Why Square Enix Priced FF7 Remake at $70 on PC

As a long-time Final Fantasy fan and industry analyst, I‘ve been eagerly anticipating the PC release of FF7 Remake Intergrade. However its $70 sticker price caused some surprise given console editions cost $10-20 less. Why the pricing disparity? Let‘s objectively examine the critical factors:

It‘s All About Recouping Higher PC Development Expenses

Creating an optimal, configurable PC version takes a significant amount of additional development resources compared to locked console specifications. Based on assessments of other recent multiplatform titles, developing a quality PC port typically inflates total costs by 15-20%.

Here‘s a breakdown of extra dev tasks:

• Optimizing and testing across countless PC hardware configurations
• Implementing graphics settings menus and preview systems
• High resolution texture packs to leverage beefier GPUs
• Special UI considerations for keyboard/mouse controls
• Re-engineering back-end and render pipelines for PC platform

Skilled programmers fluent in DirectX and graphics APIs need to be allocated exclusively towards these objectives over 6-12 months. This dedicated PC team along with extra production timeline contributes towards the inflated costs that publishers aim to offset via premium pricing.

The Bigger Scope and Budgets of Modern AAA Games

AAA franchises today like Final Fantasy 7 Remake bear little resemblance to AAA games from 10-15 years back in terms of depth, scale and visual quality:

As evident above, beloved IPs like Final Fantasy now require exponentially bigger production capacity across larger, highly-skilled creative and technical talent pools developed over many years alongside custom tooling and engines.

The sheer wealth of hand-crafted assets like accurately detailed 3D models for characters/environments, elaborate pre-rendered cutscenes, professional voice acting and orchestrated live music are massively expensive to develop and produce – especially in higher resolutions.

No wonder average AAA budgets today can easily breach over $100 million forcing companies to price premium.

Brand Pedigree Powers Price Premiums

In 2023, there are few franchises that command the same level of brand equity as Final Fantasy built over 25+ years and 15+ landmark titles. Consider that as per Square Enix latest annual report, the Final Fantasy franchise has cumulatively sold over 163 million units worldwide.

For context, that is 5x times the 30 million lifetime sales of the mainline Elder Scrolls games developed by Bethesda, another renowned RPG maker.

Unsurprisingly, FF games carry an inherent expectancy of quality and willingness for fans to pay top dollar pricing reserved for only the most established IPs. This rings true not just for the Japanese audience but also worldwide as evident in both sales numbers and community passion.

Episodic Structure Adds to Long-term Value

While the $70 pricing appears steep for just Final Fantasy VII Remake which covers Midgar, it helps to consider the entire project is shaping up to be multiple full-sized 40+ hour RPG epics rather than a single game.

Director Tetsuya Nomura himself classifies this ambitious multi-part saga as almost "entirely new" compared to the original release especially in terms of deeper characterization and world-building.

In that sense, FF7 Remake pricing is based around its structure as almost an anthology of games purpose-built to depict FF7‘s sprawling world and lore more comprehensively.

$70 Pricing Matches Steam‘s Own AAA Standards

Beyond just Square Enix‘s motivations, the PC pricing strategy for FF7 Remake Intergrade aligns perfectly with Valve‘s own framework for Steam game pricing bands introduced recently:

As evident in the chart above, Valve themselves consider $60-$70 appropriate for premium new AAA game releases with all offerings above $70 classified as mostly special editions. FF7 Remake fits that bucket perfectly.

In conclusion, FF7 Remake‘s bumped-up PC pricing is attributable to multiple logical factors driven by economic necessities as much as artistic vision. Considering all these contributing aspects, $70 seems a fair value exchange.

Hopefully this insider analysis provided helpful perspective on the topic for fellow Final Fantasy fans curious about Intergrade‘s pricing on Steam. Which game should I cover next? Let me know in comments below!