Sega launched Sonic Frontiers in November 2022 for $59.99, but the next Sonic game may be released at a higher price point. During a recent results briefing for analysts and institutional investors regarding the fiscal year ended March 2023, Sega Sammy executives were questioned as to why unit sales pricing for the new game had gone up, and one pointed out that AAA games are now sold at $69.99. “We would like to review the prices of titles that we believe are commensurate with price increases, while also keeping an eye on market conditions,” the executive said. Sonic Frontiers, which currently has a Very Positive rating on Steam, has sold over 3.5 million copies so far, according to recent reports.
From a Sega Sammy document:
Q: Please tell us why the unit sales price of the new game is set higher in the FY2024/3 plan. Do you actually plan to increase the unit sales price? Or will the unit sales price increase due to the impact of recording of license fees and in-game revenues, etc?
A: In the global marketplace, AAA game titles for console have been sold at $59.99 for many years, but titles sold at $69.99 have appeared in the last year. We would like to review the prices of titles that we believe are commensurate with price increases, while also keeping an eye on market conditions. Also, for titles that are planned to be offered via subscription services, revenue made via contract deals are also included in sales figures, so we would like you to be aware that when these figures are divided by the number of units, there is an apparent impact on the increase in unit price.
Discussion (15 replies)
Join Discussion →I don't buy games until they're on sale at $20 or less (usually less), so all these dang game companies can charge whatever the f*ck they want for launch prices. Makes no difference to me.
My threshold is a lot lower, and I still have too many games I'm yet to play.
I just got Farcry 6 for 15€ + a free game. But I don't mind paying full price for a game I realy want
Same boat, there just haven't been many games out there lately that I really want.
I like to use the alcohol test.
Will I get more enjoyment out of the game, or a bottle of liquor that costs the same as the game?
And the answer to that is where my money goes.
I don't mind paying full price either for a game I really want. But full price is 60 for a bog standard game, not a cent more.
Sega makes games?
I can't think of any title I think is worth more than $39.99, and I try to wait until I can buy them for under $29.99 on a good sale.
There are a fairly few franchises I would buy at launch at these full prices. We are talking fewer than I can count on one hand.
Pretty sure none of them are made by Sega :p
$40 is like the extreme upper end for me. $40 to me is like a $60 launch price. I don't think any game should ever cost more than $40, and that's only for the games that give you a ridiculous amount of content for that price, and a ton of hours of gameplay. Like I said, I usually grab games for less than half that price.
I don't even know if I have that many. And I wouldn't apply that to entire franchises, just to individual games.
That's been on sale on Steam, but I can't bring myself to buy a Ubisoft game that requires their launcher.
My issue with that kind of thinking is that if I went that route I might as well stop playing games as most of the games I play require a different launcher. Other then the Boderlands series I haven't spent much time on steam games in recent years.
And if I buy a game for 15€ on the ubi launcher at least they get the 15€ and not 10€ and valve 5€
Then again, I also kept buying physical copies of games as long as I could so what do I know?
I don't care that big publishers have their own launcher, games had launchers for a long time, having one / company instead of one / game is actually an improvement.
I honestly can't remember the last Sega game I bought and can't think of any that are on the horizon that I'm waiting for either so it won't really matter.
I'll pay full price for a game if I feel it has enough content, and great visuals, to keep me interested but there's only a small handful of developers that I trust for that. I don't usually go by the publishers but the reputation of those making the games and even then it's based on my personal experience with their past titles and what I know about the newest one. Case in point I've paid full price for Witcher 3 and the last two Metro Games but knowing that the next ones are going to be built using a different engine (UE5) I'm going to wait and see how they work out. I like UE5 but not jumping onto these new games at launch for full price until I hear how well the teams have adapted to it, considering how some studios have made a mess of their launches with it.
Capcom has left me feeling a little burnt though. I really enjoyed Biohazard, got it for a discount way after release, and was happy to pay full price for the 2nd remake. Did the same for the 3rd only to feel like it was more like DLC for the 2nd. Village redeemed them a bit but I feel its DLC should've been free considering how short it was. I've held off on the latest one and I'm thinking of waiting until it's discounted.
I usually don't mind either, but Ubisoft's is terrible.
There aren't many for me, but I will reluctantly play full price for the following franchises at launch, if I don't have anything I am deep into already from my queue:
- Sid Meier's Civilization series
- S.T.A.L.K.E.R series
- Deus Ex series (if we ever get another one)
That's about it.
Everything else I'll just wait for a sale
Yup. But I also am a dummy and paid full price for the Civs..... 5 I have totally got my money's worth, and I still play it with Vox Populi mod (if you haven't tried this, DO IT NOW). Beyond Earth sucked though, and Civ 6 just rubs me the wrong way.... so I'll be waiting on the next one.
Sega wise... I have played some of the Yakuza games, but those were all bundle deals or freebies. I wouldn't pay real money for any of that.
Sega needs to get over themselves.... they are not an AAA studio.
Yep, I'd say that pretty much ended with the days of the Dreamcast. They've really outrun themselves! Ha, I knew I could get that pun in somehow.