There are a lot of rumors about how much GTA 6 will cost, but realistically, what could Rockstar get away with? GTA 6 will be unlike anything we’ve ever played and that’s because Rockstar has earned what is essentially a blank check to make an extremely ambitious game. This has been in the works for the better part of a decade and will be an all-hands effort across Rockstar Games’ 11 studios and likely other trusted third-party teams, like Double Eleven, which worked on a port of Red Dead Redemption and was founded by ex-Rockstar employees. As a result, the budget for this game is likely enormous, with some speculating it is anywhere between $1 billion and $2 billion.
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While it’s unlikely Rockstar will ever officially confirm what this game cost, that budget doesn’t happen without a belief that it can not only make it back, but massively profit from it. Grand Theft Auto V is the second best-selling game of all-time with over 220 million copies sold. Red Dead Redemption 2 trails behind it as the fourth best selling game of all-time with nearly 80 million copies sold. As a result, it’s evident Rockstar can sell copies and it can do so over a long period of time. GTA 5 is still selling about 5 million copies a quarter despite being 12 years old, for instance. However, some believe Rockstar Games will charge more than the average game in order to break even or profit quickly.
How Much Will GTA 6 Cost?
For years now, people have speculated whether or not GTA 6 will cost $100. Other executives and creatives in the gaming industry have suggested that Rockstar has even earned the right to charge a premium for GTA 6, knowing that it will be so much more advanced than anything on the market and the cost to make it will be higher.
Could Rockstar charge $100 for GTA 6? Yes, absolutely. I think they could do it, and it would still sell very well. Pre-orders for this game will open well in advance and give people time to save for it. People would be upset, but it would still ultimately sell. Here’s the thing, though: Rockstar doesn’t need to charge $100 for GTA 6, nor should it.
GTA 6 is not just a single-player game. GTA 6 will also almost definitely have an ambitious online mode built to last for a decade or more. It will be built around microtransactions which will make billions upon billions of dollars on its own. As such, it makes much more sense for Rockstar to charge the standard $70 for GTA 6 to get as many people in the door as possible. Once those people are in, they are then more likely to spend money over time in-game. If you charge a higher price of entry, not only will less people jump in immediately, but they’re also probably less likely to invest in the game over time. After a certain point, that begins to feel like nickel and diming.
This is all about the long game. When GTA 6 finally releases, it is going to make its money back quickly, if not immediately. Why upset people or limit the actual long-term financial potential of the game by charging an arbitrary premium? Take-Two Interactive, the company that owns Rockstar Games, has also shown it is flexible with pricing. Mafia: The Old Country was sold for $49.99, as it was a smaller-sized single-player game. The game ended up selling better than expected, according to Take-Two’s CEO Strauss Zelnick. That lower price likely made it an easier sell to people as opposed to if it had been $70.
While that’s a totally different game, it shows that Take-Two isn’t using a blanket price point for all of its games. There are options and Zelnick himself has even stated that they want to give players a fair price, potentially downplaying GTA 6‘s $100 price point. GTA 6 won’t be a $50 game, of course, but it does mean it can stay at $70 because there are benefits to being relatively affordable. If the company does want to charge $100 for the game, there are still options. A deluxe edition that offers early access to the game or its online mode, in-game items, and more will be an easy sell to the many millions of people who are already committed to buying GTA 6 on day one. Then, those who don’t need the extra goodies can buy the standard edition for $70.
After GTA 6‘s delay and the lengthy wait for this game, it would be kind of insulting to also charge players $100 for the standard edition. This is a game that will be ported over to PC later and likely be remastered for next-gen consoles. There will be so many ways for Rockstar to make money on GTA 6 that going above the standard price of a video game would create unnecessary negative publicity for the game. I fully believe GTA 6 will be a $70 game, but we’ll have to wait a bit to find out for sure.
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