COD Black Ops 6 Price Has European Fans Outraged

The COD Black Ops 6 price increase has caused a stir among European fans and sparked a global debate. While the game costs $70.00 in the United States, the digital base game costs a whopping 79,99 Euros ($86.10) in Europe, while the Vault Edition is even higher at 100,99 Euros. This COD Black Ops 6 price increase has European fans outraged, and the rest of the world is fearful of what will happen next.

COD Black Ops 6 Price Has Gamers Everywhere Concerned

The gaming community has long been accustomed to investing in physical copies of games, complete with discs, manuals, art books, and collectibles. However, the advent of digital copies has introduced a new dynamic. The shift to digital, coupled with the inclusion of monetization in games and high day-one prices, has sparked a fresh debate among gamers about the value for money they are getting.

COD Black Ops 6 is a unique case study for many reasons. First, the considerable price increase for this game is unique to this franchise, and Microsoft has given much thought to how they priced it. First, they priced the game based on what the consumers of this franchise were willing to buy. In addition, the game will be on Game Pass on Day 1, tempting fans to subscribe instead of shelling out the high cost of the game.

While Microsoft doesn’t get the same upfront money when consumers subscribe to Game Pass, they save revenue that is lost when their games are on platforms like Steam. In addition, a Game Pass subscription gets you locked into their ecosystem. Either way, Microsoft benefits from whichever way a consumer “buys” COD Black Ops 6.

In an ironic twist, Call of Duty Black Ops 6 is the most pre-ordered Steam Item, meaning that while the price has alienated some fans, many more are willing to shell out the new price, further proving Microsoft’s pricing strategy is effective. Does this indicate future price bumps for AAA games worldwide? Should we expect base games to cost this much and bigger editions to cost hundreds of dollars?

Should We Expect More Price Bumps for AAA Titles Worldwide?

Within the last couple of years, the gaming industry has discussed a potential price increase for AAA titles due to inflation and higher development costs. In turn, a handful of publishers increased their prices from $60 to $70 in 2022. After that, the $70 price point for AAA titles became the norm. However, as we see here for Black Ops 6, we are starting to see regional pricing hikes that are more expensive in that region’s currency than in the USD price used as the starting point. For instance, the Thrones of Decay DLC for Total War: Warhammer III saw massive price differences in different countries, leading fans to blast Sega for their handling of regional pricing.

So, while it is hard to say if we will see a standard price increase worldwide to the one that caused European fans to be outraged with the COD Black Ops 6 price, you should expect that publishers will start basing their regional pricing on the inflation of the region where the publisher is selling it, leading to various price points based on your region.

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