Well production costs are definitely going up this gen just as it is for every new generation, those visuals that we all want come at a price you know…and that doesn’t include the rest of the development/work that it must be done for a game to be an interesting and polished experience. I agree with Kage and nrXic on this.
I can see how a game like the next big Santa Monica game can justify the 10 dollars/euros price increase, what I think is quite fishy though is seeing games like Demon’s Souls (I got the SotC remake for 40 euros at day one) and Returnal being 80 freakin’ euros here in Europe, wouldn’t 50 or even 60 euros be enough for those titles? Returnal may be a great game like Nex Machina was before it but it definitely doesn’t look like a game that can justify a AAA (or AAAA in Europe) price.
I guess their exclusive games are selling the most at the 20-30 euros price point range and the plan is to get the most out of the day one purchases or to be honest milk the people who support their games at day one. In other words I can understand why they will sell Horizon 2 at 80 euros but it’s definitely weird to ask the same price for a AA game like Returnal…and again I am not trying to say that AA or indie games are less good or deserve less praise than the AAA big releases it’s just hard to accept that the development costs excuse applies for a AA game or a remake.