Ubisoft announces big price increase for its AAA games
Topics: Ubisoft, Xbox, PlayStation, Gaming
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: Shutterstock/Ubisoft
Topics: Ubisoft, Xbox, PlayStation, Gaming
Video game company Ubisoft has confirmed the price of its new major AAA games will be increasing to $70 or £65 from its current $60 or £55.
The price hike was confirmed by Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot in an interview with Axios.
Guillemot said: "Some of the games will come at the same price as the competition. The big AAA games will come at $70."
The new price model will begin with pirate game Skull and Bones, which is set to release early next year after many delays.
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The Ubisoft CEO confirmed the price increase would just be for their games on PS5, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.
Games small in scope will reflect that price, with the first example being Assassin's Creed Mirage, which has a £45 buy-in.
This news will not come as a surprise to many gamers as prices of video games have been increasing across the industry in recent months and years.
The latest FIFA, Call of Duty, and NBA games have all donned the $70 price tag.
In 2020, Sony started the trend by announcing that all first-party AAA PlayStation games will cost $70 going forward.
Talking to GamesIndustry.biz in 2020, research firm IDG said that game pricing had remained flat since 2005, whereas TV and movie pricing increased significantly.
CEO Yoshio Osaki noted that even a $10 rise in the price of games wasn't in line with inflation seen in the pricing of other forms of entertainment.
He said: "IDG works with all major game publishers, and our channel checks indicate that other publishers are also exploring moving their next-gen pricing up on certain franchises.
"Not every game should garner the $69.99 price point on next-gen, but flagship AAAs such as NBA 2K merit this pricing more than others."
Ubisoft has been in the news a lot recently with a lot of new game announcements. In September, they announced not one, but four new Assassin's Creed games in the works.
One of them – Assassin's Creed Mirage – we can get our hands on a lot sooner as it releases next year.
On Ubisoft's website, a short description for the game reads: "In Assassin's Creed Mirage, you are Basim, a cunning street thief with nightmarish visions seeking answers and justice.
"Join an ancient organisation and come to understand a new creed – one that will change Basim’s fate in ways he never could have imagined."