[IGN] EA Bucks Industry Trend And Says It Has No Plans to Increase Video Game Prices

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"Our business is very different today than it was even just 10 years ago," says CEO



Publisher/ developer EA has confirmed it has no plans to raise the price of its games even as the likes of Microsoft and Nintendo jump to $80.

Addressing investors in its latest financial call, CEO Andrew Wilson said the company's focus was to "deliver incredible quality and exponential value for our playerbase," such as its hit co-op adventure Split Fiction, which has now sold 4 million copies.

"In terms of pricing power, our business is very different today than it was even just 10 years ago," Wilson explained. "In a world where everything we did 10 years ago was about selling shiny discs in plastic boxes in retail shelves — well, that's still a part of our business, it's a significantly smaller part of our business, and we now have pricing representing everything from free-to-play all the way to deluxe editions and beyond.

"At the end of the day, whether we're doing something that costs a dollar, or we're doing something that costs $10, or we're doing something that costs $100, our objective is always to deliver incredible quality and exponential value for our playerbase," said Wilson. "And what we've discovered over the course of time is [when] we can marry quality and value together, our business is strong, resilient, and continues to grow."

"From a guidance perspective [...] we have reflected no changes in our current [pricing] strategy at this point," added CFO Stuart Canfield.

It'll be welcome news to some, given just last week, Microsoft confirmed it was raising Xbox prices as well as increasing the cost of controllers, headsets, and some games. The price hike for consoles and accessories has already taken effect, and while game prices will stay the same for now, we should expect to see Xbox charging $79.99 for new, first-party games around the holiday season.

It follows a broader trend in AAA gaming that has seen prices jumping from $60 to $70 in just the last five years, and Nintendo going with $80 for upcoming Switch 2 exclusive Mario Kart World and some other Switch 2 Edition games. The Switch 2 itself was recently revealed to be launching at $450, a price that drew criticism from Nintendo fans even as analysts admitted such a high price was likely inevitable amid current economic conditions.

Given EA's comments, we can expect the next EA Sports FC, Madden, and Battlefield games to stick to the $70 standard edition pricing.

Last week, IGN reported EA cut around 100 jobs at Apex Legend developer Respawn Entertainment, as well as making wider cuts across its organization, impacting around 300 individuals in all.



Wow GIF
 
It's not an exactly rosy picture he's painting though.
We might not raise the standard price to $80, although we might. Besides we already increased it past that ages ago for deluxe editions and filled our games with MTX.
 
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It's not an exactly rosy picture he's painting though.
We might not raise the standard price to $80, although we might. Besides we already increased it past that ages ago for deluxe editions and filled our games with MTX.
MS/ABK have already filled their games with MTX and deluxe premium editions and they're still raising it to $80. Just take the win of EA games being $70 still.

"Instead, we're cutting out a ton of our staff in favor of AI"

Again MS/ABK has been caught using AI generated Art and cut staff too. Take the win. Show them that this idea not to raise the game prices is a positive at least.
 
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They dont make games worth raising the price for. Their primary business is re-releasing the same Madden or soccer game over and over in order to push microtransactions. Wilson knows he is a slop merchant and now is an AI slop merchant. If anything they should drop the price.
 
MS/ABK have already filled their games with MTX and deluxe premium editions and they're still raising it to $80. Just take the win of EA games being $70 still.
Its only a win of it happens.

"From a guidance perspective [...] we have reflected no changes in our current [pricing] strategy at this point," added CFO Stuart Canfield.

Is not exactly a firm commitment not to raise prices.
 
Well of course, their sports games are filled with predatory gachas. The initial price of entry is nothing to them.
 
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Its only a win of it happens.

"From a guidance perspective [...] we have reflected no changes in our current [pricing] strategy at this point," added CFO Stuart Canfield.

Is not exactly a firm commitment not to raise prices.
That's true but we can complain when it does. No point in complaining about other things like mtx and deluxe premium editions (as shit as those are) as to how they're alternatively screwing us in other ways when those charging $80 have those things anyway. Them saying they have no current plans to go to $80 is a positive.
 
Using AI they can probably afford not to raise prices. Humans are expensive. Especially game dev ones. You could cut these bloated game budgets in half simply by moving the physical studios out of California.
 
When you you become greedier then EA.
What a world we live in.
 
When we said we had no plans to increase game prices, we specifically meant to the price point of $80, what we actually meant to say is we're looking more at $100.
 
MS/ABK have already filled their games with MTX and deluxe premium editions and they're still raising it to $80. Just take the win of EA games being $70 still.
I don't think it will last too long. The rest of the industry will announce $80 pricing and one by one all publishers will fall in line.

It fucking blows.
 

"Our business is very different today than it was even just 10 years ago," says CEO



Publisher/ developer EA has confirmed it has no plans to raise the price of its games even as the likes of Microsoft and Nintendo jump to $80.

Addressing investors in its latest financial call, CEO Andrew Wilson said the company's focus was to "deliver incredible quality and exponential value for our playerbase," such as its hit co-op adventure Split Fiction, which has now sold 4 million copies.

"In terms of pricing power, our business is very different today than it was even just 10 years ago," Wilson explained. "In a world where everything we did 10 years ago was about selling shiny discs in plastic boxes in retail shelves — well, that's still a part of our business, it's a significantly smaller part of our business, and we now have pricing representing everything from free-to-play all the way to deluxe editions and beyond.

"At the end of the day, whether we're doing something that costs a dollar, or we're doing something that costs $10, or we're doing something that costs $100, our objective is always to deliver incredible quality and exponential value for our playerbase," said Wilson. "And what we've discovered over the course of time is [when] we can marry quality and value together, our business is strong, resilient, and continues to grow."

"From a guidance perspective [...] we have reflected no changes in our current [pricing] strategy at this point," added CFO Stuart Canfield.

It'll be welcome news to some, given just last week, Microsoft confirmed it was raising Xbox prices as well as increasing the cost of controllers, headsets, and some games. The price hike for consoles and accessories has already taken effect, and while game prices will stay the same for now, we should expect to see Xbox charging $79.99 for new, first-party games around the holiday season.

It follows a broader trend in AAA gaming that has seen prices jumping from $60 to $70 in just the last five years, and Nintendo going with $80 for upcoming Switch 2 exclusive Mario Kart World and some other Switch 2 Edition games. The Switch 2 itself was recently revealed to be launching at $450, a price that drew criticism from Nintendo fans even as analysts admitted such a high price was likely inevitable amid current economic conditions.

Given EA's comments, we can expect the next EA Sports FC, Madden, and Battlefield games to stick to the $70 standard edition pricing.

Last week, IGN reported EA cut around 100 jobs at Apex Legend developer Respawn Entertainment, as well as making wider cuts across its organization, impacting around 300 individuals in all.



Wow GIF
They also have no plans to increase game quality lol
 
They are a microtransaction pay to win company with FUT MUT CUT NUT

honestly they should consider CUTTING their price to entice more morons that will get suckered into their pay to win scheme
 
minus sports wat games do they even make anymore. enjoy your 10 saved dollars as you spend hundreds on gacha mechanics. and the shit they will release at 70 dollar price point will be gimped poor edition with access a week later.
 
Well, technically they sell the same sport games every year and people still buy them, so it's nice of them to scam their audience only once.
 
Because they've been doing it for years already with the Main game + DLC + BP + Season Pass + virtual card booster packs + yearly releases with minimal changes.

I wonder what any "full experience" actually costs in terms of an average EA game.
 
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