It was only about two years ago that the video game industry started charging $70 for major games instead of the usual $60, due to rising game development costs (and greed). This shift understandably hasn’t gone down well with players, as the cost of keeping up with modern gaming continues to rise, but that may not stop Take-Two Interactive (Rockstar Games’ parent company) from trying to push it further of Grand Theft Auto VI– one of the few upcoming games that can probably retail for $80.
By 2022, the era of $70 video games began. Since then we have WB Games, Activision, Nintendo, Xbox, PlayStation and Other companies are starting to sell their biggest, fanciest games for $10 more than the $60 price tag that had been in place for years. The response to these higher prices hasn’t been great, but games love it Duty And The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom sold well even with the higher price tag. And in Take-Two’s latest earnings call, CEO Strauss Zelnick seemed to lay the groundwork for rising prices.
As reported by Play spotwhen Zelnick was asked how Take-Two decides what to charge for games like Grand Theft Auto VI And Borderlandshe did not provide specific prices, but instead shared the publisher’s pricing philosophy.
“Look, more content is being made available all the time, and we’re really committed to delivering great value at every moment,” Zelnick said. “We are so focused on delivering more value than what we ask for. And that’s kind of the rubric.”
He further added that when Take-Two sets the price of a game, the company wants to make sure it is “good news” for players and that “the experience is much more rewarding” compared to the price. “That’s the goal,” Zelnick added.
Looking back at Zelnick’s recent comments, I have some serious questions about what he considers good news and value for consumers.
Zelnick’s take on value games at $70
In August 2023when fans criticized Take-Two for charging $50 for the beautiful but bare bones Red Dead redemption And Undead nightmare PS4 and Switch ports, this was Zelnick’s answer:
“That’s exactly what we believe is the commercially appropriate price for it,” Zelnick said IGN after an earnings call.
“[Red Dead Redemption] was a great standalone game on its own when it was originally released, so we feel like it’s a great bundle for the first time, and certainly a great value for consumers. I’d say $50 isn’t an “accurate price” for a base version of a decade-plus-old open-world Xbox 360 game that, at least at launch, did not support 60FPS and removed all online multiplayer modes.
In May 2023, Zelnick also indicated that there was no consumer resistance to publishers charging $70 instead of $60 for some big games, such as Gotham Knights.
“What we’re seeing is that consumers are trying to limit their spending by either going to the things they really care about, blockbusters, or by valuing things, and sometimes it can be both,” Zelnick says. “And the good news is, we have a lot of blockbusters and we have a beautiful catalogue.
All of this seems to indicate that Zelnick believes that $70 games work, that consumers don’t mind, that ports are worth $50, and that people will buy your blockbuster games if they’re really excited about them, even if they’re having to handle money. That makes me wonder what Grand Theft Auto 6′The price will ultimately be the same when it launches in 2025.
If there’s a game that can cost $80 (or more), it’s GTA 6
Looking back on all his comments and Take-Two’s recent history, I wonder: Will Zelnick decide that? GTA6 is worth more than $70?
Will he look at one of the most hyped games in human history, the sequel to one of the best-selling video games of all time, and a blockbuster open-world adventure that will likely be huge, and think, “Oh, players will pay $80?” or even $90 for that!” I think that’s a real possibility and if it happens, I’d be willing to bet my next lunch that he would explain during an earnings call that fans are getting a “great value” for that $80.
Sure, it seems silly or even downright idiotic to charge more than $70 in 2024 or 2025. We have seen countless examples over the past eighteen months There are such big, expensive games that fail to connect with players, critics and fandoms, while smaller indie titles that charge less are exploding in popularity. I mean, one of the biggest games in 2024 is Hell divers 2 and it comes with a $40 price tag. Just the last few months Manor Lords, Gray Zone Warfare, And content warning have found great success on Steam and they all cost much less than $70.
But Grand Theft Auto6 is different. It’s the next entry in one of the biggest video game franchises in the world, is likely to get a huge marketing push and is the sequel to GTA V And GTA Online, some of the most lucrative forms of entertainment in history.
There’s also an almost impossible amount of hype surrounding it, with players and fans going crazy over small updates to Rockstar’s back-end servers. These same people make theories based on birds in teaser images And trace every bit of cut GTA contents they can be found using a variety of methods. These are fans who, if asked, would likely buy GTA6 for $80. And I think there are plenty of other people who would quickly throw $80 at Rockstar and Take-Two if it meant they could play what will likely be the biggest video game release in 2025.
So right now the only thing stopping Take-Two from charging more than $70 (and offering consumers that much)large value“) is Zelnick and other executives who look at all this and decide not to be greedy. And folks, I’m not holding my breath, especially since games are becoming more and more expensive and taking longer and longer to make. I guess if Zelnick and Take-Two believe GTA6 can pass for $80, then they charge that and sell you a special edition for even more.
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