Activision has confirmed that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will arrive this autumn with a suggested retail price of GBP 54.99, as a weak pound and record development costs take their toll. Their toll of GBP 54.99, to be specific.
Other publishers are expected to follow suit, claims MCV. A quick look around the retail-sphere and one spies EA adopting the new pricing with Need for Speed: Shift.
"You can't continue to trade as normal when the biggest territory in Europe has seen cost of goods increase by 30 per cent due to the strengthening of the Euro. Publishers somehow need to offset this drastic increase in costs," commented THQ's publishing boss Ian Curran.
Nintendo addressed the issue in March by pushing the price of the Wii to 199.99 - a price hike of around 20 quid.
The problem comes, however, if and when the pound returns to strength. Do those already established trade prices then drop?