Next-Gen Price Bumps Reflect the "Quality of the Experience," Says Take-Two CEO

NBA 2K21's next-gen version will have a price jump right out of the gate to $70, up $10 from its current generation counterpart. It's a price hike that's suddenly raised questions about whether this will be seen across the board, and today, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick addressed the price tag bump.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Zelnick says there hasn't been a price increase for "frontline titles" for some time, despite an increase in how much it costs to make them. And while Ubisoft has assured that it won't bump its upcoming holiday slate in price, Zelnick says the price hike is justified by the value and kind of experience you can have on next-gen consoles.

"Obviously, we don't speak for the industry and the industry naturally does not coordinate in these matters, to say the very least," Zelnick told GIbiz. "The pricing has to reflect the quality of the experience, and we aim to provide the best experiences in the business. And from our point of view, it's an extremely modest price change given that prices haven't changed for a very long time."

In a financial call today, Take-Two confirmed that it would be announcing pricing of other Take-Two next-gen games "on a title by title basis."

Take-Two and Rockstar have already confirmed that Grand Theft Auto 5 will be coming to PlayStation 5, so its next-gen lineup is already starting to take shape. In today's financial results, Take-Two further clarified that Grand Theft Auto 5 will be arriving in the second half of 2021. Private Division, a publishing label under Take-Two, also announced it has partnered with several indie studios for upcoming games. Take-Two's future lineup is quickly taking form, and with one publisher already setting a new price point, it now becomes a question of whether that stretches across the entire slate, and who else follows suit.