Take-Two, the parent company of Rockstar Games, just posted its quarterly financial results – rather good ones, at that. For those of us that aren’t investors, the good news to come out of its latest report is that GTA 6‘s launch date remains unmoved. No delays this time. However, another big question mark looming over GTA 6 is its price tag – will it match or even exceed the new $80 benchmark set by Nintendo? That question was posed to Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick ahead of today’s financial report, and while he didn’t give any specifics on GTA 6’s price, he did assure that it would be “fair.”
The $80 issue has been one of this year’s key gaming talking points. Nintendo was the first to take that step with its biggest Switch 2 titles. Microsoft then followed suit, announcing that The Outer Worlds 2 would retail at $80 – however, just a few weeks later, it backtracked and slashed its price down to $70, confirming that none of this year’s big Xbox first-party releases would make the jump. Battlefield 6 is without a doubt a desirable, triple-A game, and many thought that EA would jump at the chance to make it an $80 game, but it too has held firm. Despite some now infamous comments from Randy Pitchford about increased game prices, Borderlands 4 (published by Take-Two-owned 2K Games) is also sticking with $70.
There’s a hesitancy to follow in Nintendo’s footsteps, and many believe that the GTA 6 release date could be the true catalyst for solidifying that new top level price across the industry. Speaking to Zelnick before the new financial report was released, Variety quizzes him on whether GTA 6 will target an $80 price point.
“So now that announcement will come from Rockstar in due time,” he says. “Our goal always is to deliver more value than what we charge, so we’ve had variable pricing at the company forever. As you know, the approach of the industry is to launch at a premium price, sometimes with special editions, and over time, typically to reduce the price to enhance the overall size of the market. We do the very same thing. I think, probably more than most, we’re highly focused on making sure that the experience is great, not just because the game itself is great, but also because consumers have paid a fair price for it.”
It’s not the most committal answer in the world, and one that certainly doesn’t rule out an $80 price tag. The promise of a “fair” price is encouraging. But the “deliver more value than what we charge” comment could suggest that the sky is the limit – given its scope, and the fact GTA 5 is still going strong more than a decade later, the ‘value’ GTA 6 will deliver is surely gargantuan. Does that also mean a gargantuan price tag? Maybe.
Until Rockstar actually reveals its price and shows us more of what GTA 6 has to offer, find out everything we know so far from our friends at GTA Db. Alternatively, here are some colossal and brilliant open-world games to get lost in before your trip to Leonida.
You can follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides. We’ve also got a vibrant community Discord server, where you can chat about this story with members of the team and fellow readers.
