Games were expected to become more expensive with each console generation, according to the former head of PlayStation Studios

For the past 20 years, AAA game prices have stayed roughly at the same level, despite a significant increase in development costs, stated former PlayStation Studios head Shawn Layden in an interview with GamesIndustry. He believes that this has been a mistake for the gaming industry.

“I think it’s because everyone’s afraid. No one wants to be the first one to raise the price, because you’re afraid to lose traffic. So what you do is you just end up eating into your operating income, your profit margin,” said Layden.

In his view, the industry has now reached a critical point. Creating AAA games has become excessively expensive, and recouping the costs is now extremely difficult. For example, a game with a $200 million budget would ideally need to sell 25 million copies, but only a few can achieve this. Layden is confident: “Unless you’re Rockstar, [you] should not expect it.”

Layden believes that developers should have begun raising game prices long ago, doing so with each console generation. However, he acknowledged that studios have found other ways to cover costs: through microtransactions, DLC, and premium editions.