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Deering: Blockbuster games need to cost £70 to support industry


Modern Warfare 2 and the UK have been strange bedfellows in the media lately, with news that Activision will raise the price of the game to £54.99 (nearly $90). According to game industry mogul (and former Sony Europe boss) Chris Deering, the price hike isn't high enough. Deering tells MCV that blockbuster games simply aren't being produced efficiently enough, saying that the price of such games would actually have to cruise up to £70 ($115!) in order to support the industry as they once did.

That said, Deering realizes that there is "a psychological glass ceiling" for the amount consumers are willing to spend, and notes, "Consumers won't spend more, but to write the game, publishers are having to spend more than ever before. That's the key problem."

Of course, the flipside of this is that game prices could be lower if they were produced more efficiently -- or if the games market grew large enough to support the industry by buying more copies. But $115 games? Ouch.