For years now the price of major AAA video games has been relatively set at $60 in the US. But with their new title ReCore, Microsoft is trying something different. When it launches, ReCore will be only $40, and now we have a better idea of why.
Speaking with TXR (via GameSpot), Xbox Marketing Manager Aaron Greenburg explained the motivation behind the decision. At the end of the day, it boils down to getting as many people to play the game as possible.
“We wanted there to be no barriers,” he says. “We wanted to be able to give you a great AAA that gives you $60 of value but if you aren’t sure, not let that be the barrier of a tradeoff of, ‘Hey there’s a $60 game and there’s this game.’ We wanted you to be able to get in.”
Launching a new IP is always risky. And that is even more the case when that game is releasing in the fall. With that in mind, Microsoft is doing everything they can to help make sure ReCore is a success.
When it comes to new IP, “ideally, launch timing matters a lot. So that’s why you’re seeing us launch it as our first title of the season; it’s coming in September,” he explains.
“The second thing is it doesn’t have an existing base of fans. So we have to build that fan base. Rightly so, [gamers] are very thoughtful about, ‘Where do I want to spend my money?, What games do I want to buy? So we kind of have to earn their vote; we have to earn their trust; we have to earn their dollar.”
The newest game from Mega-Man creator Keiji Inafune, ReCore is a 3D platformer that follows a young girl named Joule as she’s helped by a cast of robots. It releases on Xbox One and PC September 13. As part of Microsoft’s new Play Anywhere program, it will be cross-buy, and cross-save between the two platforms.
Inafune describes the game as a blending of anime and the ideas of western cinema, inspired by the different backgrounds of co-developers Japanese studio Comcept and the Texas-based studio Armature. If you missed it, be sure to check out the title’s gameplay trailer from E3.