GTA 6 Official Price Tag Statement Leaves Gamers Concerned

The boss behind Grand Theft Auto VI’s publisher, Take-Two Interactive, has officially revealed his stance on the game’s long-rumoured price tag… and I think some people have already gotten the wrong idea.

It seems I write about Grand Theft Auto VI’s potential price at least once a week now, but that’s Rockstar Games’ fault.

GTA VI’s price has been debated for what feels like over a year at this point, spurred by both Nintendo and Microsoft’s decision to suddenly start charging a premium for certain first-party titles.

As a result, all eyes have been on both Take-Two and Rockstar Games. The gaming industry as a whole is waiting to see if the next entry in the GTA franchise is going to hit that long-rumoured $80 price tag, so that every AAA publisher can feel justified in following suit.

Variety’s Jennifer Maas quizzed Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick about gamers’ concerns on Thursday, and his response isn’t quite as positive as you may initially think.

“So now that announcement will come from Rockstar in due time… Our goal always is to deliver more value than what we charge, so we’ve had variable pricing at the company forever”, Zelnick replied.

“As you know, the approach of the industry is to launch at a premium price, sometimes with special editions, and over time, typically to reduce the price to enhance the overall size of the market. We do the very same thing. I think, probably more than most, we’re highly focused on making sure that the experience is great, not just because the game itself is great, but also because consumers have paid a fair price for it.”

Now, for some reason, some people have taken this statement to mean that the rumoured $80 price tag has been “averted”, but that’s 100% not what Zelnick said.

Zelnick specifically stated that they want to “deliver more value” than they charge. That doesn’t mean they’re going to try to sell GTA VI at a standard price point; it means, quite literally, whatever they end up charging for it will be less than the value they believe it will provide.

The said value could equate to any number. Maybe they think the game is worth $100, so they charge $90 for it. The only thing this confirms is that Take-Two is weighing up the pros and cons of charging you more than $70.