Ubisoft is already reassuring its community base about the price tags of its game porting to the next-generation consoles, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.
During its earnings call this Wednesday, the Montreal-based gaming giant, Ubisoft, has made it public about the company’s plan to not increase their game’s prices that’ll be made available for Sony’s PlayStation 5 and Microsoft’s Xbox Series X this fall.
The two next-gen consoles have been hyped recently, following their respective official reveal. With what the gaming consoles are capable of, both running in Epic Games’ futuristic Unreal Engine 5, game analysts, and the gaming public have assumed a possible price increase for the games that’ll be ported to PS5 and Xbox Series X.
Last month, Micky News noted that Sony CEO Jim Ryan admits that there might be a probable increase in game development budget with the PlayStation 5. As he told GamesIndustry.Biz, “so yes, we think there probably will be an increase in development budgets.” With that, it is only economically logical that the retail prices for the games will also increase.
No price hike for fall releases in Ubisoft
Per The Verge, Ubisoft has publicly committed to keeping their game prices at US$59.99 [AU$83.89]. However, this might only reflect the price tags of the games that are set for fall releases.
The exact words were, according to the media outlet, “we plan to come with the same price as the previous generation of consoles.” It looks like it is definitely the case, as the prices for its highly anticipated titles, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Watch Dogs: Legion, reflect the same.
Get ready for #WatchDogsLegion, launching October 29! pic.twitter.com/CDCba6OkHf
— Ubisoft (@Ubisoft) July 17, 2020
For Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, the Standard Edition is $59.99, while its Gold Edition and Ultimate Edition are $99.99 and $119.99, respectively. The same price range can be seen for Watch Dogs: Legion on the Ubisoft Store.
Ubisoft was then compared to other gaming giants, Take-Two and its respective subsidiary, 2K Games, who plan to top up a $10-increase on its upcoming NBA game entry—NBA 2k21.
Ubisoft wouldn't answer when asked about next-gen pricing after this fall. "We are concentrating on the Christmas releases. We have decided those games will be launched at $60"
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) July 22, 2020
Other gaming firms that’ll offer a free next-gen upgrade
Polygon highlights that 2K Games will not be offering a free next-gen upgrade. This is why NBA 2K21 on PS5 and Xbox Series X is $10 higher, while on PS4, Xbox One, PC, Switch, and Google Stadia, the game will remain at $59.99.
Nevertheless, there are other game publishers who will offer a free upgrade of their titles to the next-gen consoles. Accordingly, CD Projekt Red will offer a cross-generational upgrade for its highly-anticipated Cyberpunk 2077. Marvel’s Avengers, Madden NFL 21, FIFA 21 will also offer this privilege.
The online publication noted that the general pricing for video games have maintained within the $59.99-price range for 15 years. Reportedly, no price increase happened when the PS4 and the Xbox One came out.
With times changing and the next-gen consoles offering quite the promising gaming experience, it was only a matter of time for prices to change as well.
Featured image courtesy of map/Flickr