Video Games Should Cost More to Reflect Rising Development Costs, Says Capcom’s President

In a statement that may draw ire from gamers who’ve been feeling burned by the rising price of video games in recent years, Capcom president Haruhiro Tsujimoto has said that the price of new games should go up. Under Tsujimoto, the company has seen sales successes with new entries in its Monster Hunter and Resident Evil franchises, with the sales of Capcom games on PC helping to fuel that growth.

Capcom president Haruhiro Tsujimoto says the price of games doesn’t reflect increased development costs

According to a report by Japanese financial outlet Nikkei, Capcom’s president made remarks during the recent Tokyo Game Show suggesting that the price of video games should increase to reflect the rising cost of development. As noted in coverage of the remarks by VGC, Tsujimoto is reported to have said that while “development costs are around 100 times higher” than during the NES era, the price of software has failed to follow suit. In order to continue attracting the sorts of talented developers Capcom relies on to the company, Tsujimoto believes that the option of raising the price of games to offset increased salaries “is a healthy form of business.”

While obviously not what most gamers want to hear, the remarks from Tsujimoto echo similar statements made by other executives in the gaming industry in recent years. In 2020, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick faced backlash from many in the gaming community after stating that “consumers were ready” for the $70 price point for games to become the standard. Despite causing controversy at the time, Zelnick’s statement proved to be prophetic, as both Sony and Microsoft raised the price of first-party games in the years that followed. In both instances, the companies used similar reasoning as Tsujimoto, citing the increased cost of developing the types of AAA titles gamers demanded as the cause for the increase.

With development costs for AAA games now regularly reaching hundreds of millions of dollars, it’s hard to dismiss the financial logic behind Tsujimoto’s proposed price increase for new titles. And although Capcom hasn’t announced any official plans to raise prices on its games, given Tsujimoto’s statements and similar moves throughout the industry, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the iconic publisher follow suit down the line. It would almost certainly not be popular with players, but such a price increase could also help the company stave off the potential of a Capcom acquisition. In an industry that’s become increasingly consolidated, that sort of independence may prove to be worth the extra cost in the eyes of some gamers.

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