Take-Two CEO Argues That Players Are Ready for $70 Games

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Image: 2K Games



Rockstar Games’ parent company believes that consumers are ready to pay more than $59.99 for a video game. The controversial theory was shared by Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick this week, who spoke at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, & Telecom Conference and defended the $70 price point that 2K Games’ latest basketball title, NBA 2K21, launched at for next-gen consoles. Zelnick argued that the higher pricing was fair not only because Take-Two’s games offer “extraordinary experiences” and a higher level of replayability than other titles, but that there hasn’t been a standard pricing increase for video games for over a decade.



“We announced a $70 price point for NBA 2K21, our view was that we’re offering an array of extraordinary experiences, lots of replayability, and the last time there was a...
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Yes we're slipping into a near global recession. Now is the time to hike prices!!
 
LOL, I wouldn't play an NBA or NFL, or NHL game if they paid me $70.

Regardless T2 is literally swimming in money thanks to GTA and they want me to feel sorry for them. No can do. The cashcows have dried up it is a drought. I'd not pay $70 for GTAVI. There are very few games you could coerce me into buying at that price point. And none of them are on your portfolio, fools.
 
Please.............
So, I guess the Sony Cyberpunk 2077 give back would have been easier to swallow if the game had been 70 bucks.
I have not met a game that was worth 70 dollars.
I can barely take 59. I prefer to buy games on my list at the Steam sales, months after release.
 
magoo said:
Please.............
So, I guess the Sony Cyberpunk 2077 give back would have been easier to swallow if the game had been 70 bucks.
I have not met a game that was worth 70 dollars.
I can barely take 59. I prefer to buy games on my list at the Steam sales, months after release.
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Oh, I've had plenty of games where I have happily spent more than $70. I'd say I probably have as high as four figures wrapped into some -- not even counting the price of the PC. MMOs with subscription fees and annual expansions start to add up pretty quick if you just sit back and look at what your spending - but for me, at the time I was playing - well worth it, and much cheaper than going to the bar every night (although, debatable if it was as much fun)

Value for entertainment is very subjective. What may be totally worth it to one person, is an utter waste to another. So I don't begrudge anyone willing to pay $70 for NBA 202X year after year - it's your money, do what makes you happy. That game isn't worth it even at the low price of Free for me, but it's just not my bag.
 
Sure, I'd pay $70 if that gets me the full game not 25% of the game like we do now. If they want the base price to be $70 and the season pass another $60-70, they can **** right off.
 
I saw that Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart is gonna be $70 too. Publishers can charge $60, $70, whatever the f*ck. I don't purchase games until they start going below $30. I usually grab games in the $5-$20 range.
 
On rare occasion I pay full price. But as of late I generally try to wait and get a break in the ultimate edition so I know I get all of the expansion packs and such.
 
I haven't paid over $40 for a game in ten years. I don't preorder anymore either.
 
I still feel PC gaming is a fairly cheap hobby. Maybe not bottlecap collecting cheap, but certainly affordable compared to Automotive, Audio, Photography etc....

A **** game is worth nothing, a great game can easily be worth $70
 
People claim a game like Dominions 5 is overpriced, yet I've sunk thousands of hours into cracking that nut.

Was it a worthwhile investment? Oh yes, very enlightening experience.
 
One of the reasons I got into PC gaming was that the games become cheaper faster. I also don't usually jump on a game as soon as it comes out either unless I know for sure I'll like it, but that number has dropped for me at least.
 
I'll occasionally pay full price and even pre-order in some cases, but it's pretty rare. Usually only happens a few times a year. I did that for Cyberpunk and well, you know, and I'll likely get RE8 at launch. Other than that, I'm having a hard time of thinking of what else is coming out in 2021 I'm waiting for. I don't mind though if the game delivers on its promises. I do admit that $70 is getting up there for me but considering I remember paying $20-$30 back in the 80s, and $40-$50 in the 90s, it's not that much of a jump.

edit: I forgot that I am waiting to see how the Mass Effect remasters turn out but I'll wait for reviews before purchasing.
 
I like to purchase games immediately as they come out, because there are so few great games, so when one comes around that I'm convinced is worth playing, I'm not waiting around. That does not mean I pay $60 for every game. I'm always on the lookout for deals and pre-orders, and usually only pay under $50 for games despite having them at release date. For example i've paid $40 for Cyberpunk 2077, yes that meant pre-ordering it waay back in 2019. Without deals I'd buy much less games, and would be extremely careful what I spend money on. 1x game at $70 or 3 games at $45-50, they'd be worse off with higher pricing. But even one game would be a hard sell at that price tag. I might even decide to go to 0 purchases if all games were $70 at release, and just wait until they drop in price to $30 or less.
 
Ready? Like one gets "Ready" for a rectal exam / colonoscopy? It's not so much we are "Ready" as much as "have to do it".

I'm going to place a wager we will be paying $99 for games in the next 10 years... inflation and all.
 
Let’s see, games I’ve thought were easily worth 70, based on hours played:
Baulder’s Gate 1 and 2
Civilization 2
Diablo 1 & 2
Doom
Quake 2
Master of Orion 2
Mechwarrior 2
Mech warrior online
Battletech
X-Com: UFO defense (the original 90s version)
X-com 2 War of the Chosen
Counter strike (thus half life)
Eve online (I’ve paid a lot more than 70 on this one)


there are probably several more I’m not thinking of, but it’s not like there aren’t games worth $70+. They just aren’t terribly common - that list is like over 30 years of PC gaming, and is barely a dozen games long.
 
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Endgame said:
Let’s see, games I’ve thought were easily worth 70, based on hours played:
Baulder’s Gate 1 and 2
Civilization 2
Diablo 1 & 2
Doom
Quake 2
Master of Orion 2
Mechwarrior 2
Mech warrior online
Battletech
X-Com: UFO defense (the original 90s version)
X-com 2 War of the Chosen
Counter strike (thus half life)
Eve online (I’ve paid a lot more than 70 on this one)


there are probably several more I’m not thinking of, but it’s not like there aren’t games worth $70+. They just aren’t terribly common - that list is like over 30 years of PC gaming, and is barely a dozen games long.
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The thing is, that even if in hindsight I can judge games to be worth $70, if all games cost that, there is a high chance that I'd have skipped 90% of games I've played, even ones that I ended up spending 100+ hours with.
 
Endgame said:
Let’s see, games I’ve thought were easily worth 70, based on hours played:
Baulder’s Gate 1 and 2
Civilization 2
Diablo 1 & 2
Doom
Quake 2
Master of Orion 2
Mechwarrior 2
Mech warrior online
Battletech
X-Com: UFO defense (the original 90s version)
X-com 2 War of the Chosen
Counter strike (thus half life)
Eve online (I’ve paid a lot more than 70 on this one)


there are probably several more I’m not thinking of, but it’s not like there aren’t games worth $70+. They just aren’t terribly common - that list is like over 30 years of PC gaming, and is barely a dozen games long.
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Well sure, hindsight is 20/20. For every fantastic game that captivates you for a long time... there are 10 other titles that are absolute turds that cost the same amount. This is why I refuse to pre-order any more.

On a side note... I haven't done it in many years, but back in the days of being broke.... pretty sure 90% of those magically fell out of the sky and landed on my hard drive ;)
 
I'm just going to remind everyone of that time Gabe Newell told us that in this age of digital distribution, where each incremental unit costs next to nothing to produce and distribute, games make MORE money the lower you set the price.

When you lower the price you almost always make up for lost per unit revenue by greater sales.

Despite this they keep setting the price higher. Why? Lack of imagination? Fear? Pride?

Truth is, if they cut the price of the $70 game to just $7, they'd sell more than 10 times more units, and since there is no unit cost of goods sold, they'd actually make more money launching at $7 than at $70.
 
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