GTA 6 fans losing their minds over unexpected price hike

Those excited for Grand Theft Auto VI aren’t reacting too well to the recent announcement that several upcoming titles will cost $80 at launch moving forward, although weirdly, they seem more concerned with the rest of the gaming industry than they do with Rockstar Games’ next title.

Bad news: Microsoft just announced that several “first-party titles” will now retail for a minimum of $80 at launch.

Even worse news: Grand Theft Auto VI just got delayed until 26 May 26 2026.

While the two don’t necessarily seem comparable at first glance, especially since Microsoft specifically stated that the price hike will only affect “first-party” games, I’d wager that the delay will push GTA VI’s price over the edge.

Delays mean longer development times. Longer development times mean more time between profits, time that has to be spent paying developers. More time in between profits means stocks dip.

And, stocks dipping means that Take-Two is going to want to recoup some of those losses somehow… like, for instance, by charging more for the game at launch.

GTA VI is now launching in 2026.

Pair this with the fact that both Nintendo and Microsoft have already broken the seal by announcing that certain games will cost $80 moving forward, and I think you have the perfect storm for GTA VI launching at a higher price point.

The thing is, the folks over r/GTA6 don’t seem bothered about paying $80 for GTA VI… they seem more bothered by paying $80 for every other game moving forward.

“Really sucks because no other 80 dollar game will be even close to GTA VI but publishers will insist on pricing it the same,” commented user JimmyJabble.

“Exactly. GTA VI will actually be worth that bc of the scope and complexity of the game,” replied user bolwonder.

“Time and care taken by so many devs and artists making the world. Other studios will output schlop and want the same price.”

Personally, I think we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves here. We don’t know GTA VI is worth $80 yet.

For instance, maybe GTA VI Online is going to be a separate purchase. That’s just a theory, but I think it would make it seem a lot less worth the full-priced tag.

Let’s see how it all plays out, I guess, but I’ve not seen a game that seems worth the extra $10 yet.