Thanks to Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360, PS3, and PC), UK gamers are about to have their wallets bled out dry as retailers look to hiking up their prices as well for this holiday season. As it stands, Activision's war title from the popular Call of Duty franchise is pegged at UK£ 54.99. Converted to US dollars, that's almost a crazy US$ 90. And that's just for the regular copy, no fancy schmancy bundles yet.

Ka-bowm.

Factors cited for this price path to be taken by the retailers would be the rising game development costs and the weakening British pound. Meanwhile, an anonymous UK boss of a top global publisher defended Activision to MCV UK, saying that:

Retail moans to MCV, because they want a massive game like Modern Warfare for next to nothing. 90 per cent of a publisher's business is done from barely 10 per cent of titles. In these tough times, these games cost a lot of money to develop - up to UK£ 50 million. With that pressure to see a return on their investment, I can sort of understand where Activision is going.

If you look at the amount it costs to see a movie at the cinema or play a DVD, you watch it once and you're done. A UK£ 55 game of this quality is far, far better value. Will this affect consumers? I don't think so. If a title is this good, will they spend an extra UK£ 5? Of course. You can't blame Activision. They're entitled to do this - they've invested huge amounts.

I'm not sure the weak pound is the main reason for the rise. I think it's because Activision knows they've spent a huge amount to offer the best entertainment, at the best value money can buy - even if they do add a fiver to the price.

Meanwhile, Electronic Arts has responded to this news, reassuring consumers that they will not be following the lead of Activision, retaining their RRPs for their holiday releases.

Modern Warfare 2 is also coming out with a Prestige Edition and Hardened Edition, priced at US$ 149.99 and US$ 80 respectively.

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