Final Fantasy VII Remake Is $70 On PC And People Are Freaking Out

Square Enix wants PC players to pay the same as PS5 and Xbox Series X owners

The launch of the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S provided companies with an opportunity to charge more for their console games and many jumped at the chance. With Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade and Forspoken, that new $70 price tag is making a controversial appearance on PC, a platform that’s traditionally seen at cheaper price points. Some people are worried it’s the beginning of an across-the-board price hike, even if it’s one that’s been long overdue.

PC players noticed the new pricetag on the Epic Games Store listing shortly after Square Enix announced the RPG port, a first in a competitive ecosystem known for steep discounts. The price, which includes post-release DLC, has since been hidden. The page now only says the game is “coming soon,” despite the fact that the game releases in just a few days on December 16. Upcoming action RPG Forspoken, meanwhile, still shows its $70 price on Steam, and its Discussion page is dominated by an over 300 comment thread arguing about it.

Last year, Activision, Take-Two, Sony and others revealed that the new-gen versions of their next-gen games would have a $10 mark-up over the generally standardized $60 video game price point. Some competitors let players upgrade their last-gen games for free, whereas anyone who wanted to play Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War or Spider-Man: Miles Morales on PS5 would need to pay extra to enjoy them at a higher fidelity.

“We announced a $70 price point for NBA 2K21,” Take-Two publisher CEO Strauss Zelnick said earlier this year after the basketball game became the first to adopt the hike. “Our view was that we’re offering an array of extraordinary experiences, lots of replayability, and the last time there was a frontline price increase in the US was 2005, 2006, so we think consumers were ready for it.”

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