PS5 game prices may have upset some players who were not expecting to pay $70 a pop, but Sony’s Jim Ryan thinks that they’re more than fair — especially when you compare them against other forms of entertainment such as films.
The first hints of higher prices for PS5 games came when NBA 2k21 revealed that its next-gen editions would cost $10 more. It soon came to light that the $69.99 price point would soon be the norm for many PS5 games (and the situation is even worse in the UK and Europe). Now, Sony’s Jim Ryan has defended the price hike while also quashing rumors that the company was considering even higher prices than what we got.
‘Hours of entertainment’ justify higher PS5 game prices
Sony Interactive Entertainment President and CEO Jim Ryan recently spoke to The Telegraph. One of the many topics that came up was the higher PS5 game prices and the interviewer asked him if this was a fair price point for a game like Demon’s Souls, a highly-anticipated remaster that made the disappointing decision to lock some iconic items behind a paywall.
“If you measure the hours of entertainment provided by a video game, such as Demon’s Souls compared to any other form of entertainment, I think that’s a very straightforward comparison to draw,” Sony’s Jim Ryan said in the interview.
Jim Ryan also took the time to address rumors that Sony had planned to go even higher than a $10 increase for the PS5. According to him, a $10 price bump was always the plan, although it might not always be that way in the future.
“I can say that that report that we were considering higher prices for [first-party] games is categorically false,” Ryan explained.
“I’m not making any predictions about anything that might or might not happen in the future,” he added, referring to Naughty Dog’s next PS5 game. “I’m saying that the reports about discussions that we considered higher pricing for [first-party] games in this launch window were categorically false.:
That last response may be the most troubling to gamers on a budget. Jim Ryan is being very careful not to announce any firm decisions, but he is leaving the door open for the next blockbuster title to potentially charge players an even higher price. Only time will tell whether or not another PS5 game prices increase will come at the start of the next generation — or even sooner than that.
