Grand Theft Auto 6 s Hype Presents Opportunity For Price Increase, Analyst Says
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Now, a new argument for why GTA 6 should buck the trend of $70 video games has emerged — the hype surrounding it.
In a new roundtable interview published by GamesIndustry.biz about the cost of video games in 2026 and beyond, Video Game Insights’ Vic Bassey asserted that if there was any game to cross that $100 price point it would be GTA 6.
Specifically, Bassey noted that it would be “prudent” or wise of Take-Two to pursue a price increase.
“Based on the level of hype surrounding the game, it would be prudent for Take-Two to pursue a price increase – although reaching $100 might just be a threshold too far,” Bassey said.
For what it’s worth, Bassey does have a solid point. There likely won’t be a more hyped game in history than GTA 6, particularly among casual players, and as a result, potentially the one time that a company could get away with charging more than what’s normal.
At the same time, Rhys Elliot of Alinea Analytics did have a great counterpoint, noting that much of GTA 6’s long-term revenue is tied to GTA Online, and creating a bigger barrier to entry eats into that.
“Limiting the total addressable audience at launch with an aggressively high base price would hinder the crucial GTA 5 to GTA 6 player migration and slow the growth of the GTA Online user base,” Elliot said.
But What If GTA Online Was Free, Or At Least Close To It?
Back in November, Rockstar put GTA Online, the online element from Grand Theft Auto 5, on its GTA+ subscription service, providing a potential look at how it might approach GTA 6’s version of online.
Previously at $7.99 a month, the service provided a number of GTA Online-specific benefits, along with access to past games from Rockstar’s own library. However, now, so long as gamers maintain an active subscription, they get all of that, plus access to GTA Online as a standalone.
Which is to say, what if the single-player element of GTA 6 was sold on its own, and the multiplayer was either part of a subscription or its own cheaper purchase? Together, the complete package would cost more than $70, but neither element on its own would.
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Right now, GTA Online as a one-time purchase is $19.99, or free with the subscription, along with all the monthly goodies, typically things that hardcore players would likely be buying anyway.
Either way, until an official price point is announced, we can continue to expect these types of conversations. That and whether a “realistic towel” was ported backwards to test things out.
CI Games’ Lords of the Fallen 2 is striving to remove any and all political agendas, but it will have cute girls apparently.
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I honestly don’t care much about GTA6, but making it cost even more makes my interest in it die completely down.
2025-12-22 14:59:01
