“Consumers pay for the value that you bring to them, and our job is to charge way, way, way less of the value delivery,” Strauss Zelnick said.
Photo Credit: Rockstar Games
Grand Theft Auto 6 will launch on PS5 and Xbox Series S/X
Grand Theft Auto 6 has a release date, but developer Rockstar Games has not yet confirmed the game's price. Considering the astronomical production costs involved (rumored to be north of $1 billion), many expect the open world crime title to be priced above the $70 standard for current-generation consoles. Some in the games industry expect GTA 6 to be priced up to $100. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick has now addressed the price concerns surrounding the game.
Speaking at the Interactive Innovation Conference this week, Zelnick touched upon the conversation about GTA 6 pricing, but, of course, did not confirm how much the game would cost.
“Consumers pay for the value that you bring to them, and our job is to charge way, way, way less of the value delivery,” Zelnick said (via IGN). “How you feel about something you buy is the intersection of the thing itself and what you pay for. Consumers need to feel like the thing itself is amazing and the price they were charged was fair for what they got.”
Zelnick also talked about conventional pricing for video games, which has largely remained consistent for over a decade. Triple-A games on ninth-generation consoles (PS5 and Xbox Series S/X) raised the $60 standard pricing to $70. Some new games — Nintendo's Mario Kart World for instance — have started testing the $80 price point. The Take-Two boss said that despite the price rise, video game pricing has gotten cheaper if you take rates of inflation into consideration.
“If you look at it through that lens, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. But that isn't the lens through which we look. Instead, we look at… how do we deliver something amazing, and how do we make sure that what people pay for it feels very reasonable.”
Zelnick did not confirm if GTA 6 would be priced above $70, but his comments hint at a more premium price befitting the content on offer. He went on to say that Take-Two and Rockstar were focussed on making the “most spectacular piece of entertainment on Earth.” — “If we do that, and if we're of service to our customers, then the upside will take care of itself,” Zelnick said.
Nevertheless, Zelnick's words suggest that GTA 6 would not be priced at a ridiculous new price point for video games and ultimately would be "very reasonable" and represent good value for money for buyers. Rockstar Games should confirm pricing and pre-order details in the coming months.
In the years since GTA 6 was revealed, speculation around the potential price of the game has only grown. Keeping the scale of the project, the development costs involved, and the likely breadth of content on offer when GTA 6 releases, many expect it to be the first $100 game, up from the industry standard of $60 or $70 for a triple-A release. However, last year, a former Rockstar technical director said that GTA 6 probably won't be priced $100.
Several industry analysts also said last year that the standard edition of GTA 6 was unlikely to be priced between $80 to $100 and the game would bank on its online component to generate consistent revenue, just like Grand Theft Auto 5.
Grand Theft Auto 6 is scheduled to launch on PS5 and Xbox Series S/X on November 19, 2026. It is expected to be the biggest entertainment launch of all time.
Get your daily dose of tech news, reviews, and insights, in under 80 characters on Gadgets 360 Turbo. Connect with fellow tech lovers on our Forum. Follow us on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News for instant updates. Catch all the action on our YouTube channel.