The CEO of Electronic Arts says there are currently no plans to change the company’s pricing strategy for its games.
In a Q&A during its earnings call following the publication of its Q1 results for FY2016, the company’s executive team was asked about the pricing of its games.
One caller noted thatNintendoreleasingMario Kart Worldfor $80, and thatMicrosoftattempted to charge $80 forThe Outer Worlds2before reversing that decision, and asked that with this in mind where didEAstand on the $70 vs $80 price point debate, with particular regard to its upcomingBattlefield 6.
CEOAndrew Wilsonreplied that EA had no plans to change its prices, but noted that EA already releases games at a range of prices from free-to-play to premium products with deluxe editions (such as the upcomingEA SportsFC 26, which has a $70 Standard Edition and a $100 Ultimate Edition).
“We’re not looking to make any changes on pricing at this stage, but that’s in the construct of we already offer a fairly broad pricing scheme across our various products,” Wilson replied.
“When you think about everything from free-to-play through to our premium products and our deluxe editions, our orientation is always to capture the full spectrum of pricing so that we can serve players in the best way possible and offer them the greatest value.
“We’ll continue to look at opportunities to deliver great value to our players through various pricing schemes over the course of time, but no dramatic changes planned yet.”
CFO Stuart Canfield added that given EA’s healthy live service revenue, the company is focused on building a player base and continuing to earn from them over the course of a game’s life rather than increasing the base price for a game.
“We haven’t factored in any different approach in pricing through the current fiscal year and current guidance,” Canfield explained. “Given the size of our live service business, we continue to be very focused on LTV [lifetime value] for us across our player base and, to Andrew’s point, operating through a wide spectrum of pricing. But no change in our guidance for 2026 at this point.”
Microsoftannounced in Maythat it planned to start charging $80 for its games later in the year. It then announced last month thatThe Outer Worlds 2 would be the company’s first $80 game, beforereversing that decisionlast week and opting for a $70 price point instead.
It’s not clear what the U-turn means forXbox’s plans to increase all of its first-party games to $80 across the board, and whether games more likely to sell in large numbers, such as the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, will be priced at $80.
