In his recent speech at the CESA event, Enterbrain president Hirokazu Hamamura was quoted as expecting PS3 games to be priced higher than usual. The president, whose company owns the famous Japanese magazine Famitsu, was predicting that the cheapest PS3 software will cost around $70, while high-end PS3 games can cost as much as $80 in Japan.
What Hamamura predicted was centered around the Japanese market alone. The Japanese software price higher than anywhere else in the world has been a tradition since the Playstation's launch in 94. According to various sources, a typical PlayStation 2 software already costs $65-70 for a Japanese consumer. At the same time, a consumer on the North American shore pays relatively less than that. So Hamamura's comments about expecting higher priced games for Japanese PS3 isn't surprising at all.
In the meantime, those not living in Japan, shouldn't expect PS3 software prices to climb a $20 figure overnight. There is plenty of time and events left for Sony to discuss about costs and price of their upcoming console. Chances are we may hear more about that at the Tokyo Games Show. Stay glued, we'll bring you more as this story unfolds.