Capcomis “considering” joining other publishers in releasing games with a $70 price tag, according to a recent earnings call. This comes ahead ofDragon’s Dogma 2’s launch, which will be the first of its titles to cost $70, not the usual $60 price point.
This was spotted byVGC, having been discussed by Capcom in aconference call. In the call, Capcom discusses its performance towards the end of last year, while also sharing how it intends to maintain its growth in 2024. Part of this strategy will likely include a $70 price tag for its games, as the company makes it clear that it’s keeping an eye on changes to game pricing across the industry.
“Industrywide development costs are rising, and we are considering a price review as one
option,” says Capcom, referring to Dragon’s Dogma 2’s higher price tag than usual. “Ultimately, we intend to take a thoughtful approach in pricing our games while ascertaining user feedback.”
Needless to say, much of this user feedback would most likely be players saying that they’d prefer to pay less for a game, not more. But regardless of how we feel about it, Capcom will be waiting to see if a $70 price tag hurts its sales at all. It expects Dragon’s Dogma 2 to sell in the millions, as per the fiscal report, so we’ll have to wait and see if this hinders its chances of reaching these projections.
Ubisoft recently found itselfdefending the $70 price tag for Skull & Bones, infamously arguing that it’s a “Quadruple-A game”. Capcom has not made this argument.
Capcom comments on other industry trends in the conference call, including lengthy development cycles.
“The trend in recent years has been that as development cycles grow, work-in-progress for game software increases,” says Capcom. “However, we see the streamlining of development and enhancement of productivity as priority issues and are continuing to address these on an ongoing basis.”
True enough, Capcom has managed to maintain a steady stream of releases throughout this console generation, more so than other developers and publishers. It doesn’t look like this will change anytime soon, as it’s being reported thatCapcom has five Resident Evil games in development right now, including Resident Evil 9. Capcom hasn’t confirmed this figure, but it’s clear that the Resi series is a huge part of its strategy, especially since the remakes have proven so popular. The company even noted that Resi 4’s sales increased when it was nominated at The Game Awards, so it would make sense to see it go all in on the series like this.
