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The planned arrival of GTA 6 later this year—not on PC, of course—has publishers frothing at the mouth. With the game’s lengthy development costing hundreds of millions of dollars, there’s a worldwide hope from executives that the new Rockstar game will bite the bullet and charge gamers eighty to a hundred dollars to quickly recoup costs. However, there’s a chance that this might not happen and, in all honesty, it shouldn’t.
Why GTA 6 could cost $100
The new Grand Theft Auto game is expected to be one of the most expensive games to develop in gaming history. With ballooning game costs causing publishers to further rely on remakes and remasters like Horizon Zero Dawn to earn a bit of extra scratch, publishers are hoping that GTA 6 will move the needle for them.
After all, the latest Grand Theft Auto is a guaranteed success analysed to be the biggest entertainment launch in history despite only releasing on two consoles. It’s going to shift hardware, it’s going to sell millions of copies, and it could have a major effect on the future of games pricing.
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At the time of writing, there’s no confirmation that GTA 6 will cost any more than the now-traditional $70 RRP that started with the release of the PS5 generation. In fact, there’s not even a solid release date for the game yet, but publishers are still shifting release dates and quaking in their boots to move out of its way, all while hoping the game charges as much money as possible so they too can charge the same amount.
However, publishers need to understand that not every game is GTA 6. Even if the new open-world crime does charge $100 on launch, there’s no promise that players will spend the same on an annual Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed or even Naughty Dog’s next game. Additionally, there seems to be a belief that GTA needs to charge more to recoup costs and make its bazillions, which isn’t true. In fact, publisher Take-Two would be wise to do the exact opposite.
Someone forgot about Grand Theft Auto Online
While the base single-player version of GTA V has been in the top sales charts since its 2013 release, that’s not what’s been continually filling up Take-Two’s pot for the past decade-plus. Yes, continued sales of one game at near full-price for a decade has earned a tonne of mulah for the often-greedy publisher, but it’s the game’s GTA Online mode that has earned buckets of cash few mortal men would ever hope to see.
Since release, GTA V has brought in over $8 billion dollars in sales of the base game and its Online Shark Cards, the latter of which is undoubtedly returning for the sequel. While hackers claim the new game has cost around $2 billion, analysts are predicting the game will earn half of that back from pre-orders alone. With GTA 6 Online also rumoured to release on launch day complete with microtransaction offerings, Rockstar is primed to somehow make even on its investment in its first week.
GTA Online is Rockstar and Take-Two’s golden goose and it will continue to make money for as long as GTA 6 servers stay online, which is expected to be more than a decade. Sure, Rockstar could increase the base game price to $100, but then less people are playing Online, and that’s where the real money is.
Grand Theft Auto 6
- Platform(s): PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox Series X
- Genre(s): Action, Action Adventure