Take-Two on GTA 6: “Incredible Bargain” Is a Gross Understatement
While analysts initially forecasted that Grand Theft Auto 6 would be the first video game to cost $100, Take-Two Interactive (thankfully), went a more conservative route and only priced the game at $80, which is $10 more expensive compared to premium experiences from Take-Two and other game makers that have priced games at $70 a pop,
If you think that extra $10 is a tad too much, don’t tell that to Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick, who thinks GTA 6 is an “incredible bargain.”
Take-Two CEO on GTA 6 on Being $80: Rockstar Is Known for Over-Delivering
In the Q&A portion of the financial report, Zelnick was asked: “You recently announced the $80 base game for GTA 6, but ultimately decided to leave NBA 2K27 base pricing at $70. As you think about go forward base pricing, help us understand how you’re thinking about being able to price games, the more premium price with more traditional AAA game prices around the $70 price point.”
Zelnick answered, “Look, we’ve said this many, many, many times. Our goal is to deliver way more value to consumers than what we charge them. And the truth is that the real cost of a AAA video game is a whole lot lower today than it was 20 years ago. Pricing has not kept pace with inflation. And our goal is to continue to over-deliver for our consumers because how you feel about any experience is the intersection of the experience itself and what you paid for it. So, you know, to say that we expect that Grand Theft Auto 6 will be an incredible bargain as experiences go is a gross understatement, because Rockstar Games is known for over-delivering.”
Zelnick also cites GTA Online as something that adds value, and how they are not looking to maximize the price price for GTA 6, adding, “And when people engage with our titles. Remember, we’re 13 years after GTA Online was launched, and people are still highly engaged. We have record-setting engagement at times. So, that’s our goal. Our goal is not to maximize price. So, in this case, I think what we’ve decided to do makes a whole lot of sense in the context of what we’re delivering. And that’s the lens through which we’re going forward as well.”
Chances are, Take-Two won’t price their other premium games at $80, since it will probably turn a lot of people off. The Grand Theft Auto franchise is a different beast, and it is in a league of its own, which is why gamers are not revolting at its price.
With how big the GTA games are, Zelnick does have a point since this is something that can be played for literally hundreds of hours. Players can even choose not to finish the main story and just dick around the open world and see what sort of hi-jinx they can do, Easter eggs to find and so on.
Of course, there is a possible bad turnaround for this, as some analysts think that GTA 6 will kickstart a new price point of $80 for some premium franchises.
In other GTA 6 news, its next trailer will premiere on Netflix later this month, which is a first for any game.
GTA 6 will be released on November 19 on the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and don’t expect a physical version anytime soon.
Any open world game can be dicked around in for an eternity if the player so chooses.
Many arcade games are designed to be played for many, many hours in order to climb leaderboards and master the game.
They charged $100 (let’s be real here) because they can get away with it, as evidenced by the gross number of pre-orders for a digital game.
With GTA:O they kept up support because it is making them billions of dollars. They would not have kept going if it wasn’t making them money. Like the single player DLC that never came…
I’m glad so many people love GTA, but the only reason the game is so expensive is because they tried and were successful at getting away with it, not because of any value.