Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has revealed that he thinks players are “ready” for $ 70 / £ 65 video games.
Speaking at Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference this week and transcribed by our friends at VGC, Zelnick was asked to explain why the publisher decided to add $ 10 to the price of NBA 2K21.
The first publisher to confirm a price increase for next-generation video games, Zelnick said the decision came because the game offered “a series of extraordinary experiences” and the last top-tier price increase in the United States was fifteen years ago.
“We announced a $ 70 price point for the NBA 2K21, our vision is that we are offering a variety of extraordinary experiences, a lot of repeatability, and the last time there was a price increase on the front line in the US was in 2005, 2006, so we thought consumers were ready for this, “said Zelnick.
Of course, there were considerably less microtransactions and DLC in conventional games at that time, and interestingly, he couldn’t rely on future prices for other next-generation titles, saying that the publisher made announcements about “title by title” prices. He, however, insisted that the company was committed to “delivering[ing] more value than we charge “.
“We haven’t said anything about the price of other titles so far and we tend to make headline ads, but I think our vision is [that we want to] always deliver more value than we charge, make sure the consumer has the experience and[…] the experience of paying for it, both are positive experiences, “added Zelnick.
“We all know that even if you love a consumer experience, if you think you were overcharged for it, it spoils the experience, you don’t want to have it again. [If you] go to a great restaurant, a really good restaurant, have a great meal and great service, then you get a check that is double what you think it should be, you will never come back.
“Therefore, we always want to make sure that consumers feel that we deliver much more than we ask for in return, and this is also true for current consumer spending,” he added. “We are an entertainment company, we are here to captivate and engage consumers, and if we do that, monetization will follow.”
2K was attacked by NBA 2K21 players for adding impossible-to-skip in-game ads at the end of last year. In the end, 2K was forced to issue a statement suggesting that their placement was a mistake.
In a statement released on Twitter, 2K said the announcement that sparked a reaction earlier this week “impacted our players’ experience in a way that we did not intend, as these ads were not meant to run as part of the pre- match” .