Will they soon be part of the $70 club?
As the industry grapples with 2023 Triple-A game costs, SEGA too is considering bumping up the prices. During the latest Investor Earnings Q&A, as reported by Video Games Chronicle, CEO Haruki Satomi and CFO Koichi Fukazawa indicated that SEGA’s game prices are being reviewed.
“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.”
SEGA Investor Q&A translation, from Video Games Chronicle
While this is far from a committal to $70 games across-the-board, SEGA has repeatedly experimented with day-one “deluxe” upgrades in recent years, like Lost Judgment’s dating content, Banana Mania and Colors Ultimate’s early access, and Origins’ nonsensical array of DLC options. As VGC notes, companies like Take-Two, Activision, Sony, Ubisoft, and even Nintendo have started to flirt with $70 price tags for their biggest games. If this continues as an industry standard, $70 for a game at the scale of Like a Dragon isn’t unthinkable, but other SEGA franchises like Sonic, Monkey Ball, and Project DIVA tend to be price fluid. Even the upcoming Samba de Amigo Party Central will be launching at $40.
This “review” also sits within larger cultural and strategic shifts within SEGA as a whole. SEGA’s Japanese offices recently increased wages, and SEGA of America has formed one of the industry’s biggest unions. Throughout investor briefings, SEGA continues to bank big on their vaguely defined “Super Game” initiative, expecting… whatever it will be, to make up a significant percent of their future revenue. Sonic Frontiers, a game with a drastically different scope from other 3D Sonic games, has in turn sold far, far better than other recent entries.
All that said, for any worried that SEGA is about to price them out of getting the next Sonic or Like a Dragon, let’s keep in mind how quickly and how frequently SEGA discounts its catalog both physically and digitally.