While the idea of a $70 game is a tough pill to swallow, as games become more and more complex, take longer to develop, and with inflation in general in mind, you can understand why the price tag of games has increased. Still, it isn't good news for consumers, and Saber Interactive's CEO Matthew Karch sees that and thinks that the $70 game practice is an endangered species that will eventually kick the bucket.
Speaking with IGN on the matter, Karch went as far as to state, "I think that as games become more expensive to make, the $70 title is going to go the way of the dodo [bird]. I do. I just don't think it's sustainable."
He continued, "Look, you remember the hype for Cyberpunk, which I think actually ultimately performed okay, but when the expectations are so high and so much money is put into one title, it's hugely risky for the company that's doing it. What if it fails?
"You remember what happened when Ubisoft a couple of years ago, all their titles slipped out of the year, and then all of a sudden they were in an entirely different place? It's hard to recover from that. I think the market is going to shift to development which is not necessarily lower quality, but there's going to be an emphasis on trying to find ways to reduce costs."
Not only does he believe that games are going to become cheaper than they have as of late, and that developers and publishers will explore new ways to make games cheaper to create, Karch also believes we're staring down the barrel of a game shortage in the coming years.
"I think that there's going to be a real shortage of game content over the coming few years. You've seen how many layoffs there's been, you see how many games have gotten killed. But we have a lot of good projects going on that I'm proud of and that I feel really, really strongly about."
Do you agree with Karch's opinion on the direction the industry is taking and do you think it will benefit consumers in the end?