Summary
PlayStationhas been suspiciously quiet regarding the industry shift to $80 games. It seems inevitable it will joinNintendoandXboxon that new tier eventually though, especially with its player base demonstrating it’s more than willing to pay an extra $10 for its first party exclusives.
Death Stranding 2andGhost of Yoteiwill be PlayStation’s full price first party exclusives this year, launching in June and October, respectively. Since pre-orders for those games are already open, and each of their standard editions is priced at $70, that might explain why PlayStation is yet to commit toan $80 future like Xbox did last week.
However, PlayStation will be making note of how many of you are flocking to Ghost of Yotei’s $80 version.As first noticed by PlayStation Lifestyle, the PlayStation Store pre-order charts demonstrate that the digital deluxe edition of Ghost of Yotei, which costs $10 more than the standard edition, is more popular.
PlayStation Isn’t Technically Selling $80 Games Yet
But PlayStation Owners Are Showing They’re Already Willing To Pay It
This isn’t as cut and dry as people being willing to pay $80 for a game that they could have bought for $70, although there’s an inherent risk PlayStation sees that black and white explanation. It’s not much, but the $80 version of Ghost of Yotei comes with extra content. Various armor for Atsu and some other in-game goodies. Those excited for Yotei are likely looking at what they can get for an additional $10 and thinking, “Hey, why not? May as well.”
The risk here is that, between Nintendo and Xbox jumping to an $80 standard and the $80 version of Ghost of Yotei proving more popular, PlayStation decides to make the jump too. The thing is, if Ghost of Yotei were an $80 game, then you’d have to pay $80 for the standard edition and $90 for the digital deluxe edition.
It’s great that Ghost of Yotei is selling well, and more power to you if you want the digital deluxe edition and the extra stuff that comes with it. It’s also great that PlayStation opened pre-orders for Death Stranding 2 beforethe $80 Mario Kart World reveal, and then committed to a $70 price point for Ghost of Yotei before Xbox caved and followed Nintendo’s $80 lead.
Unfortunately, even though PlayStation will be forced to stick to a $70 ceiling for longer than its competitors thanks to its two big games this year, it will inevitably join the others on the new $80 plateau eventually. While it could effectively become the people’s champion of the video game world by sticking to a $70 maximum for its first-party games, the desire to make a little more money will likely outshine the desire to be more popular.
