EA Defies Trend: No Plans to Raise Video Game Prices

Publisher/developer EA has confirmed it has no plans to increase the price of its games, even as competitors like Microsoft and Nintendo move to $80.

Addressing investors during its latest financial call, CEO Andrew Wilson said the company’s focus is to "deliver incredible quality and exponential value for our playerbase," such as its popular co-op adventure Split Fiction, which has now sold 4 million copies.

"In terms of pricing power, our business is very different today than it was even just 10 years ago," Wilson explained. "In a world where everything we did 10 years ago revolved around selling shiny discs in plastic boxes on retail shelves — well, that’s still a part of our business, but it’s a significantly smaller part, and we now have pricing that spans everything from free-to-play all the way to deluxe editions and beyond."

"At the end of the day, whether we're doing something that costs a dollar, or we're doing something that costs $10, or we're doing something that costs $100, our objective is always to deliver incredible quality and exponential value for our playerbase," said Wilson. "And what we've discovered over time is that when we can marry quality and value together, our business is strong, resilient, and continues to grow."

"From a guidance perspective [...], we have reflected no changes in our current [pricing] strategy at this point," added CFO Stuart Canfield.

It'll be welcome news to some, given just last week, Microsoft confirmed it was raising Xbox prices as well as increasing the cost of controllers, headsets, and some games. The price hike for consoles and accessories has already taken effect, and while game prices will remain unchanged for now, we should expect Xbox to charge $79.99 for new, first-party titles around the holiday season.

This follows a broader trend in AAA gaming that has seen prices jumping from $60 to $70 over the past five years, and Nintendo going with $80 for upcoming Switch 2 exclusive titles like Mario Kart World and other Switch 2 Edition games. The Switch 2 itself was recently revealed to launch at $450 — a price point that drew criticism from Nintendo fans, even as analysts acknowledged such a high cost was likely inevitable amid current economic conditions.

Given EA's comments, we can expect the next EA Sports FC, Madden, and Battlefield games to maintain the $70 standard edition pricing.

Last week, IGN reported EA cut around 100 jobs at Apex Legends developer Respawn Entertainment, along with broader layoffs across its organization, affecting approximately 300 people total.