PS5 and Xbox Series X games will cost $70 — and subscriptions may be the future - Tom's Guide

PS5 and Xbox Series X's game pricing bump could change how we buy games.

When 2K Games revealed that its upcoming basketball game NBA 2K21 will cost $70 on the PS5 and Xbox Series X, the internet immediately stirred into debate over a possible $10 price hike for next-gen titles.

This increase may have a big impact on the way people buy games — and it could be a huge boon for subscription services like Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Now.

Retail games first jumped to $60 in 2005 during the dawn of the Xbox 360 generation, and the price has remained in place for 15 years?

Given that PS5 and Xbox Series X games will be built around advanced technology such as ray tracing, 4K to 8K visuals and fast SSD loading, a bump in price seems reasonable.

“The typical console gamer buys just a few full games per year, and so while a $10 price hike may reduce demand at the margins, I also suspect that more gamers will instead just wait until the price drops either on packaged games or on the digital stores to $60 or $50.” said Ward.

A bump to $70 for PS5 and Xbox Series X games might not just affect the way people buy games; it could also make subscription services such as Xbox Game Pass and .

Xbox Game Pass currently gets you access to more than 100 AAA and indie games for $5 to $15 a month — and that includes all major Microsoft releases, such as Gears 5 and Halo Infinite as soon as they launch

“Microsoft is pushing hard at subscription plans like Xbox Game Pass, and free-to-play console games have gotten huge in recent years, so the retail price of AAA games right out of the gate has become less of an important factor over time for a growing portion of the console gamer base,” said Ward

As of this writing, the most played games on Xbox One are Fortnite, Call of Duty: Warzone and NBA 2K20 —  the former two are free-to-play, while the latter is on Xbox Game Pass