Square Enix charging $69.99 for PC games, others to follow

PC used to be exempt from the new $69.99 price tag. Not any more.

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Square Enix is the first publisher to charge $69.99 for base versions of its next-gen PC games, and more publishers are likely to follow. The new $69.99 MSRP was introduced for next-gen PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S games, but now publishers are pushing the price hike on PC as well.

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The Japanese publisher is charging $69.99 for PC versions of two of its upcoming PS5 and Xbox Series X games: Luminous Productions' new fantasy game Forspoken is $69.99 on Steam. Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade is also $69.99 on the Epic Games Store (and it's also exclusive to EGS). Both of these titles are are only coming to Gen 9 consoles, skipping Gen 8 consoles, and these are baseline prices for the standard PC ports--not deluxe or premium SKUs.

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This business decision may be a knee-jerk reaction to "disappointing" sales of premium games like Avengers, however it's not entirely necessary for a company like Square Enix to push MSRP to higher prices (they are quite financially sound), especially for the PC market that has traditionally enjoyed the standard $59.99 price tags with frequent Steam sales.

Like other publishers, Square Enix sees PC as a great supplement to its core console game sales. Capcom in particular plans to release all of its games simultaneously on consoles and PC, and SEGA is jumping into PC gaming with both feet.

It's unknown how this price hike will affect sales of Square Enix's biggest games.