Since the release of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, $60 has become the standard pricing convention for Triple-A games, especially from the more popular studios. As time progressed, the price for getting the complete game experience has steadily increased from adding: microtransactions, DLCs, season passes, and having multiple editions available to buy at launch. With the upcoming console generation, several companies are planning to jump the base price to $70. Electronic Arts, a company that has gained a lot of infamy with their aggressive monetization for their games, is ignoring the trend with the upcoming release of Star Wars: Squadrons. Star Wars: Squadrons only has one variant of the game available and it is listed for $40, as well Electronic Arts says there will not by any microtransactions added in the mix.
Being a move out of left field for Electronic Arts, they did release an explanation with their quarterly financial conference call which chief executive officer Andrew Wilson and chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen stepped up to discuss the price with analysts and investors. “We always look at the games and we want to make sure we are providing the greatest value for our players. Games all have a different scale and most of our games right now have a huge scale. We designed this game to really focus on what we heard from consumers which is one of the greatest fantasies, to be able to fly an X-Wing or a TIE-Fighter and be in a dogfight. So it doesn’t have the breadth of some of our games, but it is still an incredible game. That’s why we choose to price it at a slightly lower level. To also allow access to as many people as possible who have that Star Wars fantasy,” Jorgensen started.
Andrew Wilson went on to explain that Electronic Arts has offered differing pricing over the years. He claimed that Electronic Arts build their games based on the players’ motivations and expectations while the final pricing was only a consequence. Wilson added, “At the end of the day, as we think about it, we start with the player, we start with the motivations and expectations that they have, and we build the game. In this case, this is a very deep and immersive game, and $40 felt like the right price point given the breadth of the game.”
They both added that they are proud with the progress and direction that Motive has taken with the game so far. They went onto talk about pricing as a whole as well as their limited time free upgrades to PS5 and Xbox Series X for the next installment of FIFA and Madden NFL. Star Wars: Squadrons will be out on October 2.