Square Enix’s upcoming PC games will cost $70 / £65 for the base versions, it’s been revealed.
Both Forspoken and Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (as pictured by DSOgaming) went up for pre-order on Steam and the Epic Games Store this week with the new higher price points.
The Digital Deluxe versions of the games are even more expensive at £90 / $95. Previously Square Enix’s games launched for $60 / £50.
The new pricing brings the PC games in line with new-gen consoles, which have pushed $70 games since PS5 and Xbox Series X|S’s launches last November.
Forspoken – The Game Awards 2021 trailer
Square Enix appears to be the first major publisher to bring $70 pricing to PC platforms.
The issue of next-gen prices is a divisive one, and publishers have yet to find a common ground. Last year, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan defended the company’s decision to price select first-party PS5 games at $70, such as Demon’s Souls and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Ultimate Edition.
And asked by The Telegraph if he considers $70/£70 to be a fair price for a video game, PlayStation boss Ryan said: “Yes, yes, I do. If you measure the hours of entertainment provided by a video game, such as Demon’s Souls compared to any other form of entertainment, I think that’s a very straightforward comparison to draw.”
Speaking to the Washington Post last year, Xbox head Phil Spencer was non-committal on the subject, stating: “As an industry, we can price things whatever we want to price them, and the customer will decide what the right price is for them.”
Other publishers have also decided to increase software prices for some of their next-gen games, including Take-Two with NBA 2K21 and Activision with Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.
The CEO of Rockstar’s parent company Take-Two has repeatedly stated that he believes that consumers are “ready” for $70 game pricing.
NBA 2K21 was the first next-gen game to be officially priced at $70. When the price was announced last summer, Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick defended the decision, saying: “We think with the value we offer consumers…and the kind of experience you can really only have on these next-generation consoles, that the price is justified.”
Then in March he again defended the decision to implement premium pricing, stating that “the last time there was a frontline price increase in the US was 2005, 2006, so we think consumers were ready for it.”