Will GTA 6 cost $150? Probably not, but how much would you pay?

[Shawn Knight]

Editor's take: Like everything else, the price of AAA video games has gone up as of late. Top-tier titles that used to sell for $59.99 now regularly start at $69.99. At least one rumor making the rounds on social media suggests Grand Theft Auto 6 could debut at a staggering $150 – and that's for the base game. Does this rumor have any legs? And more importantly, what's the absolute most you'd pay for Rockstar's next blockbuster?

Take-Two Interactive recently came under fire for its decision to price the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch port of Red Dead Redemption and its zombie expansion pack at $50, despite the fact that the game is roughly 13 years old at this point. If the latest from the rumor mill proves accurate, Take-Two and Rockstar could be gearing up for an even more outlandish pricing strategy.

To be clear, the pricing information is just a rumor and given the poor track record of GTA scuttlebutt in general, it is almost certainly untrue. But considering that the cost of virtually everything else is on the rise, let's entertain for a moment what a $150 mega blockbuster might look like.

Grand Theft Auto 6 is without a doubt the most anticipated game in years, and one that Rockstar has been working on for a long time. The sustained success of Grand Theft Auto V and GTA Online has no doubt allowed Rockstar to pour more money into GTA 6's development to ensure it measures up to its lofty expectations. GTA V is now the second best-selling video game of all time, with sales of 185 million units and counting.

It is far too early to know for sure, but GTA 6 has the potential to be even more successful than its predecessor. Rockstar already has a great formula in the GTA franchise and by simply expanding and improving on the existing recipe, it is easy to see how the game could do gangbuster business.

During an investor call last month, Take-Two CFO Lainie Goldstein said, "we are positioning our business for a significant inflection point in fiscal 2025 that will culminate in us delivering new record levels of operating performance next year and beyond."

Launching GTA 6 could certainly help them reach that goal, especially if they charge more per copy than the current rate. But $150? I personally think that big of a jump would blow up in their face but if it were somehow to happen and folks bit, it would set precedent for others to follow suit.

All things considered (and let's assume for the sake of argument that GTA 6 launches in about a year and lives up to the hype), what is the most you would pay for the base game? A price of $69.99 feels like the bare minimum we could expect to see at launch, $150 seems highly unlikely… but anywhere between $69.99 and $99.99 could be plausible in this day and age. Would you drop $100 on it? What's your cut off?

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https://www.techspot.com/news/100054-gta-6-cost-150-probably-not-but-how.html

 

[VcoreLeone]

30, like everything else.

 

[winjer]

 

[Cal Jeffrey]

30, like everything else.

Wow big spender! I usually wait until I can find the game I want for $15. My back catalog is so massive I can wait out most games.

 

[y6Tq2RGXEejb]

After getting a bunch of my friends pick up GTA 5 to do online races with me and almost immediately having them be banned for using a Discord in-game overlay on said overlay's release day (they were banning anyone with unauthorised overlays), with no living humans to respond to a ban appeal, with their treatment of the modding community and the subsequent release of the "remastered" trilogy Rockstar is getting absolutely no money from me ever again.

 

[MSIGamer]

Wow big spender! I usually wait until I can find the game I want for $15. My back catalog is so massive I can wait out most games.

I do that too. There are some games I end up never playing, because they're not discounted.
Only when I'm excited for a new release I buy it at launch, sometimes cheaper via key sites.
I never buy the most expensive version (unless discounted later). If the cheapest version is 70$ (or 69.99) it's too much and I'll wait

 

[godrilla]

Epic game store gave away V for free so no pressure.

 

[Dimitriid]

Actually, quite a bit more than 150 overall but probably 70 for the 'base' game.

You see, Rockstar has been using GTA Online as it's laboratory for what they can get away with to push microtransactions: At launch the online portion of the game was grindy but sorta balanced.

But then they started added really overpowered vehicles and weapons behind really steep paywalls: Instead of people doing missions and heists to get money for say, 200,000 or 300,000 in game dollars the price of the latest war vehicles like flying bikes with insanely accurate rockets were costing you 2 to 3 million and another 2 to 3 million on requiring a 'property' to own to 'store it' and another million to 'modify it' after 'doing research' which you guessed it, you had to pay several millions to fast-track otherwise you'd be grinding away for months to get the rockets on the flying bike.

Basically making it so you had to actually be on a public lobby to make enough money where other players doing PvP would naturally make it extremely difficult to get to those ridiculous in game money numbers...Or just buy their 'Shark cards' trading IRL money for in-game currency.

After that they've been fine-tuning that system for years with the latest update going as far as removing vehicles from the game and then put them back on sale for a week only to push people into even more microtransactions or their new subscription service: That's right now you can pay Rockstar 5 per month for a discount on the priviledge of paying Rockstar again for your microtransactions (As much as 50 bucks for a 10 million of in-game money: If you've followed the math it's barely enough for 1 or 2 of the top vehicles once you also get all those requirements too) plus establishing early and now even exclusive access to some of those new and removed vehicles, just all of the dirtiest tricks you can think of they've got them on GTA Online.

So they're basically going to incorporate all this into the GTA 6 version of online day one to make it one of the worst examples of pay to win possible.

 

[Cal Jeffrey]

I do that too. There are some games I end up never playing, because they're not discounted.
Only when I'm excited for a new release I buy it at launch, sometimes cheaper via key sites.
I never buy the most expensive version (unless discounted later). If the cheapest version is 70$ (or 69.99) it's too much and I'll wait

Yeah. Same here. What I usually do is put a game a want on my wishlist and then forget about it until I get a notification "[Game] is on sale." Then I'll check out the sale price. $15 is the sweet spot—I'll pay $15 for anything on my list, but depending on my mood I might go as high as $30 for a game, but that's kind of rare. Once in a while I will get excited about a game and pay full price, but the last time that happened was with Diablo 4 which was a big disappointment. So I likely won't be paying full price for anything real soon.

 

[kira setsu]

Wow, these comments really show why devs and publishers have to lean on the devious tactics they use.

gamers legit wont spend money on the games. and as a hobby gaming is probably one of the cheapest ones you can have, forget speccing a pc, a console can get you in simple and have you playing games in no time.

alot of people may think its funny but imho its quite f***ed up, players want a neverending stream of games made on cutting edge tech but laugh when it comes to pricing, and then wonder why games release busted and broken.

look at other fanbases, theyll wait, spend crazy money to get the best things they can, meanwhile gamers will hurl death threats and actively look for any way to whine about something.

its truly amazing there are people still willing to even make games considering their customers are horrible.

 

[RudyBob]

I'm still waiting for Deadspace to come down in price. I had no problem paying 49 for a game but when they went above that I stopped paying even 49. Now for a game I really want I might pay 29. There is so much to do in life that gaming isn't in the back seat it's in the way back besides I can play games multiple times. Every five years or so I can crank up and old game and have fun and that's what it is about. Not the hardware or the game but fun

 

[colossusrage]

I'd pay $70 to get the base game. I never tried GTA Online more than a few times, I just enjoy their single player stories. For those of you who haven't been gaming for more than 15 years, back in the 90s you paid $70 for a Super Nintendo game, oh and you didn't really know if it was going to be any good unless you happened to come across a magazine that did a review. 16 bit era games took a few months to produce and very few individuals could put them together, so the profit margins on those were probably insane. The fact that games don't regularly cost over $100 today is anything short of a miracle considering that big AAA titles can cost over a $100 million to produce.

 

[3volv3d]

If the online is as bad as gta5 was, and all the hackers, I'll be getting this game for free, play the single player and once completed never play it again

 

[hahahanoobs]

Wow, these comments really show why devs and publishers have to lean on the devious tactics they use.

What I took from MSIGamer and Cal's comments is they've been screwed paying full price in the past and don't care about playing all the newest titles on day one.
Justified imo.

 

[Dimitriid]

Wow, these comments really show why devs and publishers have to lean on the devious tactics they use.

gamers legit wont spend money on the games. and as a hobby gaming is probably one of the cheapest ones you can have, forget speccing a pc, a console can get you in simple and have you playing games in no time.

alot of people may think its funny but imho its quite f***ed up, players want a neverending stream of games made on cutting edge tech but laugh when it comes to pricing, and then wonder why games release busted and broken.

look at other fanbases, theyll wait, spend crazy money to get the best things they can, meanwhile gamers will hurl death threats and actively look for any way to whine about something.

its truly amazing there are people still willing to even make games considering their customers are horrible.

You're seriously going to preach about not spending money when talking about GTA?
Do you realize that GTA 5 is the highest grossing entertainment product of all time at 7.7 billion dollars? That's right not just videogames, this one game made more money than any single movie has ever done...Plus it makes something like 2.5 million dollars per day for like 10 years for the GTA Online portion alone.

There's literally nobody that has ever done more money off of a single videogame in history and this is very likely to remain truth until GTA 6 very likely dethrones GTA 5 in this regard.

...And you still went on to say they're somehow not making enough money and we should consider paying more. Like what would satisfy you, do you want people to sell their house to make Rockstar even more money that has ever been possible in entertainment history? What would be enough for you, seriously?

 

[kira setsu]

You're seriously going to preach about not spending money when talking about GTA?
Do you realize that GTA 5 is the highest grossing entertainment product of all time at 7.7 billion dollars? That's right not just videogames, this one game made more money than any single movie has ever done...Plus it makes something like 2.5 million dollars per day for like 10 years for the GTA Online portion alone.

There's literally nobody that has ever done more money off of a single videogame in history and this is very likely to remain truth until GTA 6 very likely dethrones GTA 5 in this regard.

...And you still went on to say they're somehow not making enough money and we should consider paying more. Like what would satisfy you, do you want people to sell their house to make Rockstar even more money that has ever been possible in entertainment history? What would be enough for you, seriously?

im not talking about rockstar im talking about gaming in general.

of course I know how much gta5 has made, im honestly surprised they havent figured out another way to release a version of it.

 

[BakaRed77]

I'm at an age where if it cost more than $20 I can wait.

 

[mbk34]

I loved GTA3 and still listen to the music these days. I tried other releases of the game but never really enjoyed them that much. Would I pay $150 for GTA6 - don't make me laugh.

 

[MakeMSGreatAgain]

Wow, these comments really show why devs and publishers have to lean on the devious tactics they use.

gamers legit wont spend money on the games. and as a hobby gaming is probably one of the cheapest ones you can have, forget speccing a pc, a console can get you in simple and have you playing games in no time.

alot of people may think its funny but imho its quite f***ed up, players want a neverending stream of games made on cutting edge tech but laugh when it comes to pricing, and then wonder why games release busted and broken.

look at other fanbases, theyll wait, spend crazy money to get the best things they can, meanwhile gamers will hurl death threats and actively look for any way to whine about something.

its truly amazing there are people still willing to even make games considering their customers are horrible.

Generally I agree with you, but publishers like EA have also contributed greatly to the ruination of games - by appeasing to some of the whiners rather than just sticking to what works and what people were buying. Some say thats repetetive and boring and that they don't innovate; well some things are great sellers because they got it right, or at least close to right, and that's what most people want. In the end you have to realize you can't please everyone, it isn't possible. The passion for making what they want is gone, these big games have dev teams that are too large and too many shareholders and corporates to please that the game gets ruined. The indie games are doing great because there is still passion there, and they make what they want and people gobble it up. I think publishers have been a big hurt on the gaming industry just as much as the whiny and angry players.

 

[Cal Jeffrey]

What I took from MSIGamer and Cal's comments is they've been screwed paying full price in the past and don't care about playing all the newest titles on day one.
Justified imo.

It's more than just that though. I mean those that want to pay $100 a game go for it. That's what a free market is about. I do not have s single problem with companies charging whatever they want for a game. And if I see and think that it is worth that to ME, I will buy it. However, these days gaming is a lower priority for ME. So my budget is adjusted according to what I feel gaming in general is worth. I'm not whining about anything, other than paying full price for Diablo 4 and being highly disappointed for it. It's a sh— game IMO for a ton of very valid reasons, which I'll refrain from listing in an effort to stay on topic.

For what it's worth, game's really haven't suffered inflation as much as everything else has, but there is a reason for that too. Bean counters have the numbers already figured out and have for years. The know the sweet spot for games and have more or less stuck to that $50-60 mark over the years while finding other methods to increase revenue. This is why we have microtrasactions and cosmetics and in-game currencies and 5 different "deluxe" versions of every title. Gaming also went mainstream many years ago which helped keep the software costs down for us. Used to be a very small sector back in the day. Now you would hard pressed to find anyone between the ages of 4 and 60 who could honestly say they have never played a game. It's a huge industry now.

So yeah upping the sweet-spot prices hurts for some. And for others willing to pay good on them. Thank you for keeping my hobby alive. But that doesn't me that Me or anybody else not willing to fork over $70 per game are any lesser or are whiners. No. We just let those with the cash to buy a crappy game at launch take the hit and wait for our sales. I just call that smart money.

 

[noel24]

It depends. Allegedly, no one from original team is working in Rockstar anymore. If It's gonna be woke and sanitized, with any microtransactions for single player, It might be the first GTA I will not play.

 

[TheBigT42]

Rockstar will not get any more of my $$$$

 

[kiwigraeme]

I think those that buy day one - they will pay the $70 no problems - Given most of us are older - we know like the Old Bull up the hill* - we can take our time to amble down and get it cheap in 2 or 3 years.

I suppose the there is 2 tradeoffs other than price - one if mainly online - then servers would be dead and other players around for certain games - 2nd if you wait - it is patched , optimise and more DLC added- plus you can know if good or not

The people who play day one and are excited - probably to get a large payback - as they play it extensively so hours/cost ratio is probably quite good - compare to those of us with huge cheap backlogs unplayed

* Old bull , young bull - YB let's race down hill and get ourselves a cow - OB let's take our time and get them all - I think this is a well known joke - but who knows

 

[Cal Jeffrey]

I think those that buy day one - they will pay the $70 no problems - Given most of us are older - we know like the Old Bull up the hill* - we can take our time to amble down and get it cheap in 2 or 3 years.

I suppose the there is 2 tradeoffs other than price - one if mainly online - then servers would be dead and other players around for certain games - 2nd if you wait - it is patched , optimise and more DLC added- plus you can know if good or not

The people who play day one and are excited - probably to get a large payback - as they play it extensively so hours/cost ratio is probably quite good - compare to those of us with huge cheap backlogs unplayed

* Old bull , young bull - YB let's race down hill and get ourselves a cow - OB let's take our time and get them all - I think this is a well known joke - but who knows

I love your subtle reference to the movie Colors. Great line.
EDIT: Here's the clip. For context, Sean Penn's character is a boot with LAPD and Robert Duvall is his training officer. Sean is anxious to make a bust and sees a dealer on the corner and wants to collar him, which is when Duvall pulls out his story.

 

[mrtraver]

Ever since I paid $110 for BF3 and all the expansions, only for everyone in my clan to drop it the instant BF4 came out, my hard limit has been $30. And that's for games I REALLY wanted, like Star Wars Squadrons and Rebel Space: Outlaw. Most games I won't even consider until they drop below $20. I'd consider GTA 6 at $15.