A high-ranking ex-PlayStation officer, Shawn Layden, claims that the price adjustments for games across consoles, including the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2, have long been coming. Although some players are upset about higher anticipated prices for games on the Switch 2, Layden believes these increases should have been integrated with each new generation of consoles for many years.

In a recent episode of the Player Driven YouTube series, Layden stated:

“I think Nintendo’s just pulling the Band-Aid right off and saying, ’looks like it’s 80 bucks for a front-line game on a new platform,’” His statement was in reference to the planned price increases for Nintendo games. Rather than faulting Nintendo, Layden praised the decision, highlighting it as a necessary move that industry professionals have delayed for too long. According to him, the industry should have incrementally raised game prices with every new console generation by approximately $5.

When discussing inflation, he emphasized how video games today are considerably cheaper than they have been historically. For instance, he argued that “$59.99 in 1999 is equivalent to, like, 100 bucks” today. Although the current climate shows some reluctance to increase prices, he insists that Nintendo is uniquely positioned to implement these hikes successfully, owing to better protection of their first-party titles compared to other companies.

As industry discussions continue, it will be fascinating to see how the market reacts to these shifts.