‘Almost all video games should cost more’ says Baldur’s Gate 3 publisher-Adam Starkey-Entertainment – Metro

Baldur’s Gate 3 is an outlier in the AAA space (Larian Studios)

As development costs rise, Baldur’s Gate 3’s publishing director has suggested every game should be priced higher ‘at a base level’ to balance the scales.

It’s no secret that development costs, particularly in the triple-A space, have soared over the past decade, resulting in studios taking far fewer risks because one financial failure could tank an entire company.

The base price of games has increased with the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S generation, but not by much when you factor in economic inflation. As such, big budget games are often sold today in various special editions to recover costs, adding in season passes, pre-order bonuses, and other extra content.

While many might think paying above £70 for a game is too much, Baldur’s Gate 3 publishing director, Michael Douse, has suggested the base level price of ‘almost all games’ should be much higher than they are, because of inflation and rising development costs.

In a post on Twitter, Douse highlighted the ultimate edition for Star Wars Outlaws, which includes early access, a season pass, and a digital art book, among other extras, as an example of publishers ‘artificially’ hiking up the prices of games.

‘I don’t love the artificiality of pricing structures post-retail,’ Douse wrote. ‘Use the inflated base price to upsell a subscription, and use vague content promises to inflate ultimate editions to make the base price look better. It all seems a bit dangerous and disconnected from the community.’

Douse believes games should be priced based on their ‘quality, breadth, and depth’, instead of simply being fitted to established pricing structures.

‘I’m not against higher prices, but this arbitrary uniformity just doesn’t make sense to me,’ Douse added. ‘It feels so unserious.’

‘Almost all games should cost more at a base level because the cost of making them (inflation, for one) is outpacing pricing trends. But I don’t think we’ll get there with DLC promises so much as quality and communication. Everyone’s just waiting for GTA 6 to do it,’ he said.

It’s important to note that Baldur’s Gate 3, which came out of early access last year, also launched with various, more expensive special editions.

In a separate Twitter thread, he elaborated on the topic further, where he claimed Baldur’s Gate 3 and Divinity: Original Sin 2 were priced ‘below their value’.

‘Various people who are not very astute failed to understand that my point was perhaps $70-$80 games that function properly and have the content to back it up are better than buggy janky slop repacked with s**** skins for $120,’ Douse added. ‘The latter exists because the former doesn’t.’

Douse states that the majority of development costs is salaries, which increases over the course of a game’s creation due to inflation. This is said to increase ‘astronomically’ towards the end of development, as more people are brought on board to finish a project.

Instead of reckoning with the costs, Douse states most publishers in the AAA space look at ‘AI and automation as a beacon of hope for a cost problem’ and ‘play it safe’ on projects to ‘reduce risk’.

‘There are outliers,’ he added. ‘None of the risk-averse strategies typically make *better* games. If you want really engaging, super polished premium experiences, you won’t (because it is economically impossible save for a few token outliers) get them from risk-averse strategies coping with inflation.’

‘I want good games. I get mad at bad games. I also price game’s (I priced both Divinity: Original Sin 2 and Baldur’s Gate 3 below their value because I care about people’s cost of living and had faith in our recoup) collector’s editions far below. Again, I had faith. So I’m not the suit ripping people off.’

While Larian Studios is an outlier as an independent studio making triple-A games, others have turned to making mid-priced, smaller blockbusters as a way to reduce costs, like Naughty Dog’s Uncharted: The Lost Legacy and Insomniac’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Techland recently revealed Dying Light: The Beast at Gamescom, which is similarly a smaller standalone adventure.

It remains to be seen whether the development costs of bigger AAA games will eventually hit breaking point, which will drastically affect the price, but for now, the model of expensive special and ultimate editions probably won’t go away anytime soon.

Don’t expect to see many Baldur’s Gate 3 imitators (Larian Studios)

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