Returnal, Skyward Sword and the value of video games | Opinion
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The thorny issue of video game pricing has reared its head in recent weeks. First, Nintendo revealed a remaster of the Wii game The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, complete with $60/£50 price tag. Fans took to social media: How can Nintendo justify that? A port of a game at the same price as an entirely original product? People were furious, and then rushed to Amazon and pre-ordered it anyway.
The conversation was ignited again after PlayStation's recent State of Play event, particularly around Housemarque's PS5 title Returnal. Sony has slapped a $70/£70 price tag on the new horror IP, and Twitter decried the decision as folly. A new IP without any major marketable assets, releasing alongside bigger, more affordable products like Resident Evil: Village? It doesn't stand a chance.
Let's bring this back to the subject at hand -- and specifically Nintendo, which has almost always delivered high quality games, and has an active audience of fans who really value those experiences. It has always charged a premium price for Mario and Zelda products -- even in the mobile space -- and therefore the benefit vs cost equation works for Nintendo. Customers expect high quality and believe it to be worth a premium price.
A good example of this is Mario 3D All-Stars. The collection launched last September and was rather cheaply made -- it is three ports of old Mario games and a menu of music -- but it was priced at $60. Read the social media comments and it's clear that some fans felt charging full price for this was outrageous, and that Nintendo could either have given them more for their money or set a budget price.
Yet despite what was said on social media, Mario 3D All-Stars shipped 8.3 million globally. The reality is that customers expect to pay for Mario games, and $60 for 60 to 70 hours of gameplay -- less than $1 an hour -- is perceived as good value by those players.
To give a personal example (remember, value is subjective), and to bring us onto the topic of Sony, let's talk about the upcoming Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart -- which, like all full first-party PS5 games, is being sold in the UK for £70. I love Ratchet & Clank, it is one of my all-time favourite franchises, and my benefit expectation for the upcoming PS5 title is extremely high. Yet when I saw that price, I hesitated.
I have spent more than £70 on video games before, but I've not spent anywhere near that for a Ratchet & Clank title. In fact, the last game on PS4, the remake of the original, cost me £30 brand new. I do expect to pay more for an all-new PS5 title, but double the price? The benefit/cost equation isn't working so well in this case.
Unlike Nintendo, Sony doesn't have a reputation for high prices on software -- hardware is a different matter -- so trying to convince it fans that $70 for Ratchet & Clank or Returnal is good value is a tall order.
Of course, that quality needs to be delivered upon. If Sony doesn't keep up its run of form, the PlayStation Studios badge will become meaningless. Worldwide Studios games have to be big, high quality and the best at what they do, which is perhaps why Sony has invested in its bigger studios and cut teams like Japan Studio.
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