In what’s sure to be an easy PR win for the company, Capcom has confirmed, by way of the opening of pre-orders for Resident Evil Village, that it won’t be seeking a higher price tag for next-gen releases.
For context, major publishers such as 2K confirmed prior to the launch of Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 that it would be committing to a blanket price hike of $10 for future games, in turn bumping the RRP (discounts and promotions excluded) from $60 to $70. The announcement initially caused quite a stir on social media for multiple reasons, not least for its insensitive timing. Rising development costs and inflation have frequently been cited as major contributors to the rise and while circumstances are never identical across the board, Capcom’s refusal to lump consumers with a bigger hole in their pockets certainly raises questions over just how necessary the move is.
Indeed, when Village arrives in the spring, it’ll be purchasable on any available platform – not just Xbox One and PS4 – for $60.
There is the argument to be made, of course, that Ethan Winters’ second outing isn’t truly a next-gen title as it’ll be available for Microsoft and Sony’s older machines, but this isn’t entirely true. Unlike CD Projekt RED’s Cyberpunk 2077, which was initially announced before either console’s successor had even been revealed, Resident Evil‘s eighth mainline installment was, until very recently, never intended to be available on outdated hardware.
It’s worth noting, too, that no official comment regarding price guidelines has been provided by the Japanese company, so there’s still a possibility that the new $70 standard will be adopted in the future. Only time will tell.
Resident Evil Village is out May 7th for all aforementioned platforms as well as PC. See here for the latest gameplay trailer.