I can't afford 120 dollar games.

And now they will raise the prices for 4 hour gameplay games again.

This will cause price increases due to them wanting to make more money, many people cannot afford $100 games. This will increase piracy, creating more problems. Only way it stops is if we stop demanding high and high technology.

I might not be remembering this right, but didn't they say they developed the next unreal engine to make creating games faster and easier?

I guess it either means more expensive games or less leaps of faith (new IPs). Let's hope I'm wrong.

What really? I find it hard to believe that as technology progresses it gets harder to use. From the artistic side I can see things taking longer and therefore costing more. Yet, with new engines should they not be easier to use tech wise? I am probably out of my depth here but this still does not make sense to me.

They better start being smart about this instead of throwing money every which way, because there is no way the majority of games will sell the copies they need to turn a profit, and I am not spending some $120 for a game.

*facepalm* This doesn't mean "games will cost consumers twice as much"

This is more "The baseline fidelity level for assets will be higher" i.e. twice as many man-hours needed. After all, the technological advancements (more processing power, more capable engines) are merely the means... all those super high poly-count models, high resolution textures, high-frame count animations and so forth will only be as good as the artist behind them deems - i.e. the amount of time per asset.

I am no financial analyst, but I think it's safe to guess that MSRP on games isn't going to change... we'll likely just see more revenue streams for publishers. In-game advertising, general corporate partnerships for real-world ads, and perhaps most inevitably - more frequent DLC.

Really what's much more troubling is the inevitable downfall of "big" blockbuster productions, especially for new IPs. We have already seen droves of smaller dev houses in the past two years migrating to "mobile and casual" due - foremost - to lower initial costs.

Oh god! [Insert OH SHI-! meme here].

Fewer games. More expensive games. More DLC to pad profit margins. Sounds awful to me. If this is the future of gaming it is going to be one with less variety from AAA developers. I guess indies will pick up the slack but it really isn't the same. I hope developers like Platinum, Suda 51, and others who make want to make ambitious projects without big money guaranteed don't get scared off from making games for consoles and PC. I've said it already and I will say it again, Graphics whores are going to kill the industry.

Well I guess you want to make GTA6 with even more detail than current gen then yeah it'll probably cost more to hire more studios. I just see this as game developers entering into Forbes 400 in the future

this isn't good...maybe better technology isn't better if game pricing and development are going to double or triple in price...i'm hopeful for the next-gen but if games are double or triple what they are now, no thanks...glad i still have my gamecube, ps2 and ps3...

1) New technology is always more expensive to implement at first. Costs may go way up for a bit, but should come down at a relatively steady rate. Smart companies won't increase their costs above $60; they'll find ways to get more output from their input, and drive the cost of production down. This means smaller games will be the norm (I'm fine with that), which will give independent developers a better chance to "keep up" with the big studios. Also expect more upgrades of old games, which don't need as much new development. 2) That said, everything gets more expensive when the government increases taxes on tariffs and business income. America voted for higher taxes on "the rich", a category which includes business owners and CEOs. Does anyone really believe those costs won't be passed down to us consumers? We're going to see either more layoffs, or higher prices. And since businesses can't stay open without employees, when layoffs bottom out then prices will go up (or companies will close). File under "Basic Economics" and "Elections Have Consequences".

That's horrible news for us, the consumers. Game prices are probably going to rise from 60 to 65 or 70. It's getting a lil too high...I for one love this generation, but the writing is on the wall with declining software and hardware sales....Next fall will usher in the Xbox Next and the PS4 will be soon to follow...I just hope the prices remain manageable, or I'm going to go broke.

Unless, you know, indie devs finally get their hands on the new visual programming that Unreal 4 has. Then costs will drop significantly since you'll be able to get a functional tech demo that can work on consoles that doesn't even necessarily require a coder.

What development costs can there possibly be other than renting out the engine? Development companies already have salaried employees, and machines that they need to create the game. It's not as if they are producing something physical that uses resources. It's all digital. I can't see how production costs could go anywhere but DOWN.

i doubt it. once it becomes a reality theyll get better at it and it wont cost that much

If games end up going up in price because of this, I might be done gaming for a while, at least with new stuff. Games already cost $64.64 when I buy them. Any higher than that and it's getting a little ridiculous.

Jesus *** Christ people do not understand how game development works. Games are ridiculously hard to create. They take a lot of time. They take a lot of man power. Even the most streamlined ready to use pipeline still requires all of the time to use those tools to create said content. It takes a lot of talent, skill, and time to make even the simplest of props. Workers at game studios already struggle to get the pay they deserve now. Do you want bigger games? It is just going to cost more. End of story. They will not charge more so they can make more money. They will charge more so that they can pay the employee's who made the game.

well, the game price itself would increase like, about $80 per game...