Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, said the company is still evaluating its pricing strategy for new games. In an interview, the executive said that in terms of pricing for new games, Microsoft hopes to be "close to the actual needs of players."
Previously, Microsoft announced in June that The Outer Worlds 2, developed by Obsidian Entertainment, would be priced at US$80. After the decision sparked a backlash from players, the company reversed its original plans in July, and the sci-fi role-playing game was eventually released for $69.99.
"Our core focus is to improve player satisfaction, create value for players, and we will always listen to players," Buti said. "We have made adjustments based on feedback over the past year, but for us, the real core is still - I repeat - close to the actual needs of players. As the way players participate in the game continues to change, As the game becomes more diversified, we may focus less on the price of the game. From our perspective, today’s profit model has become very diverse, so we will continue to listen to feedback from fans while seeking a balance between meeting player needs and maintaining healthy business operations. However, we have no new pricing updates at the moment.”
Xbox isn't alone in considering a price increase. Nintendo, another platform company, said that the US$80 price of the Switch 2 launch game "Mario Kart: World" is a "reasonable price." Analyst Matthew Ball had previously predicted that the price of "GTA 6" could reach $100.
Buti also talked about the recently released "Call of Duty: Black Ops 7", saying that it is currently "one of the most active games on the Xbox platform." Because the new game seems to have fallen short of expectations in terms of word-of-mouth and commercial performance, Microsoft's Activision division announced earlier this week that it would abandon the annual release cycle of the "Call of Duty" series.
“I’m proud of the team’s hard work on feature innovation that drives the continued growth of this franchise,” said Booti. “It’s a challenging task to methodically roll out such a heavyweight franchise every year, and I’m proud of the team’s performance in moving the franchise forward in this way. Call of Duty What’s special about Call of Duty is that, as an IP, it’s in a very good position to continue to provide content to players through the season update system. It’s not just about the performance at launch, but the unique ability and strength of the team to continue to produce content throughout the year, so we are very satisfied with the results so far.”