Big quote: Remember the many reports before GTA 6 was announced claiming that the standard version would cost $100 or possibly more? We now know it will cost $80 when it launches in November, with the deluxe edition priced at $100. Take-Two's CEO suggests we should be grateful for this as it could have been even higher and Rockstar is delivering more value than what it charges.
Speaking on CNBC's Squawk Pod, Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick spoke about GTA VI, preorders, its pricing, and more.
Now that the game's $80/$100 price point is confirmed, Zelnick said, "I think most people felt that if we wanted to exert it, we had a great deal of pricing power."
"Our job, though, as we see it, is to deliver always way more value to the consumer than what we charge. And we want to do that over and over and over again," the CEO continued. "We understand that a consumer experience is the intersection of the thing itself and what you paid for it, right? And so we want people to be thrilled, and we would never want people to feel like this is out of their range."
Despite Zelnick's apparent request for gratitude, there has been plenty of anger over the $100 version of GTA 6 featuring locked exclusive in-game stores, cars, and weapons, leading to accusations that $100 should be considered the baseline price. They may have a point: Zelnick revealed that the Ultimate Edition is selling more than the standard version, though he admits that could be due to hardcore fans who are preordering right now.
The CEO recently told IGN that despite GTA 6 being $10 more than the current standard price for AAA games, it will be "an incredible bargain." He also complained that the price of games has not kept up with inflation despite rising production costs. In the CNBC interview, he pointed out that Take-Two expects to have over $8 billion in revenue this year, so it's hardly going broke because of its generosity.
Zelnick also said that the chance of a physical disc version of GTA 6 arriving at some point isn't off the table, though he did say a lack of a disc was unlikely to damage the game's sales.
The other controversy has been the game's "extended look," which is coming to Netflix on August 27, six hours before it appears on YouTube. Zelnick was asked about its content but wouldn't give anything away.
