Xbox Learned The Hard Way That $80 Games Can't Be The Standard
Calling their bluff.
Just six weeks after Xbox announced that The Outer Worlds 2 was going to be the first $80 Xbox Game Studios release, the troubled publisher said, actually, nevermind. Xbox plans to go back on its controversial decision, citing “current market conditions.”
“We’re focused on bringing players incredible worlds to explore, and will keep our full-priced holiday releases, including The Outer Worlds 2, at $69.99 – in line with current market conditions,” an Xbox spokesperson to Windows Central.
The decision reversal is ultimately a win for Xbox players looking forward to Obsidian’s next role-playing game. But it's also the latest sign that one of the biggest game publishers in the industry is floundering under the weight of questionable decisions and the inability to convey a clear, customer-friendly message with any consistency. This latest stumble is perhaps the publisher’s toughest lesson yet: that not every game can assume the new $80 price tag of Mario Kart World and expect it to go over well with consumers.
Charging players $80 for a game runs an incredible risk in today’s economy.
The price hike on software is something most onlookers are expecting for many games in the years to come. Nintendo opened the floodgates back in April when it announced that Mario Kart World would be $80. It was easy to understand why this launch title would be the first game of the modern era to break the $69.99 cap that players had grown accustomed to. Mario Kart World was a larger game than its predecessor, and took way more resources to develop.
In that same breath, the price point was also Nintendo strong-arming consumers who want to play their unique games. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe famously sold an absurd amount of copies. Demand for its sequel was high, and players were likely willing to pay a premium for a game they’ll play for the entirety of the console’s life cycle. After all, who in their right mind would buy a Switch 2 without Nintendo’s flagship launch title?
When Xbox announced that The Outer Worlds 2 would retail for $80 in June, however, most players rejected the idea. This wasn’t a rejection of The Outer Worlds 2 itself, as the first game is a tremendous sci-fi RPG that took heavy inspiration from Obsidian’s beloved classic, Fallout: New Vegas. Rather, it seemed odd that Xbox was applying this standard seemingly out of thin air.
Obsidian has a track record of creating smaller experiences compared to its contemporaries in the RPG space. In fact, this is arguably one of the developer’s greatest strengths, and likely one of the reasons it’s become one of the most prolific studios in gaming today (The Outer Worlds 2 will mark the studio’s third release in 2025). As consistent as Obsidian has become, and as much good faith as they’ve earned from players from games like Avowed, Pentiment, and Grounded, The Outer Worlds 2 isn’t Mario Kart. The Outer Worlds 2 isn’t the next Grand Theft Auto or even Forza Horizon. Arbitrarily applying an $80 price tag to its latest release seems like a deep misunderstanding of what Obsidian’s mantra has been for years now. It’s a decision that even leadership at the studio seemed to question.
If 2025 has taught us anything so far, it’s that developers can and should embrace a more dynamic approach to deciding what their product is worth. Some of the year’s biggest hits, like Dune Awakening and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, launched at just $50 despite providing complete, in-depth experiences that some players would have gladly paid more for. Blue Prince, a game containing hundreds of hours of play for those willing to go down the rabbit hole, is just $30. Then there are services like Game Pass and PlayStation Plus, offering players access to hundreds of games for a small monthly cost.
It’s never been more challenging to get players to engage with a new release. Suddenly placing the $80 albatross on The Outer Worlds 2 was never fair to its developers, especially without their knowledge. Underwhelming pre-order numbers were likely the impetus for the price drop. But even after walking back that decision, there’s no telling what damage this PR blunder did to the game’s public reception. And I’m not sure if any amount of clever memes or in-universe social media posts can wash away the ick of this entire ordeal.
Xbox just raised the prices on its consoles and accessories earlier this year.
There’s no doubt that the rising cost of development is a burden on game companies. Productions are bigger and longer than they were even 10 years ago. And what it takes to recoup these costs is something most players still buying games are sensitive to, so long as the product reflects that. But at a time when Microsoft (a company worth trillions of dollars) is slashing its costs by firing thousands, shuttering studios, and cancelling games after years in production, it seems deeply cynical to pass the buck on to the customer.
For those who’ve already put down the $80 to pre-order The Outer Worlds 2, Xbox is beginning to send out $10 refunds in the form of store credit. At the very least, the publisher is making this process painless.
Gaming has quickly become an expensive hobby in 2025. As the country braces for the impact tariffs will have on current and next-gen hardware, Xbox instated a price hike across all of its products, including its consoles and accessories. PlayStation has done the same in non-U.S. territories like Europe and Japan.
