I'm not saying you can't increase the price," Wingefors told the site. "But the reality is no one has tried it. If you create an enormous role-playing game, for example, with 100 or 150 hours of gameplay, very polished, and a unique experience, would the consumer be willing to pay more? If they would, they would have more products potentially coming to market. But no one tried it.
"It's something we have been discussing, but we are
currently sticking to the practice of the industry. Would it be that one [company] one day that tries to increase pricing? That remains to be seen.
...
I think the industry is facing the same problem as all other industries, with inflation and rising costs of game development," Wingefors added. "And it's been hard to increase pricing [in] premium PC/console. The pricing of those products has been the same for many years, which means that the margin to succeed is less, and on top of that, there is a higher cost of capital. Ultimately when you make big investments or games, you need to play with teams you are very confident in, or with IPs you own or control, and have the full financial income.
On top of that, the consumers have more content than ever to choose from. They love to engage in established IPs they've been playing before, which means it's harder to have them trying out new things or new IPs. It's just something we're all facing. It's a reality which we have been adapting to over the past year, and we will continue to adapt to that reality.