According to what was reported by Nikkei, Haruhiro Tsujimoto, CEO of Capcom, reportedly voiced a somewhat controversial opinion at this year’s Tokyo Game Show. "Personally, I believe game prices are too low", Tsujimoto said, explaining his position by citing rising development costs and the need to increase wages.
"Development costs today are roughly 100 times higher than those of the Famicom era, but software prices haven't risen by the same amount.", he explained. "There's also the need to raise salaries to attract talent. Given that wages are rising across the industry, I believe raising unit prices is a healthy business model.", he concluded Tsujimoto.
Capcom is one of the few publishers who has not yet joined the price hikes we've seen, for example, in Sony exclusives. The company's main releases this year — Exoprimal, Resident Evil 4 Remake and Street Fighter 6 — had a standard launch price of 59,99€. However, from Tsujimoto's comments it seems Capcom wants to get on board with the price hikes. The increase to 69,99€, sometimes 79,99€, has been heavily criticised by fans. Moreover, the enormous profits that software houses and publishers make from selling separate or integrated content alongside the base game are ignored. What were once called 'microtransactions' today can lead to incredible spending by players, with purchase offers often appearing borderline predatory, to the extent that some countries, in Europe and beyond, are taking regulatory action.
How far can prices be raised before players stop buying and turn to illegal alternatives or other less economically impactful hobbies?
