Next-Gen Speculation: Games Could be $70; EA May Have Exclusivity Deal With Microsoft

by pastapadre
Posted February 27th, 2013 at 11:00 am

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With the PS4 reveal in the books discussion regarding the industry’s shift to the next generation has reached an all-time high. Two recent developments, both involving Electronic Arts, have sparked reaction and plenty of conjecture.

At the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, & Telecom Conference yesterday EA CTO Rajat Taneja talked about the company’s preparation for the new consoles (PS4/next Xbox). Much of it was predictable with Taneja stating that they had never been more prepared for a console launch and how they have reduced their lineup to a core 15 titles from the bloated 85 in the past. What has caught most of the attention however is that, while making sure to emphasize that pricing hasn’t been set for the next generation, games could release with a new standard of $70.

It would not be a huge surprise if the price of games went up for the new consoles. Accounting for inflation $60 in 2005 is equal to $70 today. What would hurt more though is the potential anti-consumer actions that would be implemented in conjunction with a price hike. Used game restrictions would be made even more distressing.

The other big news comes in the forum of a rumor from VG247 who reports that EA and Microsoft will announce an exclusivity deal at the next Xbox’s reveal even in late April. That could explain EA’s complete absence from the PS4 event and maybe even the apparent abandonment of the Wii U. Though Taneja actually addressed the PS4 event in his talk – claiming that not being there was not an indication of their status on the console – obviously they would never publicly admit to favoring one side over the other especially at this early stage.

The rumoured event will allegedly see a deal announced between EA and Microsoft, that could give Xbox 720 / Durango first dibs on all EA titles for a while. CVG’s sources have told the site that the terms of the deal are not concrete, but given EA’s approach of launching games across all formats the deal will likely amount to timed exclusives, rather than Xbox 720-only titles. Timed-exclusive DLC could also be on the cards.

It is extremely unlikely that any exclusivity would be related to the sports franchises. League licenses have required release on all major platforms. The leagues benefit from the exposure and the publisher from the additional sales. Still it can’t be ruled out that something affecting the sports titles could be in play here.

Tags: latest news

http://twitter.com/TheMikePerri Mike Perri

$69.99, while certainly not ideal, really wouldn’t be the end of the world for me. Anything above that is asking too much, but the simple fact is that as hardware gets more sophisticated, you need longer development cycles, bigger teams, and more skilled teams to produce retail titles. Also, I can almost guarantee you that the EA exclusivity will just be timed DLC exclusivity on all or most EA titles. EA would never give up the money that going multiplatform brings them, and Microsoft would never pay them enough money to offset that income.
- David
  
  When people are spending $10-15 for a 2 hour movie, I still don’t have any problem paying $70 for a game I will most likely put in a few dozen, if not a hundred hours (or more … I’m talking to YOU, Bethesda!). BUT… the higher they go on this price point, the fewer I’ll be able to buy and the harder the decisions for me get.
  - Jonathan Glapion
    
    the problem is in paying $70 for incomplete games i.e. NBA2k13, things being broken or lack of updates. Downloadable content has made it to easy for companies to settle with “we’ll just add it later.” some games will justify the price hike but i don’t buy it for an across the board deal.
- Matt Miedus
  
  Up here in Canada we used to pay $69.99 for games when the Xbox was out anyways. It was just part of the ridiculous pricing differences we had with the US a the time (even though we had gotten to par at that point). So yeah, wouldn’t really make a difference up here I don’t think.
- Mike Mckenna
  
  Its pushing 80 bucks bro including tax. Pretty shitty if you ask me, especially if the Used Game ban goes through. EA is insane though, definitely would not pay that money for Madden, I prefer Pro Evo over FIFA so there goes that, and they have no basketball. Looks like this deal would cause more harm than anything else IMO.
- Ted
  
  Even with equal value of the dollar, Australians still pay around $90-$100 for a new release game; though that may have changed over the past 6-12 months. I haven’t actually bought a game in a while.
Kevin

I almost feel like this would be adventageous to the PS4. Extra 2 weeks or moth of development time? Yes please
- http://pastapadre.com/ pastapadre
  
  Why would you think extra dev time would be afforded the PS4? Resources would still be shifted at that stage to the next year’s game.
- http://www.facebook.com/StefanMGrey Steve Tomlin
  
  I doubt they’d be getting extra development time. If anything, they might benefit from getting the 2nd patch released on day 1.
Keith.

EA’s lost $2.5 billon since 2008, their first 2 big 2013 releases (Dead Space 3 and Crysis) are underperforming, and NCAA and TW are on their deathbed. Sure sounds like a valuable exclusive to me.
- Brian
  
  Having Battlefield 4, Madden, and FIFA first sounds valuable.
  - Mike Mckenna
    
    Battlefield will be the money maker, FIFA has competition with Pro Evo stepping its game up, and Madden was and will still be a joke. Madden has been the most controversial title for years now, inflating the price on a game with that type of rap sheet is crazy!
- buckeyeboi
  
  And as far as NCAA is concerned it is EA’s fault. Sports fans in America loves College football. If they made a better product then sales would be much higher. But they won’t so they keep putting out a mediocre product with a few new bells and whistles every year.
A-dub

Do consumers want all of this? Is this what we’ve asked Sony & Microsoft for?

I’m genuinely curious in this. Maybe I’m missing something, but there’s been very little I’ve been excited about concerning next-gen announcements.
- turkey
  
  Then stick with ps3 or 360.
  - King
    
    If it’s $70 I might do that too. That’s just freaking crazy! Screw that! PS3/WiiU playing for me. I want a PS4 but I be darn if it’s $70 per game.
- http://twitter.com/Starfoxleon The Great Leon
  
  I agree with you. The PS4 and new xbox are just not sparking any excitement. An I love sports games and all but what is the point of playing NCAA and nba 2k if they fiz the mode I like every 3-4 years. I like dynasty type modes and companies don’t change much in those.
lonnie

why would EA want their games only on MS? thats like only selling half of what they could,stupid way of doing business,as far as 70 dollars,i can understand that but if they put that code in so it won’t play used games,than sadly my gaming days are over..
- http://www.facebook.com/StefanMGrey Steve Tomlin
  
  It helps to read the whole article.
  
  ” given EA’s approach of launching games across all formats the deal will
  likely amount to timed exclusives, rather than Xbox 720-only titles.”
Willy2535

In Australia we pay $120 for games, so does that mean our price will go down or are they gunna jack us even more?!
- Dalibor
  
  Aren’t Australian game prices high because of the country’s isolated location? I thought because so many products are imported, the price is reflected. I know that in Canada, when the CDN dollar was significantly weaker, games were retailing for $74.99 because of the exchange rate.
  
  This was the mid 2000s, when a PS2 game would cost a Cdn person 74.99. Just imagine that CEs were close to 100 dollars. Crazy! Thankfully, because the Cdn dollar is more or less the same value as the US dollar, Cdn gamers are paying the same price as their neighbours to the south.
- Dalibor
  
  If you want more incite on the Australian Game Pricing issue, I strongly suggest reading this:
  
  http://www.gamespot.com/features/why-australian-game-prices-will-not-drop-6401518/
- dave travis
  
  I feel so sorry for you dude, I really do…. For 120 dollars, the game should literally talk to me and serve me dinner
- buckeyeboi
  
  Man that should be a crime lol. Well at least there’s a lot to do outside down there there in Australia mate.
- 49ersfan1
  
  i heard in some asia countries, the copied disc games r 1 dollar. and its the same thing as the $70 games.
The Red One

EA can’t even afford to be exclusive to the Turbografx 16, at this point. Who the hell cares about EA’s day one DLC being exclusive? I don’t plan on buying Crysis 3, and I don’t plan on wasting any good money on Dead Space 3 either. As a matter of fact, with the announcement of the PS4 coming this holiday season, I don’t plan on paying full price on any of the remaining PS3 games that I plan to buy this year, except for Naughty Dog’s “The Last Of Us”. I sure do wish that Naughty Dog, being the great dev studio that they are, had a sports division that could make NFL football games. EA can burn to the ground before I worry about anything that they give exclusivity to. Oh, and Pasta…even though I attacked you twice yesterday for your speculative articles, it took you till today to post the second comment I submitted for your approval. Why so? You write the articles, we comment on them, isn’t that how it works? Did I say something that wasn’t in line with what others were thinking? Obviously not. Censorship is not the way to go, Pasta. If you can’t take the heat, maybe you could stop writing biased, anti 2K, and anti SCEA opinion, and start writing fact. Don’t just let your love for EA cloud what kind of factual articles you’re able to write. Sometimes you need to include the source material for the articles you write, so you don’t come off as appearing biased against a few certain non EA publishers. I do realize that it’s your blogsite after all, and I thank you for going ahead and posting my comments just the same. Only a real grownup could take the harsh criticism I level at you, and still go ahead and share it on their blog. Thanks in advance.
- http://pastapadre.com/ pastapadre
  
  Your second comment yesterday took a while to post because I approved a batch, went to watch TV then went to sleep…approving the latest in the morning. Nothing more to it then that. I don’t mind criticism, though it would seem to me you have just tried to get under my skin with insults. That doesn’t work on me. And I wonder why you post through an anonymous proxy.
- Amen_Ra
  
  Dude you are a gump. Posting negative comments is one thing, but begging for attention is a sucker move. What type of chump talks about a “real grownup” on a blog about video games. That sounds like something my mother would say.
http://www.facebook.com/StefanMGrey Steve Tomlin

Jack Tretton has already confired PS4 games won’t cost more than $60 to CNBC.

http://kotaku.com/5986208/if-ps4-games-only-cost-60-theyre-actually-cheaper-than-ps3-games
Hendy

It’s not like EA would sign an exclusive deal for free. People act like they’d only be making half the money, when in fact, Microsoft would pay EA for the exclusivity, and do so handsomely. Microsoft would then (in theory) benefit from increased sales of the system (much higher than $70.) It’s very possible to make a lot more money while reaching a smaller audience sometimes.
GKage

well, if games are 69.99, I’ll just wait for sales. I usually just buy 1-2 full price games a year. Everything else is Black Friday or other deep sales(such as The Walking Dead on sale for 9.79 on PSN right now).
kdye

I like to see the end of sport licence exclusivity. Let Sony bring back NFL Game Day and NCAA Game Breaker and 2K Sports bring back NFL 2K. Who doesn’t think they would do a better job than EA is currently doing with football. It shouldn’t just be “all about the Benjamins” It is about time the NFL notices how Sony and 2K handles baseball and basketball. Also, how can EA ask $70 a game when Sony has already stated that PS4 games will cost no more than $60. Who is not going to feel ripped off by EA asking $70 for Madden when a superior looking Killzone is only retailing for $60.I am sick of being disappointed by EA games like Tiger Woods golf. They do a good job with some franchises like FIFA and NHL, but I rather see others have a chance if only to force EA to make a better game.
Jayhawker

EA stopped producing games, including sports title, for the Dreamcast. It was probably the biggest reason for the console’s failure. If Microsoft is willing to pay EA to abandon Sony, I don’t see why people are assuming EA won’t do this. They did it for Sony before.

And while sports leagues would prefer their games get on more platforms, there is no real reason to believe they would not grant a platform specific licence, like they do for Sony and The Show.

It will be interesting to see what really shakes out, but I think Pasta’s speculative assurances are not based on what has happened before.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Iown-You/100000775565221 Iown You

“Accounting for inflation $60 in 2005 is equal to $70 today”

Yes, but that’s the Wall Street perspective, unaffected by the economic problems of the common man. To the average person struggling today, $60 is still $60 and $70 is still $70… and both are too damn high. And when companies have the nerve to charge the box & disc price for the electronic download version of the same game, it all becomes clear that the reason for the industry price increases is not so much about greater development demand as it is about seeing how much more money they can grab from gamers.
49ersfan1

yeah i guess my last game will be gta 5 or nba 2k14 if its like this. good news for my 360.
- SwagRat
  
  Watch Dogs is going to be sold to your 360, so mind as well add that to your list.
dsadf

EA sports doesn’t care about anything else but making money. They’re all cheap and heartless
Bill

hahaha this sounds so odd to say after years of disappointment.. but if Madden has the post release support they did this year i’d have no issue paying 70 lol
Jarod

Yeah, umm… until my PS3 literally blows up it doesn’t sound like I’ll be spending any money on the PS4.
BoomBoomPow

Competing on “Exclusivity” is BS and does nothing for us!
http://twitter.com/TagThisTst Kris

Already been stated by Sony games are $60. Anyone saying anything else is an idiot.
radja

i just feel basic economics will win out no matter what they do. the customer will decide on the price they are willing to pay. there are people who will pay $70 no problem. there are others that will complain and get used to it. depending on how many are willing will be the determination. they both have the not so easy task of convincing america to buy another console.

the ps3 thought people would pay the original asking price. they were grossly wrong and lost a lot of money. sony was super excited about the vita. the public didn’t care again. nintendo put out the WiU and they don’t care again. i actually feel the general gaming market is changing and people are not as eager for the next gen as they believe. america is in love with their smart phones and tablets at the moment.

i find it difficult to believe a cash strapped america is going to buy the next system when they have already bought a present gen console, a smart phone and / or a tablet. really, how many family’s are going to buy their kids another console?
- Dominator
  
  I agree wholeheartedly with you !!!
ceecee

Sony announced game cost would range from $.99 to $60…
tom

I think that if microsoft pulled this off then bravo for them… also did anyone not see the 720 $ price tag increase 10 $? Its been happening from xbox – 360 – 720…. not a huge suprise
freefromfreedom

If EA is going exclusive to Xbox then I will gladly not buy the next Xbox and switch to the PS4. I have never owned a PlayStation. That is how much I despise EA and EA Sports and anything EA touches. Ruined Mass Effect. Ruined football video games.