Take-Two Interactive was the first company to raise the price of its games to $70 USD. Later, other companies like PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, Electronic Arts, and more followed suit. Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Take-Two, believes that they made the right decision and explained why in a recent interview.

From his perspective, players no longer have a problem spending $70 USD for a new release. Zelnick stated that the price increase did not affect the sales of their titles, as he believes that players now invest better and look for quality games like those from Take-Two.

PRICE INCREASE IN GAMES DID NOT IMPACT TAKE-TWO

Strauss Zelnick pointed out that the price increase did not affect Take-Two's sales since they offer quality titles that people want to play. Therefore, he believes that their customers will not hesitate to spend $70 USD on a recent release.

"We're not seeing pushback on frontline pricing. What we see is that consumers are trying to limit their spending to what they really want to play, the hit titles, or to value, and sometimes it can be both. And the good news is we have a lot of hit titles and a wonderful catalog," the executive stated.

Zelnick added that Take-Two's release schedule is robust, so players will always find something interesting.

He also noted that the market is very dynamic and still growing. So they seek a good position, especially after the surge in video games during the pandemic and the end of this trend due to the end of confinement.

"We established expectations that after the pandemic, we as an industry would be in a better place than before the pandemic, and in a worse place than during the time people were sheltering at home. And that's exactly what has happened, exacerbated by a mixed and difficult economy, and what I think is a recession, at least if you look through the lens of people who supply digital entertainment consumed at home and e-commerce providers, there's a lot of pressure on those markets," he added.