Gamers are Ready to Pay $70 for a Game, Claims Take-Two's CEO
Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of Take-Two, believes that game price hikes are a necessity. Moreover, according to him, gamers were prepared for such changes.
- Take-Two's CEO believes that raising game prices is a necessity;
- According to Straus Zelnick, gamers are ready for such changes;
- Higher prices are to be related to the quality of games for next-gen consoles.
In an interview for VGC Straus Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two, was asked about the latest price increase , which he decided to implement as a publisher on the occasion of the release of NBA 2K21 the price was raised from the standard 60 to 70 dollars. The move ties in with a price hike that has been announced for some time, related to the transition to next-gen consoles. However, Zelnick believes that gamers were ready for this change.
“We announced a $70 price point for NBA 2K21, our view was that we’re offering an array of extraordinary experiences, lots of replayability, and the last time there was a frontline price increase in the US was 2005, 2006, so we think consumers were ready for it.”
He also added that he is sure that gamers understand the need to increase game prices. According to Zelnick, $70 is simply a reliable representation of the value of the titles offered by Take-Two.
“We all know anecdotally that even if you love a consumer experience, if you feel you were overcharged for it, it ruins the experience, you don’t want to have it again. [If you] go to a great restaurant, a really really fine restaurant, have a great meal and great service, then you get a check that’s double what you think it should be, you’re never going back. So we always want to make sure that consumers feel like we deliver much more than we ask in return, and that’s true for our current consumer spending as well. We’re an entertainment company, we’re here to captivate and engage consumers, and if we do that then monetisation follows.”
However, giving NBA 2K21 as an example of game offering the highest standard of gameplay may annoy some gamers. Shortly after its release, the game received a large number of negative or mixed reviews from critics, as well as people who purchased the title. Among the drawbacks mentioned by users was the aggressive monetization, which was supposed to affect the pleasure of gameplay.
