Capcom has addressed the consumer response to its first $70 game as well as its strategy for future software pricing.
Dragon’s Dogma 2, which was released on March 22, is the Japanese company’s first game to carry the increased price point that has been adopted by many publishers this console generation.
The game sold over2.5 million copiesduring its launch month andsurpassed three million salesby late May, according toCapcom.
In a newly published translation ofits latest earningsQ&A session, the company was asked about the performance of the game and to discussits strategy for pricing software going forward.
“This title was given a moderate reception from players and achieved 2.6 million units in sales as of the end of March 2024,” it said. “Regarding pricing for future game releases, we will determine prices after carefully assessing user response and considering the rising cost of development.”
It wouldn’t be too much of a surprise if Capcom started releasing more $70 titles, given its president reportedly said last September thathe believed games should cost more to buy.
“Personally, I feel that game prices are too low,” Haruhiro Tsujimoto said during theTokyo Game Show, according toNikkei. “Development costs are around 100 times higher than they were in the days of the Famicom (NES), but the price of software hasn’t risen so much.
“There is also a need to raise wages in order to attract talented people. Given that wages are rising across the industry as a whole, I think the option of raising unit prices is a healthy form of business.”
LikeUbisoft, whichreleased its first $70 game in Decemberin the form ofAvatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Capcom is relatively late to the trend of raising software prices during the current console cycle.
Further reading
In August 2020,Take-Two’sNBA 2K21becamethe first current-gen game to be priced at $70. The likes ofActivision,Sony,EA,Square Enix,NintendoandMicrosofthave since followed suit.
Capcom plans to show offMonster Hunter Wildsduring Friday’sSummer Games Fest showcase.
