[UPDATE: Shortly after the publication of this article, Borderlands 4 confirmed its price point of $69.99 following weeks of controversy around the possibility of it being $80. As such, the mention of it possibly being $80 has been removed. Otherwise, the original story follows].
Many were shocked at Nintendo’s price point forMario Kart World, which launched on the Nintendo Switch 2 at $80. Soon after,The Outer Worlds2 was revealed to joinMario Kart Worldin what appears to be the new normal. Microsoft announced thatThe Outer Worlds 2’s $80 price point was not an anomaly, and that titles from studios that Microsoft owns are likely to follow in the near future.
What once seemed like an exception is rapidly becoming the rule, as major publishers across the industry warn of future price hikes for AAA titles. While companies point to development costs as the driving force behind this shift, many players remain skeptical because of unfinished releases, game-breaking bugs, and microtransactions as factors that diminish the value of day-one purchases.
Video Gamers Need to Adjust to a New Normal
The groundwork for this price increase was laid by Nintendo, which first adopted variable pricing for its first-party titles on the Switch platform. This approach culminated with upcoming Switch 2 titles likeMario Kart World, confirmed to launch at $79.99. Despite the controversy and outrage from many longtime Nintendo fans, Xbox quickly followed suit, withThe Outer Worlds 2becoming its first $80 title, with others on the horizon. As of June 2025, there are only a handful of titles that cost $80, but that is very likely to change in the near future.
Game prices in the US and the EU differ, with the EU already having to pay €80 (just over $92 in June 2025) for multiple game titles likeDOOM: The Dark Ages. The list below only accounts for US titles, but gamers in other countries outside the US may have already been paying $80 and above for some time.
Possible Future $80 titles
Recent AAA Launches Make it Hard to Justify $80
Despite publisher justifications, many gamers are pushing back. Over the past decade,trust in AAA game releases has eroded. Major titles often launch with technical issues, performance problems, and incomplete features. These issues require day-one patches, or extended post-release support, but some games never get fixed and remain unplayable for many.
In some cases, such asCyberpunk 2077or the recently releasedMindsEye, gamers faced unplayable conditions that made a wait for patdches a necessity. On top of this, much of the modern AAA ecosystem leans heavily on paid DLC, battle passes, and microtransactions, meaning that $80 could just be the beginning of a game’s true cost. Even for single-player games, editions like Collector’s Editions or Premium Editions of a game that include the game’s soundtrack, artbook, and a handful of special in-game items could hike the price up to over USD100.
Some players have changed their gaming habits, including waiting for sales and only buying games at a discount. Platforms like Steam regularly discount big-budget titles within months of release, allowing players to pay $40–50 instead of the full $80. Some have accused Xbox’s price hike as a tactic to drive gamers to its subscription service, Game Pass, rather than having gamers outright own the title in their digital library. It’s an attractive proposition, asGame Pass often gets major titles on launch dayat just a fraction of the price.
Another trend is the increasing popularity of mid-budget and indie games, which offer lower prices but consistent value.Clair Obscur: Expedition 33was a AA title, but many argue that it delivered a AAA experience at a much lower price, with far better optimization and fewer bugs than AAA titles in recent years. Indies likeHades 2are even cheaper, and offer hundreds of hours of gameplay for a fraction of the price of AAA titles. For those dreading an increased price tag for AAA games, trying more AA releases and indies may be the best path forward.
