Analysts Say GTA 6 Just Made $80 the New Standard for AAA Games
Rockstar Games’ hotly awaited Grand Theft Auto 6 is finally up for pre-orders, and somehow, that $80 base price tag has managed to turn more heads than the fact that we still don’t have a single gameplay trailer.
Now, if analysts are to be believed, the games industry has apparently been moving towards an $80 base price for a while, and this might just be the new normal for big releases
Analysts Say GTA 6 Just Made $80 the New Standard for AAA Games
Last year, Nintendo pulled off something most game publishers had been dying to do but couldn’t: sell a game at $80. And now with GTA 6 following that same trend, it seems like we are slowly moving into a world where $80 for a big AAA title like God of War or a Zelda game could just be the norm.
Per GamesRadar, DFC Intelligence’s analyst David Cole revealed that “the industry has already been moving to this price point, led by Nintendo”, though there will be “only a handful of premium games that command this price point.”
He went on to add that Rockstar Games is doubling down on a trend seen only for “the most in-demand games with a built-in initial audience… It is the industry going towards a tiered pricing model where it is recognized that some games simply provide much more value than others and should be priced accordingly.”
Given how making games is getting costlier by the day, there’s already a lot of pressure on both devs and publishers to justify that price tag to players while also delivering enough value to warrant it.
Joost van Dreunen, co-founder and CEO of ALDORA and an investor and advisor for gaming startups, added to this, saying the new $80 for a base game price point will be “reserved for only a select few titles and franchises” that have the track record to back it up, and publishers that try to charge $80 on a game that falls short “will likely come to regret that.”
“Gaming is increasingly becoming a luxury category,” van Dreunen said. “Its economics have historically centered around a winner-takes-most model, and GTA 6 raises the bar again. Publishers who can clear it will pull further ahead, and those who cannot will have to compete on distribution instead, finding new channels, bundles, and pricing models to reach players the blockbusters don’t.”
We won’t be seeing everyone win at this either. The Outer Worlds 2 already tried the $80 price point, but Microsoft had to roll it back after significant backlash. Because at the end of the day, no one is going to shell out that kind of money for just any game.
However, we might see certain big-name franchises like God of War or The Witcher probably get away with it, but only time will tell how that plays out. With how consoles are ramping up prices, we’re hoping this $80 price point is reserved for something as big as GTA 6, since gaming is costly enough as it is.
In other news, it’s been said that Grand Theft Auto 6 won’t receive a physical disc version even months after launch, despite what rumors are saying.
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