that won't be releasing until September 30th, so Ubisoft may not opt to raise prices until after that game has been released.
We'll see what Ubisoft ultimately decides to do, but it's walking a fairly fine line here. Ubisoft is definitely a fan of putting microtransactions in its video games, and raising the up-front cost of its titles in addition to packing them with microtransactions could be seen as a step too far by gamers. We'll let you know when Ubisoft comes a decision, but for now, it seems that its games are staying at $60.