Xbox marketing boss Aaron Greenberg has shed a little light on whether Microsoft will be increasing their game prices for next-gen Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S titles, like Activision, Sony, and others.
Speaking on the Real Deal Xbox podcast earlier this week, Greenberg expressed that "gaming pricing is a super-complex thing to answer." He went on to say that "what you've seen from us is that we want to put gamers first," pointing to the value of Smart Delivery and Game Pass initiatives.
"Our commitment and how we’ve approached this whole generation is all your gaming accessories work," Greenberg went on to say. "We’re not going to make you pay again for next-gen versions of our games, we’re doing Smart Delivery… we’ve tried to be ‘fan-first’ in every way that we can."
Speaking on game pricing in particular, Greenberg stated that "gaming pricing is a super-complex thing to answer because in the old days, every game launched at one price and that was it. But we launched Ori and the Will of the Wisps for $30 and Gears Tactics is a new title launching this holiday and it’s launching at $60. State of Decay 2 launched at $40. So there’s not a simple answer to that except to say that Tactics we’re launching at $60”.
Greenberg didn't have a simple answer for Xbox's strategy to next-gen game pricing, but as he states, that's because there isn't a simple answer. However, Greenberg did suggest that $70 retail games might be an exception, and might not be the new industry normal going forward.
This all comes, of course, after Sony's move to increase their PS5 game prices to $70. PlayStation's Jim Ryan confirmed last month that games like Demon's Souls and Destruction All-Stars would retail for $70, a marked increase from the standard $60.
Sony's hardly alone in increasing retail game prices to $70. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick defended the decision to increase the next-gen price of NBA 2K21 to $70 last month, and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War will retail for $70 on both the PS5 and the Xbox Series X.
For a complete look at all the games coming to Microsoft's two next-gen consoles, head over to our upcoming Xbox Series X games guide.
