Microsoft has become the latest big-name publisher to jump to a $70 asking price for the launch of big-budget games. The company said in a statement to IGN that the new pricing will start in 2023 for games built for the Xbox Series X/S and will include titles like Starfield, Redfall, and the next Forza Motorsport.
A $70 MSRP "reflects the content, scale, and technical complexity of these titles," a Microsoft spokesperson told IGN.
Despite the price increase for a la carte purchases, Microsoft isn't currently raising the price of its Game Pass subscriptions, which include launch day access to all of Microsoft's first-party titles. Speaking at a WSJ Live event last month, though, Xbox chief Phil Spencer said he thought that "at some point we'll have to raise some prices on certain things..."