PC Gamers Furious Over New $70 Pricing For Upcoming Games

In the world of gaming, there a few things you can always rely on - there’ll always be a new port of Skyrim, Nintendo fans will never be collectively happy after a Direct, and PC players will generally get a better bargain than console users when it comes to buying their games. Until now that is, as it seems that last point is set to change for good. 

Over on the Epic Games Store, players noticed a brand new price tag on the listing for Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade - a slightly alarming $70 (albeit including post-release DLC). It seems Square Enix were aware that this might not land well, too, as the price on the page has since been hidden.

It’s unlikely that the pricing here was a mistake, as Square’s upcoming RPG Forspoken is still showing its controversial $70 price tag over on Steam, leading fans to believe that this may be the new norm for all upcoming PC releases. And, as you’d expect, debate has ensued over on the game’s discussion page.

“I understand that there are increasing development costs and general inflation, however, the price increases in some regions have been... far too much.” commented Dr. Dro. “A $5-10 hike in America or the EU is not much, but in regions like Brazil, the price increases have been around 125, 150 bucks. It quickly makes the games unaffordable, and that is quite a problem indeed.” 

It was just last year that multiple publishers, including Sony and Take-Two, announced that their new-gen console games would be on the receiving end of a $10 price increase. Take-Two’s CEO, Strauss Zelnick, defended the price hike earlier this year, claiming that: “Our view was that we’re offering an array of extraordinary experiences, lots of replayability, and the last time there was a frontline price increase in the US was 2005, 2006, so we think consumers were ready for it.”

Of course, PC games are often treated to quite generous discounts throughout the year too, with events like Steam sales regularly contributing to just about everyone’s backlog of games, that we always tell ourselves we’ll definitely get around to playing. So, if you’re willing to wait around, that’ll almost certainly remain an option. Maybe you could even try finishing off some of that backlog in the meantime? Just kidding, that’d be preposterous. 

Topics: Square Enix, PC, Steam, Epic Games, Final Fantasy