Xbox Officially Has Its First $80 Game, And It Won't Be The Last

Yup. Knew it was coming. This will be the new price across the industry by this time next year.

Of all the games to launch at $80 this one is a very poor choice and bound to get pushback as the original was just mediocre. If it was something like Forza 6 then it would probably slip under the radar, or be generally more acceptable, but OW2 is just not the game to stick the increased price tag on.

Edit: The other issue with $80 games is that GP will also likely increase inline with the retail price increases

The value of gamepass has just gone through the roof this year and keeps rising hopefully the price stays down haha ✌️

@TapeLoader Yeah I agree, which annoys me because 80 dollars is not equal to 80 sterling - I've always wondered where the difference goes and why it's there...

I also agree that 80 is a lot to ask for for a game. Especially digitally where you can request a refund if the game is broke or bug ridden. I really hope we get some better digital laws in place soon.

For me, Game Pass is a lifeline for this hobby. I've said this before but I have regular seizures, so paying 60-70 (soon 80) only to find out that I have a seizure and can't play that specific game, is a massive waste of cash - and it's happened several, several times.

Thankfully there's always something I enjoy on Game Pass and on quiet months, I'll just pick up a deal that costs less than a few quid. It's pointless for me to buy a game at launch not knowing how it will affect me, so I can't really grumble at GP for the value 😅

I guess now the game price has risen they have the ‘justification’ to increase GP price.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner I'm hoping we hear more from the family plan that was announced a long while back. That said, I'll happily pay £18 a month for GP - which is where I think it will be priced at when there's a raise.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Don't speak such terrible ungodly things!!
For shame 🤨

@TapeLoader I do this with many streaming services. The trick is to subscribe for 1 month and then immediately cancel. When you do this, you keep your current subscription but at the end of the month, you lose access. Then you don't have to remember to cancel since you've already cancelled.

To be honest I taught that the outer worlds 2 looked bang average aswell definitely not the game I would of picked to start the 80 quid trend I'd say that will hurt it's sales on other systems!!

@TapeLoader Yeah I have that too the stress one (somatoform disorder) and epilepsy. I hope your little girl manages to (or has managed to) find good treatment. It ain't fun and I suspect as a parent it's God awful for you.

Oh Atomfall looks fun. I quite enjoy Rebellion games (apart from their last Sniper Elite which I thought was their weakest yet) but I do wish they'd go back and do another Strange Brigade. That was my fave so far from them. Silly. Over the top. Fun.

Yeah if you're a super busy fellow than GP for one game might not be worth it unless you're taking advantage of a game pass deal - they usually do a 20% off near the end of a game's time in Game Pass.

You can also get cheap subs from places like CDKeys for Game Pass. Prices there are usually pretty solid.

Or you could use the premium upgrade option if you have Gamepass and get all the dlc and early access for £30 (for me £20 as I used some points for £10 off.)

Wait on a sale and then buy the base game if you really want to own it (this is what I am doing in anycase.)

@somnambulance Microsoft's first $70 game was Redfall, so it's not that surprising

@Ricky-Spanish @Kaloudz

Sorry but we know it’s coming!

I have paid for perhaps 2 Xbox Series games and even then, didn't pay much. This trend will continue unless I decide to buy Outer Worlds on Switch 2 (assuming it gets a port, which is not outside the realm of possibility).

Also, we knew this was coming. Microsoft told us so. It'll just be interesting to see how PS and possibly Nintendo fans respond. No, not every Nintendo game is $80, btw.

I don’t think every game needs to cost 80 dollars but I’m not really upset with the increase on select games. Every shirt/shoe/house/ don’t cost the same. And not every game does the same thing. Claire 33 cost 50

I really enjoyed outer worlds 1. Prefect length for a busy dad. Felt the same with avowed. I really don't need another fallout/oblivion. Saying that only way I'm buying this is game pass or if I unsubscribe steam on sale for <£10.

I wonder if this is just to tempting playstation users to game pass subscriptions...

Thank you, Nintendo!!
I won't buy anything from you.
Video games were expensive, in the 80ies (at least in Europe). But you know where is the difference compare to 2025? Games were STABLE, day one !! Look at oblivion remastered: they will make more updates (for the choppy frame rate...). Oh Microsoft is not the only one : you have the same problem on any platform !! I really hope we will get stable and finished games,day one with games at
Usd 80 .. (true answer: NO, we won't!?!)

No one is paying 80 bucks for a PS2 era looking game. The price is designed to make gamepass seem more appealing

Thank the heavens for GP

I’ll buy second hand or not at all. £70/£80 is not a value I see returned in any game, so I’ll not bother.

@TapeLoader Bless her. Hopefully hers stay at bay for the rest of her life. I was about her age when I had my first, it's pretty brutal so I feel for you both. I have kids and would hate it if I had to deal with that.

Oh yeah Strange Brigade was hella clunky in places but that whole ancient egypt and mummies vibe just took me right back to those old 90s movies we grew up with (The Mummy being chief among them).

Yeah I'm pleased we can get along too brother Do you frequent here often? I haven't seen much of you but your account isn't new.

I'm confused by the image above. The Outer Wilds has 120 review with a three out of five star rating. Does the review system let you review after you pre-order or pre-download, or something? Seems a bit daft. I sure hope MS gives the store / review system a once over...

It's been said before but displaying playtime for users (like Steam) would help - as would having a freakin' moderator scope the store out from time to time.

On the bright side, no price hike for UK. £70 is already expensive enough though of course.

There is a reason why the game has a price rise in the US, but not in the UK. It's very clear. I am glad it has remained the same price in the UK, and I am happy that MS is not punishing consumers outside the US for economic issues within the US.

I will buy the £90 early access addition, but I know I will get my return on investment as I am a big fan of the first game. I think unless you are a big fan, it's worth going via Game Pass or a sale.

I feel having the early 2026 game as the first $80 might have been better, as the Outer Worlds 2 does feel like a B-tier game objectively. Fable, Gears of War, Halo, Forza, those would have been a better first $80 game if you are going to do it.

There's a certain point where games price themselves out of their value no matter what budget they assigned to them, and we've crossed it. $70 was too much. $80 is LOL. People defend it "but inflation", but it doesn't matter, that only works if incomes went up to match said inflation. If incomes stagnated long ago and cost of living skyrocketed, $60 is now less affordable than it used to be let alone $80. They're just shrinking the market at this point. Which may work for hardware companies without competitors to just make less and sell less at higher margin, but can't end well for software. It just reinforces people buy less games, buy only annual guaranteed hits that are the same as all the other ones they already know they enjoy, and dedicate to that one evergreen/live service forever and ever. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I just see all announced games as either "I'll try it because it's in GP" or "I'll look at this game in 2-3 years when pricing makes sense." I don't even consider buying new games at all now. While I was never a proponent of it I've found even myself shifting to the pattern of just sticking with a handful of big evergreens forever and ever. The value proposition of new games at new prices, no matter how interesting, just falls short. All these announced games that all want to take up an ever growing part of consumer's ever shrinking disposable income. Then the studio heads seem bewildered that sales were lower than expected. Then the studio gets closed. There's no happy ending to that. By the end of this, CoD, EA Sports, and Genshin Impact will be the only games left.

@Titntin I'm actually shocked to see you pushing back on the price hikes. I expected you'd be someone supporting them. That's good to see

$80 for a AA mediocre game

$70 and $80 games just means the chance I ever play the game is now slim. Might play the game year or two after release, if feel like it. I have plenty backlog keep me occupied. $70 and $80 for video game is simply plain ridiculous and pure greed.

And this is coming from someone that has disposable income as just spent $6200 on home theater setup.

Hopefully their greed leads to their downfall and realize how stupid those prices are.

@TapeLoader This is one reasons why I detest game pass so much because Microsoft forced it on us just to cancel Xbox Live.

Only way to play online now (far as I know) is to pay for game pass. And that's $10 - $20 a month.

Xbox Live you could buy on sale for about $60 for 12 month card. Making it $5 a month.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Said for years now it's coming. Game pass business model is absolutely not sustainable. At all! If Microsoft wants game pass to exist, they are going increase it to $50+ a month within next 2 - 3 years.

Anyone not see that coming is foolish and naive.

@TapeLoader I made as much effort in my comment as the devs made in making a game with all the bells and whistles in terms of graphics we expect in 2025. Why when we can have games that look like Alan Wake 2, do the vast majority of xbox games look cartoony and something that looks last gen or 2 or 3 gens ago. Why even talk about the power of the XSX. When after 5 years we have only a handful of first party games that even try. Why are you ok with?

@Kaloudz it’s a fair price considering how much inflation has gone on the past 2.5 decades.

@TapeLoader spot on it’s at least ps3 😂

@TapeLoader Ohhh nice! Well, welcome to being reborn with a new account

@Vaako007 Oh I agree with inflation and all that jazz, but like Tape says, general income has not really reflected much change over the same course haha.

I'll say this, I cannot see game prices climbing any higher than this threshold. No one is going to want to pay 90-100 for a game. Devs and pubs will simply need to find ways to shorten and cheapen development time.

@Kaloudz USD prices do not include tax. The GBP prices do. So $80 (pre-tax) is largely the same as £80 (post-tax).

Let's see how long GPU remains a business model, I am skeptical of it long term unless people are fine dining on $30/mo subs. I have really enjoyed GPU the past 5 years but not sure how long MS can keep it up

They couldn't even get people to buy their games at $70, why would they think people will either spend $10 more?

And I thought Microsoft would increase their upcoming 1st-party titles from this holiday season as initially announced. Didn't think they'll start of early with OW2 in October? Never played the 1st game, but Obsidian hardly ever releases their games in a polished state. Do you think OW2 will be better polished on release? I think not. Players will expect that for $US80; not a broken buggy mess.

@shoeses In the case of Switch 2 games, they already are and MKW doesn't even look like a $US80 game.

@SingleStooge Most people have always bought full priced Nintendo made games. Most people have not bought full priced Xbox made games in the past decade. I don't know how I can simplify it further for you.

The cheek of them. I get that it was going to happen, but the Outer Worlds 2?! Sure the first one was guff. How do they justify selling a sequel to a subpar game at that price?

The first was just okay, so chances are excellent that this will go into my “buy when $20 or less” list!

@TapeLoader I certainly hope not. I'd rather they cut development costs. I mean look at E33 - that came from a small team, looks amazing, and they only charged £40 and it's outsold their expectations. Teams need to look to them and follow their example. I would never pay £100 for a game - and I don't think many others would :/

@Thumper Oh right, is that how it works? I never knew lol. So what's $80 plus tax work out to (dumb here)?

I liked the first one well enough, but the industry is telling us very clearly with these price-hikes that they want us to buy fewer games, and "well enough" isn´t a safe enough reason for me to show up for the sequel on day 1.

I´d have bought it at $60 on release, but now it'll fade into the obscurity of my Steam wishlist - where games go to dwell until they're at $25ish at some unforeseen point in the future.

@Kaloudz US sales tax varies by state. That's why merchants display the pre-tax price, because it would be impractical to list all 50 of the post-tax prices.

@JumpingJackson sadly this and all future Xbox Game Studio games have been announced to be a code in a box on all platforms starting with Outer Worlds 2. No more second hand buying 😢

@SingleStooge mario Kart World definitely doesn’t look like one but when you’re actually playing it it sure feels like one.
Still doesn’t justify it but damn is MKW a high quality product.

I really enjoyed the first one, but I refuse to pay $80 for any game. I don't care if it's Outer Worlds 2 or GTA 6.

@TapeLoader Totally agree. I'm not a business pro, but I certainly do see fewer indies going under than I do powerhouse studios.

@Thumper Oh okay fair enough haha. That's crazy. I never knew. I guess the whole discrepancy between UK / US price is one grievance I can finally put to bed.

@Titntin I think they're probably an obvious middle ground, which is really the same middle ground Shaun Layden was thrown out on his ear for proposing, that would satisfy publisher greed while also increasing consumer value perception and get us eager to part with more money more frequently in smaller increments, which is to just turn back the scope clock. Games used to be much smaller in scope with much more frequent sequels reusing assets for lower prices.

I'm no Harvard MBA but I would think having a $40 or $50 installment every year or two both improves cash flow, consumer sentiment, hype and publicity, and generates overall better sales (people would rather spend $40 3 times a year than $80 once a year), versus having one $80 game every 5-10 years.

But for some reason the whole industry acts like they all decided to hire Molyneaux as consultant emeritus.

Except Nintendo. They issue sequels of small scope reusing assets every 5-10 years for $70 and then sell it again at a higher fps cap for $80 😛

@darkswabber I hadn’t heard that. Oh well, either a deep sale or no more buying for me. It’s been a good run, I’ve got other hobbies that take this increasingly-greedy one over.

Maybe this is how I unlock my hidden carpenter.

@NEStalgia What I find difficult to understand (beyond the usual excuses of greed etc) is that the people that are working in the games industry, especially at leadership level, must be about my age.

I remember the absolute joy I had with Vice City, with San Andreas, and I didn’t mind one bit that while there was some new polish here and there, the core underlying thing was the same thing from the previous game. See also: Sonic 1-K. Banjo Kazooie, relatively small in scope (and absolutely better than its sprawl-affected sequel) but brilliant. I just had a recent playthrough of Links Awakening. While I remembered a lot of it so it went pretty quickly, what a wonderfully sized game for a fun adventure that didn’t suck up hours upon hours.

Have they all forgot this? Bring the scope down, bring the price down, bring the risk down, and watch as people enjoy the games anyway.

@Ilyn I agree, GP price hike is coming especially since subs are not growing that fast (growth is mostly on PC, but PC GP is cheaper).

However, I kinda feel like $80 for a base (and 90-110 for deluxe) is way too much for many people in this economy. I actually think more people will look at xbox and GP because its becoming the best cost-saving way to play games and starting from the end of last year we cant complain about quantity and quality of content.
Every month you have something new hype and decent to play, not even mentioning the other 400+ games on the list that was added before that.

@TapeLoader until price hike is announced its just 3 full priced games a year or 2 games + online (if you play likes of COD, forza, etc).

If you just cycle thru GP here and there, try out a bunch of games, usually your are back at money in just couple of months and the rest is literally free for you.

Their selection this year is so good with now big and hype games joining the service, so I dont know how NOT to make your money worth it.

20 a month (and 12 on PC) is still affordable and comparable to other subs like tv shows. I dont know anyone who cant afford a 20 a month, while 80 is a price tag that makes you evaluate the purchase for an average person.

Its more like people just either are not aware of GP at all or just dont want to play games via sub as a concept - want to play X,Y,Z and willing to buy those games only or wait on sale. Thats still an argument as games go on big sales with time.

@Millionski I do agree that the increase in games is to much, I don't however see it pushing more people towards gamepass. The service has been there plenty of time already and sub numbers are stagnant. The value is subjective, but arguably the worth has been there for ages without any major increase.

I worry that as more games appear on the system the service will actually start losing value rather than gaining it. I know this sounds the wrong way round, but with greater content they will continue to increase the price, but you still only have the same amount of usage time. This mixed with the constant increase for constant growth will see the price becoming unsustainable.

For me the future is just waiting 6-12m and picking the games up in sales for $40. There has not been any major generational increases for a decade anyway so even with waiting games are still fresh, and arguably better as complete / patched versions.

@Ilyn I think it was not pushing towards GP because service has not had big hits prior to end of 2024. To be precise it had 1 or 2 here and there (forza and starfield) but people never see it as a sustainable solution to play great games over time = which is a cornerstone of a sub model = you need to retain with constant flow of high quality stuff.
However, the biggest growth was after COD launched on GP, so I think now with these showcases and constant flow of games, it could get more attention.

MS marketing sucks too, they still mention 100+ games while we have 400+ or so. Many people still are not aware of GP.

We will get price hikes anyways, its just how economy works. I dont think service loses value from great games being added, remember MS now sells games everywhere as well - GP only hurts xbox console sales. Plus no matter how great year is, there will be slow months to catch on.

I definitely feel like it has a potential to grow to smth like 50M+ but not 100M as was leaked/planned initially. I do agree I dont see it becoming widespread as netflix as people en masse just dont consume games like tv shows. GP is great for certain audience (I would say semi-hardcore). even Phil said it.