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?