The never changing Price Tag of video games
If you have been playing video games ever since the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 era, then chances are that you've grown up to see the price of Bombay Ring Chips nearly double due to inflation. The price of your favourite AAA games, however, have remained at $60 ever since. Adjusting for inflation, that same $60 game should be $75 now. But thankfully, due to a significant increase in demand over the years, publishers know that by keeping the price same, they can keep on selling games to more and more people and thus keep on making greater profits.
The cost of production of a video game boils down to salaries of developers, production of disks and distribution. In most cases, publishers such as Sony, Bandai Namco, and Activision pay developers up front. This leaves them with full control over the price of a game. And as it stands and is agreed upon, $10 to $60 is the set marker between which publishers are willing to charge. These price points are set by publishers, because it levels the playing field for all parties involved, whilst making sure that they profit. The rest of the publishers' earnings are made up of Deluxe Edition sales and less savoury means.
While the price of a video game has stayed the same, the cost of making them hasn't. The average cost of production has gone up by 3 to 4 over the last decade which left publishers and developers in a fix. This is where ill practices of Day One DLCs, Microtransactions and Loot Boxes came into foul up the $60 AAA experience. The issue becomes real once you take into account the rushed and buggy games that come out. Not to mention, these games sometimes have pay walls all put in place to make sure that you pay for items in-game and for additional content. But as it stands, publishers know not to cross that $60 bracket, because it's much better to sell 10,000 copies than 5,000 copies at $70.