There's been an awful lot of talk recently about the price increases that are being applied to many AAA games these days, including at Xbox where some first-party titles will be increasing to $79.99 in the future.
We expect this to become the norm at most top-level publishers going forward (GTA 6 might even be priced higher than $80!), but smaller companies might take a different approach - as evidenced by Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
Despite being one of the highest-rated games of 2025 and undoubtedly in the Game of the Year conversation, Expedition 33 is still only priced at £41.74 / $49.99, and the game's publisher believes that these AAA price increases give smaller teams a chance to successfully launch "more sensibly scoped" titles for a lower fee.
Here's a bit of what Kepler Interactive portfolio director, Matthew Handrahan, had to say about this in a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz:
"I think as that AAA price goes up, I think it creates more of an opportunity to be launching games – more sensibly scoped games – [and] pricing them at that $40–50 range."
Handrahan went on to explain that the team did actually receive backlash towards the low price point at first, with some people believing it meant they'd deliver an inferior product, but they decided to "double down" on it anyway and provide clarification to fans that they weren't producing a "AAA" game.
Sandfall Interactive COO and producer, François Meurisse, followed up on Handrahan's thoughts:
"In the end, it was a win-win situation, because it was a way to attract more players towards the game, to have good player satisfaction about their buying [decision], and it could actually end up doing more sales. So maybe players' perception can change a bit about that kind of price [point]."
One of the key things that was brought up during this interview is the need for "sensible scope", with the pair explaining that the focus was always on an "intense and short experience", highlighting how Expedition 33 isn't filled with bloat and when the studio works on its next game, they're not planning to "double or triple the budget" just for the sake of it.
So, clearly the lower price range can still work for major games like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 in the future, but the key bit is the scope - and also communicating it to players ahead of time. Of course, you also need a game that's as incredible as Expedition 33 is - a very tall order indeed!