Sony’s latest earnings show record growth for the hardware sales of their current gen console, the PS5. So it would stand to reason that game sales have improved due to the higher install base, yet this isn’t the case.

In fact, total game units sold is the lowest they’ve been since 2019. Of course there are other factors to this, such as 2020 going through the pandemic where more people spent money on hobbies inside the home. However data also suggests something else at play.

According to data analysis (via TweakTown), the higher price tag of games might be to blame for lower unit sales. It’s been a controversial subject, but over time developers and publishers have increased the standard price of a new AAA game from $60 to $70 over the past few years.

The big piece of data for them actually comes from the third-party launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on the PS5 platform. On PS5 the game saw a decline in overall sales despite the all-time high in revenue occurring at the same time.

This led them to conclude that gamers on the PS5 buy less games, but spend more on games they purchase. The latter is not a surprise as those games do cost more than before.

What they don’t mention, but I will in this article, is that this news is bad news for those hoping games return to the $60 price tag of the past. Companies care more about the bottom line instead of just selling more units.

Therefore, it appears game publishers make more money with the higher price tag – which means that sacrificing overall sales is worth it for them in this case.