GTA 6 Could Cost As Much As $100, Some Hope; Analyst Clarifies Comments
If Take-Two raises prices to $80 or more, other publishers could apparently follow suit.
Veteran investment analyst and researcher Matthew Ball of Epyllion has released a gargantuan, 219-page report about the "State of Video Gaming in 2025," and some of the presentation looks at how the video game industry can possibly grow in 2025. In a section titled "How Player, Playertime, and Player Spend Might Return to Growth," Ball mentioned a variety of opportunities, including Grand Theft Auto VI costing as much as $100 when it launches this year.
Ball said "there is hope" among some in the market that Take-Two will price GTA 6 at "$80 or even $100," which could prove to be a turning point for the video game industry. This could break a "key price barrier" and allow other developers to raise prices as well, he said. Before this, a Baldur's Gate 3 developer said GTA 6 could prompt a shift to more expensive games if Take-Two decides to price it above $70.
In a series of follow-up posts, Ball shared further key updates, including how GTA 4 was priced at $90 in "real terms," with GTA 5 costing $83.
Ball added, "Your rent is up, movie tickets have doubled, minimum wage, Spotify, Netflix, bus fare, gas, etc. Indeed, nearly all other categories are *up* not just flat in real terms, while games are at record lows."
He went on to say: "Rockstar's costs shouldn't isn't sufficient to set the price, but the argument games should be the only thing to never adjust for inflation (and thus be, in the strictest terms, *worth less* every year) is not healthy either, or a good argument IMO."
Ball was not making a prediction himself that GTA 6 would cost as much as $100, only that there is the belief in the market by some that it could happen. For his money, Ball said he predicts GTA 6 will cost $70.
(I don't think they'll do $100, though some have reported as such. I'd bet they stay at $70 base, and if not, then $80. What I said is many in the market hope for $80 if not $99.99)
— Matthew Ball (@ballmatthew) January 19, 2025
$70 is the current market rate for new AAA releases, and in fact, it was Take-Two that was among the first to raise prices from $60 to $70 back in 2020. Many are naturally wondering if Take-Two might raise prices again for GTA 6's launch, but it remains to be seen if that will happen. Beyond updating the sticker price for games, video game publishers have found other ways to get more money out of players, including expensive special editions, microtransactions, and battle passes, just to name a few.
Madden 26 & College Football 26 - Official Announcement Trailer | "The Call" The Crew 2: Offline Mode Update Overview Trailer Micromega - Official Announcement Trailer ELDEN RING NIGHTREIGN | Recluse Character Gameplay Trailer Ghost of Yotei - The Onryos List | Release Date Reveal Trailer The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy-: Official Launch Trailer AI:THE SOMNIUM FILES - Sleep For Kaname Date – Intro Trailer Tombwater - Playable Demo Reveal Trailer The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered - Official Full Reveal Presentation Capcom Fighting Collection 2 - Power Stone 2 and Capcom Fighting Evolution | Game Spotlight Trailer DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO - DAIMA Character Pack 1 Gameplay Trailer Zenless Zone Zero - Vivian Character Demo | "Love Like a Bouquet"
Please enter your date of birth to view this video
By clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot's
Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
GTA V, for example, has sold more than 205 million copies and brings in lots of money from the microtransactions in GTA Online. Early predictions have said GTA 6 could sell 40 million copies and earn more than $3 billion in revenue during its first year alone.
Ball said GTA 6's launch this year will have a "mixed" impact on total player hours and revenue across the gaming industry because it'll only be available on console (a PC release is expected after the console launch). However, Ball said GTA 6 will "severely" cannibalize total hours and spending that would go to other video games when it launches. For its part, Ubisoft has said GTA 6 is good for the video game industry overall because a huge game like that may help more people turn to gaming.
Some of the other areas that Ball listed off as having potential for growth in 2025 included the further expansion into "non-core" markets, user-generated content, social game services, the Nintendo Switch 2, other new handhelds and devices, AA/AAA mobile gaming, app store regulation, new game genres, generative AI, and advertising.
For the Switch 2, Ball said Nintendo's own games dominate the Switch sales charts because many popular multiplatform games aren't available on the console. When popular multiplatform games do come to Switch, they often have an "enormous performance drop," which could push players to buy a game on a different device instead, Ball said. With the Switch 2, though, the leaked specs suggest the console will be able to "adequately" support most modern games, he said.
In terms of the issues the video game industry faces, Ball said there are numerous contributing factors, including an "exhaustion of decade-plus growth drivers," as well as "competitive and budgetary escalations." Ball added that "acute macroeconomic financial events and epidemics" negatively affected the video game business, as well as "microeconomic platform policy shifts." A number of "would-be growth drivers" have also failed to materialize, he said.
The full report is a fascinating and in-depth look at the video game industry that is well worth a read.
Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com
Join the conversation