Take-Two wants to charge £100 or more for GTA 6 claims another analyst

How much would you pay for GTA 6? (Rockstar Games) The idea of GTA 6 costing at least $100 has returned, as analyst Michael Pachter adds his voice to those warning of a major price increase. No one likes a price increase, but console video games have cost around $50/£50 since the 8-bit era. In fact, the average price went down when the original PlayStation console popularised the move from cartridges to discs. Over time, that slowly crept up to £60 and in the last few years most publishers have migrated towards $70/£70 for the biggest titles, especially with those with online components, like Call Of Duty and EA Sports FC. For some time there has been talk that GTA 6 will attempt to force another increase, with a massive leap forward to $100 – which, if true, is almost certainly going to mean £100 in the UK. Talk of a $100 price point has been prevalent in the Grand Theft Auto fan community for several years now but came to a head earlier in the year, when analyst Matthew Ball claimed that other game publishers ‘hope’ that GTA 6 will priced at somewhere between $80 to $100 – so that they are then justified in charging the same amount for their games. Many games already have deluxe editions that frequently cost $100 or more. For example, Take-Two’s recent release of Civilization 7 costs £60 for the standard edition but it was much criticised for the fact that many standard features of the series are only available if you buy the DLC or the £90 Deluxe Edition. An even more expensive Founders Edition, with additional exclusive content, cost £120 at launch. Although it’s practically guaranteed that a game of GTA 6’s status would follow a similar pricing structure, the rumours suggest that £80 to £100 will be the starting point. GTA 6 – it could be a milestone for several reasons (Rockstar Games) ‘We think the company has plans to sell the game at a previously unheard of price point, and suspect that management can offer consumers an incentive to pay $100 or more per unit by rewarding them with a large amount of in-game currency to be spent in GTA Online,’ wrote Wedbush Securities managing director Michael Pachter in a new research note. ‘There is precedent for integrating an online game experience with a premium game, as Activision did so with both Call of Duty Warzone and Call of Duty Mobile content prior to the release of its annual Call of Duty premium instalment. ‘In Activision’s case, the integration led to a 40% increase in sales of Call of Duty premium; in Take-Two’s case, we think a successful integration of GTA Online and GTA 6 can lead to a $100 price point for the premium game.’ There’s little doubt that many, perhaps most, players will pay that much but such a sudden price rise will not be welcomed and other publishers trying to follow suite are likely to suffer harsh criticism. What Take-Two and developer Rockstar Games intend to do about GTA Online – the live service component of GTA 5, that is behind much of the game’s enduring success – remains a mystery, with no clue as to whether there will be a GTA Online 2 or what will happen to existing players once GTA 6 is released. There have been very few rumours, believable or otherwise, about GTA 6 in recent months and so it remains a mystery as to why there still has not been a second trailer, with the initial one now being 15 months old. This seems to point towards a delay for the game, into 2026, but Take-Two has repeatedly insisted that it will be released in 2025. However, at what point an actual release date, and price, might be announced remains completely unknown. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Up Next Previous Page Next Page Email [email protected], leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.