Gamers Face $116 Titles If "Blockbuster" Trend Continues, Says Ex-Sony Exec

Ex-Sony Europe president Chris Deering has told gamers that they should expect prices to rise to around £70 ($116) per game, if the industry's taste for "blockbuster-led" trade continues.  Citing development costs of "ten times what it was for PS2, and more like 20 to 50 times more than on PSOne," Deering concluded that either games would have to be produced more efficiently or consumers weened away from the £70 "psychological glass ceiling".

Deering was commenting in part on Activision's trade price hike of Modern Warfare 2 in the UK from £45 to £55 ($91); that is, the cost vendors must pay rather than the end price consumers will face.  The executive – who sits on the board of Codemasters and IGA, among others – will discuss the so-called "blockbuster game" and its future in the industry at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival in August.

Such hikes, however, are not merely publisher greed, Deering suggests, but the result of the blockbuster trend since earlier days in game publishing.  "In order to price these games at a level where they would support an industry [as strongly as] they did ten years ago, they'd have to be sold at £70" he highlights, "Consumers won't spend more, but to write the game, publishers are having to spend more than ever before. That's the key problem."

[via Register Hardware]