With the release window of Grand Theft Auto VI narrowed to Fall 2025, some are wondering if the standard edition of the highly-anticipated game will cost $70 or more. While some believe Take-Two could charge more for the next GTA game, the publisher is focused on over-delivering content compared to the game's price tag, and wants to make sure any price tag is "good news" for gamers.
During a recent earnings call, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick was asked about his thoughts on pricing for the company's entire catalog, as well as the Grand Theft Auto franchise in particular. As Gamespot first reported, Zelnick revealed the publisher's focus on delivering great value.
"Look, there’s more content constantly being made available, and we really aim to deliver great value at any given time," Zelnick said on the earnings call. "We're so focused on delivering more value than what we charge. And that's sort of the rubric. And any time we establish a price, we want to make sure that it's good news for the consumer; that the experience vastly over delivers in the context of the cost. That's the goal."
Suggested retail price of a number of videogames have risen from $59.99 up to $69.99, and this change has been one of the biggest controversies of the current gaming generation. It's been nearly four years since publishers increased the price of games, and Take-Two was one of the first publishers to charge $70 for new releases, starting with NBA 2K21.
Last year, Zelnick said that they're not seeing a pushback on the frontline price, saying that he thought players were happy paying $70 for games. "What we’re seeing is consumers are seeking to limit their spending by going either to the stuff they really, really care about, blockbusters, or to value, and sometimes it could be both," he said in May 2023. "And the good news is, we have a bunch of blockbusters, and we have a wonderful catalog.”
Zelnick talked about the frontline price for NBA 2K21 as an example. "I think that worked out very much as expected. And as planned, it's in a premium offering at the highest possible level, the title was built from the ground up for next-gen, so first title here that has been created that way," Zelnick explained. "And the acceptance by consumers has been nothing short of extraordinary."
Is there a good chance GTA 6 will cost more than $70?
Back in April, Saber Interactive CEO Matthew Karch addressed the price issue, and the expectations that are being put on new releases that are considered AAA. During an interview with IGN, Karch explains why the $70 price point will become extinct as things are changing in the video game industry.
I think that as games become more expensive to make, the $70 title is going to go the way of the dodo [bird]. I do. I just don't think it's sustainable… Look, you remember the hype for Cyberpunk , which I think actually ultimately performed okay, but when the expectations are so high and so much money is put into one title, it's hugely risky for the company that's doing it. What if it fails? You remember what happened when Ubisoft a couple of years ago, all their titles slipped out of the year, and then all of a sudden they were in an entirely different place? It's hard to recover from that. I think the market is going to shift to development which is not necessarily lower quality, but there's going to be an emphasis on trying to find ways to reduce costs
It sounds like there's a good chance that the industry will be shifting away from the $70 price point soon, and Karch's thoughts on the issue align with what many others in the industry have been saying about AAA games. The increased risk and rising development costs just make the industry's current model more unstable. According to a recent analysis, older games such as Fortnite, League of Legends, VALORANT, Grand Theft Auto V, saw more playtime than newer releases last year, which could be an indication of people spending less on newer titles, so it's easy to see why it's challenging for AAA games to meet sales expectations.
At this time, we still don't know what the price of GTA 6 will be, but recently, Take-Two has raised GTA ecosystem price. The GTA+ membership's price was raised by 33%, from $6 per month to $8 per month. The price increase happened just as L.A. Noire was added to the service's catalog. Rockstar's GTA: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition and Red Dead Redemption are already in the service, and Bully is slated to be added to GTA+ later this year.
With these points in mind, there's a good chance that GTA 6 will be priced more than $70, but nothing has been confirmed at this time. No legitimate retailers are taking preorders for GTA 6 yet, but we'll likely find out more later this year or early next year, as we get closer to the game's Fall 2025 launch window.
Grand Theft Auto VI is currently in development for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
