Last week, 2K unveiled the cover athletes for the current and next-gen iterations of NBA 2K21 including the prices for these respective games. While the base game for this generation will remain at the customary $59.99 USD, the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions will cost $69.99 USD which begged the question, “Are next-gen games going to cost $70?”.
Before we do a deeper dive, 2K is getting a lot of flak because while most studios are offering free upgrades to next-gen games if you purchased the current-gen version, they are not. At the end of the day, it’s their choice. If you don’t like it, don’t buy the game. Moving on...
A small sect of the gaming community have complained about price based on the increase alone. Games have been the same price ($60) for almost fifteen years now even though production budgets have ballooned and the quality of games have generally gotten better. If you bought a game for $60 in 2005, that same item would cost $78.77 in 2020 dollars. Honestly, we are way overdue for this price increase. Gaming is actually a fantastic bargain compared to other forms of entertainment. You can own a 50-hour game like Red Dead Redemption 2 for only $60, or you could go see Avengers: Endgame once and pay $9-$18 depending on what format you see. When you add that most game prices go down over time, you see the added value in gaming.
Now, a larger and more vocal crowd of gamers have complained about 2K specifically because of the amount of micro-transactions in their NBA 2K franchise. Gamers have questioned if the presence of micro-transactions will be diminished since they are raising the price of the game itself. I’m going to go out on a limb and say no. 2K’s use of micro-transactions has increased over the years because it makes money. If it didn’t make money, it would no longer be in the game.
NBA 2K20’s MyTeam official trailer was heavily criticized because it featured more of their casino-esque mini games (roulette wheels, ball-drop games, etc.) which can be construed as real-world gambling. Not a good look for 2K, but this game is somehow rated for kids ages 3 and up. It’s hard not to see some of this as predatory. However, adults should not find it difficult to exercise some restraint and not pay real-world money to get VC or MT coins if they think the system is unfair.
In MyTeam, you can pay real money for more card packs which gives you more chances to get better players, but unless you know how to play with those players, you will still struggle to win games. I don’t see MyTeam as pay-to-win because I’ve played online head-to-head games with less talented teams than my opponent and won. Unfortunately, I’ve also played against less talented teams and lost. The more-skilled player usually comes out on top.
But gamers have also raised the question on whether the price increase will result in higher wages and better work conditions for developers. The prevalence of crunch in the gaming industry, or at least the visibility of it, has risen over the past decade. Developers leak stories anonymously to news outlets detailing 100-hour workweeks leading up to the release of a game and how conditions are terrible and they were pressured to stay for fear of losing their jobs. I do not foresee this getting much better for two reasons:
The price increase of games is a normal progression - games cost more to produce, thus their prices must increase congruently so the profit margin does not decrease. So the publishers will not have all this extra money all of a sudden.
Crunch in the gaming industry is way overblown. Yes, there are studios that pressure their employees to work crazy hours and threaten their job security to do it. This must be addressed and rectified. There are also employees that willingly work 80-hour weeks leading up to a game’s release and are paid handsome bonuses based on the game’s performance.
2K knows what they are doing. Their core player base will still buy NBA 2K every year even with the $10 increase. Those that won’t probably are not part of that core player base.
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