PS5 Game Prices May Be More Expensive Than Expected | Screen Rant

PlayStation 5 games may finally go beyond the $60 price tag people have become used to over the last decade or so as development costs for games are expected to increase with the coming of the next-generation console. Video games have been at the $60 price point for quite some time now (since as far back as the PS3 and Xbox 360 era), but development costs have only risen further since then.

As the price for new video games has stayed at $60, developers and publishers have tried to find other ways to generate revenue, such as microtransactions or loot boxes. Some games also feature either a battle pass or season pass, which bundles DLC content into a single, time-delayed package. Publishers and developers have also tried to get more people to buy their games way beyond their original release dates through occasional sales through digital storefrontssuch as the PlayStation Store, Steam, or the Epic Games Store.

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PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan recently spoke to GamesIndustry.biz about how the current pandemic has affected their plans for the PS5, including its expected release this holiday. During the interview, Ryan talked about the cost of creating games for the PS5, he stated:

“I think, to the extent that the technology enables the graphics side of it to become more interesting and life-like, [the games] will become slightly more human intensive and capital intensive to produce. So yes, we think there probably will be an increase in development budgets. We don't see it as being a massive increase, and that's why we want to do more faster than we have ever done before, to provide a fertile install base for people who make games to be able to monetise against. If we can keep pace with a likely increase in development costs, then the industry can continue to prosper.â€

The PS5 is expected to be a significant advancement in console gaming technology that could possibly change the way games are made. The next-generation console’s features include a custom CPU and GPU as well as a rather unique storage setup that utilizes an SSD with a custom interface that makes it both faster and more efficient. The recent Unreal 5 demo was supposedly run on a PS5 and showed off the graphical capabilities of both the engine and the console. Sony has even gone on to say that the PS5 is 100 times faster than the PS4.

Raising the price of video games from the current standard price isn’t exactly new, as video games were notably cheaper during much older console generations. So it wouldn’t be all that surprising if next-generation games start being priced at around $70 for their respective standard editions. But with the proliferation of digital distribution and platforms such as the PS Store, Steam, and the Epic Games Store, games are now able to come out at different price points other than the supposed standard so we may still see games at the current $60 price point or even cheaper in spite being released for the PlayStation 5.

Next: Yes, The Last of Us: Part II Can Be Played on PS5

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

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