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Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of video game publishers such as Rockstar Games and 2K Games, has described its move to increase the price of next-generation games as “justified”.
In a new interview with Gamesindustry.biz, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick defended the price hike for the upcoming NBA 2K21, which will go for US$70 from the current standard of US$60. “There hasn’t been a price increase for frontline titles for a really long time, despite the fact that it costs a great deal more to make those titles,” he said.
“And we think with the value we offer consumers… and the kind of experience you can really only have on these next-generation consoles, that the price is justified,” Zelnick added. “But it’s easy to say that when you’re delivering extraordinary quality, and that’s what our company prides itself on doing.”
Take-Two’s stance on pricing differs from Ubisoft, which announced that it will not be raising the prices for next-gen games released later this year. During a recent earnings call, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said that “for the Christmas games, we plan to come with the same price as the previous generation of consoles”.
When pressed about Take-Two’s deviation from Ubisoft, Zelnick noted that “we don’t speak for the industry and the industry naturally does not coordinate on these matters, to say the very least”.
However, Zelnick added that the pricing of next-generation games would be on a “title-by-title basis”, seemingly implying that the US$10 price hike would not be applied across the board to all its upcoming titles.
Earlier this year, Take-Two announced plans to release 93 games over the course of the next five years. Zelnick said the company’s upcoming slate is the “strongest development pipeline in its history, including sequels from our biggest franchises as well as exciting new IP”.
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