GTA 6 should be priced 'per hour' value, publisher says

If you thought the rumours and “leaks” would quiet down after Rockstar Games officially announced the upcoming GTA VI trailer, I’m sorry to say you were wrong. Dead wrong. Not only are fellow fans going into overdrive about game details, but the game’s publisher is also adding to the chaos, thanks to its belief that games should be priced “per hour”.

Take-Two’s CEO Strauss Zelnick isn’t concerned with upsetting fandoms, as reinforced by his latest comments that video games should be priced on their “per hour value”, aka based on the hours of gameplay you get. Considering AAA games already cost between £60 to £70 upon release, such a move would potentially make gaming even more expensive.

See what 25 hours in Los Santos is like with our GTA V travel parody!

“In terms of pricing for any entertainment property, basically, the algorithm is the value of the expected entertainment usage,” explained Zelnick. “Which is to say that the per-hour value times the number of expected hours plus the terminal value that’s perceived by the customer in ownership if the title is actually owned, not, say, rented or subscribed to. And you’ll see that that bears out in every kind of entertainment vehicle. By that standard, our frontline prices are still very, very low because we offer many hours of engagement.”

That’s an extremely wordy way of saying gamers should be paying more. However, while these controversial comments are distressing for the GTA fandom that’s been waiting a decade for GTA VI, Zelnick has also said that such a pricing system isn’t easily obtainable. “That doesn't necessarily mean that the industry has pricing power or wants to have pricing power. However, there is a great deal of value offered.”

As PC gamers prepare for disappointment, as well as needing to buy a console, the price worries only add further insult to injury. Still, until the game is almost ready to launch, it’s unlikely we’ll get a clear indication of how much this hyped-up game is going to cost. For now, we look to early December when we’ll finally see the trailer we’ve all waited too long for.