Summary
Games have been getting more expensive lately, butEAsays it won’t follow suit, at least not right now. Video game pricing has historically been fairly consistent between studios, hanging around the $60 mark for years before many AAA titles bumped up to $70 around 2020, but now there seems to be yet another price hike on the horizon. However, it may not be an industry-wide shift for now, with gaming giantEAsaying it doesn’t plan on charging more for the time being.
Questions around price now linger in the air around any major release. EA is certainly no exception, withthe nextBattlefieldgame coming in 2026and a host of other AAA games under its umbrella. In a move that may surprise some gamers, though, the company says it will stick with its current pricing model, with one big caveat.
In a recent earnings call reported byYahoo Finance, EA CFO Stuart Canfield said the company will implement “no changes in the current strategy at this point” when asked about rising prices in response to larger economic trends. The reporter who asked the question had mentioned other studios announcing titles at higher prices, likely referring to recent headlines likeNintendo charging $80 for some Switch 2 gamesand requiring additional purchases for next-gen upgrades. There are also rumors thatGTA 6could carry an eye-watering price tag. Still, EA seems confident that it won’t have to do the same, though it’s unclear how long it will stand by current prices.
EA Execs Say The Company Won’t Change Its Pricing Strategy “At This Point”
While the news of no price hikes for now may offer some relief, the wording doesn’t leave out the possibility of future increases. Before Canfield’s clarification, CEO Andrew Wilson mentioned how the company’s pricing strategy today is different from what it was 10 years ago, thanks to the decline of physical retail and the rise of freemium models. He went on to say that the goal is to deliver quality and value, whether that’s for a free game or “something that costs $100.” Those statements seem to suggest that a strategic change and higher future prices aren’t out of the question. EvenXbox announced a $10 increase to first-party games, so it seems like big companies may not be able to sustain lower prices forever.
It’s impossible to say how EA might approach game pricing in the future. It may keep things at their current rate for years, or it may bump them up before long. Prices will remain the same for now, but “at the moment” is a vague timeframe. It’s also worth noting thatEA subsidiaries like Codemasters and Respawn have suffered layoffsrecently, suggesting the company is not totally immune to macroeconomic pressure. Gamers will have to wait and see what happens.
