Few questions have followed Grand Theft Auto VI longer than what it should cost. The base edition's $80 price tag landed above the $60 standard players paid for a generation, and with grocery and gas bills climbing, the debate over whether any game is worth that much has only sharpened as the launch approaches.
Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick has now made the case that GTA 6 is a bargain, arguing on CNBC that even as inflation squeezes everyday spending, few forms of entertainment give players as much for their money as a game they can play for hundreds of hours. Zelnick appeared on the network's Squawk Box on Tuesday, a day after Take-Two reported its latest earnings.
Zelnick was candid about the pressure shoppers are under heading into the holidays. "I think the consumer is under pressure. These are challenging times. Inflation has hit average consumers. Food prices are up. Gas prices are way up, and it's taking a toll," he said. "I think we are going to see that as we head into the Christmas season undoubtedly. Entertainment is not immune to such forces."
His answer to that pressure is the sheer amount of playtime a game like GTA 6 offers. "However, interactive entertainment is actually a real bargain, particularly a title like Grand Theft Auto because there's so many hours of engagement on offer. Even a short video game is 10 hours of engagement on the low end. You can play Grand Theft Auto 5 for hundreds of hours and not get bored."
"We'll see how people feel about Grand Theft Auto 6, but I believe that you'll be able to engage for an extraordinary long period of time," Zelnick said. "So if consumers look at entertainment value as the intersection of how great it is and how long you can engage with it, interactive entertainment is a great bargain. However, when you give people what they want, no matter what the times are, they will show up for it."
Demand, by his account, is already proving the point. Asked about pre-orders, Zelnick said they are "running far stronger than we expect. And our expectations were not low." He added: "Our expectations were high and they are being vastly exceeded so far."
The comments land on one of the launch's longest-running debates. GTA 6's base edition costs $80, with an Ultimate Edition at $100 — a step up from the $60 that Grand Theft Auto V launched at in 2013, though roughly in line with that price once inflation is factored in. Zelnick has made the value argument before, and Take-Two has previously suggested Rockstar could have charged more for a game of this scale. In the same interview, he said Rockstar aims to deliver an extraordinary experience unlike anything players have seen before.
GTA 6 launches on November 19 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and Series S, with preloading already underway.
