Rise in the price of the PS5, KOTOR Remake, MultiVersus… the business news of the week

business news Rise in the price of the PS5, KOTOR Remake, MultiVersus… the business news of the week

Sony increases the price of the PS5 in France and other countries

It is an unprecedented decision that Sony took this week: that of increasing the price of a console released almost two years ago. The PS5 indeed sees its price increase in seven markets, including Europe, where it is now necessary to count 549.99 € to acquire a model with Blu-ray player, and 449.99 € for the Digital Edition. A change that Jim Ryan, CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, justifies because of « the global economic environment »marked by « high rates of inflation as well as adverse trends in the values ​​of different currencies, which impact consumers and cause some pressure on many industries ».

“Due to these difficult economic conditions, SIE has made the difficult decision to increase the recommended retail price of the PlayStation 5 in certain markets in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia-Pacific, Americas Latin, as well as in Canada. There will be no price increase in the United States »details the CEO on the PlayStation-Blog. The United States is therefore the only major market not concerned. Undoubtedly for a question of exchange rate, the euro having fallen below the parity threshold with the dollar. Detailed below, the new prices are already effective, except in Japan where the increase will take place on September 15.

Europe

• PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray player – €549.99
• PS5 Digital Edition – €449.99

UK

• PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray drive – £479.99
• PS5 Digital Edition – £389.99

Japan (from September 15, 2022)

• PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray drive – ¥54,980
• PS5 Digital Edition – ¥44,980

China

• PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray drive – ¥4,299 yuan
• PS5 Digital Edition – ¥3,499 yuan

Australia

• PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray drive – $799.95 AUD
• PS5 Digital Edition – AU$649.95

Mexico

• PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray drive – MXN $14,999
• PS5 Digital Edition – MXN$12,499

Canada

• PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray drive – CAD $649.99
• PS5 Digital Edition – $519.99 CAD

This increase comes as the PS5 remains difficult to find in stores. Jim Ryan also recalls that « (our) top priority remains to improve the PS5 supply situation ».

Last month, we also saw the price of the Meta Quest 2 virtual reality headset increase by 100 euros for similar reasons. “The cost of manufacturing our products has increased”had indicated the firm of Mark Zuckerberg in its press release.

Earlier this week, Sony confirmed that the PSVR 2 will be available in early 2023, but its price has not been specified. The firm also unveiled the high-end DualSense Edge controller, again without announcing the price.

To note that Microsoft has confirmed, in the columns of Windows Centralnot planning a price increase for its Xbox Series. On his side, Nintendo had already said that it had no intention of increasing the price of the Switch earlier this month from Nikkei

Star Wars KOTOR Remake Changes Hands

Last week, Embracer Group announced that one of its AAA projects has been moved to another member of its extensive studio family, without being more specific. All eyes naturally turned to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) Remake, which was known to be in trouble since the revelations made by Jason Schreier last July.

It was again the Bloomberg journalist who took up his pen to confirm the thing: first entrusted to the Texans of Aspyr, who worked on it for more than two years, the reinvention of the cult RPG is now in the hands of « one of Saber Interactive’s Eastern European studios ». An unsurprising transfer given that the management of Saber Interactive had already announced, in July, to come as reinforcements before development concerns were brought to light.

According to Schreier’s sources, executives from Embracer, Disney, and Sony—which invested in the project by giving themselves a temporary console exclusive—were all unhappy with the progress of the project. This is the first time that Aspyr, founded in 1996 and acquired by Embracer in early 2021, has been awarded a project of such magnitude, the studio having mainly worked on ports and remasters by the past. Saber Interactive, whose studios have distinguished themselves by signing World War Z, SnowRunner, Evil Dead The Game or even the Switch port of The Witcher 3, seems to have more resources to meet the immense expectations surrounding the game.

No doubt this change will have a major impact on the development schedule. Announced in September 2021, the game does not yet have an official release date, but it should not land for at least two years according to Schreier.

MultiVersus: 20 million players and top sales

Launched in open beta a month ago, the free-to-play MultiVersus has attracted more than 20 million players, announced Warner Bros this week. Obviously, the whole challenge for the American firm will be to retain this base of players over the long term and make them give in to the sirens of microtransactions.

Obviously, many of them have already taken out the credit card. MultiVersus climbed to the top of the July sales chart in the United States thanks to its Founder’s Packs, sold between €39.99 and €99.99. It thus overtook Elden Ring, which dominated the ranking since its release last February, LEGO Star Wars The Skywalker Saga, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Call of Duty Vanguard, MLB The Show 22, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Digimon Survive, Minecraft and F1 22.

Building on an elective roster of popular characters from numerous Warner Bros licenses (DC Comics, Looney Toones, Game of Thrones…), MultiVersus will evolve over the course of its content seasons, with for example the arrival of Rick & Morty , Black Adam and Stripe during season 1.

For Warner Bros, this success is in addition to that of LEGO Star Wars The Skywalker Saga, the second best-selling game of the year in the United States behind Elden Ring and ahead of Pokémon Legends Arceus, Horizon Forbidden West and MLB The Show 22. And the American firm will end the year in style with the release of Gotham Knights, scheduled for October 21. What compensate for the postponements of Hogwarts Legacy and Suicide Squad, both postponed to 2023.

Briefly in the business news of the week

• And 4 million sales for Sunbreak, the extension of Monster Hunter Rise which reached 11 million.
• Bethesda veterans founded the Something Wicked studiowhich unveiled its open-world RPG wyrdsong at gamescom. The team is led by Jeff Gardinerwho worked nearly 15 years at Bethesda on Skyrim, Fallout 3, Fallout 4 and Fallout 76, as well as by Charles Staples, who worked on Fallout New Vegas and The Outer Worlds at Obsidian. The Chinese giant NetEase invested $13.2 million in the studio.
• Nice start for Farthest Frontier, the city-builder from Crate Entertainment (Grim Dawn), which has achieved more than 250,000 sales since its early access release on Steam on August 9th.
• the SELL unveiled a 100% Switch top 5 for week 32 of the best physical sales in France. We find in order Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Mario Strikers Battle League Football, Nintendo Switch Sports, Animal Crossing New Horizons and Xenoblade Chronicles 3.
• Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Legacy of Kain or even Thief are now officially in the hands of Embracer Group, which has finalized the acquisition of Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal, announced last May.