Kingdom Come: Deliverance Developer Anticipates GTA 6 Success Will Encourage Higher Game Pricing

Warhorse Studios co-founder Martin Klima recently shared his thoughts on the gaming industry’s pricing landscape, particularly in light of the upcoming release of a highly anticipated title. While he admits he’s not a fan of the franchise and doesn’t quite grasp the excitement surrounding it, he supports the decision to set the price at $80 or more. Klima hopes this move will encourage the rest of the industry to follow suit and raise their prices as well.

In a recent interview, Klima pointed out the challenging state of the gaming industry. He noted that development costs have skyrocketed, yet audience growth has stagnated, leaving publishers and developers maximizing their earnings on digital platforms. He remarked, “We destroyed retail, and we took all their money.” As the co-founder of the studio behind the open-world RPG Kingdom Come: Deliverance and its sequel, he believes that raising prices is the only viable solution, even if many in the industry are hesitant to take that step.

“The last thing you can do is to increase the unit price,” Klima stated. “That would help a lot, but everybody’s scared to death about it.”

With the standard edition of the upcoming title priced at $80 and the deluxe edition at $100, which includes in-game purchases and additional content, Klima sees this as a potential turning point for the industry.

“Now, hopefully, this title will blaze the trail, and it will allow us to increase the cost,” he said. “[The developers behind it are the only ones] who can afford, or who can dare, to increase the price of games, which I think is long overdue and also necessary for this business to survive. So I wish them all the luck.”

Interestingly, Klima won’t be diving into the game when it launches in November, as he doesn’t find the franchise appealing. “And the reason why it is so popular—it beats me,” he admitted. “It’s something which I just fail to understand.”

It’s likely that many gamers will have differing opinions on Klima’s views regarding price increases. The current console generation has already seen a jump from $60 to $70, a change that sparked considerable debate, and moving to an $80 price point may provoke even more controversy.