GTA 6 Boss' Price Comments Leave More Questions Than Answers

We finally know more about when Take-Two is going to release "GTA 6," but fans still have more questions about the game than answers. Catching all the small details in the game's first trailer will only tell you so much, and we're not going to get to the bottom of most of those mysteries until we actually have the game in our hands. Unfortunately, playing "GTA 6" might come at a higher cost than gamers are used to. 

Players have been worried about the game's price for a while, and Take-Two Interactive (parent company of "GTA" dev Rockstar Games) has mostly managed to talk around the concerns that fans have. CEO Strauss Zelnick got a bit more in-depth about the game's price during a recent earnings call, but it wasn't entirely reassuring. As first reported by GamesRadar, Zelnick said, "Look, there's more content constantly being made available, and we really aim to deliver great value at any given time."

Everyone wants great value for their money, but that lofty goal doesn't exactly tell us what "GTA 6" is going to cost. Zelnick went on to say, "Any time we establish a price, we want to make sure that it's good news for the consumer; that the experience vastly over delivers in the context of the cost. That's the goal." There's hardly any doubt that "GTA 6" will be a phenomenal game, but fans are already bracing themselves for the game's price to push past the now-standard ceiling of $70. After all, we've been here before.

Take-Two previously helped raise the standard price of AAA titles from $60 to $70 with the next-gen release of "NBA 2K21," a move that Zelnick feels has worked out for Take-Two and the industry at large. Since there is precedent for Take-Two exceeding industry standard prices, the internet is abuzz with people debating the merits of the hypothetical move.

Some people are really into Zelnick's value proposition. If a game is good enough to be a nearly endless source of entertainment, there are definitely people who will be willing to pay a premium price for the experience.

It's one of the most anticipated games of all time. $70 for thousands of hours of entertainment is nothing, IMO.

People can call Rockstar money-grabbers and whatnot, but they don't spend years developing these games out of the goodness of their heart; they're still a business.

— Enzundua Xenxaia 🟠 (@Harvestman_71) May 20, 2024

Others are rightfully noting that the rest of the industry is going to react to whatever Take-Two does. "GTA 6" might be able to justify a price above $70, but plenty of other games could copy that pricing model without offering the same amount of value. 

Just when I thought my hype for a game couldn't go lower....we cannot let Rockstar push a terrible precedent.

— Grimmjow Swagger Jack™ (@SmoovSaibot) May 20, 2024

The vagueness of Zelnick's comments certainly aren't helping fans to be sure of anything at the moment, but the debate will no doubt continue. Ultimately, there are only rumors about the price of "GTA 6" right now, and we'll just have to wait and see what Take-Two thinks the game is worth.

Not helping matters is the fact that the price point for "GTA 6" has been brought into question previously, with even more hints pointing to a fairly hefty cost. In November of last year, shortly before the release of the first "GTA 6" trailer, Strauss Zelnick described Take-Two's approach to pricing as "the per-hour value times the number of expected hours." This sent fans spiraling as they grew concerned about the game quite literally charging them by the hour. Thankfully, he just meant that Take-Two and Rockstar games tend to be amazing values because of their length when compared to their standard price, but the phrasing still made gamers a bit nervous. Other rumors spread around the same time that "GTA 6" would retail for upwards of $150, with subscription costs for the game's online components further inflating that cost. This rumor has yet to be substantiated, but it frequently comes up in forum discussions about the game's impending release.

The vagueness of Zelnick's latest comments certainly aren't helping fans to be sure of anything at the moment, but the debate will no doubt continue. Ultimately, we'll just have to wait and see what Take-Two thinks the game is worth.