Game prices are too low, says Capcom exec
"I think raising unit prices is a healthy business model."
Capcom's president and chief operating officer has said he thinks game prices should go up.
Haruhiro Tsujimoto made the comments at this year's Tokyo Game Show, Nikkei reported. TGS is sponsored by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association, a Japanese organisation which aims to support the Japanese industry, which Tsujimoto is currently the chairman of.
"Personally, I feel that game prices are too low," Tsujimoto said, citing increasing development costs and a need to increase wages.
"Development costs now are about 100 times more than they were during the Famicom era, but software prices haven't gone up to that extent," he explained. "There's also a need to raise wages in order to attract talent. Seeing as wages are rising in the industry as a whole, I think raising unit prices is a healthy business model," Tsujimoto concluded.
Capcom is one of the publishers that's yet to jump on the bandwagon for a $70 industry standard price point. The company's major releases this year - Exoprimal, Resident Evil 4 Remake, and Street Fighter 6 - were priced at $60 at launch. However, with Tsujimoto's comments it sounds like Capcom will start looking to increase the prices of its games.
The increase to $70/£70 has been heavily criticised by fans. Most recently, Mortal Kombat 1 fans called the Switch port of the game a "robbery" for being priced at a premium yet suffering from several issues.
Yesterday, we reported Tsujimoto also said Capcom would "gracefully decline" any acquisition offers from Microsoft, preferring "organic growth" over mergers and buyouts.