The Industry's Rush To $80 Video Games Has Stalled

“Production costs have grown tenfold over the past decade while sales have not increased proportionally.”

Microsoft, Take-Two, and Sony all retreated to $70 after testing $80 and watching consumers shrug and wait for sales. Turns out people have options. The industry spent a decade bloating budgets on cinematic graphics nobody asked for, then acted surprised when customers refused to subsidize their bad decisions. Maybe ship complete games instead of $80 early access with day-one patches.